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My take of Saturday morning’s outing for the A group.
Even at the 8.30 am briefing it was obvious that the day was going to be hot and humid, so keeping hydrated was going to be a major factor on the ride.
23 of us headed out first for a short blast up the Pacific highway, before we turned off and headed for the hills. No sooner did we hit the dirt the pace was on from the outset.
STM lead us into the singles and the group moved along with out any dramas, which meant you got only a very short break when you were on cornerman duties, no sooner did you pull up and catch your breath, Super sweep Spud was there waving you on.
After only 7kms of craziness we had our first break, which was welcomed by most of us as the humidity was already stifling.
Anyhow we got going again, riding some trails I recognized from 2 years back and some great new stuff as well. Some of it really suited the XR well and I was having a ball.
Every now and then you came across something that challenged you.
There are some really scenic spots in the scrub at Coffs
After a while we regrouped again on a main trail and STM sent TB ahead to set himself up to catch some footage of the group tackling a hill known as “No Line”. This hill is one bastard of a thing, not only is it steep with ruts that were able to swallow the XR650 whole it was red greasy clay that was about as grippy as KY gel. You could hardly stand on the stuff with out going arse up. I followed Menace up and rounded the corner to find him stuck in the mother of all rutts. Between Menace, Aaron and myself we managed to lift the Kato up out of the rutt and onto a line that saw him able to pedal the Kato further up the hill until he got stuck again and needed further assistance from the guys further up the hill. The next job at hand was to then free the XR from a similar predicament, this involved Aaron, Murph and myself using a strap to drag the big girl up and out of the big rutt to somewhere I could actually get a run up the hill. As it was so muggy, I chose to ride the last section with out my goggles on, no sooner did I get going again, I copped a stick across the bridge of my nose that opened me up and I had to tackle the next gnarly section with tears in my eyes and blood dripping off my chin.
I certainly did a good job of making ‘No Line” look like a hard slog!! It was with disgust that I then watched other riders make it look so bloody easy! Moto deserved a mention here as he just charged at it smashing into ruts and every other obstacle and still kept his forward motion although it looked like he was riding a rodeo bull!
After we got everyone to the top of “No Line” I was rooted and from there on I was struggling for the rest of the ride, I just couldn’t get my Mojo back no matter how hard I concentrated and that is when I even stopped taking photos for the rest of the ride.
We popped out of some singles onto a main trail and we had only travelled a km or so and I realized where the main trail lead to……………WIDOWMAKER.
Once we arrived at the Widowmaker I watched a few blokes ride up it with no dramas and few blokes fail at their first attempt before I decided to have a crack at it and I rode up no worries.
Not really, I ate shit on my first attempt and slid back down the hill on my hands and knees. 2nd attempt went worse than my first, I got further up the hill before the XR threw me off again, which only meant I had further to fall. And fall I did. I hit the ground head first and rag dolled down the hill much like a dead person would and finally coming to a stop in the sitting position. I looked back up the hill to se the XR a good 15 meters further up the hill with fuel pissing out of the tank breather all over my camera and you know what? I didn’t give a shit, I was stuffed. Thanks to Crash and Spud for getting the big girl back on its wheels and back down the hill for me. After getting bitten twice by a hill, you’d think I would learn my lesson but no. I had a 3rd crack at it only to eat shit a third time, it was at this stage I was feeling a tad sore and sorry and I knew I was holding the group up so I did the “chicken run” around the widow maker.
We did a few more easier trails before we got to a section known as “Trapeze” which is a gnarly, tight, vine strewn section of hell when you are riding a XR650, I could hear the XR boiling and I had to get some airflow into it, so I just charged up and over every obstacle and barged my way past several other riders in order to get some speed happening and I was a relieved to pop out of the scrub and see STM there pointing me to a corner, That meant I could have a breather while the XR sat there making noises like a espresso machine.
From there it was only a short run to Glenreagh Pub for lunch, I was so rooted I couldn’t eat and I was already starting to feel the effects of my tumble down the widow maker, so I made the decision to take the main trail back to Darlington Park as opposed to subjecting myself to smashing myself up more on the afternoon loop. I am sitting here typing this report covered in bruises and scratches looking like I have spent 24hrs in Madam Lashes house of pleasure getting the works!
All the crashes and struggling aside I still had a great ride, thanks to all the crew on the A group for putting up with me and the pig!
