[DarrenMember]

KTM Bull wrote:

It sure is a pain but there is not much that can be done till all the tests are done and council are happy there is no danger to the club members

But you could come out here next week end for a ride on my mx track
not as good but its something

Really :cheer: That’d be awesome :woohoo:

Noticed your doing Saturday and Sunday, I can probably only do Saturday if that’s OK? I’ll just drive down and back from Kempsey (I’m guessing it’s not far??).

[DarrenMember]

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Some of the best locals to meet up there mate It is a real family atmosphere on racedays too !!!

just watch out for TOES :laugh: He is a bit of a practical joker

Hopefully all will get sorted and the crew can get back into it soon,,,,

Already had the pleasure of meeting Toes … let’s just say that I’ll never be letting him make me a sandwich :sick:

[DarrenMember]

Yeah, exactly … from the reading I’ve done it seems they’ve had rain, rain, rain, asbestos, rain, rain, asbestos!

Tough year for sure … all that hard work they must put in.

I was looking to see upcoming events and working bees etc, thought it might be a good way to meet some locals and hopefully have a bash …. hopefully it all works out for them.

[DarrenMember]

There’s some great shots of hard stuff in there!!

Feel a bit sorry for the guy on the old PE :blink: Champion effort though on such a classic

[DarrenMember]

Thanks Mick, but you guys scoot along plenty fast enough I reckon! And sure aren’t afraid of some tough trails :silly:

Moto; looking forward to catching you on a ride too, looking forward to ALL rides really, I’m not gettin’ any younger so the more rides the better! :woohoo: :woohoo:

[DarrenMember]

Thanks everyone, there’s some great knowledge and advice in all that.

I have no idea how to “compare” oil, so recommendation is the best way to go for me.

[DarrenMember]

Happy birthday Toes!

After the way I saw you flying past me down steep rocky rutted hills and getting massive air off erosion mounds on Saturday I’m surprised you’ve made it this far!

Have a great day.

[DarrenMember]

ABSOLUTELY!! … Maybe not so much dust next time though please, can you organise a little bit of rain? Not too much, enough to make it “just right”, but not so much that it makes mud

Speaking of mud: The “Swamp of Doom” is somewhere I never want to visit, especially with Toes … or Ollie so I hear! 😆

[DarrenMember]

A day on the couch watching Bathurst has NOT helped my aching muscles … crap I’m sore! :pinch: But it was sooooo worth it!! :woohoo: :woohoo:

[DarrenMember]

I’m not bloody “Pompous”! :dry: :laugh:

[DarrenMember]

First; thanks guys for a great day and for being so welcoming.
Second; I am so friggin sore today that I can hardly move!

PREFACE: I’d ridden the bike twice, for two 1-hour leisurely sessions to familiarize myself after 28 years of never throwing my leg over a dirt bike and to essentially run it in. The bike had it’s first service Friday, UHD tubes put in and the JD Jetting kit, certainly not coz I wanted a performance boost but I was worried about fuel range (I was warned KTM and Berg 2T’s are renowned for poor fuel range on stock needles and jetting) …

The Report:
So, there I was at Mick’s house at 7:15am, ute loaded with the Berg and all my new gear. A bit of a chat with Mick while we kitted up and Ferknerkle comes down the driveway in his gear. Off we go through the streets of Wauchope stopping for Mick’s bacon and egg roll that he’d pre-ordered, I buy a 1.25l water coz I forgot my Camelback, then we ride to meet Moose and Toes at the cemetery car park.

Part One:
So off we all go from the carpark onto dusty trials hootin’ along at a good pace, “this is gonna be fun” I thought, couple of single trails, some burnt out stuff, then a break for a drink and a ciggie, not too bad, a little arm-pump but holding up and keeping up OK …

Part Two:
MUCH harder, tight, technical, rocky, hilly, sh*it coming at you that you couldn’t even see coz of the dust … “oh crap, I’m gonna die”! The dust settles while we get into some good singles and trails with Lantana overgrowth then into Jurassic which was cool but getting out of it was one-line single trail uphill not much wider than a bike tire, I decide to take what looked like a slightly grippier line just to the downhill of the mainline, WRONG! Down I went with the hill just crumbling away under my tires, “just drop it” was the right decision though in hindsight.

I’m trying to drag my bike back online, exhausted I could barely grab it let-alone lift it! If Toes and Moose didn’t need to get past me I probably would have just lied down and had a rest, but I was in their way, Moose thankfully helped me get back on-track.

A Break:
Thank god, by this stage I’d already almost drank my 1.25l water, sweat pouring from me and thinking “please let it not be like that for the next [however far] we have to go” … right on-cue Mick says “we’re only about 40k’s in etc etc” and then I hear the words “Pr*ck Hill”. “Wait a minute! There’s a Pr*ck Hill!” I interject… “yep, Pr*ck and C*unt Hill, we’re taking Pr*ck coz C*nt is all rutted from 4WD’s, Pr*ck has been graded recently”. Oh, dear …

Pr*ck Hill!
Coming up to the hill I’m thinking “he said it had been graded” so I’m on the power for momentum. Again, dusty and rocks and sh*t I couldn’t even see … forward in the seat, keeping my feet on the pegs so I wouldn’t go into a flip-flop flail, I realized that my hands were cramping but tried to ignore it and relax … “are these erosion mounds fun or a pain in the ass for breaking momentum” I’m thinking just as I hit a massive rock that throws me into a tank-slapper.

I stopped exhausted about ¾ of the way on an erosion mound barely able to grip the bars, right at that time I heard Moose go down about 20 metres behind me, “are you OK?” I yell, like I had any energy to help even if he’d said “no”, luckily he said “fine, I’ll go back to the bottom and start again” … phew, that gave me more precious time to recover. So I sat and listened till he got to the bottom and I could hear him coming back up, then a realization hit me that I probably needed to go back down and start again too, I had no run-up whatsoever to get me up that last part … “crap crap crap! Just concentrate and rev this f*cker like there’s no tomorrow” … I made it just as Moose came roaring up behind.

A Good Rest:
We had a good stop for a while where I skulled a BIG can of Monster Energy praying it would revive all my cells, fibres and tendons! While the guys were all chatting I went introspective “WTF have I done, I’m 46 years old this bike is WAAAYY too much”. I was having flash-back’s dreaming of my trusty early 80’s XR200 wishing I was riding it instead. “Do I turn around and go back? … that means going back through that same sh*t! … they’re gonna think you’re a complete pussy if you go back! … forward is the only way … you CAN ride dickhead, it’s been a while but you can … concentrate, concentrate, concentrate!!!” Anyway, as you can gather I was seriously struggling.

Part 3:
I hung back for a while, avoiding the dust and taking the opportunity to rest a bit more, Ferknerkle hung back with me saying “let’s let the dust settle and ride at the back” but I could tell he knew I was struggling and was keeping an eye on me.

“Mick always starts the ride with the hardest bit first” said Ferknerkle … “The rest is my favourite bit”. And he was right, from that point on the ride was brilliant. Thank the Monster Energy? Getting used to the bike? The more open nature of the trails? … thankfully I came good and had a blast! Before I knew it we were back out in the same place we started wishing it wouldn’t end.

Wrap-up:
I still have no idea where we went or how Mick can remember all those trails and link them into a “loop”, but I’m glad he can and does.

The lessons from the day for me:
1/ Ride fitness is important
2/ Drinking petrol with a hangover is not a cure for AIDS
3/ There’s only one line through Jurassic, don’t wander offline
4/ Pr*ck hill deserves its name
5/ 17.5 PSI is NOT the correct tire pressure for those conditions
6/ Don’t ride it like a 1980’s 2T MX’r, the power-band is not your friend in tricky terrain
7/ Rocks and sticks hurt when they’re roosted at you from the back of a big-bore XR
8/ Toes will take any opportunity to roost you with mud when it’s available
AND
9/ Delete any text messages received from Toes on a Friday

Thanks again guys, great day and I was still beaming and thinking, “that was awesome!” late into last night lying on the couch completely knackered (and slightly pissed from the bottle of white wine I seemed to down in record time).

Razzle

[DarrenMember]

I’m so excited I could burst! :woohoo: :woohoo:

Ute loaded up and ready to RIDE!!

See you in the morning

[DarrenMember]

Whereabouts is the cemetery (and don’t say “the dead centre of town” ) ?

[DarrenMember]

I decided to grab a GoPro handlebar mount kit (and seatpost for MTB’s) along with the full curved mount kit at a surf shop in the US.

As Krusty mentioned, just leaving the standard elbow on the Ego it fits any GoPro mount.

So I’m gonna try out the handlebar mount first, like others have said I’m not keen on the camera on the top of my helmet, just asking for it to get snagged …. I’m aiming for the chest harness when it’s released and also rigging a mount for the mouthpiece of my helmet like Scotty has done.

[DarrenMember]

Count me in please :woohoo:

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