It was indeed an epic afternoon and the best part was it was a Friday. Corey8 originally posted that he was looking for an Easter ride and with my newborn only 6 days and my 2 year old running amuck I was given a four hour leave pass and offered him a local loop. I did not post it as it was only going to be a low key affair but I called BellingenEv, Nickj and Tdriver. Tdriver could not make it and let me know Shell was in Byron so it was the five of us who headed out. Myself, Nickj, Ev, Corey and his brother Nathan.
We met at the servo as I was frothing like a wave starved grommie so as soon as we met I had the little 250 fired up and ready to go. I knew Nathan would go alright considering who his old man and brother were and the rest of the crew were proven rippers. One look over my shoulder and I was gone. Nickj ran sweep which took a lot of pressure off me as he knows his way around which left me only having to try and stay ahead of the pack. I went out hard and fast and with a crew like this I only had to slow down at an intersection and the next man stopped on the corner. We had a good flow going when I sat on a corner for five minutes and saw nobody. The previous corner I had dropped Ev and I could see Corey so I knew they could not be too far behind. After waiting another few minutes I knew I had to go back and as soon as I saw Ev he turned and headed back down the trail. I followed him into the next gully to find Nathan stranded on a dead DRZ. He had borrowed it from his old man Biggeral and it had given up. It was the third consecutive ride that I have been on with this DRZ and once again it had shat itself and it was about the worse possible spot to be stuck. Corey called his Dad to let him know that he was welcome on any OBT ride but his bike was banned. I am sure he will be on the net as you read this shopping for a WR.
Nickj came to the rescue and diagnosed it as a fouled plug and he pulled out his spare, we stripped it down and put it in. It kicked over and we were off. Now I was frothing even harder to link some singles and from here we set a cracking pace. I put together a sweet loop sitting at the base of the Widow Maker. Two other guys were there when we arrived and without stopping to scope it out Corey hit it and nailed it first go. Nathan was not about to let him have all the glory and attacked it just as hard and rode clean to the top. Ev was next to fire up his bike and he hit it committed and met the boys above. By now the two other guys had bailed and it was just me and Nick. I knew he was going to have a dig today so i fired up my bike and drove it up that vertical bitch. Standing on top we all looked down and quietly hoped that Nick would soon be on top with us. He gave it a good dig and was past the worst when he spun out and was snagged in the worst possible spot. Corey and I edged our way down to join him and turned his bike around. Riding down is a bigger challenge than up but he made it to the bottom, manned up and hit it again. Unfortunately his brakes lever was bent under and he dragged the back wheel a short way up and stalled. Nick will live to see that hill another day so we moved on.
The next hour was as good as it gets and the five of us flowed through the bush as if we were one. I would go to drop a cornerman only to see all four behind me so we punched. I added some extra loops as we were making good time and before long we were back at the cars.
Big thanks to the boys for making then trouble to fight Easter traffic and especially Ev who showed up solo after two of his mated bailed. Ev had hosted two epic rides recently so I was stoked to be able to show him my backyard. Massive thanks to Nick for running sweep all day.
I heard tonight that while we were out Corey’s little daughter broke her arm so I hope she is ok and I wish him and his family all the best for a quick recovery.
STM
