What a great weekend!
Firstly a big thank you to Mick and TB. The effort that went on behind the scenes to make this happen was huge and it is a credit to you both how smoothly the day went.
To the damaged ones for the logistics on the day, thanks Eags, Corey8 and Kram and to Mike from Muc-off for the support.
I know that many others helped to make this ride the success it was so thank you to everyone. The OBT spirit is alive and well and the way everyone pulls together to offer help on and off the trail is a testament to what a great community this has become.
It was great to catch up with crew I already knew and meet some new faces as well. I remember showing up solo on my first OBT ride knowing nobody yet now it is such a great reunion.
The weekend started for me with Nickj pulling up at my place so that we could drive down together. We had not even travelled 5 k’s when I he called me to let me know he had managed to dodge the milk crate that had flown out the tray of my Hilux. I had forgotten to close the tray and is was lucky I did not cause any carnage.
We arrived at Mick’s shed at 5pm and TB had my new Scorpion MX Extra waiting and he had it on my rim in about the time it took me to put a Bundy in the fridge for him. Cheers mate. We left Mick’s at 6pm and headed out to the farm stay. Jeffro was there, Krusty and the other Owl’s were on form and the Tamworth boys had well and truly gotten the party started. We had a few beers around the fire and waited for the RSL bus to arrive. We loaded the bus and headed into town for dinner. Unfortunately for the poor bus driver Boony jumped in the front seat and I thought we would get bounced before we even got to the front door of the RSL. Surprisingly the bus actually pulled up in front of the RSL and not the police station. We had a great feed and a few beers and a good laugh. Back at the farm stay it was more beers around the fire and then off to bed in anticipation of a great ride to come. It was drizzling rain as we went inside and I was hoping that the day would dawn clear after so many people had traveled so far to ride.
After a reasonable night sleep, considering the snoring, we got up at 6am and were treated to a brilliant breakfast which did a great job of soaking up the evening beers although some looked worse off than others. Meeting time at Timbertown was 8am so we took our time getting ready, relived the night’s stupidity and headed into town. From here the ever smiling Moose led us to the staging point out in the forest. The dirt roads in were super greasy and some of the two wheel drives looked to be struggling but everyone made it but it looked like we were not going to have to worry about dust.
Note* In my experience You Tube clips look better and load faster if you link to You tube rather than watching them in OBT. Simple hold your cursor over the top left hand side of the clip and the title appears. Click here and it takes you straight to that clip in You Tube.
TB and Mick gave the briefing and it was time to do the first sighting lap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmCBIoTgqA
The loops that were marked out had a bit of everything.
Downhills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O8ubmbVW9o
Uphills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C22OqzB-xQQ
Fast flowing sections
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5vQ1xVXiw
Bog holes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOKhX19aKs
Tight singles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1b5_YIvKII
Sweet, sweet loam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-HWKB7Em3M
And an incredible amount of variety. It was beautiful terrain and an awesome day was had by all. There was one broken finger but considering the amount of riding that got done it was injury free.
Having the trails bunted and being able to do multiple laps was brilliant. I am always tentative in unfamiliar terrain but this meant that you got to know the tracks and could open it up a bit and my 3rd lap on each track was my best and my last lap of the day was a highlight which was a great way to end it.
Time to pack up and show our Poker hands. I had a full house with three aces and two queens and was feeling pretty confident but was beaten out by Boony who had four aces and a king.
I hit the road and was back in Coffs by 5.30pm and spent the whole trip reliving some great singletrack moments. OBT excelled itself on this one and to all involved, cheers and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Ride On
STM
It was such a great day and the shenanigans on Friday night and banter around the BBQ and presentation was good fun.