I decided to spend the afternoon of my annual family gathering at Lake Nillahcootie exploring the eastern edge of the Strathbogies and put on a last-minute ride for any interested takers. My navigator pulled out (due to having his wife giving birth). But that freed up his bike which he gladly loaned to my daughter's boyfriend from Canberra. Rob & Dougie from Benalla arrived early and we proceeded to gear up. Rob was on his trusty XR4 but Doug surprised me by turning up with a brand new '14 Sherco SE510; a step up from the old XR, that's for sure! We took off around 9:00am and there were four of us. Rob, XR400, Dougie, SE510, Matt, TE450, Andrew, SE450. In a day of firsts, I was leading an AMTRA ride, riding with my daughter's boyfriend AND it was also the first time I'd ever been on a ride where Shercos outnumbered every other bike.
We headed off from the Nillahcootie adventure camp to Nillahcootie track and got going. The weather was fine and sunny and we were going to need our water. I'd heard tell that there was a track that came out on the Midland Highway much closer to the camp so we took off down Sandy Creek track and went all the way to the end - which came out about 300m from the camp. Doubling back, we had a look up a side track that had an unofficial sign indicating "this way to Lightning Ridge track". It soon became a wide-ish single trail and after a couple of logs consensus held that it was too hot for this stuff and open trails were the go. So we headed back to the open trails. Pretty soon we got to Lightning Ridge track and turned right. I knew this one went several k's to the end with lots of whoops and few rocks with the odd rut to test one's skill. about half way along we came across a bunch of blokes riding out of Star Glen Lodge. They were only riding the goat tracks and were literally dripping with sweat. After a brief comparison of bikes, we headed to the end of Lightning Ridge where we stopped for a drink and a chat. As we got back on the bikes, I said I'd stop at the next corner - it was a few k's away, but there was a long uphill to be enjoyed (basically the entire track was uphill to the next corner). I waited and waited. Finally, I heard a bike - it was close. Then all was silent. Fearing a crash, I rode back tentatively to check it out (actually I just rolled down the hill for the first 500m). I soon came across Dougie and the goat-trackers who were appearing out of the bush. "Husky won't start" said Dougie, so we rode back to the end of Lightning Ridge to check it out. After removing the tank, then the fuel pump assembly, I confirmed my worst suspicions - dead/jntermittent fuel pump. It would only work if tapped. Fortunately, at the end of Lightning Ridge track is a 2WD road and I called back to the camp and someone came and took the bike and rider home. The three of us then retraced our tracks back to the camp via Lightning Ridge track, Nillahcootie track and Sandy Creek track. The pace was high and we had a blast and we got back to the camp in time for lunch.
Thanks to Rob & Dougie for coming and making it into a fun half-day's ride. There's a lot more of the Strathbogies to explore and I'll try to get the dates of future rides into the calendar with more than a week's notice.
-Andrew T
(Ride Leader, SE 450)
