After a successful morning ride being a trainee tailman for Darren's ride leader training session, it was my turn to lead the pack around the hills of Neerim South in the afternoon.

There were some very dark clouds starting to form, and it looked like the ride might turn wet, but thankfully the rain stayed away for the whole time we were out.

Colin 'bowed out' of the arvo ride due to a work function that was being held at Crown Casino (with free grog and food included, I can't say I blame him), but we picked up Grandpa in his place on a sparkly new Beta 300 Crosstrainer.



Knowing the riders' capabilities from the morning session, it was decided to pick up the pace a little, and to include a few more challenging tracks in the ride. After some quick adjustments to the ride map, we were ready for the riders briefing.

Being the first time I had actually done a riders briefing,I suddenly found that everything I had planned to say had magically disappeared out of my head, and I needed a bit of prompting to get through the correct procedures.

So, with our troop of 8 riders fed, refuelled and looking keen to get back into the dust, it was time to set off down the carpark track and back to the bottom of Sawdust Heap Track. We had already traversed this hill climb a couple of times in the morning ride, so everyone knew what to expect, and the speeds were steadily improving.



From there, it was a quick dash though the pines and onto Young Track, where things got a little more technical with some ruts, steeper declines, and erosion mounds to contend with.






Checking with the pack at a regroup showed that everyone was still feeling comfortable with the harder terrain, so it was decided to add 'Frankie's track' onto our list of tracks to cover.



Extension Road is fun - lots of closely spaced 'whoops' to keep you on your toes and to keep the suspension working hard. My YZ was much more suited to this track than the XR200 that I had last ridden it on, and I had a ball trying to take off from one and land on the downhill of the next - sort of like 'mini' doubles.



All too soon we found the turn-off to Frankie’s track, and the open tracks turned into a tight weaving series of ruts. Thankfully the recent rain hadn't filled the ruts much, and it was fairly easy (in terms of what this track can be like in winter) to make it through puddles of smelly stagnant water.



Being committed to riding in a particular rut at one stage, I tried to bash my way through a small fallen dead tree, only to have it spear me in the face. I then got off the bike to manually move it out of the way (who needs a side-stand when there is a 2 foot deep rut holding your bike up?).
I'm sure Gary had a good laugh when the branch broke and I pin-wheeled backwards into another rut - I think his bike must have really enjoyed it too, as next thing I saw was it rolling around on the ground beside him!

After a regroup on the other side of the rutted section, I scored a quick blast on Steve's new Beta, and it was very nice - lovely and smooth power-wise, but in need of some suspension tuning (thanks again Steve).

We then headed off to play in another of the pine plantations towards Neerim East, and finished off the ride with a bit of technical riding down some rutted hills to a creek crossing, followed by a quick blast down Lizard's Lament and back to the cars.



The ride flowed really well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, so I guess the choice of tracks was appropriate for the group.

I must thank Will, Gary and Darren for making this training experience a lot of fun - it was certainly very well organised!

Thanks also to everyone in the group for putting up with our occasional losses of direction and multiple map consulting stops.



Best part for me - NO DUST!!!

Couple of photos of Willbars Track at the bottom bog hole

And another

Both you guys did a Great Job both as ride leaders and as tailmen. Looking forward to the next one.

Hi Peter, thanks for stepping up to lead a ride,  yes had a bit of a laugh with the branch removal gone wrong, nice job with the  report as well, so when is the next one ?
cheers, Gary.

What a ripper of a day gents! 

Great job Darren and Peter leading and tailing throughout the day and also thanks to Gary and Will. 

Photos are cool too. 

So much fun. 

Yes, we may need to write a few notes for Pete's rider briefings but he picked it up eventually. After the mornings outing the group was handling the tracks fine so we all agreed to take on a few more challenging tracks. It flowed pretty well, never on a corner too long and with two up front and two behind it was really like a small group ride. No mechanicals or meltdowns so Daz got an easy job of tail, though at a few corners I think he was trying to work out why I wasn't going anywhere, then he remembered to give a big nod for me to go. Very tempting to make out I couldn't ride frankies track, but that is way easier to ride than walk so I just meandered through.

The ride plan worked well, Pete regrouped a few times to make sure everyone was handling conditions ok and if they wanted some more of the same, which was always a yes from me. I rode a few tracks I hadn't been on before and they were a treat. Around 4:00 I think Pete started heading us back and we all arrived at the carpark around the planned ride end time.

Well done Pete and Daz, look forward to the next ride you put on. Thanks to Will and Gary for putting in the time to help them get the hang of things.