12 Dec 2015 Neerim South Ride leader training sessions - arvo ride

After a nice 'semi-cruisy' morning ride as the tailman for Darren’s ride leader training, it was time to take over the reins for the arvo session. The group had shrunk to 9 riders, but they all sounded very keen to get into some of the tighter tracks that Neerim has to offer.

Riders briefing was far less overwhelming than last time, and hopefully I managed to get all the important bits mentioned in my little spiel.

I had been hoping to have my new bike ready for the day, but it wasn’t to be, so I dragged out my trusty little ’82 model XR200R to fill in the gap. Being ride leader on a 33 year old bike was always going to make it a bit of a challenge whilst leading a pack of ‘modern’ bikes, but I think the little XR did a pretty fair job…

We started off with a bit of a rehash of some of the tracks we had ridden in the morning, and then moved into some more challenging terrain. The XR was in its element weaving in and out of the trees on the tighter, slower bits, but I did manage to find the limits of its suspension travel many times over the whoops on the faster trails.

There were still plenty of ruts to contend with, but they were mostly dry, so made choosing your line much easier - even Frankie’s track was mostly dry, and certainly far less challenging than in winter.

Some of the trails we found were very overgrown, requiring a lot of ducking and weaving to get under the regrowth, whilst also dodging erosion ruts – Fingers crossed I can find them again next time!

There were no real issues (apart from my map reading skills being ‘tested’ once or twice), and we made it back to the cars at about 4:30.

Thanks to everyone who came along – hopefully you all enjoyed yourselves – and a big thanks again to Will, Gary and Darren for all the help in training us so that we can do the job right!

P.S Could someone let me know how many kms we did for the whole day - my speedo decided to reset itself halfway through the ride!
 

Great Job Pete, great day, I had lots of fun mucking around with Darren at the back, we where swapping tail places constantly as he had a need for a rest he would tail and as I need a run  I would blast of in front of him for a run to return for a rest.
The only issues we had was the bloke we found out ridding on his own and had broken down deep in the forest but as I was about to sell him a new plug for his 2 stroke his mate arrived with his 4wd to save him, then it was Cols mate on the Berg on Frankies track after choosing the wrong line twice, Daz and I had to help him lift the bike out of a 2 foot deep rut, he was doing it hard by them, not looking ahead, which he seamed to prove early on in the day when he ran into the group of stopped riders and complained that no one told him we would stop. Glad no one got hurt but  we will leave that story for Darren's ride report. 109klms for the day with 59 being for the arvo route, shame most did not want to do the last little bit of single, would have finished the day of even better but as usual lots of fun and nice to have some potential new and the returning older members along for lots of laughs.

Thanks Pete for an awesome afternoon ride.
The weather was perfect the trails were the best , combine this with a great bunch of blokes and you get a ripper of a days riding.
Big thanks to Gary and Will for putting on this effort of training new ride leaders and tail men.
Thanks to Daz and Pete for taking on the roll of trainees.
It was a pleasure for me to go riding with you guys.

Cant wait for the next one.

G'day Blokes
Sorry I missed the ride.............. My bike is STILL at the suspension guru !!!!!!!!!!!  ( He hasn't actually done anything yet !)
While you were out riding, I spent the day looking at lounge suites  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Now that is what I call hard work !
Makes Franky''s track in reverse, in the middle of winter, look like a walk in the park  

Hi all, another great day at Neerim with the tracks just right after rain in during the week resulting in very little dust. Thanks to Darren, Pete on the XR 200 which goes everywhere at full throttle, Will and Gary. It is going to be interesting to see just how fast Pete will be able to make his new bike go! Also, it was great to see Frankie back on the bike, he certainly still has the same great sense of humour. Not quiet sure what happened early in the day when Graham knocked four of us down like nine pins but fortunately no one was hurt. Looking forward to riding the new version of Frankie's track  when Frankie puts on his ride. Cheers Colin

Thank's Peter and Darren for stepping up again and putting on another great am / pm ride,  
there were a few tired faces at the end of the day but every one was still smiling , even Frankie 

Check out Time warp Frankie, back from the 80s

Joe re wiring the yz

Hey Gaz

I am still tired but still smiling and my body is as stiff as.
When is the next one?

  Peter and Darren are keen to put more rides on,  wont be until next year, so watch the calendar 

Gary Clarke wrote: the cripple would like that 

So would this cripple.....