Today was my first AMTRA ride I've put on, where do I start it was such a great day, I suppose I should start at the beginning, for me the day started when I opened my eyes at 5:15 am, I'll skip what I did next  the first person to arrive to my place was Jim Sheedy, not long after Keven Johnston none member arrived at my place, waited for the 3rd rider to turn up, no show, I couldn't Waite any longer, we headed to the unloading area at 7:53, most were already there,it didn't take long for the rest to arrive,  after a chinwag with every body, then the riders breefing after that it was time to take out my hearing aid, the thing I love about the bush it's so quite, my Kato 300 was fired up with a touch of the button, the vibration between my legs let me know that the engine was running  those over grown tracks really keep ya on ya toes, I love them, I could ride them all day  I'll let the others tell ya's about them, we stopped at the play hills, a few of the boys had a bit of fun going up & down them, after that we headed to the pines via a bit more overgrown tracks, I'm sure everyone loved the pines as much as I do, I ended up with a front flat tyre 30 km into the ride, not keen to change it, so finished the rest of the ride on a flat, it felt ok in the overgrown tracks, but could feel the lack of air on the stones on the open roads, Mark Clark ended up with half a rear mudguard at the end of the day,I'll let him tell the story, a big thanks Mark Clark for the excellent sweep duties all day, & also a big thanks to everybody else that came to support my First ride for AMTRA, we had 7 guest & 8 members......From home & back 78.4 km.

Thank you Frankie boy  for a bloody great ride well lead excellent tracks  had a ball with an excellent group of riders totally knackered when i got home and stiff and sore the next day that's when you know youv'e been on a good ride see you on the next one    

Denis wrote:
Thanks mate, I'm glad you liked it, I felt good when I got home, after dinner I sat down watching a bit of telly, I fell asleep & then woke up & put myself to bed early  woke up this morning feeling really good, no  pain anywhere, it just goes to show ya riding that area is good for ya :)Hey mate, the others must be really stuffed, no ride reports from them yet 

Lucky Bastards sounds like you had more fun than me working on my future leave pass's

Good on ya Frankie !
A great day out, & I agree that all that overgrown track is excellent riding !

Willbar wrote:  


Hahaha........Some of us have to keep working & keep the Country running mate 

Grandpa wrote:
I'm glad you had a great ride mate, I knew you would put ya name down for this one after you rode the none AMTRA ride there, next one is on the 25th of January 2016.

G-day everyone

As I mention in my ride report I had a front flat tyre  ( Will's fault ) I pulled the tyre off just now, to my surprise I still had to break the bead, tyre still looked good inside, no damage at all & no flat spots in the rim, the ultra heavy duty tube left about two cups of rubber in side the tyre  the tyre I had on was a Dunlop Geomax 51m 80x100x21, I wasn't to worried about the tyre, I was thinking of replacing it soon anyway, a few knobs were starting to split, knoby's don't like corning on the black stuff

I went away for a few days after the ride so this is the first chance i have had to use the laptop (typing on the phone is just too hard).I had packed everything other than the bike the previous night so when the alarm went off at 5.30 all i had to do was eat and load up the bike so i was on the road by 6am.Followed Frankies directions and too my surprise 2 hours later i was at the unloading area.Shortly after that the rest of the crew arrived and after the pre ride talk we hit the tracks.Now i have been riding motorbikes for a long time but dirtbikes not so long and mostly fire trails ect, very little single track so i dont mind admitting i found it pretty tough.
             Half an hour into the ride i had already fallen off twice and was starting to worry i was going to hold the other riders up but shortly after we stopped for a short break and i got my breath back.When we got going again i got into the groove and although i was still slower than most of the other riders i was having an absolute blast.70 kilometers of 1st and 2nd gear riding had me absolutely knackered by the end of the day but with a great feeling of accomplishment.
             A huge thank you to Frankie for leading the ride i can only imagine the time it would have taken to work the loop out, also thanks to Mark for tailman duties and to all the other riders for making it a fantastic ride.

ps.  I noticed a few blokes taking photos and video , particularly at the hill challenge i think it would be great it could be posted on the forum watching the Newton boys ride was one of the great highlights of the day for me.

shercophil wrote:

Very interesting report there Phil, being up front I don't get to see what's going behind me, this is the sort of feed back I like to see, you made mention of doing it tough in the beginning of the ride & was worried about holding everyone up, please don't worry about it, we are all out to have fun, it is not a race, I'm not the fastest rider in the overgrown stuff either, that's why I have a level 2 ride, I have not been a fan of the overgrown tracks, but the more I ride it the better I like it, so stick at it mate you'll love it more & more, when you worry to much you can't concentrate on what you are doing & end up doing it hard, try to relax as much as ya can & only focus on whats in front of you & think about railing those little burms & saying to ya self........How good was that      the other thing is, when we have our first regroup after a short break I will asked.......Are we ready to go......Don't be afraid to say that you or anyone else need a few more minutes, these stops are always good for a little chat, I'm glad you end up enjoying the ride mate.



PS  Steve Davis from Scooter news took a few photos & put them up on facebook, I reckon he will put them up on Scooter News when he gets time & of other rides he has been on.