A bit dusty for today’s ride, but the rest of the track conditions were great.

13 of us headed off into the triangle in bright sunshine. There was the usual regroup at the top of the first hill, and everyone seemed to be tracking along well.

As the conditions were so good, I thought it was time to tackle the rocky climb up to the Mt Gordon lookout. This was an ‘optional’ hill climb, so there were plenty that chose to be spectators and watch our attempts - I hope they got good value for their money.

Next, it was a quick loop around the outskirts of Marysville township, and across the bitumen to the Dom Dom side of the road, and in amongst the denser trees for better shade. We climbed Strickland Link track, and at the top the choice was given to either go back down via the much ‘rockier’ Strickland Spur track, or take the road back to the bottom – half went each way.

After talking up the difficulty of Strickland Spur, it was a bit disappointing to see that most of the rock ledges now had little rock ramps in front of them. That made things much easier than last time I went down it.

From there we did a couple of overgrown twisty tracks, (where I managed to get stuck in a bog hole - thanks for the help Stuart) and then it was decided to have a play over in the Narbethong forest, with a quick stop for lunch once we got there.

Ted decided to call it a day at lunch time, so Mark gave him an escort back to the highway, and then re-joined the group.

As I’m still very uncertain of the tracks on the Narby side of the highway, Mark took over the role of ride leader. Suddenly, the L1/L2 ride seemed to be getting progressively more challenging, with the slopes getting steeper, and the ruts much deeper.

The pinnacle was a tight rocky climb that finished at an old quarry – the arms were certainly complaining a bit at that stage!

Then it was an easy jaunt down the main trails back to the highway. Mark took a few back to the cars via the roads at that point, whilst the rest of us had a further blast through the triangle.

Thanks to everyone for coming along – I had a great time, and I hope you all did too.

And thanks especially to Mark for taking the ride leader role for the second half of the ride, and to Colin who was tailman all day (he obviously has a serious fetish for dust!)

Thanks Peter for putting on the monthly Marysville ride, much appreciated. It was dry & dusty so the red clay wasn't trying to take my bike out from under me however we still managed to find some mud to play in.
The day was a great mix of open trails & some tighter stuff to keep everyone on their toes. It was great to venture into areas that i hadn't been before & ride some of the tracks would be impossible in winter.
Once again thanks Peter for putting on the ride,  Mark for leading the afternoon ride & Colin for riding tail all day.

Thanks for letting letting me tag along for the morning but after taking 3 hours getting home I was told by the boss 
I was dehydrated  she was right of corse still sufferig alittle but a great ride anyway with 12 other good friends 

Another fantastic Sunday with the AMTRA crew.Thanks so much Peter and Mark i had an awesome day and a really good sleep last night.Ihave to admit i was cursing Mark when i was desperately riding the clutch trying to get the RM up that gnarly rutted rocky b%&#@% hill.Also a big thanks to Colin, it wasnt a great day to be tailman in all that dust.
    Great effort Ted your an inspiration mate i hope you keep riding for a long time yet.

Locked in the ride with number one son Sean, so all good to go on a promising day. Plenty of mist on the way but turned out to be sunny with patches of cool air as we headed through the usual tracks at the start.
K's were ticking over and we hit lunch time with 50 on the clock. A few departures and Mark took over leading the troupe. Well, that escalated quickly.
All had smiles as we tackled some more advanced tracks and tried to get some cool air through our nylons as it started to warm up.  I thought I knew the area pretty well until Mark took us through a great loop around Westons Track and surrounds. It started to warm up around 3 so we headed back via some open tracks and got back around 4. 110 ks on my speedo, and a great day out.
Cheers to all who came along and made it a great day.
Special mention to Pete, Mark and Colin for putting on the finishing touches to a great tradition.

This ride was the perfect opportunity to see whether I had fixed my jumping the erosion mound problem. It really started on the High Country ride earlier in the year, I would belt past Lefty when we were sweep riding then after I jumped an erosion mound the bike would just stop as if it had run out of fuel. Fortunately, it would start again straight away. This problem never occurred on Frankie's ride, no erosion mounds but on the Marysville ride it was embarrassing!!!

I have stripped the carbie down so many times I can take it out the bike and in pieces in less than ten minutes!!! I just happened to be talking to the spare parts guy at KTM in Ringwood and he was saying they had a big problem with the reed valves on the new KTM's. I took mine out and sure enough one was slightly open.

I fitted a VForce reed valve and it appears to have fixed the problem. Sunday was a great day dust or no dust, my bike started and kept going. Thanks for Leading the ride Peter and Mark. Cheers Colin 

You should never have purchased that bike ColinP, it's designed for gentlemen and ladys who would never think of subjecting their riding gear or steeds to high levels of "G" forces.

Shame on you for damaging those genteel reed valves. 

Hi Ken, the bike sure has it's limitations but it is great fun to ride. Hopefully, it will keep going for th next decade or so to see me out. Cheers Colin