Ride report, Saturday, Easter weekend, 2014
Riders:
Andrew Tyler (Leader) DRZ400
Matt Knights XR650
Darrell Knights TE510
Anthony (lastname?) WR450
This ride followed the same course as the Monday ride after the HCR weekend. All that was different was the participants.
The weather was fine and I arrived at Abbeyard at about 9:50am (one of the joys of living in Wangaratta!) ready for a ten o'clock start. But the pace at Abbeyard was ultra-relaxed and no-one appeared to be in any rush to get underway. About ten-ish I started to put my gear on when a stranger pulled up in his Hilux and proceeded to question me about the property and hiring the facilities for the weekend. "Not my call" I said politely and referred him the pres. It appears he wants to bring a few old shooters to the place on weekdays and go out for a bit of deer-hunting action when the weekenders are all at work.
With the old shooter dealt with and our gear on, we headed out towards Catherine Station and beyond. The ride was relatively uneventful and we kept up a good pace, stopping only for the odd route check. (You'd think I'd remember the route since it was only two week's since I last rode it!)
On Whites track Matt and I stopped to move a tree that nearly impaled Matt who was leading at the time with me hot on his heals. Darrell and Anthony went on ahead after I said we'd turn right in the creek at the bottom. Shortly after the tree near-miss, there came the rock-stutters - three closely paced humps formed almost entirely of rock. I stopped to catch the XR tackling these obstacles but was too late. Matt did say that he nearly came a cropper as the suspension struggled to absorb the triple hit. At the bottom of the hill were not one, but four creek crossings, so the other waited for my revised 'instructions' as to which creek crossing to turn right at. We turned right on to Humphrey Track and stopped at the camping area where the previous occupants' campfire was till burning and their cans and bottle were half-melted in the fire. We were naturally disgusted. While we were stopped there we met a trio of 4WDers looking for a campsite and asking us our intentions. "just passing through" we said and after a bit of a chat about the kind of people who leave their litter and a burning fire we headed off up Humphrey Track. About halfway up Matt stopped and offered me a ride on the XR (I was leading the ride from second place). I agreed and soon caught up to Darrell but I wasn't quite game enough to overtake him as he was very quick in the straights and I was not too confident in the corners. At the next intersection I thanked Matt and asked for my somewhat plusher DRZ back.
We rode down Penny track and I intentionally (albeit not gracefully) mono-ed the DRZ through the creek at the bottom - I was only trying to keep the front out of the water but it got a little higher than I intended.
Next up was Razor Track and we made good pace along there too. We had a leisurely and uneventful transport back to Abbeyard and took on the minibike track for one last challenge. There was a tree across the track and I dropped the DRZ down the hill as I tried to negotiate my way around the jutting trunk. Matt helped me get the beast right-ways up and back on the track then we rolled the tree out of the way - what I should have done in the first instance! We finished with a quick squirt along the fence line through the bog and up to our camp. No crashes, good camaraderie and an even 100km riding made for a fun day. We capped it off with a family BBQ tea with a bunch of additional members of the Knights and Tyler families who came bearing (salmon) steaks, chicken and salads.
Next ride: Seano's Kinglake special