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Rally Rave and Rally Rescue
A fine rally rave ride today clocking up 543 kms. Well at least that’s what my GPS said. Note to self, don’t forget to clear the current track on your GPS before the ride starts.
Darin called the ride and promised snags at the end. What’s not to like? A mixture of bikes turned out. At the meeting point, we had Pounce & Tommy on the trusty DR650s with Junior on a finely turned out specimen of a 690R. They had braved the 5C to ride to the meet point and were busily trying to thaw out. We had a couple of Betas of Darin & TigeR. Jed arrived with a Honda CRF250L. L is for ladies edition, Jed’s words not mine. The group was rounded out with a trio of five hungies, 3 KTMs of MickKal, KTMMike and Jacek our trusty fuel dump manager for the day (on the white KTM). Darin has his new GPS at the ready, feeling like he had a widescreen TV on his bars having just upgraded from the Garmin model Captain Cook used in 1788 to find Botany Bay. What followed was a great mixture of flowing tracks in primo conditions. The fog lifted as the sun came out to play, and the temperature rose to perfect levels. Not too far into the ride, Jed took a tumble on the Honda which was caused by or caused a front tyre puncture. Jed was left with a sprained thumb to keep him company for the rest of the ride but dusted off pretty well. Tommy & Jacek jumped in to fix the puncture faster than a pit crew at the IOM TT, and soon enough we were off again. At one point we came across a white sedan, well out of its natural environment, trying to navigate a puddle littered gravel road. What the? The duff-duff music we could hear in the distance at our next stop was the answer. The rave scene is alive and well in 2018. Junior, infamous PAR bad boy was styling on the 690R replete with saddlebags. Is the KTM 690R the best adventure bike out there? Discuss. Mick was enjoying the choice of 500 over his moved-on 650. Is the KTM 500 the best adventure bike out there? Discuss. Jed was dreaming of his next bike a Husky 701, but the 250L was lapping it up. Is a 250 or a Husky 701 the best adventure bike out there? Discuss. Tommy & Pounce were showing how a DR 650 is to be ridden on these tracks and why for many the DR650 is the best adventure bike out there. I was simply happy that I was for once able to keep up to their pace as they cruised the trails and I followed in full Slakar mode. KTMike must have been worried about overheating the KTM because he stopped in a big puddle and took it for a little lie down. No point doing that without an audience. That’s normally my style. Too soon we were back at the cars. Darin broke out the Weber and dished up hot snags, with a choice of two breads and three sauces. Darin has taken it to a whole new level. Love your work Darin! ROTD for you. You also get SOTD – Snag of the day. Thanks to all for a great ride out in primo conditions. Thanks to Jacek for fuel dump and for Jed fixing my mystery electrical problem. Hope the thumb heals up quickly. We washed them down the gourmet snags with a few beers and a chinwag, before the adventure trio took off to different destinations. Tommy was suspiciously heading bush in the direction of the ravers. He may turn up in tie-died riding gear with a whistle at the next ride. As Tommy headed in the direction of a rave, Jacek unbeknownst to him head towards a rescue. Here's Jacek's story ... My second adventure began on the way home and went late into the evening. "So a lesson for newbie 4WD drivers, buy some recovery gear to go with your $50k toy if going Offroad. 20km up Yarra rd a family with young kids waved me down to help get their Prado out of a bog 200m in the bush off the track. It was down to its axles, and stupid me drove within 20m of it just to sink aswell. So now 2 cars bogged, no recovery gear and no Mobile phone reception. Only option was to unload the Husky and hoof it a further 10km to get reception. My son came out to help with another 4wd, snatch straps, wheel trax and shovels. 2 hrs later of snatching and digging we finally get the cars out just on dark. In all that time not one vehicle drove past, so they were one lucky family that didn’t have to spend the night in the bush and lucky I had the Husky otherwise I’d be overnighting with them." That look's like ROTD (rescue of the day) for Jacek.         |
