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The Freedom Ride
A late call for a big bike ride and 3 turned up at Sawyers Tavern for cool 9 am start. Jack lead the ride with me and Slates switching 2nd and 3rd positions throughout the day. We headed out to York for a leisurely ride with only the one drama with Slates rear taillight assembly deciding to seperate but with a bit of bush mechanics we got going again until the cable tights decided to let go. This was then time for me to carry the tail end in my back pack to finish the ride. Great pub lunch and a beer to wash it down and then it was back on the bikes to head home.
No accidents but a bit slippery with plenty of puddles and rutted out tracks to keep us all on our toes. A great combination of forest and farm roads with a bit of black top to mix it up. Me and Jack swapped bikes for a very short spin, I felt like his 701 was a skinny two stroke after getting off my 790. Unfortunately my rear suspension has failed again, first ride after the rebuild. Oh well hopefully Sander can sort it out on Thursday for me as I’m down Bunbury way for a quick overnight trip to Margaret River. Once again a great bunch of lads to be involved with thanks Jack for an awesome lead and Slates for sharing the cornerman. Crustys for ever. Bunga Bunga posted a maybe ride due the Covid lock down and all the dirty grubs running around in Perth. On Friday afternoon Mark McClown gave the Crusty Boys permission to ride on Saturday and the weather gods decided to deliver us perfect riding conditions again, that's 2 in a row. We met at Sawyers Tavern at 0900 and after Bunga destroyed the local footy clubs public toilet Jack informed us he had a few tracks in mind that could lead us to the oldest inland town in Western Australia, York. Sounded good to me! Straight off the bat we jumped on to some flowing forest gravel runs and singles, packed down from a bit of rain and no dust. We meandered our way through Gorrie and snaked our way to the Helena River encountering some hard packed sandy sections with a few puddles & rocks with the roar of Bugas sprint car motor waking up the local fauna. A few jumping dogs said hello to Jack out front as the roos were enjoying a bounce on a perfect morning as well. We pushed on through the Lakes area on a variety of terrain with Jack setting a good pace across Talbots and eventually crossing the Great Southern Hwy. We slipped around the north east end of York, crop gazing and looping past the local olive oil company and dropped into town through the back door. A quick beer and burger at the Castle Hotel on the main drag and then back on the bikes for the return journey, which panned out just as good as the mornings ride. Found our way back to the Sawyers Tav for a quick absoluter, owed the boys a beer while they waited for me to cable tie my rear fender back on! Thanks fellas for a great day. Oh yeah, ROTD goes to Jack for putting together the Freedom Ride! OK gotta go and get my jab now. Slates Good call from Bunga to get out post LockDown and clear the head of cobwebs. Judging from the number of dirt bikes, 4wd’s and wood choppers out in the bush, we all needed to taste freedom again. Sawyers to York, was a casual 200km loop of twin tracks in perfect conditions. Once in York we treated ourselves to beers, burgers, coffee and ice cream - enjoy it when you can ! Like Slates said “ is there ever a shit ride with the CQ’s “ definitely not. Jack |
