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Chokos Westcoast Trailbike Safari CQ Tour 2009
Westcoast Trailbike Safari Tour 2009
Executive Summary ----------------- For those too busy to read twenty pages of schiesen... 1. Get well soon Carlo! 2. Big thanks to George, Staino, JC, Noah & Mia. 3. Colin & Pounce: You were missed! 4. Choko's a princess! 6. The trails: Mint 5. The verdict: Aweeeeeeeeeeeesome! Friday Night ------------ Report by: TigeR Time to log the report while I'm still buzzin' ... I don't know why the rush 'cos I'll be buzzin' for weeks after this one. As recounted in previous tomes, I've done more than a few WCTS tours and each time it's the same - before the tour I go .. I can't really afford this, I should bail and save some dosh .. and after the tour I go, man that is the best $ I've ever spent and this time was no exception. Before we continue, a big thank you to George, Staino, JC and also Noah & Mia for their handy trail tips. The WCTS motto should really be: -> Turn up -> Dial in -> Tune out It's really that simple, you just turn up - it's all laid on. Then you dial in your riding (Gumby -> Hero) and tune out to your "normal" life. After the daily grind of reality is there anything better than rocking up on Friday night at Camp Kirup with the prospect of pristine SW trails for the weekend with the eclectic bunch that is the Crusty Quinns? This time there was a tinge of sadness - the exiled King of the Crusties, Colin was not present and Pounce, the King of Sarcasm was also sorely missed. And so it was with a nod to absent Kings; on Friday a big crew showed up. The fire was crankin'. Staino was settling back to a few quiet beers till the plaintive calls came and he spent half the night applying fresh rubber for people with office boy hands and double rim locks on wouldn't pull the socks off a dead man Yammie 250's. While Staino was toiling on the tyre levers - we did the right thing by tending to the fire and downing a few cleansing ales. Roley & Pete were looking a little lost without little bro' Colin - Choko would have to take on that role. The range of accomodation was varied from H & Haydn in their recently purchased (in the $2 shop) "4 man" tent to Biggsy with his 6 berth caravan for one. The beauty of getting down on a Friday - is getting a good sleep in before the off. Of course readers, a note of caution; with a ride comprising of 24 blokes you are guaranteed to get 23 snorers (and particularly one unnamed sweep) - this might be compounded by sleeping in the comfort on the secret mezzanine floor and then waking up bursting for a pee at 1pm only to find out you can't find a way out. This will be followed by sleep interrupted by dreams of waterfalls. All this was eased by the Kirup rooster who thinks that 3am is dawn ... I guess he voted No No No to daylight saving. The normally cocky Kirup rooster quickly went back to his coup when he was drowned out by the cacophony of snoring. Day 1 ----- ROTD: Mackley SOTD: DRZAllan POTD (Princess of the Day): Mackley QOTD (Quote of the day) Noah (son of Staino & George) Age 6: "Don't ride into trees and don't get too drunk tonight" Odometer: 230kms of bliss It's here. It's on. First the obligatory photo-salute to absent kings. Staino gave his pre-ride speech with help from mini-me Noah; Staino does emphasise the importance of "doing the right thing" with disease risk areas, private properties which are not always obvious, the need to not cut up gravel roads, his close relationship with DEC and property owners - all vital factors for the future survival of this sport. On we cruised out of Kirup - straight onto the trails. Quickly we were into a "pay attention" downhill rocky set of trails. Now rather than describe all trails, 'cos it is a bit of a blur we had: - sandy/gravel-o logging tracks - lots of pine-o-loco tracks - overgrown-o single-tracks - take-a-breather-o gravel roads Roughly summarised as perfect-o-tracks - the conditions were mint. It really doesn't get better than this. It was more open and flowing than the Greenbushes riding with very few hills involved. There was lots of pine trails which made for lots of jostling for position. In one such session, using my finally honed skills I expertly stalled mid-corner amongst a pack of four to the sounds of "FARKING TIGER..." as Mick450 expertly didn't run me over. Guess my AMA career is a few weeks off yet. Weather wise, we got sprinkled on a couple of times - just to remind us what created the mint conditions. On the way to the big tourist attraction for day one that is Big Bertha, we had the first sighting of a steam bath in the bush. On cresting a low rise a certain DRZTony was sighted taking a bath in a nice big puddle with steam rising from his DRZ. Who said 5 star living can't be experienced in the bush? On we travelled through the magic trails - that were so good that superlatives or expletives don't do them justice. And then we arrived - BIG BERTHA. At this point some ragging of your esteemed ride reporter occurred. A scurrilious rumour that a new tyre would give me the "power of Big Bertha" was put forward. I will restate - once Big Bertha is bitumenised and has a reliable bus service - I will happily ride up there. But on this day a new phenomeon was born: The DRZilla Killas With a bunch of Enduro pretendas in residence, the DRZ boys put up and attacked. Wrex and DRZAllan made a number of noble attempts at the big one - while destroying the rear ends of their respective mounts. Of the Enduro boyz we had Mackley, Mick450 and JC give it a good crack - with Mackley having a less than noble attempt at crack one - Princess prize accomplished. :-) Oh yeah - I almost forgot, Staino made it to the top. Yawn. :) A fine hearty lunch at Tathra and then on we went toward Margs. The SOTD was awarded with DRZ "always on the edge" Allan rounding a corner to a log across the trail; with a valiant attempt he pulled up the front only for the back to kick him into the scenery. His birthday helmet was scratched and his pristine new gear melted at the shoulder as he gently hugged the exhaust pipe. He proclaimed happiness with the day as he "normally bins it six times a ride as he likes to push himself". The Hog Award was resurrected for Biggsy who dropped a rear wheel axle nut - that could have been interesting! Okay now that you're back from checking the axle nuts on your bike, we'll continue the tale. On the regroup before the roll into Margs Pretz binned his 'berg for the first time. This was a low side at 0km/h as he kicked the rear guard on dismount, falling off with the 'berg landing on top of him to an audience of 15 cackling blokes. A long day eh? Into Margs and the prime accomodation of the MR Resort. Beers, a fine dinner, good company, the "harden the **** up" pre-9pm to bed crew, followed by the sensible 9:01pm crew, followed by a Tommy-led beer assault with the silly o clock crew. Unbenownst to most, DRZTony heard some messing with bikes during the night and set chase; catching and sitting on one of the assailants. Beware of big men in underwear any more who dare! Day 2 ----- ROTD: TigeR (you write the report you get ROTD) SOTD: Carlo - with a broken Carlo-bone. POTD (Princess of the Day): Choko (You try to get the ride reporter as POTD) QOTD (Quote of the day) Mia (daughter of Staino & George) Age 4: "If you ride over snakes, ride over their heads so they don't bite you" Odometer: 190kms of bliss Day2 - we're humming. Gav joined us today - Staino introduced him as an ex-NW MotoX champion. Wrex welcomed him saying "don't worry mate, I've been riding for two weeks". Gav showed some style - but he has a long way to go to be a CQ. ;) The DRZilla Killas pushed it today. Chris510 moved that Husky along. Haydn continued with his almost in control style. Col Mc rode it like you want to sell it. The Honda crew of Choko, CRFAndrew & Biggles did their best with their postie machinery. DRZDarren, DRZTony & Roley gunned it looking for DRZilla membership. WRAdrian looked like an ad for washing powder before and after the ride. Pete was not feeling too hot on day two, but rode steady all day. Mackley was up front all day. H & JC re-enacted their racing careers throughout the day - grinning & giggling like teenage girls at each regroup. The other Yammie riders Tommy & Carlo enjoyed the beasts that is the WR450. Pretz stretched the legs of the 'berg with an incredulous "Can a bike get any better than this?" look at each stop. Super smooth Daza turned into TreeKilla. Coming too hot into a corner he broadsided into a tree, bounced off it and continued on his way without stacking. Daza - Husky make chainsaws not KTM! Mick450 lent Col Mc his 450 only for him to chuck it away and drop the chain - almost a POTD there. The highlight of the days riding was the motocross track, where the fast crew pushed hard losing a few in the bush along the way. There was also many pine battles sprinkled through out the day - a better day's riding is hard to imagine. George had a full on lunch set up in Barrabup Pool near Nannup. The crew was tiring in the afternoon - but more perfect trails were served up. A mere 20km from home (in a ride of 420km) Carlo hit a rock which was hiding under leaves. Over he went and ended up with a suspected broken "Carlo" bone and in some pain.. The two DRZilla paramedics jumped into action, John was on the Sat phone to call back George for recovery. Roley & Pete, the true CQers threw their hands up to stay with Carlo while the rest of us headed for home. All the best to Carlo and we all wish him a speedy recovery. News just in from Peter "Just spoke to Carlo - he is doing well - Wrex diagnosed spot on a broken collar bone and Carlo sees the specialist tomorrow (same one I saw when I broke my shoulder blade)and will have an operation on Thursday for a plate and few screws - most likely. Carlo said he liked the morphine pills most of all and his wife is still talking to him! Carlo asked me to thank everyone who helped him on the weekend especially the ambo boys (who by the way they were riding were lucky they didn't need an ambo themselves especially the bloke that took out the log across the track)who checked him out and then drove him and his car home - well done guys." The Prologue ------------ Thanks to everyone that made it a blast, special mention to Choko for organising the whole deal and of course George, Staino and JC for a most excellent adventure. Thanks to Biggles and the T&E club for the ROTD & SOTD T-shirts and WCTS for the gift vouchers for the Sunday ROTD & SOTD. Total Odometer for the ride: 420kms x 24 bikes = 10,080kms! (Seems Staino's arithmetic is better than Pretz's and mine) With a weekend like this, with the exception of Carlo's mishap, you can only end with a quote from WRAdrian "That was the best ride I've ever been on!" Other eyewitness accounts .... The H Report ------------ What an awesome weekend! Good Weather, Top Trails, Great Organisation, Great Company & Good Laff. I would like to thank everybody involved for an excellent weekend. From the great reception on arrival from John, Georgina & JC, the excellent trails John took us on (which kept a group of this size together and at a good pace), Georgina for organising and delivering great back up with fuel / food / accommodation & bike recovery, JC for sweeping & also leading a few sections and all the crustys who turned up to make this a right good Laff, catching up with a few regulars and meeting a few faces Id not met before. Hope Carlo recovers from the unfortunate injury he suffered and I hope this wont stop him returning to the trails soon. The Wrex Report --------------- 1st up I would like to thank Choko for organising dates and the transfer of info from WCS. 2nd Thanks to John, Georgina & Kids from WCST for a smooth, profesional and warmly run weekend. 3rd to all that let me pass them throughout the weekend. To you boys the bribe money is in the mail. To all you other P%^ks that cut me off, roosted me and laughed at me, well I'm dobbing on all of ya's. I told my big brother and he is gunna get you all. Seriously with all the passing, roosting and general shenanigans it was awesome. Watching the likes of H, Mackley & Hayden round me up, pass and get on the throttle all while going sideways are memories i won't forget quickly. No ego's, no issues just a bunch of carefree guys riding in the best area WA has to offer. Life doesn't get any better. Thanks Guys. To Carlo thoughts are with you and your Family heal well and heal fast mate. Any Probs I'm sure the Crusties Family is only a phone call away, me included. The ColMc Report ----------------- Look this is starting to sound like a scratched record now, but a huge thanks to Staino, Georgina the stalker and JC. That was one slick operation. I especially appreciated the regular top ups of water and bananas and did not suffer any cramps or dehydration. Many thanks guys it was well worth it. As for the ride, can i just give everybody a big group hug, as i thought the group of 24 (26 with the 2 Johns) did a great job of keeping going at a decent pace and with such a mixed ability group, no-one let the side down. Highlights for me were those endless sandy bermed corners and everybody dreaming of being Chad Reed. The last 2 long offroad sections on day 1, where i tried chasing Staino and Mackley down and just had the wildest and maddest ride giving it large everywhere. Day 2 and the me versus the rev limiter in 6th gear blast, with Mackley in tow and Peter B getting roosted by 140kph rocks. Then with Mackley again hunting Staino down and both synchronized sliding into the bush on the last corner. And finally the MX section, where i managed to get past Hayden, Mick450 and Daz and then some silly bugger had left a Honda on the track and off i sailed into bush. I am sure i saw "wa**er" in Hayden's eyes as he rode past, only for him to do the same about 5 corners later - laugh? I nearly wet my drawers!! Oh and the serial crasher known as Choko "is it because i think i is Ricky Carmichael" the serial crasher. Oh how i laughed at his efforts and near misses. But the boy does bounce very well, so keep on trucking. Supplied by anonymous. -------------------- Carlo was in some pain and feeling a little sorry for his predicament (understandably) "Why me, Why me" he cried, head in hand. And a voice from above, boomed a reply in a broad Irish accent... "Okay Carlo who else would you like it to have happened to, would you like to pick another Crusty?  A salute to absent kings  Staino giving the CQs our riders' briefing  H heard saying where's my Hair House Warehouse hair product?  Big Bertha being sized up - are you hard enough?  A typical group of Enduro men!  Why are we waiting - cos Darren is changing a tyre!  A tyical view of H on the gas but did he whip JC's arse?  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  WCS ride 09  The Camp Fire  Sunday Lunch  Sunday Lunch Views  Camera's don't do BIG BERTHA jutice  How good is this  H - how good do I look now?  Nurses Wrex & Alan attending to an injured Carlo with expert advice from JC & Biggles! |
