| #375 | |||||||||
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Pounces River Cruise.
There's a tribe somewhere in the deepest part of the Amazon Basin that have 23 different words for water, we could have used all 23 of them today.
Title name - Mackley Everyone was wanting a bit of rain for a change to keep the dust down & add a bit of water to the trails. Well, we got more than we wanted. 9 regulars showed up, then a text message promted 3 old hands to ask to tag along. Good to see them & have them ride with us again. The day started out good, onto the Powerlines for a short stint with Mack & Mick having puddle fights right off the bat, then a couple of flowing trails & light drizzle to get the group into it. Mark was the first to fall over on a slippery bit. A bit of a regroup waiting for the others, Mick was telling me we'ld been here before, but I said he was wrong. I should have listened because, left turn, then shock of shocks, Pounce got lost! Well, not realy lost, just went the wrong way which sort of set the tone for the rest of the ride. A quick blatt around some more trails, lost again 'till Grunta pointed me in the right direction. There was this one section I was trying to get to first thing, we're scooting along through nothing but puddles & this is where Iccas come to grief hurting his shoulder, but I'ld done another wrong turn, so lost again until I recognised where we were, then away we went. Apparently, after a fire the trees ONLY fall accross the road, & not the other way? One section I enjoy that's fast & flowing had at least 10 trees accross it, so coming around corners added a new & exciting bit to that part of the trail. I'm locking up on the brakes while the better riders are just going for it, over, around & through without slowing down. Smart arses. The weather decided to show us it was still about & it started to rain a bit. I seemed to have missed another turn, so took a punt, told the guys that "we go down here, turn left" & I was right. Bit of a rest again waiting to see if it'll stop raining, but no. By this time, wiping the goggles was useless as the rags we were carrying were too wet. Around some more slippery bits, that green tinge to the ground should be a warning, a few more puddles, a bit of a mix up with the corner man, grouped up again then finally we get to the bit I was heading straight for first thing. Now the laughing bit began. Not a lot of you guys have been on this when it's wet! It's tight, sandy, muddy, puddles, puddles & deep puddles. Really, you're struggling getting the bike around (or I was) then you turn a corner go into the puddle which is only 2 tyres wide and it swallows your bike to the sump! There were heaps of them & it caught a few of the fellas out I'm sure. Most of them you couldn't go around either. Bit of a regroup, Choko pulls up yehaaing, Iccas pulls up pissing himself, Lethal pulls up with a smirk, I think they all enjoyed it too much, everyone is dripping wet, we were soaked & happy. I think it's time to star heading back now. Take the guys over to a small hill climb for a bit. Michael, back on the bike after his broken shoulder has a go & pops his knee. He's in a bit of pain but doesn't let it stop him. Grunta has a few goes at the hill, Mick has two, Mack has several but the conditions are against us & no one makes it up. Mick's been having a bit of trouble with his bike stopping all day. While the hill climb is on, he's laying the bike over, belting his carby with a rock trying to loosen it up, complaining the re-routing of the breather cables didn't work, basically blaming everything on the water, as it was a bit wet out. I lead the boys off again (on a bit we've been on during the LOST part of the ride). I put down a few corner men, get to a bit for the re-group then decide to back track when the boys haven't shown afetr 10 minutes. Good to see on the way back the corner men did the right thing & didn't move. I come accross the guys coming the other way, Mick has a sheepish look on his face, says everything is OK so we go back to where the guys are waiting. Now, when you're unloading the bikes, & this may seem a trivial thing, it's probably a good thing to actually put fuel in your bike. Mick was so concerned with getting a breaky burger in him, he forgot that "fuel makes bike go good". All his laying the bike over, belting the carby with a rock could have been fixed by this instead of trying to do a WCTS & hills ride on one tank of petrol. By now the rain is getting annoying, we're getting cold so I decide to shorten the ride & head back. We thought we were wet after the single trail, but now we were totally drenched. A reverse of a bit of the normal track see us going up this not to hard but rocky hill. Now Jacko has done a good job sweeping all day, Mark is a bit tired but this little hill seems to stump both of them for a bit. I think Mack & Mick went & helped them up. Down onto some trails which a few of the guys hadn't been on & loved, back to the power lines then the Lakes. All up, about 75 klm's, 4 billion litre of water, 50 kangaroos, 2 emus, lots & lots of laughs & a great day out. Thanks everyone for a fun ride. SOTD? I think the contenders are Mark, Tony, Iccas, Michael & Mick. Choko, did you come down too? Being up front, you don't get to see them so let me know who's was the funniest. Pain or style doesn't come into it this time. ROTD I'll give to Mark. Second ride out & being able to stay with us through some trying bits while being a bit knackered, you get the nod. |
