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Last ride of the decade
Report by Wrex.
TigeR is all tuckered out for 2009 so I'm writing the report. Rumour has it he will be back with all new material in 2010. Well, the last ride of 2009 was called. For an old year a newish ride was called by Col Mac, Lano's to Jurien and back bypassing Cataby. Col, TigeR, Jacko, new guy Robin and myself all turned up for the challenge. As discussions between tiger, Col and me regards carrying extra fuel continued we all stopped talking at the same time. Jacko had 10 extra litres strapped to the DRZ and new guy Robin had, I think, a 45 ltr safari tank on his 530 Kato, well maybe a 25ltr tank. The clouds were heavy but very patchy, the sou wester was already in and the temp was spot on. What a day for riding. I introduced my new WR to everybody with a little apprehension before taking off. Onto the first section as you turn east along the dunes and my smile was huge. Struggling to keep the front wheel down I went with the flow and wheelied every little imperfection on the track. With Col leading and Jacko sweeping a nice steady pace was found. 3 short regroups before Wedge and a meeting point at the South end of the beach was agreed. The beach was flat, hard and bloody wide so I cleaned out the cobwebs in the WR. Did I mention I could actually wheelie on the beach too:-). At the south end of the beach where we usually head off and onto the tracks, well today we could actually ride around the rocky outcrop and continue along the beach. This didn't last long as more and more rocky outcrops forced us inland onto the tracks.  Last ride of the decade After 4-5 k's of rocky shite mixed with some twisty flowing trails I saw some dust ahead and a Husaberg on the side of the track with the rider in the middle lying on his side with not a lot of movement. Took my helmet off to find Col very winded. I let him lie there for a few minutes to catch his breath while Jacko took his helmet and camelback off. After 3 minutes Col had composed himself caught his breath and started a recollection of events. This I will Col tell the story if and when he is ready. SOTD = COL 20min later with a sore Col back on the bike we were off. I took lead and 2 k's later hit what we were looking for, the new Lano-Cervantes ocean road. A quick refuel from Robins tanker for me and tiger and off we went. Maybe 20kms of limestone base road surface then 15kms of bitumen back to the cars.  Last ride of the decade - Col is down We all pitched in to help undress the big fella, and put his bike up on his Ute. In a bit of pain Col decides to drive home and skip the pie shop. WHAT I cried MISS THE PIE SHOP Jesus Col you must have banged your head. In true Col style he took one big gulp and stated well my swallow isn't hurt so off to the bakery we all went. Tiger and myself followed Col home unloaded his bike and left him to explain everything with his missus, and a check up at Joondalup hospital. Even though we didn't get to Jurien I really enjoyed the ride and the company today for the WR's first Crusty ride and the last for 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE Injury update by Col Mc. Thanks for the kind words guys. Well with what looked like a 2nd head growing out of my shoulder, it didn't take a rocket scientist to work out what i had done and sure enough its broken collarbone. However i was more worried about the amount of people looking in my ears and none of the buggers could confirm if indeed i have a functioning brian any more. I did however suffer some sort of adeama (?) in my head where it hit the floor. Nothing to worry about just muffled hearing for a while. As the guys will confirm, the Arai is knackered, being cracked along the side, but boy its done its job again. Oh and i also have a couple of broken ribs for my troubles as well. So it was a basic schoolboy error and i really should know better, but my mind was elsewhere wondering how to get back on the beach. My front wheel hit some soft sand in the middle of the track, which started a tank slapper and my bars caught a bush on the left and the bike stopped and i kept going. I landed right on the shoulder, with my elbow tucked under me and thats what broke the ribs. Gotta wait til Monday til the swelling goes down before a decision on surgery or not. So its no riding for a month or two for me. Once again my sincerous thanks to Wrex and Tiger especially, but all the guys for rallying round and letting me spoil their ride. |
