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Micks great tracks and crack
After the rain we had, a group of the guys that normally lead rides decided to go north & work out some new routes & find some new tracks for future rides.
As we were discussing it, Wayno unfortunately posted his ride. Try as we may, we couldn't get hold of him until the afternoon to let him know he was coming with us. He was happy to carry on with his ride as there'd been a few guys putting their hands up to go with him. Well, it turned out to be another one of Micks fantastic look & ye shall find trips, with hilarity thrown in all thanks to our favourite Italian clown. We all met up eventually, only 5 minutes late as someone on the way needed petrol, so 10klm's out of our way to find a servo open at 6am, we end up in Kalamunda. Mick announces that today, we are going to find a way to Toodyay. We get booted & suited then head of into some single trail. Incident #1. Carlo get bogged & needs H's help to get the bike out. We get further along stopping every now & then checking the GPS when Mick finds an old unused fire trail. This is a good track & we're all having fun when Mick washes out & falls over. SOTD? Not Bloody Likely! 5 minutes later Carlo has his first off, nothing bad just a quick lie down too. We find a few more new tracks then hit the main road into Toodyay for a re fuel & food. Discussion time for the return leg & Mick mentions a track he did years ago with Lee, so we all agree that will do. This track has a lot of drainage ditches, or should I say gullies so between bouts of full power, it bouts of full brakes as you go down to the bottom of them. We come across a creek with steep banks either side. Mick goes through first as it's shallow but steep & makes it up the other side. One of the group thinks it would be easier crossing the bridge above us so takes that route. (me) The fun begins now. H & Andy are the only ones to get up without showing any flair for the dramatic. Carlo hits it at a bit of speed, full power & almost flips it at the top. "See I can wheelie" he screams delightfully. Ross gets the front up too & slides off the back with a handy fenck grabbing his bike to stop it going back into the creek. Allen thinks it would be better to just let the bike fall over on the left to miss the fence all together. Tommy, thinks Ross's idea of using the fence as a safety net was the best option, so he does that as well.  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride A bit further on following Carlo, his back wheel looks dodgy, yep, a flat tyre. H has been sweeping all day, so to let him blow some cobwebs out of the bike, he's sent of (in a shower of roost at Mack 1.5) to catch Mick to let him know. Right, let's get this tyre fixed... ha! Carlo has all the tools, spare tube & pump which is good. The bad is, the axle is rusted into the hub & the nut on the rim lock is stripped. Stop & Listen! A big rock for a hammer, a socket as a punch & several mighty blows later the axle is out. The sidewalls on this tyre are made of strong stuff. Luckily we have the afore mentioned hammer to bash the levers in. Now as the nut is stripped on the rim lock, several methods are used but it comes down to using a file to cut through the threaded rod & break it so the rim lock can come off. Yeah, chuck that away as it's stuffed.  Micks great tracks and crack ride The tyre is finally fitted & filled with air. This is all thanks to Andy mainly, he has done a great jobs getting the tyre off, filling through the thread & pumping up the tyre on Carlos "I've fixed my first flat" Back on the track we catch up with Mick. He says we'll go over here (always a good sign) as this roads a bit boring. We end up on a sloped rock outcrop as it's the only way to go. Mick, Allen & I get across & I end up waiting a bit for the other to catch up. No worries but later on, much later on, we hear that Carlo fell off on it. The back wheel slid down, then he slid down & was on the down side of the bike having to lift it back up. Oh no, the trail ends again in a culvert with the only way to go is through a storm water drain. I think everyone had a go at revving the shit out of their bike in here, just to see what it sounded like.  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride Now comes the best part of the day. As Carlo has already fallen off a few times, someone made the joke about putting some stickers on the bottom of his bash plate so they could be seen. I'm not sure if it was a premonition or what, but check this out!  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride  Micks great tracks and crack ride There was a small washout to go down. Carlo is in front of Tommy. He starts to head down then oops, he's back wheel decides to pass over his head. Tommy's in fits of laughter. Seriously, none of us have ever seen a man laugh so hard or for so long. Mick said he couldn't see what was going on but the noise from Tommy made him come back. It's so debilitating that Tommy can't even take a photo, he passes the camera to someone else. Carlo says "I hear Tommy go oh, oh, OH! then I'm upside down?" Everyone is in fits, but mainly it's a contagious laughter as Tommy was the only one to see the somersault. 5 minutes later, it's all calmed down, no one else had a mishap & we carry on. "I know where there's some great hill climbs, I just have to remember how to get there". Is this a good thing to hear from Mick? Sure is. We have to negotiate another storm drain, this one a bit smaller & full of sand though. It seems the last few through couldn't see because Carlo got semi bogged in there & put up a huge cloud of dust in the drain. To redeem himself though, he fell off again when he got through. These hills Mick takes us to aren't that bad, well maybe in a few spots they are then. Up, down, up, down, rocks, ruts, Carlos off again several times. Everyone just rides past him, he can sort it out as he does it often enough he's getting good at it. "No more hills please Mick, I'm stuffed" Time to start heading back. A quick nature stop on the way back. Mick spots an Echidna, so a quick nature stop. It's only the 3rd I've ever seen in the wild.  Micks great tracks and crack ride It's a nice quick fast run back to the cars & I think we're all glad to see them. It's been a long day, with some challenging riding behind us. Mick get ROTD again, you can't ever complain about his rides. SOTD, well you can guess who's getting that. Both for quality & quantity (around 10 all up) This was going to be a non called ride to find new track, plan new routes for future rides but after the quality of tracks, the laughs & fun we had, a group decision was made. This is what some people do for the group. To seek out new trails, boldly go where no one else dares all the while saving tracks for future rides & linking up existing trails. You too can do this. Don't rely on the same half dozen people to call the rides all the time. |
