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Tony's call.
Tony’s call.
Tony called a ride earlier in the week as the weather forecast was looking good for damp trails today. I’ll call you Friday night Col and let you know where we will be heading. You call Jamie and Ifor and let Merv know. Friday night – Tony – Hi Col, bad news, I have to go mark the loops for the first METRC enduro. The location has been changed at the last minute as the station was burnt out and we can’t ride there now. Colin – No worries Tony, I’ll give Jamie a call because he has been biting at the bit to get us down on his local trails. 4 of us booted up in Dongara and headed out dropping onto the beach and riding south with Jamie in the lead. The beach narrowed, the sand got deeper and Jamie slowed down. My 130 KG DRZ with 22 litres of fuel on board and a bold hard compound tyre on the rear started to dig in and my foot pegs were not far off the sand!!!! At the last moment, Jamie swang inland up a dune leaving Ifor paddling over the top and Merv and Col having just enough momentum to clear the first obstacle. The next several k’s involved narrow deep sandy trails around the base of dunes with the odd boggy climb that I managed all except one. Jamie rides in the area all the time so he was riding well. Ifor kept close behind him and Merv rotated between going really fast and having some very untidy moments. Each quick break included an enquiry form Jamie asking me if I was enjoying the trails followed by some reassurance that the pace would pick up and the trails would get sweeter. We were probably only 20 k’s into the ride but I was starting to wonder!!!! Jamie also lead us into some nice big dune areas which are a blast to ride in but can also cause a few heart stopping moments when the dune falls away several meters and there is only a second to pull the bike up. Jamie pointed at a particular large dune that has one of those u shape trails that shoots up vertically, levels off, swings hard to the left and back down and equally steep descent. Jamie hit it hard, Ifor followed and Merv and me just looked at each other with Merv saying “ Why would you bother”. Where were these sweet trails? Around the corner and we were on flowing trails. Trails very similar to Wedge to Grey and then some others that made the CQ time trail section at Lano look like a BMX track. Loamy dark soil, no whoops, wide with great booms and long corners. The second half was awesome with a big variety of trails, and some super fast sections. I rode sweep and most of the time I could only see the boys in the far distance. I was now smiling and so were the others. I cant wait to get back down that way again and let Jamie do his thing. No offs today but ROTD must go to Jamie. Nice work buddy.    |
