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Ironstone Capel 200
Mud, mud and more mud.
I used to hate sand but now I hate bog holes even more. The first bog I came across, my bike sunk past it's axles and it was stuck standing up by it self. I could not budge it. Thankfully a dude stopped and helped me out. So for the rest of the ride, if I got through or around a bog and someone was stuck, I went back to help. Lost count of the amount of bogs I got stuck in and the down hill single tracks were running streams. Made for a long day trudging through mud and lots of bull dozing through the bush. I'm putting a caterpillar sticker on my bike now. But by the time I got to the third loop it was completely trashed and in some spots it probably would have been easer carrying my bike through the slop, I'm glad people encouraged me to head to capel. It was a hoot, lots of beers and laughs the night before and to be part of 200 riders heading out was surreal. C y'all next year. WRFPaul. Capel was insanely wet & muddy, bog holes were bigger & deeper the second time round so next year I'll take a jet ski & to the crew who camped out thanks for the good laughs can't remember when we went to bed it was just me n Jonny? holding up the fought but when it starting raining again that was a easy decision to pull the pin. Eh Spike thanks for helping me to pull me bike out didn't realise it was u I oh u a beer. Jnr Capel was quite the quagmire but for some reason it was fun. Good to see old crew and new sharing stories. Weird thing that happened:. Got flashed by woman in the bush lol Now to spend the next week cleaning the bike and repairing flat tyre. Nathan Sounds like I wasn't the only one that struggled with the mud at Capel 200 today (photo added). Had enough after 1 loop and drove home with tail between my legs...!!! Hazi Erzberg, no...Welcome to the cruel reality of "The Capel 200 Bog Rally" now regarded as the dirtiest, boggiest most soul destroying dirt bike rally on the planet. The event marketed towards the more sadistic and stupid of dirt bike riders sucked more than 200 poor souls in for the slow and painful 78kms of inhuman drudgery. So after 45 minutes I was 6.1 km into section 1 and stuck up to the Akrapovic for the 10th time. My mind takes me back to the briefing where the clerk of the course said " Section 1 is quite boggy so if your having trouble with that don't attempt section 2 as that's worse". I had my helmet off sucking air and looking around for a suitable tree limb to hang myself from when me old mate Colin trudges over and helps me drag the filthy thing out. Crisis averted I get going again after switching the engine mapping to "super traction in bog mode"...and got bogged again about 30 feet later. This was pretty much the norm for the next 20kms to the first checkpoint. Despite the sound advice to the contrary I took off on the 2nd section and didn't find it too bad....or I was getting better in the bog. By the end of the day I was a shot bird but despite it all it would have to go down as my most memorable ride ever. If Mother Nature gets in another filthy mood and dumps 100ml of rain there next year I'm not sure I'd do it again. Finally, spare a thought for the poor sods racing the State Round there today! waynovb I was one of the lucky ones. I managed to get out of the gate early and therefore had a easy run through on the first lap. When I came in through the end checkpoint, they said my bike and I weren’t dirty enough so I had to go out again. It didn’t take too long to work out that with a couple of hundred bikes coming through that the bog holes were going to be pretty bad. There were so many lines everywhere trying to go around, picking the correct one was going to be a challenge. I had fun on the day and it was good to catch up with the Crustie crew again and meeting new riders. As Waynovb said, feel sorry for the Enduro boys today as it is going to be tough riding. They’ll enjoy the special test as I really liked that section. Let’s hope not so much rain next year! Cheers DazzaM Had am amazing day at Capel,,,,along with Gareth, Nathen, Steve trend, Jonny and keith. Rain, rain and a bit more rain for good measure. I thought the riding conditions were brilliant. Excellent forrest stages through the pines. Really enjoyed it. Lost Gareth and Jonny on the 1st stage. Keith and I completed all 3 stages. I decided to go out once more on the open loop and came a cropper to a large rock (I think), knocked myself clean out. Cant remember much after that. So that was my day ended,,Gutted. Sad ending to a brilliant set up course and a great marshaling. I think somebody might have it on a GO-PRO!!! Nige I was first out the gate at Capel & was back at the car for 10:45. Seems I missed all the fun. Maybe doing the special tests avoided the worst of it. Martyn As the course was so wet and the sweeps being a little short on numbers i decieded to help out, i managed to talk colin into coming with me ( thanks). We headed of late in the pack so by the time we got to the bog holes they were quite deep. We helped a few riders out and got a few bikes mobile again. It was amazing how much water was around with every gully turning in to creek and some track totally flooded . At the cross roads we decided to not do section 2 as colin was feeling a bit old, so we headed back via the 3rd section. It was back to the cars for lunch and fuel and a quick ride of the special test before heading out for the final sweep about 2pm. We headed off and as i was following another sweep rider on a 510 husky who set a fast pace, we checked all the bog holes for stuck riders and bikes but went through the bush around all of them. We rode all the blue loop missing section 2 as it was already closed. Had a great ride got wet and muddy. When we finished sweeping there were 2 riders unaccounted for so the sweeps and ambo's couldnt leave as they could be in the bush somewhere hurt or lost. It was sorted out after a while tracking down mobile numbers as the riders left without handing in there tags. What i learnt- the best way to approach and bog hole is go around it on the high side, as there is less water there. And secondly - If you decided not to go out after lunch on the second loop. Dont leave with out handing your tags in, if you realize on the way home ring someone at the event because there setting up a search party. CRF Andrew Thanks to all who came to Capel! I had an absolute blast.. and despite all the rain (which i quite like by the way) the track was brilliant! I also set of at the front of the pack so my first run was fairly clean although still very boggy. I started behind JNR, Gareth, Nige and a few others but lost them all fairly early on.. i think i may have gone the wrong way haha. I have got Nige's crash on vid although its not 100% clear, i will put it on you tube asap Once again thank you to everyone who made it, the day was perfect not to mention a top Bday for mee.. DavRob       |
