http://www.crustyquinns.com
I have been asked to add some of our reports to this section.
Anyone coming to Perth in West Aus is welcome to join us for a ride.
We might even be able to find someone to lend you a bike if needed.
02-04-11
Tommy's Upsidedownunder
East of Perth
We meet at the Rock Inne for a 7.30 drive to the park spot.
The day started like any other, some good banter, laughing at each other & the like.
We head off to the carpark & there are a lot of bikes heading in further, so it looks like a busy day in the dust. Fortunately Tommy has planned to stay away from the whoops & head towards one of his better know tracks.
We get geared up quickly then we're off. As there's only 4 of us, the cornerman system works without having to point as we know when to do it ourselves, but it's not really needed though as the dust points the direction the leader has gone.
It's decided early on to have a play & explore some but that's soon halted as one of the Yamakaka's doesn't want to keep going. It keeps stalling & spluttering so we try Micks old "Hit the carby with a rock" trick & turn the idle screw up a bit.
We decide to stay on the roads for a bit in case the blue one dies but it seems to have fixed itself enough to head "that way."
We find an unused road & head off down it. Yeah, this is what we like doing, overgrown track, losing it, finding it again, losing it completely, heading deeper into the unknown down a steepish hill.
This would be one of the best/worst explores we've done, as every time we try to go somewhere, something stops us. Apparently we're only 800 odd meters from a road.
Follow that creek bed - Nope, trees across it.
Go up that hill - Nope, rocks, trees & bushes.
What about that hill - Nope Same as the other one.
Go through that small gully - Bank too steep.
Everything was thrown at us this time.
While doing all this struggling malarky, Tommy has several arguments with the laws of gravity - and loses.
I'm watching him riding out of a small ditch area, his foot gets stuck on the peg & over he goes, with the bike upside down next to him. Being the mate I am, photo first then go & help him out.
Mick & Ross have forged a path (that we can't see) over to a small clearing so we head over there but Tommy goes over again. Mick said he saw the front wheel go up then the bike's not there any more.
We have a well earned rest, Tommy breaks out the jelly snakes. It's hot & there's not much breeze down in the valley.
Ok, we've been doing this bit for about an hour (we're 2 1/2 hours into the ride & we've only covered 30 klms) & the road is still about 800 meters that way!
We try going up another steep hill to see a way out. Tommy's making a huge dust cloud up ahead as he's stuck on something when I spy Mick in front of me with his back wheel stuck on a small log angled across the direction he's going.
At this point Tommy has SOTD for his couple of offs but Mick snatches it from him in style.
He's trying to get over this small log, power on, back wheel spinning when it jumps the log, bites in & spins him around 90 degrees so he's on full noise going down hill with trees, shrubs & rocks everywhere.
I think the pic tells the story as I believe he's praying to the good lord.
Well this way ain't working either so it's decided we try the lesser of two evils & try to follow the creek out.
Oh joy of joys! We stumble upon a freshly bulldozed track Department of Environment & Conservation or someone has put in as a fire break.
LOCAL BITCH ABOUT RIDING AREAS.
When you see what a bulldozer can do on a hill side of 2 creeks that feed into the drinking water dam, I can't believe that they bitch & moan about bikes & their effect on turbidity of the water. Seriously, the amount of dirt & silt from this one track that's maybe 5 klm's long will make the amount we do minuscule. Have a look at the pic & see if you don't agree. Back to our scheduled story.
(Um, that's Tommy upside down again too)
This is a brilliant track. It has steep hills, rocks, ruts, bermy corners, off camber corners, the lot. Once there's a bit of water on it, it will make a fantastic small loop. Thanks whoever ran a bulldozer through here.
We head off further & Tommy comes across another hill he hasn't been on before despite his great knowledge of this area.
Mick heads up first. Tommy has a go & gets cross rutted so comes back down. I scoot up in the meantime & get cross rutted too but make it to the top. Ross comes up behind me & says he did the same but made it. We're waiting for Tommy but it's a now show so Mick heads down to see what's what. Ross & I head down too after about 5 minutes as it's a no show of the other two. I come around a corner at the bottom & gravity beat Ross as well. The bike is facing up hill almost upside down. It all turned to shit as he locked up the back brakes, hit a rock & it flung him & the bike around. He's put a small hole in his right side crank case, so we putty that up.
Tommy never made it as he had 2 more tries at the hill but good old gravity dropped him again & the bike needed a rest as it refused to start. He is absolutely stuffed now. Having the flu for two weeks beforehand has knock him a bit so we call it a day & head back.
Back at the cars Tommy has one more try for SOTD & nearly drops the bike getting it onto the ute. Can you fit gyro stabilisers to bikes?
Mick gets SOTD for sheer quality even though Tommy went for quantity.
Ross gets ROTD as he rode without fault even though he lost his toolbag, only to be recovered about 500 meters behind us on the way back.
I didn't ride hard enough again as I didn't come off. Maybe next time, it's something to aspire to.
Thanks again fellas for a good, hard day. Have a small group like this on dusty days while getting truly lost is much easier to manage that a big one.
A quick beer at the Rock Inne on the way home for a well deserved de brief (pun not intended)
One last thing, quote of the day.
"I wonder how much it costs to lay all this pea gravel on the roads, it must be hard to up keep" - Tommy
