Friday, 11 June 2010 09:50
What a top weekend. May 21-23 saw 'The Four Horsemen' put on a camping weekend dubbed W.O.W 1.5 (Weekend Of Wombat). Matt 450 and I rolled into camp around five and cracking to have camp set up asap as the light was fading fast. Matt vdw had a camp fire ready with all the necessary ingredients except for the fire bit, he had no matches or lighter! A little bit of fluid encouragement and a match from myself and the fire was beginning to take shape. As we were setting up the tent by lantern light Crusier and Alex showed up with the generator, and the lights shone on. The camp was taking shape and soon Ausdjt (Dave) had arrived and followed up by a revved up Boof. Crusier had supplied the chef with some remnant party pies and sausage rolls that were promptly placed into the waiting BBQ. A few drinks later and the camp site crackling along the cold yet ravenous brigade made short work of the hors d'oeurves so we chased them down with some samples of the weekends fare. Mucho yummo! Sitting around the camp fire discussing the theory of relativity and such Luke rolled in and must have brought a polar ice cap with him. We decided we needed more wood and that the fire was not generating enough btu's. (British Thermal Units) So piling into the Boof van and trailer we all went in search for some more wood. The night was dark and cold and I think we were all turned in by 1am.
First day saw a brisk morning and Boof was out poking the fire just before 6am, myself a few minutes later. The first task of the day before the crowd arrived was the digging of the dunny. Boof took the duty of sanitation with much gusto until the first strike of the shovel hit rocky soil. And the second. He eventually found a plot of land aptly named 'ground zero' as it was subjected to multiple bombings over the weekend. With the hole dug and the throne in place Matt450 set up the walls to confine the atrocities created within. By the time the dunny was done, I had the first rounds of bbq b&e sangas ready to go. Jenksd had arrived, Kopb-8, dano450, greydaniel and so on until everyone was there. It would have been somewhere around 9am that we were all geared up, fueled up and pep talk given that the riding began. There was tension in the camp as 3 of us (myself included) were shunned for being bearers of the evil trials tyre. Stay tuned readers, for the trials tyres took out all podium places on this ride. I mean, there was only one person that got past me, and he was also a trials terror!
18 riders and no idea on what tracks to take them on so I figured the 'Russian Stocktake' was the best way to sort it out. You see, this ride was directed at the beginners and novices amongst us, however only a small number fit that category. So I led the group to 'Stocktake Track'. It's a tight little number with a few testing sections thrown in. As everyone made it through, everyone came along. The tracks were mucho mucho bene giving heaps of traction in the loamy stuff, making the clay tracks slippery for the knobs, I mean knobby tyre peoples, and the rocky stuff, well, it was rocky. The morning loop was a nice gentle ride, nothing too crazy, just some good flowing tracks, heaps of puddles and a couple of bog holes. Dustin (94RMX250) suffered a puncture at the best time possible. For me, it was a point to decide which direction to head in so that we were back at camp for lunch and for a couple others, it gave them the chance to revisit the track just done and observe some 4WD shenanigans. Crusier did the lions share of the tyre change and others proferred tools and advice where required. Well done Crusier, jolly good display of mateship right there. Well by the time the RMX was ready to go it made the decision easier for me and that was to belt back to camp. But not without a couple more bogholes.
Not a bad bunch for a weekend ride!
So we made it back to camp around 1pm and I got into whipping up a feed of snags, burgers and chevaps. Gav, Daniel and Jenksd parted ways after lunch, thanks for coming fellas, hope you had a blast. With our numbers whittled down to 15, we got ready to take off again. Some of us re-fueled, others did not but that's coming later!
Ok, so we were down to 15 riders and I think we'd done around 40 k's in the morning. We hit some open fire trails and some tighter old logging tracks with one of them being a joy to ride until it ended abruptly. After a quick scan I found where it went and we linked it back to the main track, good fun that was! Well my plan was to get back to the exact spot we were at when Dustin had the puncture and as it turned out, that's where we were headed. Talk about good luck! Picking up from our morning loop we headed up a track which is good fun in the wet months, slimy, rutted, over grown in places and a big hole to get things going. Red clay tracks that were tacky rather than slippery, corners that had formed berms it was just awesome. The sun had come out and the temp got up to 18*C. It was dirt bike heaven. Pressing on to the start of one of my favourite tracks we ran into a group of riders who were heading in our direction. We let them go first as our group outnumbered them 5:1 and I used the opportunity to rest the group. After hearing that Greydaniel was riding his new CRF really well and being dubbed a 'hustler', I took him off a corner and had him chase me through the first half. It was bloody good fun and I gotta say he handles the CRF really well.
Sabo focusing on the rutted trail ahead
I had to be conscious of the time as it gets dark in the wombat very quickly, so in heading to the hills I had to omit a good chunk of track on the way to the hills I stalled in a long puddle, I had just hit reserve, not a good feeling. We tracked around to the bottom of the hills and I needed a little bit of gusto to pop over a root when with a twist of the loud grip, the Devils Spawn of KTM reared up and I shit myself, dropping the nose back down and stalling in a rut. No big deal, turn her back down the hill for another crack. Crusier had a go, Matt450 had a go, even BIG 'chic chic boom' WHEELS had a go, all with dismal results. A few other attempts were had by others when Sam pointed his 300 back up the hill for his 2nd attempt. Watching his technique I watched as those BIG WHEELS kept a turning while proud mary was a burnin... or some shit like that. Anyway, Sam got up which restored faith in the group that it could be done. There were other failed attempts until Luke got almost all the way up. Being so close he started from where he came off and eventually got to the top. Well the scores were now trials tyre 1 knobby 0.5. I fired up the Black Beast and pointed her up the hill. Up on the pegs and off we go. Bucked around I soon found my arse back on the seat and the outriggers deployed as the pointy end was reaching for the sky again. Feathering the clutch and letting that back tyre do it's thing we powered to the top with a victory mono. Winners are grinners. 
Pressing on and by this stage we had done about 8k's since I hit reserve as had no idea how much more I had so I needed the most direct route to camp, and as luck would have it, some of them are good tracks. Blasting along with a hungry pack behind me I was leading them to the main track that would take us straight back to camp. As a few others were also in the reserve side of things I figured if we needed to send a rescue bike back for fuel, it'd be easier to find us on a direct track. So we popped out onto said track and began the gentle but boring commute back to camp. About 1.5 k's from camp the Devil's Spawn ran out of wings. I knew we had very little to travel so I just lay her on her side and gave her tummy a rub, stood her up and brought her back to life. We all rolled into camp with about a half hour of usable daylight left. Pretty damn good. Out of my riding gear, and into my butchers apron and the kitchen sprang to life. While the other blokes got better acquainted with each other, mixtures of barley and hops, messers Beam and Daniels and generally congratulating themselves and each other on their respectve awesomenesses, Chef Jack and kitchen bitch Boof got the food tent buzzing.
With the kitchen in shut down mode the camp fire was winding up. It's hard to share the atmosphere as you really needed to be there what with weekend jokes and all that. But with stories of mystery women flowing and constant references to Sam 'Hollywood-chic chic boom-kill shot' BIG WHEELS, we were in good spirits and good company. I don't know for sure but I think it was around 10:30pm we were all in bed sleeping like lambs until there was an intruder to our camp a little past midnight. Thinking it was just some poor soul freezing their nuts off and warming themself in their car I just listened for a while. But the headlights were on and doors were being open and shut so I got up to investigate. Armed with a torch, skinning knife and prepared to administer the 'kill shot' I emerged from my tent to come face to face with JB. A lesser man would have shit himself but I guess he's seen ugly before! After a quick chat I helped him set up his tent before my testicles became icicles.
Sunday morning had me dragging my arse out of bed at around 7am. It was ok, nobody else seemed to be in much of a hurry either. So slowly bodies started to emerge from our frosty coccoons, we had an overnight temperature of at least -1*C. It may well have been lower but when Matt checked my Trailtech it was reading -1*C. After throwing the last of the wood on the fire, some casual chit chat and other morning rituals I made my self comfortable in the kitchen for another session of b&e sangas. Sabo rolled up before breakfast was over so he managed to stuff a couple sangas in.
We had three more riders leave us this morning in the form of Matt450, Matthewvdw and Lukeage but with the arrival of Sabo we were a merry 13. I was looking everywhere for a black cat but no luck. With breakfast sorted, we set about getting geared up and de-icing our seats. Yep, some of our seats were frozen!
With everyone a bit frosty and Sabo and JB looking disgustingly clean we did a warm up along the fire trail to the start of Boof's enduro loop. Some of us did some stretching while Boof went ahead to set up with the camera, then I sent everyone down the track spaced apart for the photo shots. BIG WHEELS went first and having done this track before he knew where to pull up so I went last. Not long past the paparazzi Boof, the group was struggling with an uphill section that was as slippery as it was rutted and rooted. A big thankyou to JB and Greydaniel for helping the group get through there. I had my first off for the weekend lining up the roots and with all faith in the bike wound on the power only to be bucked clean off when the rear tyre bit and sent me flying into the bush. It must have looked bad but I was OK, landing well on my lid. Remounted and with a little persuasion and I think there may have been a helping hand from Daniel I was up and away to chase the pack.
Bringing the fellas around and down to the bowl, Alex came up to me with "is this the bowl? Looks heaps worse than the pictures!" BW had a go climbing one of the tracks until the morning sun blinded him. A few of the lads had a play around but not wanting to waste too much time I mushed the herd up and around to a little treasure. I had Sabo hot on my heels on a long loose decent hollering out to me about the lack of rear braking that a trials tyre offers. Once we were at the bottom, a hard right hander had us both twisting the life out of the right grip and belting along the creekline. A nice chewy surface offering great corner speeds until I had to drop him at a corner. It was a sprint too short lived
There has been some grading and clearing in the area and while normally it turns a good track to poo for a trailrider, this was the gem of the weekend, for me anyway. Approximately 5-6 k's long, red clay freshly graded with 100% traction, some banked corners, whoops, ascents and decents, good for 3-4 bikes wide and I took off with James on my tail closely followed by BW. It was the fastest I have gone on a track. I could hear James nipping at my heels so wound everything I could until I had all 400 cubes screaming their protest. Twisting and turning, up and down, sliding through some big open cuts and mono-ing out of corners it was deliriously exciting. We had a brief regroup at the end of the track and the grins beaming out of the helmets would have blinded the sun. Even mild mannered Howard, who generally rides conservatively recalled seeing over 80kph on his wr! 
Although still pumped full of adrenalin, I had to consult the group about where they wanted to ride, what tracks they would like. I think they were all still giddy from their natural highs that they didn't care. I reckon they would have followed me down to hell if I knew the way. So we scrambled away and revisited the slippery red clay track from the day before on our way to the hill that is my ruin, 'Up is up'. The unfortunate thing is, to get there, you need to know the right combination of tracks and they are overgrown logging tracks that are tight and twisty and just oh-so-much-fun to ride. One downhill in particular had BW alledgedly hooting and hollering and possibly even administering the 'killshot' to the riders he passed on the way down! Down through a creek and up a twisting hill we came across another group of riders and with JB behind me we weaved our way through them to the summit and then belted down the other side. A couple more tracks had us at the mercy of Jack's Ruin. My first attempt had me on the wrong line. Still getting used to the way the trials tyre bites in and having to keep the front down I stalled on the side and watched Sabo amble past me to the top. Many attempts were made, Dave and Howard opting for the secret track to the top, BW the only other rider to ride it from bottom to top. Alex had a rather big buck off the RMX and with time sneaking up on us I pulled the troops out of there.
To make up some time we did a big chunk of fire trail but I rewarded the group with a plunge into the sloppy boghole that held many up the day prior. I whizzed through not wanting to blind the others with the awesomeness of my bike and it's not-so-homo tyre. We made good clip and after one last regroup, I announced to the fellas we only had about 6 more corners to go. Leading them back I was reflecting on how good the rides had gone. No big dramas, no big damage, just good fun. And that blast from the morning, still kept grinning about that. Poking along a track and coming back to Earth, I took in my surroundings and looked over my shoulder. Sabo was coming up behind me. Sabo! Now he is a good rider, and I enjoy bashing bars with him so I did what any other bloke would do. Summoned up everything that was left in the tank and bent it like it's never been bent before! I reckon if he wasn't so scared of getting hosed in the long puddles he would have had me. It was a sweet dessert to top off our 'unfinished business' from the morning sprint along the creek. Dropped him on a corner and took brother Sam for a crack. Sadly I had to drop him off too soon as well and not long after we were back at camp.
Spent, soaked, smiling and stoked. Unsaddled from the Black Beauty turned off the fuel and gave her a big hug. Hand shakes, back slaps, arse grabs and falling in a heap were common sights around the camp for the next few minutes. Then it was gear off and apron on for one last loop of the hot plate
The 4HM (Dave, Boof Howard and myself) thoroughly enjoyed putting this weekend on and thank everyone who came for being great company. The campsite was left spotless awaiting our return in the not too distant future.
Cheers, Jack.
Chris ‘Jackhammer’ Skrzelinski's story is part of round two of the monthly TBAM Online Reader Ride competition, and goes into the draw to win an EPIC VIDEO CAMERA and a set of GOTCHA STRAPS
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