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The Woky Alternative
The Woky Alternative.
Rain! Yeah right. A camping weekend was planned for 2 nights in Wokalup but due to the forecast of 3 days of constant rain it was postponed. MickKal took advantage & called a ride in the hills ostensibly to checkout some new single trails he'd noticed on previous rides. 11 of us rocked up, quick intros to 2 new blokes then away we go. Mick is out in front to start & Ross is sweeping & it's a quick trail run to start then onto a bit of old school single & back onto some fire trail. We pull up for a regroup & to set Mr Hooters as the lead rider. As an aside, this area is where I first started riding & I hadn't really been through here in a while. Well bugger me, there are so many new bits of single & routes, from now on everything is more or less new to me so it's a bit hard to say where we went so let's just break it down into mini stories. Round & round we go in mini circles while Hooters finds his direction mojo. Micks all tangled up in fencing wire, which is an easy fix. "It's only one mildly difficult uphill fellas but a pretty gnarly down hill" - not everyone makes it up without help (I did, Jnr didn't!) Bunga has two goes, Ross does an amazing u-turn right at the top & we help repair some strangers bike at the top whilst we have a rest. No it's the downward bit. I'm nearly going over the bars at one stage & when I get to the bottom the Hootermobile is on it's side. He's ripped his break peddle off & punched a whole in his side cover. Steel putty to the rescue. Off again, I see a plastic side cover but keep going. Someone else grabs it & gives it back to Zane, he didn't know he lost it. More single. We get to a spot where Mick want's to map another bit. "I've been told there's a bit of a drop off on this, it should loop around back to here" Half of us wait & have a breather (smoke 'em if you've got 'em) & 10 minutes later they get back. Mick lets us know that "As Tommy would say, that's a down hill hill" Down we go again (who would of thought Perth was this hilly) &Hooters says we're heading the back way down through Nah Creek. People call it that 'cause they see it & go Nah! I'm glad we came down it & not up. Onto some familiar single again & at the top of another easy hill people are getting tired (really?!) so Mick asks the question if it's time to head back. Majority rules so we do. I take over sweep so Ross can run with the big dogs. Except... another hill, this time a bit steep, narrow & rocky that a few struggle on. Not me though ;-( Yay, the hills are over, back onto familiar trails on the way back. Now it's Jacks turn, he gets a flat front so Ross & I stop to help but don't do a ting as jack has it changed all by himself in 15 minutes. Mick comes back to check on us just as he finishes. I come around the corner & Ben has slid off his bike on a log across the road. he gets upright but the bike won't move. It just wants to stall. Me & him have a look & the back wheel &/or front sprocket is locked solid. Nothing we can see is jammed in anywhere but nothing is turning. A bit of head scratching & bemusement, so I call & text Mick to bring help. Ben gives it another go & just as the bike is about to stall & the clutch give out on full revs, something releases & it's all good. Best I can figure was a rock wedged in the chain guide we couldn't see stopped everything. Mick asks if I knows short cut so I lead back to the power lines so he can lead us back to the cars from there. Just as we get to the cars it is the first time it rains all day & it really does it too. I start packing up, put my backpack in the car & my keyfob. I shut the back door to put the bike on the trailer & the fucking car locks itself. Here's me in the rain in all my gear with no wallet or phone. I'll sit in the pub until the others come in then ring the RAC. I get a free sympathy beer from the barmaid, ring the RAC who estimate an hour. 10 minutes later I poke my head out the door & the dudes there so I'm a happy camper. A big thanks to Mick & Hooters, it was a well led hard ride through a lot of new stuff. All those in the middle, thanks for the fun & laughs Now this will be a bit controversial, but I'm gunna call it. Some of those hills will rival & be harder where we were going to ride. The southern fellas should come up here for an extreme ride (that I won't go on) Thanks you all very big.                      |
