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Kalgoolie
Well what a weekend that was!! Running late on Friday with final packing after spending every minute of the previous week rebuilding the left front swivel hub on the Pootrol. (What kind of idiotic company sells a "Swivel Hub Overhaul Kit" that doesn't come with the fragile "critical to replace" items?). Absolutely no bike preparation at all. Finally got under way but still had to stop at Motocycle City for headlight bulb (onto my forth one now!) and a rear UHD tube (still haven't got my replacement for the one I lent someone at the ISDE) so left Perth at 11:45am. Waited in a ridiculous queu for diesel in Greenmount, finally getting away at 12:30. Made it to Kal to a mates place to fit my new PivotPegz ... and down a few beers :-)
Day 1: Caught up with DavidM and Pommie Pete so we sent Acid Gloves Eddie back to Perth as the three Crusties didn't require his services. The Enduro didn't start too well for me when the bike just died after pre-riding the first test at the start of the first loop. Couldn't get it started so out came the bum bag. Drained the carb and hey presto - running sweet. Didn't lose any time (ie didn't just follow everyone else and get lost but actually watched for and followed the trail marking). The 2'nd loop was absolutely AWESOME FUN. Great trail riding with a nice pace, flowing tracks, some bush, some sand, some salt lakes, some rock climbs, lots of fun. 3'rd loop was a bit tighter and tougher with a few creek bed runs and a few loose rocky climbs. Still fun though. Then came loop 4! TOUGH!!! 90 min's of trail time allowed for 30km's or so, it was always going to be tight but man it was TIGHT. Steep, loose, shaly, rock climbs. Tight steep bush bashing. You sure knew you weren't paying tiddlywinks! This was REAL ENDURO. A great challenge. Then there was the "Experts Only" creek section. I don't want to remember that bit but the rock steps towards the end were huge. I don't know how I did that! Loop 5 for the ex-spirts was supposed to be easy but I got lost and did a big loop back on myself. Lost 5 min's! Damn! In the work period and I changed a radiator after overheating the old girl countless times in loop 3 and 4. Almost finished it, so with 30 sec's to spare I threw the tank and seat on and left the rest for the trail the next morning. Day 2: Started loop 1 and leant the bike against the first tree to bolt the tank and seat on and put the radiator guards back on. Made it to check one without losing any trail time. Loop 2 was fun again and loop 3 was good too ... until I came across a couple of guys parked next to each other chatting. "There's a guy and his bike stuck in a hole over there. We're going for help". Okay, I'll stay with him. So I park my bike up and was kind of looking for a gully or something that someone might have ridden into. Well, I found the abandoned mine shaft with a Honda CRF450X nose down at the bottom - about 6 or 7 meters down! ... and there was Toby too!! JB "Are you okay?" TH "Yep." JB "No injuries?" TB "Nope." JB "Need anything?" TH "Just get a camera. I'm not coming out until someone gets a photo! Hey, there's a snake down here." JB "Leave the f@*king snake alone!" TH (pointing at me) "Don't EVER tell me not to play in mine shafts or play with snakes!" TH (while holding snake behind it's head and waving it around in the air) "Is this a Dugite? I think it's a Dugite. What should I do with it now?" JB "I'll tell what you're not doing with it! You're NOT throwing it up here! I'm a Kiwi, how would I know a Dugite from a Python you idiot?" Toby had managed to attract the attention of a passing rider by throwing things (helmet, gloves, goggles, bumbag, and finally camelpack) out the top. Luckily the mine shaft was on the left of the marked trail because the guy that saw the last item is blind in his right eye!! So Toby managed to follow his bike fall down a vertical mine shaft, not get shredded by the very sharp schist rocks, land uninjured, not be overcome by the leaking petrol, share the hole with a venemeous snake, attract the attention of a partly blind rider and finally get rescued by St Ives mine rescue team. What an adventure! What an idiot! So I finally made it back to the final check and requested to get my trail times zeroed for section 3 and 4, which was granted. I was then told I could still ride the final test if I wanted to get scored for it. Bl@@dy oath! That was the only test I dropped the bike in! Rang my bell a bit and smashed the peak on my helmet but I made it to score a finish. Not a flash weekend but what an adventure. I will definitely be back if they host another round of the State Champs next year! Awesome riding! Sorry I didn't catch up with you other Crusties too much. Thanks DavidM for pointing the guy my direction when he enquired about the BikeHauler. I don't where he got the idea from that they were $450 but he had that figure firmly in mind - and he wanted the lights on it for that price too! I told him to drive to Sydney and they might sell him one direct for that price but still without the lights! We'll see. I'm trying to track down a photo of Toby down the hole. The MWA Steward apparently took some photo's for the obligatory report so I'll post one up if I can. |
