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Powerlines
Report by TigeR.
It's been a long hot summer in Perth, heading for fifty days without rain, multiple days of 35+ temps, rides in the hills just a distant memory or something to dream about ... but then midweek the trail gods smiled and dumped three months of rain in one day. The forecast for Sat was looking good and with the CQ core off camping for the w/end to remind their families what they looked like ... Pounce jumped on a called a ride for the Powerlines before normal summer weather-programming would be resumed. 11 riders turned up at the starting point, the usual suspects and a few new players. It was overcast, cool and damp underfoot, was it really Feb? We had the Welsh boyos Neil, WRAdrian and Kiwi(ImReallyWelsh)Chris, the CRF-X musketeers Wez with his mates Bainy & Karl, Pretz back from the wilds of Canada who brought along Rick and Brett our trusty sweep for today. The pre-ride duties were quickly dispensed with, Neil getting the teas in for his boyos - who needs their Mum when Neil's around?, Pounce giving a memorable pre-ride talk and I quote "bollocks, bollocks, bollocks" and Bainy with what was to become a familiar pattern for today ... kicking his CRF to death to get her running. Pounce led the group out along the Powerline in pristine conditions as the photos will attest ...  Ruts anyone?  Yep it's the best one...  Bainy makes an entrance  Pretz, check out the conditions  Sweep of the day, Brett  It can't be Feb! On a re-group Wez took The Pounce Ship for a spin with the promise "I won't do any wheelies" and then took off and wheelstanded to the horizon and returned with a "Oh, I lied".  Wez practising for Pounce's bike The were a few offs today, WRAdrian gave Brett and myself a wonderful demo on how to do a 270 in the mud, followed by a perfectly executed high-side. Pounce went the extra step to capture footage for "World's craziest trail riders" ... by smacking his headcam into a tree. At the gully, which looks so tame in photos that even I thought beforehand "sure I'll give that a shot" ... in reality it's a different story ... there a 20ft vertical face before the top with a few interesting ledges and embedded rocks ... "mmm, maybe not". SOTD goes to Karl who did a good job in saving himself before his CRF cartwheeled down the face ... beautifully captured by Pretz ...  What it used to look like  Arrrgh!  At least Karl stayed on the top  What it looks like now Wez then proceeded to show that it was easy... the rest of the group decided that discretion was the better part of valour ...  Wez - it's easy  Wez again The ride back was awesome, the creek was mint, grippy with a few mud patches to keep you on your toes, the single track was perfect ... the fire trails were awesome. Did we mention the pristine conditions? Cool, overcast, damp, grippy, no dust ... Back at the cars, the smiles were wide - with only KiwiChris on a downer "I'd love to go camping but now I'm gonna have to spend hours getting this MOIST, LOAMY, TACKY soil off my bike". Suck it up Chris! Pounce scores SOTD for organizing & leading a top ride. Thanks also to Neil who took lead duties during the day. Did we mention the conditions? Nobody even needed to confirm with WRAdrian ... it was the surely best ride he'd ever been on ... and many would agree. Thank you Trail Gods! |
