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The Bergs Debut, Lano - Cervantes
Col McC, Walker, Fiona and Scott (one other of their mates whos name i cannot remember)
With a new bike to run in, a Lano Cervantes ride is the perfect option for this. So a date was fixed, but with the weather forecast not at all good and gales on the Friday night, how many would show up? The drive to Lano did not bode well, with some very dark clouds and a couple of decent hail storms. The car park was deserted when i arrived, although the sun did shine for the bike unloading part. In fact Walker was the only brave soul to front up and after a brief shower we set off at a steady pace, all the time watching our left to see what the elements could throw at us. We were greeted on the run to Wedge with no 4x4's or other road users of any sort, but by approx 157, 314 puddles. We skirted the majority and that would sort of come into things a bit later in the day. The tracks were in great nick otherwise, with the rain battering them flat and smooth in most places. And jeez does a 570 Berg makes then tracks fly by at a silly rate!!! The tide was right up at Wedge and there were a couple of "wait for the wave to recede and blast past" moments, but we were able to get through. As the clouds were very dark again, we pushed straight on and a few kms the other side near Grey, the rain just battered down and we had to stop and take shelter behind some bushes. It was coming across horizontally, so the thick bush did a great job of stopping it. The new main road has made it presence felt up beyond Grey now, were the long sections of cap rock are and you have to weave in and out of the track we use, the new road and some sections that i think are the original track, covered in construction debris. Those that hate the caprock might like this bit better now. Into Cervantes and we had only just sat down when the stragglers caught up, in the shape of Scott, Fiona and their mate (can you remind us of his name, as i am sure hes been out with us before). The usual servo refuel was followed by a strategy discussion to see if there was an alternative route back, but with the tide up so high, the beach was out, so the same route back was the go. The pace picked picked up going back and the there was only 2 4x4 to avoid and a quick run was had back to and straight through Wedge. The weather was kind to us and this maybe started the improvement in the attitudes of some of the riders, who started playing with the puddles and trying to drown each other.It also around then that Fiona had 2 heart stoppers in front of me, getting a decent tank slapper going at one point and then hitting a rock and throwing the back end of her 200 in the air. That's only 5 lives left Missus!!!! And so to the down side of what we do and as we pulled round a corner, to find one of what had been 000's of seemingly similar puddles, we found Scott lying on the floor and holding his leg. He had gone across this puddle and lost the back on the way out and it had come right round on him, pitching him off and bending his leg underneath. He was clearly not happy and with maybe 25km left to Lano, it was a debate over trying to ride it in, or going for the cars. Scott is made of tuff stuff and decided to try and ride it in. He was helped onto the bike and we took a slow ride back. But after a few kms you could see that he was suffering and rode slower and slower, to the point i almost said for him to get on the back of my bike. Fiona took off and managed to collar the St Johns ambo at the Lano carpark and he drove out to meet Scott coming in. By now he was in some distress and i think we all felt a bit useless trying to make him as comfortable as possible, but the look on his face told you all you needed to know. So he got the special ride back to Joondalup hospital, to find he has a broken leg and the rest of us recovered the gear and took a rather glum drive home. A smashing ride with a sour tatse at the end. No prizes for SOTD and again shows the CQ crowd will all stick together in times of need. |
