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The no TZ Bremer Bay & Ravines tour
Saturday
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Report by Darin

Perth contingent
Mackley, Chris de Berg, Darin, Rothy, Jacko, Wayno VB, Mick 530, Todd, Harve, Jeff 400

Lex called a Bremer ride and 10 Perth CQs put up their hand up to make the journey into the deep South West. I think Lex had made it compulsory for every person with a bike in Albany to attend LOL.
Now if I said we had a few laughs, it would be the understatement of the year. There were times when I had tears in my eyes from laughing.
I know I wont be able convey the humour onto paper but here goes anyway.
The first story that got a fair amount of airtime was the journey to Bremer by Chris de Berg, Todd, Rothy and Harve.

It seems one of the wives had given some instruction on the directions to Bremer. It is common knowledge that men dont like taking directions from their wives (and rightly so. Lol.) but I think the combination of four men in a car and back & passenger seat drivers confused the situation slightly which resulted in a lot of extra kms and an unguided sightseeing tour of various locations in the Gnowangerup area.

Story 2
Wayno VB and his son Mick 530 arrived at Bremer a bit earlier than everyone else on Friday and decided a few frothys was the order of the day. One or three beers later, once we had all arrived and the sun had set, Mick 530 decided to head down to a pay-phone booth a hundred meters or so away. (no mobile coverage) Walking through a few trees in a dark unlit section of the park, Mick thought he heard a someone behind him, his heart was racing, he spun around to see 2 seven foot figures standing behind him, thinking he was about to get mugged, he offered his wallet in exchange for free-passage, only to realize it was the resident giant kangaroos following him. Needless to say Mick arrived back at camp a bit white faced.
The third story I didnt witness but it gained momentum during the course of the day and culminated in side splitting laughter around the camp fire on Sat. Night.

I think it is fair to say, waking up on Sat morning was a bit tough for some and Chris de Bergs Kato 570 was no exception. Todd ended up giving the kato a push-start down the bitumen, while Chris de Berg astride the big girl gently tried to coax her into life. She wasnt having any of it, until she had at least half a litre of fuel in her belly and Chris de Berg had the throttle wide open.
570cc exploded into life with an almighty roar and a full back-flip leaving Chris de Berg on his arse on the bitumen.
Those that witnessed the event, thought the kato was some kind of wild beast learning to fly and they held grave fears for the overhead powerlines. The noises that Chris de Berg was making on the bitumen were likened to a stuck pig by some of his good mates, who were also looking for volunteers to rub Monkey Butt powder on his sore arse.
(Chris de Berg I hope you are ok you looked sore on Sat)

On to the ride...

After a quick riders meeting Lex warned us that the first section had a steep sided ditch, that needed some caution. An Albany rider (Wayne I think) who I was following hit the ditch at full pace, the rebounding suspension flicked bike and rider into a forward somersault. He didnt appear to have anything broken but he was very sore and called it a day after that.
We made our way to the dunes on some good tracks. The dunes are huge (look at the pictures) with some awesome views from the top. Caution was needed when getting to the top of any dune as the other side was usually a sheer drop. It was a catch 22 if you backed off you bogged a few meters from the top and had to go back down and too much speed you could end up crashing down the other side.

With not a lot of rain the sand was very soft and boggy and those (like me) with limited sand riding skills found the going a bit heavy. We had a few drag races down the beach and generally I think everyone had fun.
After a bite to eat we headed off to the ravines and did a nice loop around the area. Some great rocky tracks with a few puddles and some decent gulleys and wash-aways (more my style)

I think we did about 150kms over the day which was impressive considering the number of bikes.

The pub in Bremer did some brisk trade feeding and quenching the thirst of a large group of off-road bikers, all in all a good weekend.
I got home-sick lol. and left early Sunday morning and so the Sunday report will be by others.

Thanks again to Lex for calling the ride.


Sunday
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Report by It's a GasGasGas Lex

Sunday morning the punters had a quieter start to their day. The breakfasts were had and by 0900 we were gathered in the caravan park, a few riders had gone off to fill up with fuel and others were down at the inlet waiting for the group to arrive there.

A few riders who had had a few falls & bruises the previous day had decided to fore-go the Sunday ride and pack up and go home with a few others who had business back in the city to attend to.
New rider Grommet, the son of DRZ Rick our Saturday sweep had turned up and was keen to keep up with the big boys.

I had planned to make Sunday a ride that unlicensed riders could attend and take part in but never really got around to making it public as the volume of riders was getting up beyond 20 anyway.

So we all met up on the eastern side of the inlet in the most perfect conditions, blue sky, shimmering ocean, real post card stuff.
The Sunday group numbered around 15 which is a nice number and we headed off east at a reasonable pace, new Sunday sweep was Jacko who always seems to volunteer for that unpalatable job.

The crew reached the far end and in heavy sand turned inland, the trail became a fast bermy twisting track but soon gave way to a large pristine sand dune, I stopped to photograph the boys race up its virginal slope and there we went ape for awhile carving it up.

Soon enough it was time to get moving , leading the troops to the far end of the dune we found where the sand was slowly eating up the old inland coastal track and went down about 5 meters into the trees and the hard dark sand tracks that abound here.

My plan was to head east parallel to the coast but got bamboozled at a Y junction, not wanting to appear like I didnt know where I was going I plopped my CRF over on its side for dramatic effect and to give the followers time to catch up.

Recovering my bike we continued to head east, the track I had mapped 2 weeks earlier had obviously been moved so I decided to take another track that looked promising.

Well it turned out to be a fun twisting old fire break that always looked like it might end at any time but as it followed the coast (sort of) we followed it knowing that it should eventually hit the gravel access track that I was heading for.

A few regroups and we did in fact end up where I had planned, a huge wide open inlet of firm white sand.

The boys put on wheelie demonstrations with some rather good high speed passes along the miles of deserted inlet then we continued east until the beach ended and we had to climb up a steep slope to a 4x4 mat, it wasn't easy as the coast had been washed away so it took a bit of lateral thinking and the applications of much throttle but we all got up the hill ok.
The view back along the 19kms of beach was awesome with its blue green ocean, white beach and a few dolphins off the coast.
As with any ride time was getting away from me and with this large a group spills & breakdowns always pop up. It had been my idea to be back at Bremer by lunchtime but it was lunchtime and we weren't at our destination.....
Oh well, I lead the group along the rocky coastal cliff tops to the ideal whale spotting location but there were non....however a 4x4 with three emergency department nurses had just arrived with our food & fuel and were waiting for us at our rendezvous. Just in time as a few KTM's were guzzling juice and we had a puncture to deal with.

The girls had to apparently bribe their way thru a rangers road block by tossing their blonde locks, looking winsome and vacuous but whatever they did it worked as they were the only vehicle to arrive by road.... well done support crew. It pays to have the right team in place....
As we ate and XT Aaron dropped his pants to fish around in his strides for stuff knows what the KTM lads huffed & sweated over a non complying front flat, 2 tubes later it was fixed and we were ready, fed, fueled & watered.
I lead the group off further east to show off some more interesting tracks but after 20 kms a ranger drove past just before a road closed sign, he seemed to no take any interest in us but as the sign said road closed due to dieback disease we all decided to do the right thing and head back as time was now marching past lunchtime.

DRZ Dennis a man who not only rode out to Bremer from Albany with all his camping gear and did both days and is in his 50's with a fuel tank as large as a Kia Rio has was put in charge of leading the crew back. Dennis often rides out alone to have a camp here or there so he knows the place well.
We chooffed back along the long long beach until the ocean lapped up against the sand hills but thankfully we found a track leading up off thebeach.
It was a bit of a climb up due to water erosion , when Grommet attempting to get up off the beach on his YZ85 hit its power band unexpectatly and did a Chris de Berg endo. It looked awesome to see the little tacker launching his bike out from between his legs into the air and be left standing there with no bike...a real magic disappearing trick.

Around here the tracks became a motocross track with twists, berms and all the fun obstacles that make a fast ride fun.
However Dennis left the others in his dust, for my part I took on the sweep duties and what a mistake... seriously ... I mean everyone in front was falling over.

Perhaps the fatigue of 2 days was catching up but everyone was starting to make silly mistakes, my cameraman with my new Epic 170 drift helmet cam came to grief for no apparent reason in front of me. Mashing his head and my camera into a sand bank I braked heavily so as to not run over him. On the ground under his foot was my poor cam as he tried to lift his bike, however as it was facing me I did a little victory dance behind the struggling rider. I havent seen the footage yet but I am hoping it looks good...
Dennis up fron was still meanering in and out of the coastal beach tracks sometimes zipping along lonely little beaches then darting back into the undergrowth like a large jackrabbit.

I dont know of any carnage up front on the way back but everyone got back to the caravan park by 3 pm with large grins and a cold one in their hands.
What a great turn out it was, 25 riders started, 2 others had other issues with their bikes like slick road tyres and a non starting engine so they sat it out.
Along with wives & kids we had just over 30 people and half the Bremer resort booked for our sat night tea.
The economy of the town profited, the caravan park owners were very pleased with our patronage again so all in all a successful faux WA Trailzone Readers Ride for 2011...

With 280km's ridden over the 2 days , I am sure our ride with its awe inspiring landscapes was the more successful one .
Thanks to all.
Gasgas

PostScript
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Honourably mentions go to: DirtBikeChick Susan for going all the way to Bremer & having a bike that wouldnt start and BMW Chris who turned up in a brand new BMW GS650 with road slicks........!! then decided to not participate....


Amusing anecdote : early sat am Chris de Bergs big Kato 530 has a flat battery... so they decide to push start the beast up the road next to the caravan park.... all is still, mist still in the air... not a sound but 3 guys struggling to get a bit of life into the beast.
Chris de Berg has the ignition on and the throttle wide open with plenty of fuel in the carb..... without warning the 530 roars into life and goes vertical like the space shuttle, Chris de Berg is thrown off the back and skids for a meter or so on his backside leaving flanny & polyester skidmarks whilst a snorting KTM accends a powerpole and comes to a halt..... funny stuff if ever there was a prize for slapstick comedy..


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Saturdays starters




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