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Moonlighting with Tommy
Moonlighting with Tommy:
If riding dirt bikes was tough enough then try riding dirt bikes at night in dusty conditions, on pea gravel. Six adrenalin thrill seekers turned up at Rock Inn to join Tommy on a moonlight ride. All had standard lights except for our fearless leader who was equipped with additional candle power that turned the night into day. A short drive to the parking location, gear up at 6:30pm in muggy 30c heat and go through a quick riders briefing, with Tommy assuring us the tracks were easy and boring but should be Ok for a night ride. Off we go in single file into the dusk. Nerves were high and everybody was trying to get their mojo quickly but the dusty conditions were making it hard to get in the grove. Corners were being overshot and logs on tracks T boned, rear end collision high on the agenda and Ashs two stroke kicking up shit loads of dust. (later we found out Ash had no spare plug and was trying not to foul the plug ) Just as darkness set upon us we stopped on a hill overlooking thousands of acres of trail riding heaven and catching glimpses of city lights, where our fellow Crusty mates who couldnt join us were either finishing dinner or out late night shopping. We fine tunned our lights and continued on into the night. The group dynamics quickly changed to self perseverance, the speed dropped to 30 km an hour and everybody stayed on each others tail. (Yes we are all scared of the dark). On the next regroup we discussed an extended option back to the cars and thats where the adventure began. The group took off after Tommy, Martin wasnt ready and so Martin and I (sweeping) were left behind. Two minutes later the group was out of sight and all we had to follow was a dust cloud, soon the cloud disipitaded and we were on our own at a cross junction looking at each other and sharing a Holy Shit moment. Decision was made to go straight ahead but now there was no dust to follow. Our speed picked up, heart rates increased and thoughts of spending the night together becoming a reality. A few kilometres later glimpses of tail lights were sighted and the chase back to the group continued. On the next regroup Tommy announced that we were lost, and the GPS wasnt playing the game. Waynovb assured us we were in safe hands as he had a compass and with navigation skills gained through years of sailing we could use the moon to get us back to Brookton Hwy. The next hour was back to business of safely traversing through wheel ruts with our steering dampeners wound right up, going around logs and trying to find our way back to the cars incident free and as one group. Eventually through Tommys determination and navigation prowess we made it back to the cars at 10:30 pm, exhausted from the intense concentration and fear of being lost but euphoric about the experience. A massive thanks to Tommy for leading an 80km ride at night which was far from boring. The group consensus is to run another ride like this once the rain dampens the tracks. Jack  Full moon ride  Full moon ride  Full moon ride  Full moon ride  Full moon ride |
