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DRZ Ride Day
DRZ Ride Day
The rain dances worked and it poured down on Wednesday. Events like this bring out the dirt bikes. It looked like every second vehicle heading into the hills had a couple of bikes hanging off the back. It was going to be a big day. Mick450 is well known for his ability to, “Just add this bit of single trail”, until your completely knackered and the bikes are dry. Todays ride was no exception! On arrival at the Lakes Roadhouse all you could see was an ocean of bikes and bikers. Micks nightmare is to call a ride and eight hundred riders turn up. Well, the day had come! Fortunately for us Seven hundred and three had turned up for other rides. Seven Crusty’s turned up to the Lakes roadhouse. Juiced up and booted and ready for anything. The DRZ’s outnumbering the other brands for a change. Jacko quickly put his hand up for sweep and then everything went quiet as Mick asked, “Who’s going to write the report?” I was ten metres away and I could feel everyone looking at me. “I’d love to write the report.” Mumble, mumble, rotten mongrels! Mick avoided answering the questions of: “How far are we going?” “When will we be back?” “Should we have our passports?” The dirt was awesome. Just enough grip but not too much water to make the granite slippery. Mick tried everything to find a sloppy muddy bog hole so he could watch us wallow around and laugh. The skill level of the group was just too great. Andy was wanted to get some action on his camera and so we ended up at the “End of the Earth” downhill. We talked it up a bit for MickKal but he wasn’t afraid. Everyone took their own lines and, without incident, found their way to the bottom. Someone told me that downhills are easy because you will always get to the bottom, somehow. Gravity always helps you. More of the best single tracks known to man and then towards my favourite granite outcrop. The last time we went down this slope it wasn’t pretty. Down became up and up became down, all in slow motion. I was sweating bullets. Fortunately for me, Jay eased my pain by adding some of his own. Just before we reached the granite his usually smooth riding style was interrupted by his testicles being rammed into his petrol filler cap. Every year there is Billions of yen spent on dirtbike research and design to produce something new. In 1971 the Yamaha DT1 had a nice smooth, low profile fuel cap. In 2012 Yamaha has the meanest looking nut remover. Great work Yamaha! Jay spent a few minutes bent over contemplating his family status. The granite downhill was nothing to worry about. More single track and with the corner man system working perfectly the skilled riders had covered lots of ground. We attacked the “End of the earth” but going up this time. Still no carnage. Jay was on reserve and running on fumes, I was feeling the effect of three week off the bike. Ross’s new rear tyre was working a treat kept him out of trouble. MikeKal was testing his neck brace by bashing his head into the overhanging trees. Andy was a little nervous about his dodgy battery but it held up fine all day. Jacko had the hardest job as he had to ride the tracks last, after we had delicately churned up every line. Just when you thought he couldn’t make it through a section, around the corner he would come. A beer after the bikes were loaded and a successful DRZ ride day was concluded. An awesome loop Mick, great set of tracks. No breakdowns during the ride. The only carnage was a couple of nuts.         |
