Trail Report: August 24th 2003

Now Tim has lived in the street for quite while and is a rider from way back. Brad and Wolfie had been out with him before and given him the "He's a good rider" stamp of approval.

"For sure. Follow me out to Pipidinny road, if you can be bothered going that slow ;)"

Out at Pip road the usual suspects have appeared and are unloading. Tim proceeds to tear up and down the last stretch on a mono stopping occasionally to scale sheer limestone cliff faces and flick the bike back down again. "Did _you_ bring him JAW?" some players asked. "Yeah. I think we will call him PsychoTim so as not to confuse him with the two other Tims in the team :)"

As promised, some time trialing gets underway. A bit of rain sets in but only long enough to keep the dust down. Nice. Gary rocks up on the old '79 Yammy 400 'smoker ("the KTM520 is in commuting road trim so I bring the old girl out instead") just in time for a lap and a good one too. Some personal bests broken and a "good effort" goes out to Rob taking out top placing for the day. Steve just misses out by less than a second.

Unfortunately PsychoTim cannot be harnessed enough to put in a time but judging from the crazy reconnisance laps he put in, Nathan, currently holding #1 place, is in trouble.

Speaking of Andy, although bikeless, appears out at the time trial in his 4x4. He just can't stay away, even without a bike. Somebody should take those "crackers" off him though...

With the time trials spent, a team photoshot under The Hog is called. Smile everybody. Lucky last chance it was too - by the end of the day Rob and JAW notice it has been cut down. Simply untied and left to drop, nothing taken. Some suspect that Farmer Alan may yet want to ressurect the old windmill (the top is wrecked, the tank cracked, but the frame is still sturdy) and others suspect just your basic kill-joys; either way she's on the ground now and that's where she'll stay from now on.

The riders say goodbye to PsychoTim who is running low on fuel and set out for the tanks. Lovely day for a ride, but really, when isn't it? ;)

The coastal horse tracks are taken, an excellent ride so long as you don't meet up with a pack of horses. Our single horse power fellow riders for some reason don't like the motorised versions; strange, team CQ always kills the engines and let then pass. Perhaps other riders have been known to scare the horses?

Rob stops everyone for bit of footage capture; good cameraman Rob - doing the hard yards for CQ2 the video.

Meantime back at Pip road basecamp Andy has cooked up some hot dogs for everybody. What a guy! Nathan, a bit too crook for riding, makes an appearance as well. Addictions run deep, but with a gut full of hot dog, bring it on.

Sams rear sprocket is pointed out at being a bit close to finality so he packs the little CR125 in and heads off. "Don't forget to go a bit stiffer on the ratio this time for trail work." Those little crossers are made for the short tracks for sure.

The final onslaught for the day was an Alkimos run. Colin and Steve find a bit of air on the dune jump, but it's pretty 4x4 rutted. Bit of a yarn and some dune work and it's pretty much a day done.

Rider of The Day goes to PsychoTim, although he didn't put in a time course lap the wheelies down the main Pip drag nailed it as far as Rob and JAW were concerned. Stack of The Day goes out to Colin for going over the bars during warmups before the day had even begun; although riding hard the rest of the day with one bar up and one bar down nearly got him off the hook.