Dungog Ride 10-1-04 with Mark, Kim, Geoff & Philippe

Prologue

Mark (WR450F) picked me (WR426F) up at 0430 at Mt Keira and we proceeded via the Harbour Tunnel to Raymond Terrace where we refuelled and met Geoff (KTM525) and Philippe (KTM520). We arrived at Dungog Pub 0730 (to get bearings for the main place of essential supplies in Dungog - food and beer). We followed Geoff's car to the "Jerusalem Creek Walking Track" car park.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

At 0845 I demonstrated the use of the little known standard feature on my WR - the kick starter + right boot = start engine (as I was the only one without e-start) ! Mark was keen to try out his new Michelin mousses and ride without all the tools and tubes he normally carries. What he needed later was not a puncture proof tube but a puncture proof boot or foot !

We met a friendly State Forest Ranger who asked me about our planned ride and where were staying. As I had no idea where we going and what tracks we were planning to ride, I couldn't tell him much. I said we had an experienced guide and two GPS's so I wasn't concerned as long as I could see fresh bike tracks in front of me. I don't think I allayed his concerns about my navigational abilities.

Let The Ride Begin

We then rode immediately onto single tracks in the State Forest area.

As we passed around a tree, a vine grabbed me around the neck, I tilted my head back and it caught my nose and as I was being nearly dragged off the back of my bike it caught my peak and ripped it off ! Vines 1. WR rider 0. The general rule seems to be if you can see the end of a vine then you can ride through it, if it's a loop then avoid it or lift it over your head. Geoff said the old motocross rule is to avoid riders without peaks at all costs. No wonder he spent the rest of the day trying to ride away from me !

Soon after Philippe was seen closely inspecting the constituency of the soil for tractability immediately after a log. I didn't see him press a key into the dirt, however. Log 1. KTM and rider 0.

A Bit of Reflection

At one of our brief rest stops Philippe told us that in his native Belgium trail bikes can't be ridden in any forests. Austria neither (home of the KTM). I'd read that the same applies in Germany and some parts of the USA as the bikes upset the deer and ruin clear shots when the shooters are out hunting ! Imagine that if we were banned from all forests because hunters couldn't shoot kangaroos. I think we are real conservationists as we don't deliberately kill or destroy but want the resource available for riding for all time. We also pay for it with our taxes, registrations, licences and purchases and spend money in the riding area on food, petrol accommodation etc.

Back to Riding

Geoff said something about downhills being followed by uphills and I asked about the in between (i.e. flat bits). He said that there is no in between at Barrington Tops ! He also said that he loved downhills as you knew you could always get to the bottom (not like uphills where you don't always make it to the top !). We went off onto Geoff's secret track, an obscured, slightly overgrown downhill singletrack that was blocked by a large fallen tree. After dragging the bikes under the tree we made it further to only have to go over another fallen tree !

Some Problem With a Stick

In the morning Mark had a stick incident. To quote Mark - "Yeah put a stick through my foot. It was only a couple of hours into the ride in the morning on some downhill single track. There was a branch laying on the ground at foot peg height pointing back up the track which I seen and thought I'd just slide the back wheel out & around it but I didn't't go far enough. The pointed end of the branch went through the top of the boot and right through my foot & out the bottom. Well lying on the ground with a 6 inch's of stick poking out the top of ya boot isn't much fun. Pulling it out was even more fun.

Anyway even though I had a hole through my for it wasn't bleeding much so Geoff just bandaged it up, put the boot back on & we kept riding. After driving all the way to Dungog I wasn't gunna miss out on a ride but it caught up with me by about 2:30 so I left the others & headed back to the car".

We met a younger rider on his new KTM 300 two smoke riding alone - said his riding mates were both laid up with broken bones ! He showed us a way to Stratford along some single track and left us when he went to his Father's property.

Mark left Stratford after lunching and fuelling at 1430.

The Return of the KTMs (and one WR)

On the way back we went down a hill that only Geoff had summitted in the morning, to show us what the top looked like. We also went along a narrow ledge with "Keep right, cliff face on left" signs but I never looked for the cliff but looked right to the bank. Mark later told me about a ride he did with Glenn Hoffman in that area where a bike had to be retrieved with ropes and chains !

We rode out of a creek through a picnic - the picnickers literally moved their picnic rugs to either side of the single track to let us pass and the lady gave us a cheerio as we passed by. We crossed a few more creeks, dodged a few rocks and hit a few, and tried a hill climb that Philippe and I went around.

We arrived back to the cars at 1715 to find Mark self administering a Bourbon painkiller ! We left at 1800 and arrived back to my place at 2230. All in all an excellent days riding for the stick-free riders, even Mark got in an awesome ride 'til lunch. I think he even rode harder after the stick incident ! Maybe he thought he could outrun the sticks if he went faster !

Epilogue

Thanks to Geoff for leading us and carrying the first aid kit, and to Geoff, Philippe and Mark for an awesome day. The riding is nearly all up or down, the only flat bits are along creeks, it's nearly all single track, the scenery is superb and the vegetation is rainforest. Glen (local trail tour leader) has set up some awesome tracks with bridges across washouts and matting on some steep up/downhills. There are some gnarly, deep ruts which I tried to stay out of and of course I always ended up riding in (don't look at where you don't won't to go Kim, doh! I also found you can't use the back brake pedal when the ruts are deep and narrow.) Dust wasn't a real problem, most of the tracks are not rocky, the Works Burgers at Stratford are superb and we only saw one other bike. We never did get to try the food and beer supplies at Dungog. There's always next time.

I wish Mark a speedy recovery.


Kim Bazley