Out :
Yerriyong road, Wattle Trail, Nutbush, Saltwater, Honeysuckle, Quicksand, single-track along Power lines, wattle trail, Yalwal road, Northern Distributor, F6, Basswood, Mintbush, Boolijong Creek, The Link, Sandiman West, Penda, Monkey gum, Turpentine Road to Tianjara Falls for lunch.

The weather was fine and cool, there was no dust, there were puddles and bog holes, and the creeks had water in them ! (the Nowra region had 155mm of rain in the previous week).

Began riding with 14 in the group at 0815, Mark Woolley the Lead rider and Mick Prior as Sweep. I came down on a log on Christmas Bush trail, Mark came down further along in a gulley. Along the Northern Distributor I slid out on mud into a tree, and Mick nearly followed me into the tree ! The Northern Distributor has a number of rock steps that have to be ascended and descended, so picking a good line and matching speed with the conditions is essential. Just before the F6 descends into the gulley, a KTM520 had a flat rear tyre, but a pit crew of three soon changed the tube.

Down the F6 rocky steps was a challenge, made much easier for those with longer legs (like me ha ha). At one stage I thought I must have lost the track as all I could see was rock, but apparently that is the track ! One tricky bit is down a slope and around a tree, the rider in front of me rode down the slope smoothly, but didn't go around the tree !  Then I had to pull a stick out from between his front wheel spokes when he was squashed between his bike and the tree, and pull him away from the tree to get him going again!

The ride up the gulley on the other side, well that is a story in itself. No run-up with a sharp turn out of a creek bed at the bottom sets it up. Gnarly, narrow, slippery, steep, rutted, off camber, tree roots - didn't see any rocks though but there are some nice ferns and palms alongside it ! Plus I was playing 007 and left a smokescreen to hide the track. I made it up unassisted, but not without lifting my bike off a tree root in a rut.

Further along the F6, just before it joins the Basswood trail, the group had stopped just past a log and I showed them all how to ride over a large log (NOT !) and fell down like a bag of spuds with the bike on top of me. I quickly lifted myself and the bike back up to gentle applause and encouragement. Glad that my efforts are appreciated

We went up Sandiman Head to South Sandiman and along to Penda. Some riders were getting tired and started falling and crashing on logs or tricky sections. We met a group of five riders going the opposite way and stopped to let them pass. Up Penda and then Monkey Gum and along Turpentine Road to transport to the lunch spot.

Lunch was great and importantly ready to eat when we got there at 1300. Plus there were (glucose) snakes ! The fuel cans had been brought across so we refuelled

and got ready for more action.
In : less four riders and with a new sweep, left at 1345.
Turpentine Road, Wandean Road, Cassia, Yellow Wood, Power Lines, Down Six Stage, Monkey Gum, Link road, Up Dusty's Hill, down the Rollover, Wombat Flat Track, Dean's Gap Road, Northern Distributor, Powerlines, quicksand, Yerriyong road and back to Albatross.

As there were less riders in the afternoon the pace became quicker with less crashes and falls all around. We stopped at the bottom of "Six stage" to let all members of the group catch up to Mark Woolley, and one KTM 520 rider had "taken a swan dive" (his words, not mine), when descending.

We rode back along the Link to Wombat flat road and turned up Dusty's Hill and down Rollover hill.

The Northern Distributor was fun riding in the reverse direction to the morning - you could ride down the steps without too much difficulty and there seemed to be more runoff, and going up the steps there was more room to run up at them.

I had used up my quota of falls in the morning and didn't come down once in the afternoon or even stall ha ha ! Also there were no loose sprocket bolts, no flat tyres, no loose gear levers or broken shrouds on my KTM so it is reliable !

We returned at 1610 with five riders left in the group.

KimTM