toysrus

So I turned up with only a few rides in the last six months on the stupidest bike for this kind of ride and a dubious level of bike fitness. what could possibly go wrong?? It rained lightly during gearing up and got heavier once we took off on the bikes. Straight away even on the easy stuff I was out of my comfort zone, 10 minutes in on one of the easiest rock strewn hills for the day I fell off for no reason at all corking my arse (is that an actual thing?), what was disappointing is I was born in a rock patch, it's the only place I can ride reasonably well! Anyway soaked through and fingers freezing I slowly found something resembling skills and really started enjoying it I was amazed at how well the 500 performed compared to all of the 300's as I expected to be stuck everywhere digging trench's, the only times this happened (quite a few) was due to my poor line selection but by and large it was a treat to ride, a big heavy dog of a treat. As much as I dislike Marko I have never been on a bad "Marko" ride and yesterday was no exception obstacles that were at the limit of my skills but not beyond and they kept on coming! I've not been to Cobaw many times but got to see a huge amount of stuff I haven't seen before and Marko linked them up perfectly. The crew were all great and good fun to ride with, a few I haven't ridden with before but knew most on the ride. I made it through all of the tough stuff on the ride but actually needed help from Dan the sweep on a fire trail!! so all I can gather from this is the tracks must have been too easy. Riles lost his back pack late in the day and Rider Riles and myself broke off on a rescue mission revisiting a lot of the ride we had already done ending in a successful retrieval, I got a twig in my front wheel (riles has a photo I believe). and we went back to the cars via more interesting tracks. As much as I struggled I haven't had that much fun on a bike in a long time thanks to Marko the sweeps and all the riders great day great tracks great crew!!! #Tubliss is cheating #Dont ride with blokes who run marathons #If it's not hard it's not fun #If it's too hard it's no fun #I hate Marko

SL70 new to me in 1977

I rode your new 350 Scotty, it was rubbish in every possible situation. Probably best off giving it to me so you don't have to put up with it any more!

She got a good one Brian!

As mentioned already weekday rides are the go! Shane did a top job as fill in lead after a late scratching, a possible charging problem and a battery swap on Shanes bike gave me a chance to listen to some banter between Zig and Zag (Bruce and Bear MX). A recurring topic for the day was Bears totally bald Chinese front tyre that he bought five years and four bikes ago for 26 dollars from torpedo seven. We are now a little clearer on why Bear keeps bagging his Kato "it's not getting the love"! It was an all KTM day apart from Big Pete on his Yamaha who swept the first half of the day. Around the same time Pete swapped with Eagle for sweep duties we went on to lead rider no 3 "Pete markII" (Big Petes plus 1) who seems to know the area quite well and took me on some tracks I've been on and some I haven't, some done in reverse that I've ridden but did not recognise and he was definitely not running at a level two pace! Even with Pete MkII running pretty quickly there was no long waits on corners and I hope everyone enjoyed the ride as much as I did. I forgot that I smashed my brake lever tip on my last ride which made riding that little bit more interesting brakes still worked but getting your foot on to the lever was not guaranteed. Thanks to all who came and the multiple leads and sweeps, a great day out in absolutely perfect conditions. PS Bassman there was cake it was spectacular! we ate it back at the car park as you were getting towed back with your radiator problem.

Before the war it was 20 mph over the limit.

I think you'll find it was fractured gonads.

If you are waiting on a new bike and the old one is gone there "will" be a delay.

Riders make the real difference, bikes a minor part of that. But for all the KTM haters, first four places at Finke and 6 of the top ten just confirms how bad they are!!

All substance no style All style no substance

Yes, good ride that was. For some!!

No Problem Dan

I know some blokes who are already practicing leaving the bikes out to charge.

I have to check my tubliss every time before I ride, they are well known for leaking down. If the inner was still at 100psi it is impossible to knock the bead off the rim so either a puncture in the tire or just the regular slow leak.

Lightweight techy wheels with Tubliss replaced with heavy dopey Talons and ultra heavy-duty tubes. New bearings all round for the HCR.