First and foremost....
a big
THANKS to those hearty souls who braved some awful riding conditions at times....only to be rewarded with some
VERY special moments around the Delatite Flats and the Strathbogies on the Sunday.
Willo looking after us like a "mum-without-tits" after things had turned pretty intense sometimes.
The deep, wet, red clay through the logging area of the Crystal Creek Rd.for some early pucker-moments...
Paling into insignificance for nearly all of Mt. Samaria.
Pelting rain, fog, close to freezing, a narrow, green tunnel, alternating red and white clay and sandy loam, 1/3 of the track-width being a running creek for kilometers.
Anyone wearing glasses was up shit-creek before things even got going...kudos and balls-to-you, guys!
That, after hammering the bikes up some rock-embedded and heavily corrugated track for the last kilometer to the top while trying to dodge the chunky bits of dropped, dead wood and deep ruts of washout-runnels.
And there was that "Williams Rd" access track, rough as guts and full of rocks and deep ruts and rock-shelves....but at least one could actually see through the sparse sprinkles of the blackbellies above.
The drop into the Delatite Flats around Mansfield, the 90kmh blast on the partially tacky loam/ sand of Long Lane.... the deep, golden sun on the earth tracks around Boorolite
Thanks for coming along and getting back to what it's really all about....
a beer or 3, laughs and banter while the drying gloves, sox and boots stink out the bedrooms...some good, basic tucker and a solid muscle ache for a few days of afterglow.
All the basics covered by the Merrijig Motor Inn.
No glut of photos from this end this time, I sort of had my hands full with routing, navigating terrain and weather, timing and the constant changes brought by the conditions.
And trying to stay upright.