EASTER CAMP 14/4/06-17/4/06 - PYRENEES
Arrived a bit before midnight to find a few still up & the rest in bed. No fire going but it was a mild night so there had been no need to look for wood in the dark. Welly was there after the big trip down from the Hill. Started Saturday with 9 riders & quickly commenced throwing ourselves up & down huge hills. Quite a few get offs with Welly excelling. Lunched atop Mt Cole as the weather closed in. Those silly enough to bring jackets even though the day started fine & warm put them on as the rain started & the rest of us got wet. Due to the inclement weather & Welly suffering from a longstanding flu with his asthma taking a turn for the worse in these conditions we high tailed it for camp to get there before the big rain started after a big 46k’s! Did a wet wood patrol & cranked up the fire in the very welcome shelter shed & settled in for the arvo & evening keeping warm & dry with plenty of bench racing & a little liquid refreshment.
Next morning Welly headed back to the Hill & we remaining 8 fuelled up for a big day over the other side. We found lots of new tracks & plenty of huge hills to crash up & down in the perfect conditions of no dust due to the rain which stopped during the night. Several hills had most needing more than 1 go to get up but dogged determination saw all up (& down). 1 hill had an audience of 4WD people with a guy on crutches on the sidetrack line causing havoc for a while. Lunched at an old mine/slate quarry which we had never found before & then headed back in to the fray for more of the same. Bob went over the bars big time when his front wheel was taken out by a tree root hidden submerged in the middle of the track which slowed him down for the rest of the day. Big Dave had to lift my bike off me when I was pinned under it after a rock took out the front on THE downhill. We met up with some other riders who we had seen there on previous years & some of them had ridden with us in the Otways all those years ago. Also met a couple of Vic Amtra guys. Ended up back in camp after 160 k’s with big Dave just getting in on 2nd lay over after the red 650 sucked his extra 5 litres & some of someone else’s too. Went to bed reasonably early after such a big day & a late night the previous night only to have not much sleep due to 3 carloads of hoons who lobbed in about 1.30am & proceeded to kick big Dave out of the shelter, burn all our wood, make a huge racket with yelling, doof-doof & much drinking & general carrying on. It was over the top. Next morning we took great delight in making lots of noise early while they were trying to sleep it off.
Dave S didn’t ride next day due to feeling crook & I had had enough of monster hills for a while so had a lay day too. The others did a morning ride, came back for lunch then did an arvo ride, both with even more monster-y hills I hear, but they enjoyed it nevertheless. An early night seeking by now much needed sleep was had by all & next morning packed up & headed home after another top Easter camp. Thanks to Mark E for organising & leading.
CRASH & BURN, DNF, DNGF – WELLY
DNS – TOM
Mark Jarvis
Tailman