SWAN REACH RIDE 4/6/06
20 riders fronted with a sea of yellow predominant on a fine cool day, just what the doctor ordered. It wasn’t long before the rugged downhill started to warm us up, quickly followed by the beginning of LOTS of single track to get the blood pumping even harder. Ian’s 300k pre-ride the previous Sunday gave lots of track with very little boring road to us to enjoy & we skirted around any contentious farm houses so no dramas. First crash I came across was Andrew & XR4 lying down across a high speed rut as a result of the old uh-oh the front wheel is climbing out, what do I do? Too late, I’m down! A slight headache for the rest of the day didn’t keep him down, although he did stall twice soon after on a tricky hill climb – oh for a button. Ian’s yellow markers in the odd strategic tree kept us on the crooked & narrow, just as we like it, til we eventually emerged at the ferry. Over the river & not far away was the shop we couldn’t find last year, just around the corner from the other one. They were well prepared & well organised & dispensed fuel & lunch quickly along with much appreciated FREE cold waters to top up drinkers – we will be back.
After our welcome repast Tricky got caught loafing so he & I missed the boat – well the ferry anyway. We soon caught up after a fast blast, although a Harley did drag us off on the black top! More of the same or similar on the way back saw a few more minor spills with Cathy featuring due to a bit of a lay off – good to see she & Pete back in to it ( the latter with a much reduced girth – it must have been him I saw pounding the pavement on my way home a few times). A 4.30pm finish saw time for some to have a refreshment at the pub & me time to meet Hammo at the hay barn & give him a hand with some men’s work (he can’t ride for a while yet because he has to get around to getting his bike fixed after the High Country DNF).
Thanks to Ian for another well researched & well strung together ride.
Mark Jarvis
Tailman