Blog: September 30. One-day Challenge #02. Done and very dusted.

It’s Saturday arvo as I write this and we’ve all spent a very pleasant morning dawdling around in the dust. Maybe it was just because I was sweeping, but it was shithouse dusty. Still, it was a great group, with a couple of new faces and a few old ones as well (some are getting quite old). It was great to see such a wide range of bikes – including an 1190R…in all that dust! a Transalp and a Tiger 800 – and an even wider range of people.

Marty and Craig kick up some dust.

Marty and Craig kick up some dust.

The challenges turned out to be good’ns, and a couple of groups sensibly chose the cut-out options. With the dust, some of the hills were way tougher than they should’ve been, and with the cost of bike spares, the cut-outs were a sensible choice.

The award for Champion Of The Ride definitely went to Darcy Ramsay for his effort on the challenge hill. For starters it was brave move for a 17-year-old on his L plates to even tackle the climb, but after he binned it on the first attempt he had the steady nerve to go back to the bottom and try and again. He did it easy on the second attempt, earning Legend status. There’ll be plenty of people who’ll say, “Yeah, but he was on a Dominator, so he had a big head start,” and that may be true, but it took courage and maturity to have that second try in the way that he did (even on a Dominator – a bike considerably older than Darcy).

It took three riders to hold back Darcy Ramsay's Dominator.

Two riders trying to hold back Darcy Ramsay’s Dominator.

Darcy’s dad, Dave ‘Headlight’ Ramsay, took a good long look at the challenge bridge before sailing over with only a brief exclamation of surprise. What a crack-up. Darcy’s mum, Karen, was there flying the flag for the girls and had a trouble-free day, producing a card at the end to be signed for Caroline, who hopefully will be back with group soon.

Dave's smiling because his headlight survived the ride.

Dave’s smiling because his headlight survived the ride.

I still can’t believe I worked on the Dominator for maybe 10 minutes at the stop and no-one photographed it. Ha! Sucked in to all of you! If there’s no photos it never happened. The same goes for the coffee at the rider briefing. As far as anyone can prove, I never tipped a flat white over myself and spent the rest of the day with the dust sticking to it like poop to a blanket.

For the record, the Dominator problem was a pannier rack with a broken bolt. Thanks to Darren for pointing it out before it broke loose completely and got all mangled in the rear wheel. Who’d’ve thought that could happen to something bought off Ebay?

Marty H sent a heap of images over so you can have a look at how things went. I was riding sweep, so I didn’t get much in the way of video or pics, but still you’ll get the idea.

Thanks to everyone for coming along, and especially for keeping their sense of humour in the dust. There’s something really uplifting about riding with a group of quality people. It’s a pretty hard feeling to beat.

Who wants another one?

dscf6366One of the Craigs on the TransAlp One-dayChallenge02_003Graham on the challenge bridgedscf6368Another Craig on the gas.dscf6367Craig again.dscf6361Darcy on the Darcynatordscf63702Chris on the Tigerdscf6375Another Craig on the 1190.

TF

PS: BUGGER! Karen just sent this one:

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PPS: Now some pics from Maso!

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7 Comments

  1. It was a good mornings riding with a great bunch
    of people and Marty…dust is better than hail.
    Thanks for making it possible Tom and Marty.

  2. Looks like good times, gutted i couldnt be there.

    looking forward to the next meet.

  3. Thanks for organising another great morning ride guys. Watching Dominator Darcy reminded me of how much fun we had as kids trail riding with our mates & he even though to bring along a packet of snakes. While Marty was doing his usual one wheel riding I also noticed Tranny Craig & Dave getting some air off the whoops. lets hope for some rain before the next ride

  4. A huge thanks once again to Marty & Tom.
    Great challenging ride & excellent having Darc come with us on his first ride on his new 93′ Darcinator. He relished the help & encouragement he was given from everyone.
    Tom 🙁 More attention to detail when next applying BEEPS please, or I”ll have to tone down my exclamation’s of glee at successfully crossing 5 lane bridges etc.
    We spent a great night with the Wilsons reminiscing over the day. Tranny Craig (Gav) Better get that F8 soon or that may stick !! Took us on a tour of some excellent lookouts & Pottsys Trig, big effort to get the DR onto that ledge man ! Topped off with lunch at the Amble Inn.
    You”ll be pleased to know us Ramsay’s stick together, Darc gave his bike a spell up the steep hill, I got caught on a rock at Pottys Trig & went down & Karen got bogged & crashed slowly in very soft sand trying to get to Lionels loop rd lookout.
    What a top weekend !!
    Hopefully see you all next ride. Cheers.

  5. Thanks again for organising another terrific challenge ride. We really appreciate you taking the time to carry out these rides with riders of all abilities. It says something about all the talented riders that they are happy to come along with ‘less competent’ riders. That is greatly appreciated. I continue to come away with a sense of achievement each ride and am very thankful for the advice (and equal opportunities…even if I never tackle that ridiculously steep track, at least I know Marty has offered me the chance to).
    And from Darcy (Darcinator): Thanks for the ride and looking forward to the next one ! Go the dominators!

  6. Hi guys it has been a long and hard road for Caroline but she is finally home and on the mend thank you for the card it has been a real help for both of us knowing so many people have been wishing her a speedy recovery, sadly motor bike riding will be out for a long time due to her injury. On another note, next time you go on the old Grafton rd going to Glenn Innes make sure you buy some more of those tasty biscuits that Tom bought on the pre ride to Cameron corner, if the family that owns that farm didn’t come along,it may have been a different out come! Its times like these when total strangers show the care that they showed that makes you believe that there are some great people out there. Sorry I didn’t get back to your email Tom . Talk soon and will be looking forward to the next ride cheers Dean and Caroline .

    • Fantastic ! So happy to hear Carolines back at home with you & the girls. Best place to fully recover. You’ve had a torrid few months, & can now put it all behind you. We’ll have to run the next Challenge ride up that lovely valley of yours so we can all say Hi .
      I’m sure next time we ride past Hibbo’s farm their stall will sell out.They had to be great folk with honey biccies like the hundred n thousand ones I got that day. Ooops sorry Tom.
      Hope to see you both soon. cheers Dave & Karen & Darcy.

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