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TOPIC: AMTRA Early Days...way back when....

AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 20 Sep 2018 08:38 #27563

  • Serge C
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I'm glad you stopped to take the photos you did, Kerry.

Please keep 'em coming.
"That's what I do, I drink and I know things!" - Tyrion Lannister
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 20 Sep 2018 12:36 #27565

  • andianjul
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My first ride with AMTRA was in 1993, a Steve Winstone Narbethong ride. I had a 1983 TS185 and zero riding gear. Worse, at the time I owned a pair of Blundstones and a pair of tan-coloured elastic-sided dress boots, I also owned a Mars road riding leather jacket and a lumberjack jacket. I was intending to wear the leather jacket and the Blundstones (my only 'protection'), but in my eagerness I left them both at home. So I rode in a lumberjack jacket and tan dress boots. Riding fashion/protection was not my only lack! I lacked skill, and I lacked the tools to perform any maintenance on the bike. Actually, I had the regulation Suzuki tools, but they were as good as useless in my novice hands. At least the bike had knobbies on it!
I recall that the tracks were extremely slippery and, accordingly, I rode very conservatively. We got to an intersection where all the riders were hitting a 'ramp' and leaping into  the air at speed, then landing. I was encouraged to try this, but declined (it would have been a very short AMTRA membershipp if I had attempted it as I would surely have died)
I remember that many of the riders were a bit aloof - in their defence, I guess I looked like a bit of a knob - but some, such as Steve, were very encouraging.
I acquired some Rossi boots and a riding jersy (I know I still didn't look the part, but I was getting closer) and went on another ride; this time it was the Dec/Jan 1993/4 Christmas camp. I arrived a day or two before everyone else departed, but I got to go on a couple of rides. I recall crashing on one corner, for no apparent reason, but I wasn't hurt. As I was about to get back on the bike, Peter Ellard, the tailman, pointed out my flat front tyre - and explained that that was probably why I hadn't made the corner. I learned that day how to remove and patch a tube (we patched them back in '94) and we were on our way.
That's enough for now...
‘16 Sherco SEFR450, ‘98 Yamaha WR200
"You're the dumbest smart person I know"
Last Edit: 20 Sep 2018 14:01 by andianjul.
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 06 Oct 2018 22:17 #27738

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Another Wonnangatta Epic…
In 1976 Leigh Bradstreet couldn’t lead the annual Wonnangatta run as he has just bought a ketch in Qld to sail  back and fit out (Leigh was a boatbuilder by trade and later spent 12 months sailing it through the South Pacific, crewed with his wife Moira, 14 month old daughter Katherine, and two AMTRA  members, Mick Barnes and Alan 'Animal' Sabine) so I
took on the ride lead. We rode from the Wellington River, over Tamboritha Saddle and then down Dingo Hill, another steep, loose rocky hill (and a scene of previous epics!). At the bottom our crossings of the Caledonia river were up so it was a bike carry across. This was followed by a steep climb up onto the aptly named Butcher Country Track to the Howitt plains. The Butcher Country was/is a great ridgetop ride that climbs up from the MacAlister River and follows the ridge line for 35km to the Howitt plains.  On arrival on the Howitt Plains, after waiting for quite a while, Ian Robinson who was tailman and a young rider in a 185 Suzuki hadn’t arrived.
 Decision time for the ride leader! I decided to send everyone else down into the Wonnangatta Station after giving directions and I remained on the Howitt Plains with Bruce Harvey-Fuller, waiting for Ian who still hadn’t arrived. Leaving Bruce at an old hut on the plains, (not Howitt Hut, I think it was an old Forestry Commission hut a remnant from the road
building days) I rode back along Butcher Country to see what had happened to Ian and the other rider. As it turned out I found them both still down near the Caledonia, the Suzuki had snuffed it, as had Ian’s Ossa- the Motoplat/CDI having gone west (this the first time!). Reassuring them I would be back with a rescue party the next day I left them for the night to ride back up to the Butcher Country and then back to the Howitt Plains on my old Bultaco 250cc Alpina, riding the last part in the dark. (with a Bultaco 6v headlight dribbling over the front guard!)
Unfortunately, that year Ian and I, and Bruce and others I think, had decided to travel ‘light” dispensing with a down sleeping bags for a ‘space’ blanket’...bad move! The Howitt High Plains at 1600+ metres get cold at night… Bruce and I froze our arses of on the Plains in our Bellstaffs and singularly useless ‘space blankets’, while Ian did the same, sleeping out down on the Caledonia. (Ian would have been warmer, being at a lower altitude!) The next morning, I left Bruce at the hut on the Howitt Plains and rode the trusty old Alpina down into the Wonnangatta to find the rest of the group and let them know what had happened. Then it was riding back up out of Wonnangatta again, up the old steep, rocky jeep track back to the Howitt Plains, this time with the rest of the crew. After directions to everyone on how to get back to the cars, and ‘borrowing” some petrol (assuring riders they would have enough to get back) I rode back down Butcher Country yet again, this time with Mick and Chris Barnes (Yam 360 RT2s I think) to rescue the 2 stranded riders. Leaving the ‘dead’ bikes behind on the Caledonia Track, Mick and Chris dinked Ian and the Suzuki rider back up along the Butcher Country to the Howitt Plains where we met up again with Bruce Harvey-Fuller who was still waiting for our return. Then it was back along the Snowy Plains/Howitt road to the Wellington River with  Ian and the Suzuki rider still on the back of the Barnes brothers’ Yamahas. Surprisingly we made it back without running out of petrol (although a few who we had ‘borrowed’ fuel from did run out and had to be towed!) From memory we made it back early in the evening/dark. Some on the ride as I recollect were;  Ken Percy, George Tugen, Mick and Chris Barnes, Bruce Harvey-Fuller, Ian Robinson, Greg Williams, Bruce Dryburgh, John Maddock, Dave Braddock, Paul Ewbank…….
And the following weekend….as Leigh Bradstreet also had an Ossa Super Pioneer and was away sailing down from QLD, Robbo and I dropped around, spoke to his mother, and then unbolted and 'borrowed' his Ossa’s Motoplat/CDI unit.
The next Saturday we drove back to the Howitt Plains with my brother Greg and Paul Ewbank (Ossa 250 Six Days Replica). We then rode back down Butcher Country (again!) to Ian’s stranded Ossa, Robbo being dinked on the back of my brother Greg’s Mk5 250 Bultaco Matador …a wild ride! Not surprisingly, when we made it back to Ian’s Ossa on the Caledonia, it started 1st kick! …although this was not to last. Riding back up onto the Butcher Country the Ossa’s Motoplat/CDI gave up the ghost again so the bush mechanics got to work and we replaced it with Leigh’s unit…then an uneventful ride back to the cars and finally home. Rescue mission fully accomplished! (the young Suzuki rider had borrowed a 4wd to ‘rescue’ his bike during the week.)
Robbo may have some more to add to this recount… this is how I  remember it 40 years on ( I  may stand corrected on some of the finer points but some images are still really clear!)


 Crossing the Caledonia- Greg Williams' Bultaco Mk5 Matador Six Days. LtR; Mick or Chris Barnes?, George Tugen, Greg Williams,Ken Percy, Ian Robinson, Dave Braddock...as far as I can tell!



Looking South  back down the Butcher Country...Robbo's down there somewhere!



My Bultaco Alpina 250 on the Howitt Plains



 George Tugen and Mick Barnes crossing the Wonnangatta on the way out.



After the rescue...late afternoon back on the Howitt Plains and that rather cold old hut...Mick Barnes, Ian Robinson with a cuppa, Chris Barnes,  the 2nd 'lost' Suzuki  rider, Bruce Harvey-Fuller.



'Out of Gas' on the Howitt/Tamboritha road...near dusk.




Paul Ewbank (Ossa 250 SDR) the following weekend on the Butcher Country...and the odd rock...on the mission to salvage Robbo's Ossa.



'Bush Mechanics'...Ossa ignition rebuild on the Butcher Country track- Ian Robinson, Greg Williams, Paul Ewbank.


Mission accomplished-Ian Robinson and Ossa back on the Howitt Plains, with Paul Ewbank and Greg Williams...and my trusty old Alpina! 












 
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 07 Oct 2018 08:25 #27740

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One of the many epic weekends of early AMTRA. I remember traveling light was a really bad idea. I took a couple of cans of sardines and some chocolate to eat for the whole weekend. I did not take a torch and Saturday night was really dark. We had built a fire to keep warm but when we ran out of wood we could not find any more in the dark. In the morning when light there was wood everywhere!
The ride out on Sunday on the back of Mick Barnes bike was smooth as even though the track was hard. The ride back in the following weekend on the back of Gregs bike was "scary" and I think we crashed about ten times. 
I was pretty annoyed when we got back to my bike and the Suzuki was gone. I would have thought the guy would have contacted us if he had access to a 4wd and asked us if we wanted him to recover my bike as well.  He never came to another AMTRA ride.
Who were all those young people in the photos?
Joined 1972. Life member since 1982
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 07 Oct 2018 09:13 #27741

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Oh Kerry, I want more.......MORE!
"That's what I do, I drink and I know things!" - Tyrion Lannister
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 07 Oct 2018 09:25 #27742

  • Ken R
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Wow - what an adventure you guys had, and everybody got out alive :) The young Suzuki rider must have thought these AMTRA guys are too tough for me - ;) Or one night with Ian was enough :shock:

Thanks for a great story and pics Kerry.
It's just more time to be flat out!
Last Edit: 07 Oct 2018 20:56 by Ken R.
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 07 Oct 2018 19:10 #27744

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Wow, Robbo hasnt changed a bit...
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 09 Oct 2018 00:57 #27779

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Great read Kerry 
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 10 Oct 2018 15:40 #27805

  • andianjul
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Is that the stator and the flywheel that Robbo has in his hands?
Wow!
In what universe was it neccessary to remove those items in order to get the bike going again?
‘16 Sherco SEFR450, ‘98 Yamaha WR200
"You're the dumbest smart person I know"
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AMTRA Early Days...way back when.... 10 Oct 2018 20:49 #27809

  • Jason375
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Some awesome photos and stories Kerry, I've enjoyed reading
"I'D RATHER BE RIDING"
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