wow what can I say about yesterday.......  thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone of you. To the riders who came and rode the dusty trails of Neerim, whether you where on the L1/2 ride or the much harder L2+ ride.
To everyone who came and helped set up and packed up, to the chefs for feeding us and Sheriffs handing out fines for stuff like you ride to slow, your bike is making to much dust, owe did I see your front wheel off the ground, how can you possibly be in full control of your vehicle, your to quiet, you need more hair, your wife rides better than you, your better looking than your husband, you fell off, to the tailman for always coming last, to the guy who was on the most corners and I could go on and on but perhaps some of the attendees could tell us of any of the fines they received, but what I can tell you was their was lots of laughter and smiling faces all day and to the point that we have raised a total off..........Drum role please..................................................................................................................................

$2875.00.................. this was made up from $200.00 kindly donated via the club bank account, $175.00 odd dollars from the nearest coin to the bottle of whiskey and $2500.00 via other donations made on the day.
That is massive and is certainly much more than we hoped to raise, I do not want to single out every person by name who contributed in fear I forget someone, so many people helped in so many ways, so once again to every single one of you who contributed no matter how small or how large, thank you so, so very much, and I know Ted will really appreciate everyone's efforts knowing so many care and only have best wishes for him and his recovery.
We can now pay Teds club membership for him for the next ten years and can pass onto him the balance in cash for him and Helen to do with as they please. Teds name was also drawn from the raffle early on in the day and he won an ARB Esky and a sponge so he can clean up his act and get better soon.

Big thanks to every one involved,  from the donations received , raffle prizes , helpers, ride leaders, riders,  etc,  this is what a club is all about, showing our support to a fellow member. 

The Level 1/2 arvo ride was filled with 10 of us. 2 new guys who we met in the carpark where invited to join the group. We had a few regroups along the way, did not really do anything hard, well accept for the newbys who struggled every now and then, after around an hour and a 1/2  we had to stop to remove a small downed tree from the track I noticed the 2 visitor's where missing, owe fark, no one new where they had gone, a quick back track and scout around but no sign of them, ok lets go back to the carpark to make sure they are not their and set a search plan in place, once back at the carpark their was no sign of them, get Matt a radio and send him back to the track entry of the main rd, start organizing Phil to have a radio and go to half way point to be a radio repeater back to the carpark and the rest of us to go on a search of the pine plantation. Just as I say Ok lets go, JD says here they come with Matt, turns out that at one point when we looped back on ourself's, as the tailman left the guys followed him instead of me and then they took the wrong trail, all good in the end and hopefully they feel the need to join this wonderful club.
It was great to meet so many new people yesterday and loved watching Frankie in true trail rider fashion hop over a massive log stumble and fall, get up and ride up a snarly trail, again in true AMTRA trail rider fashion, and then to Clive with many years Trials experience make it look so easy that anyone could have done it, both you older blokes are an inspiration, good onya's and keep ridding. Thanks everyone I had a blast, even if it was easy an peassee loop. And last but not least to Pommy Matt for doing Tail all day.   

Neerim Sth L2+ Morn & Arvo rides

Morning Loop:

Perfect weather greeted us to start the day, and the tracks were in El-Primo condition as we set off at 9am. There was only a small amount of dust, and the recent rain had left a few puddles around to catch out the unwary.

25 riders headed out on the loop, but we lost Grandpa to a puncture within the first couple of minutes, so he headed back to the cars. I’m told he raided the prize tables to get a suitable tube and then caught up with the L1 ride for the morning.

Many of the tracks through the pines had been recently graded and had lost a lot of their character, but once we hit Young’s track, it was back to leaps and bounds over the numerous culverts and erosion runoffs. The track surface was almost a sandy grit in places, and it meant anything more than a light touch of the brake pedal could have the rear wheel locking up.

The ride seemed to move along at a steady pace, and we covered the ground a lot quicker than I expected. By 11am we had already done most of the loop that I’d planned (I still have limited knowledge of the tracks there), so it was time to improvise and throw in a few variations and some tighter tracks to keep things interesting. Gary had a few suggestions for some challenges that stretched things out, and had us returning to the car park just after midday for some well-earned lunch with 62kms on the clock.

Afternoon Loop:

There were a few new additions and a few people dropping out for the later loop – 17 riders in total.

Both the temperature and the amount of dust had increased slightly since the morning, as the sun dried out the tracks further. We started off with Gary leading us up to one of the perimeter tracks, only to find it had been gated over by the DSE with signs saying ‘Management Vehicles Only’, and some seriously big trees pushed over to emphasize the point (exactly who are the more destructive ones in this picture?). Having done this track a few times in the past, it was disappointing to see it blocked off, as all the whoops on it are a real hoot to ride.

From there, it was back to the normal loop that I knew, with me back into the lead rider position. Once again, the group moved along quickly, and we covered the ground in good time. There were a couple of map consulting moments where I lost my bearings a little, and a few overshoots of turnoffs, but we managed to get in a few different tracks and had another 64kms on the speedo when we got back to the cars.

My new toy has now been official 'christened' when I took a tumble going down Lizard's track on the final stage of the ride.

I was actually quite surprised that such large groups could flow so well, as I was expecting there to be a few delays with either mechanical or rider issues – I think everyone should give themselves a pat on the back for having well-prepped bikes!

Thanks to all who participated, and especially to Al and Graeme for doing tail duties, and to Gary for the ongoing 'ride leader trainee' mentoring. I tried to keep the pace challenging, but my apologies if the faster riders found things a little tame at times. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the day – I know I did

A big thank-you to Bob and Johnny for looking after us in the catering and entertainment department, and well-done to Will & Gary for organising things so well.

What an awesome day, I went on the L2 ride before lunch, the pace was quite quick, I had to laugh a few times, I can't remember who it was we were going up a badly rutted hill & we were both wanting the same line up  we ended taking the lines we didn't really want.

Bloody hell it had to happen didn't it, right in front of every body sitting at the bottom of this snarly down hill, every thing was going to plane as I was going down, I said to my self all the eyes are on ya so don't stuff up, I got to a point that I need the rear brakes, no brakes!! I then had to use more front brakes & that ended up badly  it turned out that I had cooked the brake fluid by dragging my rear brakes too much & ended up with no brakes, I then got to wear a dress for a while, but thanks to Ken, he had the dress on until we got back for lunch, I normally don't have lunch, but those snags smelt so bloody good that I had about four of them, thanks to Bob & johnny for doing a great job, I had a great day & a great  effort to everyone involved to make it a awesome day, a few of us had dinner at the pub at the end of the day & that finished the day off nicely.

I think Al and Greame must have the ride list's in their back packs can you guys please fill out a post on the website for the attendees

What a great day it was - GO AMTRA.

I had booked L 2.5 for the morning and L 1 for the arvo thinking I should be OK with that. Soooooo close. So to all the riders behind me on that last single, sorry guys, but I was pooped.

To Will, Gary, Bob, Johnny, Pete etc etc WELL DONE and like I said GO AMTRA.

and look at the happy faces.........

Mat and I took the 'gentlemens ' option!  We left Melbourne around 10:30 and arrived at Neerim right on lunchtime, as the riders were getting back from their morning loop.  To say I was impressed by the turnout would be an understatement!  There were people everywhere, with Bob ruling the roost (in the 'kitchen') and Johnny flipping snags like a pro.  We were immediately fined for riding the wrong type of bikes, and then threw some dollars into the pot to ensure we were included in the prize draw.

Will got the coin slide underway and many had a crack at stealing the bottle away from Pommy Matt (to no avail).  Johnny did a sterling job with the raffle and deftly ensured that everyone got a ticket drawn!  I spied a particular bottle of red that had been donated (I must check by whom), and thought I'd select that if the chance arose.  The chance did, and I did!  a google check upon returning home confirmed that it was worth the fine!

So, after lunch and a chat, Matt and I loaded our haul (of 3 bottles each) into our respective back-packs and headed home the long way (via Three Bridges and Yarra Junction), enjoying the twisties en route.  I was dreading the thought of having an off, and subsequently lying on the road with a puddle of red wine around me.
"Have you been drinking, sir?"
"Not till I hit the road, officer!"

But in all seriousness, a brilliant effort from Will, Gary, Johnny and Bob (and everyone else involved).  Good fun, good vibe and generous spirit aimed at a much loved AMTRA member.

Some pics:

Willbar wrote:
I handballed the arvo list onto The Sherrif.
Again thankyou to everyone involved. Food,drinks,prizes (kneebraces will come in handy holding my old knees together)
And the ride was awesome, thankyou Flipper Gary and Al.

Cheers Graeme