There were 9 of us making up the group for the ride around Marysville today.
Track conditions were ‘testing’ – by that I mean, not quite treacherously slippery, but still greasy enough to catch you out if you let your attention lapse. The rain held off for the entire day, and we even had a smidgen of blue sky early on, but the tracks were definitely classed as ‘wet’.
I had been out riding with most of the guys before, so I knew the competency of the majority of the group. The trek up to the top of the first hill showed that everyone was dealing with the wet clay pretty well, so I figured that the ride level could be stepped up a bit.
We did the usual early tracks in the’ Triangle’, and then popped across the highway to play in the slimier conditions on the Narbethong side of the road. Those tracks certainly lived up to my expectations, and showed that even the simplest looking trails can be challenging when some water has been added. A few blokes were having trouble with traction on the greasy hills, so we decided to head back towards Marysville and down to the creek-side lunch spot for a bite to eat.
After lunch, it was over to the Dom Dom Saddle side of the road, and more greasy tracks. I tried to execute an emergency stop at one point, but failed miserably, and I ended up with a nice branding of mud down one side of my body – I don’t think I was alone in that respect.
A few tight overgrown trails helped to keep our body temperatures up, and before we knew it, the 100km distance mark was looming close. Phil promptly ran out of fuel, but thankfully had a spare litre in his backpack. One of the other bikes was found to have scored a front puncture, so it was decided to make a beeline back to the cars.
We left the car park at around 3pm, with 112km showing on my speedo. Thanks for the enjoyable day everyone, and especially to Mark for going tailman again. The ride flowed really well, and we managed to cover lots of ground.