Another great day on the bikes through the tracks at Neerim South.
This was my second Neerim ride, this time accompanied by my son Rhys, and once again it produced smiles all round. The weather was spot on, the sun was out but no hotter than about 18 deg and there had been a sprinkle of rain the day before to keep the dust down.
There was a great mix of riders, some complete novices on brand new bikes, some well seasoned masters and plenty of in-betweeners. It was good to recongnise some faces from the last ride and meet some new riders.
Scott had everyone organised and briefed by 10am so we headed off with Ron taking up the tail.
The first section was nice and cruisy along some flat dirt roads with everyone taking it nice and slow as the newbies got used to the loose gravel and the slightly older of us loosened the stiff muscles.
We gathered together at the first stop to make sure we hadn't lost anyone this time, had a bit of chin wag, did some more meet and greet and generally talked bikes. The new guys were given offered plenty of tips and reassured to take their time, its not a race, we're all here to just have fun. That's what I like about these rides with a mix of skills, the faster guys buzzed ahead but without blasting past and scaring the crap out of anyone, while others were content with hanging back relevant to their own skill level.
We stopped at the usual opening where there's a short tricky rutted section. Those that were game honed their skills and give it a spurt. Ron resisted the urge as he was badgered by his son to show us how its done, then just as we were ready to go he couldn't help himself and flew up like Toby Price.
Scott turned his hand at some bush mechanics to clean out a carby, careful not to start a bushfire with fuel dripping out near the exhaust.
We headed of for the next section, again with plenty of stops and a constant gauge on the new guys to make sure their confidence wasn't getting too much of battering, but plenty of words of encouragement when they looked a bit overwhelmed.
Round one was completed with only a couple of slow speed dropped bikes, no injuries, no broken bits so lunch in the sunshine was a good blast of bike talk.
Round two kicked of with a bit more gusto. The pace was definitely quicker with the new riders finding a new lease of confidence and flying up some deep rutted hills. Everyone was smiling as we caught our breath at each hill top.
Thanks again to Scott for putting on another great ride and thanks to Ron for taking on the tail duties and making sure those new WRs survived the day and will hopefully be back for more.
Thanks
Luke
