Thanks to all those who came to our annual ride at Holbrook. We had 30 riders on Saturday and 16 on Sunday. NSW once again produced double the riders that VIC produced, albeit most NSW riders were local Holbrook and district riders with Sydney producing only two. The trails were mostly open and flowing with a bit of narrow track on Saturday with a few chanlenging sections.
The dust was a bit of an issue on Saturday afternoon. Sunday's ride was the cream of the crop with fast flowing loamy trails apart from the biggest slippery shaley downhill in history. We did 195km for the weekend.

AMTRA NSW has swelled their ranks with Muz opening the Holbrook "branch" of AMTRA NSW and will lead AMTRA trail rides from Holbrook in the future, including the Cookadinia Vinduro in 2015.

I'll let the expert ride report writers fill you in on all the details

Thanks again. I had a blast!!

I had fun.
Thanks to everyone involved. Great trails. Great food. Hamburgers at the lunch stop Saturday. BBQ at the winery finish Sunday. Glass of red to end the ride.

What a weekend   fantastic trails  great group of riders and the organizing of food and accommodation was first class thanks to everyone involved  cheers  Denis

Yeah what DK and DK said.

Great Organisation
Great Food
Great Ride
Great Weather
Great Group to ride with
Great to catch up with Pauly
Great to see the disappointed look on Seano's face when he found out his old mate Bob had left the Holbrook RSL.


Not so great greeting from Serge Saturday afternoon when we got back to the motel

Thanks to all involved in organising this ride.

See you next year!!

My Ride At Holbrook

Arived in Holbrook early Friday arvo. Already a few there by 6ish, all accounted for off to dinner at the RSL bus big feed. Peter decided to walk so like sheep we all did. Big breakfast at 7am, scrambled eggs and bacon. We drove to the riding start, then we started the ride at about 9:15am.

There were about 30 of us, all gun riders and me. I have no idea where we were, or the names of the tracks or roads, I just followed along gravel roads, unused 4wd tracks and single tracks. Great riding across small logs which increased in size the further we went. I was going ok to this point, must have fallen a few times by now as there were branches across the track. 1st rider through branch swung back knocks me off. A little further up Mat hit a kangaroo. The kangaroo hopped away leaving Mat with a suspected broken arm. Soon back up car arrived took Mat to the hospital. On we go more logs to get over.

We start to go around the logs, a large tree across the track and we continued up the bank. Around the roots of the fallen tree and I noticed how large the hole left by the tree was. And, yes, of course I fell in, but again Serge, Seano and Paul were there to get me out, back on to my bike and once again following Seano, through rough terrain, adjacent to the track, then eventually making it on to the track. Logs once again littered the track, requiring me to jump, go around, push through and sometimes go under. I stopped on 2 logs, unable to go forward. as i looked up, i could see bikes bouncing all over the place. Paul asked if I needed help (obviously), I was off the bike in a flash. Pauly made it look easy. I walked up the hill passing another bike with it's chain off. Giving me a little time to have a breather, then i was back on the bike, onto more small 4wd tracks. Another tree had fallen across the track, so i went down and around it, and up the other side. Bloody Hell it was steeeeeep, with a left hand turn at the top, I thought was not going to not make it. So i said to myself, 'let go of the brake and clutch levers, and pull on the throttle'. Up I go, my foot came off the peg at the top. The bike turned in mid air, and down I came with my legs spread apart. It BLOODY HURT!!! I just lay there for a while, feeling as if i had been split apart. Again Seano, Pauly, Peter and Serge  were there, helping me again. We continued on, over logs, under logs and around logs. We came to a wide open area with a little creek with very steep sides. I got through it with no help. We then came to a river crossing  crossed it with ease, and It was time for lunch . 

It was a fantastic ride with great people  and I thank you all for the help you gave me.  
Special Thankyou to Muz for all your work behind the scenes and food.   

 Ted

Onion and I had an un-eventful trip, until we were accosted by Seano at Macca’s in Glenrowan.  We convoyed from there to Holbrook, arriving around 6:00 to find most of the crew settling into fizzy refreshments.  Dinnertime was rapidly approaching, so we debated whether to walk or drive to the RSL, until someone mentioned that the RSL had a bus!  “I’m on it” says Daz, and 15 minutes later, we were being driven to dinner, how cool is that!  We had a good feed and then walked it off on our return to the motel, where we had a few more
drinks, then hit the sack.

Up early for a full cooked breaky, then into the cars to drive out to God knows where to start the ride. Muzza was still recovering from an injury, so his son Ben was our fearless leader.  Big Ferg was tailman for the morning and the rest of us slotted in between.  We took off into bright, sunny blue skies and dusty, dry tracks.  6k’s in, and we came across a rider down.  Muzza’s other son (Mark), had had an altercation with a roo, and the roo won!  Initial prognosis was a broken arm, but turned out to be a nasty gash on the underside, so not as bad as initially
thought.  Luckily, Muzz wasn’t too far away, so he came and collected his boy and took him off for medical attention,while we continued on. 

In true Holbrook style, the ride was a mixture of open trails, tight singles and the obligatory ‘follow-the-leader’ through the pine forests.  Everyone was keeping a good pace, including Ted (to his credit), until he almost tore himself a second fundamental orifice, whilst trying to navigate a tricky log crossing.  Once again, to his credit, he soldiered on.  The morning loop was fairly uneventful, except for an awkward creek crossing, that included a rocky exit after a steep entry.  Photos never do these things justice, but it was tricky!

Plenty of blokes were on hand to help out, and we stoppedfor a re-group at the top of the hill.

Pete was being Pete, what can I say?

After the crossing, it was on to lunch, where Muzz had cooked up chicken sticks and burgers, yum!
Ted decided to bail at lunch, and followed the cars around to our next meeting point, while we continued through more of the
same.  Not long after lunch, Ben’s bike broke the throttle cable, so that saw his day done, so Al took over the leader
role, and did a splendid job (almost)!  A few moments of geographical embarrassment, but all good.  We met up with Muzz and Ted at another small creek crossing, where I managed to dump myself into a hole, and finished the ride with wet boots.  The locals new a better way around, and used it to their advantage.  The rest of the ride went according to plan and we returned to the cars with around 120k’s on the clock.

Back at the motel, we showered and changed and settled infor the evening with a ripper BBQ meal that Muzz and Pauly prepared, accompanied with more libations.  Most called it a night around 10:00
 
Sunday morning we were up again at 7:00 for another big breakfast, then into the cars and off to Woomagarma for the days ride.  We left the cars at the Fly Flaire winery, and headed out into some of the terrain we had ridden in previous years.  The pace was hot from the get go, with a couple of retirements from Saturday’s crew and some fresh faces added.  Lots of singles, lots of logs, more ‘follow-the-leader’and even some High Country-esque trails. One ripper (in particular), that was 4ks of sandy, twisting downhill ,through a forest of black-boys, to emerge at the bottom, only to be told that we had to go back up!  There were no complaints!

Another re-group and a soft drink with Muzz mid-ride.

There was love in the air!

And something in the water!

Some more of the same trails then had us skirting around the winery’s property, and before we knew it, the day was done and we were pulling into Fly Flaire for another burger lunch on their deck, with around 80 k’s for the day.  Most packed up and said their good-byes after lunch, but Onion and I stayed for a while and tried (and bought) some of the local offerings.
 
All in all, a great weekend as everyone has said.  Big thanks to Pauly for organizing it all, along with Murray who’s always smiling and ready to help out.  And thanks also to Al for stepping into the lead role, Ferg and Darcy for tail duties, and all those who came along to share in the fun of this annual event.