THE QUEENSTOWN SPRING FUNRIDE

(Mick’s MOTOCYCLES)

This event started for some of us on Friday already. We decided to make a weekend of it and leave at about lunchtime’ish “2pm” and take a slow drive up. On arriving in Qtn at 4pm we headed straight for Aloe grove, next to camping over at the Settlers Motocross track, this was my favorite place to stay.

On arrival we did the booking in thing and were informed by the staff that they had taken the liberty of placing a double bed in our room as well as two singles, Great! We were expecting 3 singles and a mattress on the floor for my youngest, The Qtn okes had done it again! Going out of their way to accommodate us. In my opinion, Queenstown is one of the most hospitable places on the planet.

This has been proven time and time again especially when my two youngsters were still competing in Motocross. Anyway, back to the topic.

I figured I would do the “right thing” and start a fire at the communal braai area and wait to see the other early birds “clock in” With a modest fire made by my son Blaze (a very appropriate name by the way) I settled down with my S/S cup in hand and relaxed. Within minutes I found my self having to move about 3 meters away from the fire, with about 100kg’s of dry thorn wood thrown on by now the fire was a raging blaze! Have you ever felt the moisture from your eyes evaporate? Ya! It was one of those fires!

My son however informed me that we neeeeed to do this, so when the other guys arrive we have coals ready to braai. Eish!

Soon after we had the meat on and were all getting merry, just enough however to guarantee a healthy thirst for tomorrows funday.

I surfaced at about 05h30 with the sound of a male peacock calling in vein for a mate. (All the females had gone walk about! Predators I think.)

I wanted to leave early as I really wanted to check out a section of the loop as I could not figure out how the organizers were going to get us up and around the dam without us running into each other.

Taking a short cut through the old farm gates on the Dordrecht road I headed down to the dam wall to inspect this terrain. WOW! This was going to be awesome; the bush and thorn tree’s looked like Christmas tree’s!!! Markers all over and the odd tree in the middle had at least one branch spray painted with “Day-Glo Red paint”. It was now 06h30 and I could already make out the sound of 450’s thundering up the side of the valley. With the bakkie pulled safely off the road next to the “Midget camp” I got out and fired up a smoke, Shoo! It was cold! Mist was hanging over the valley and you could feel the moisture in the air which was a relief for my dried up eyes. Blinking as fast as I could to dry and absorb as much of this as I could I saw some guys burst out of the thicket. It was one of the Wacky Webster boys! (The main event sponsors youngster) Mick’s Motorcycles

Armed with candy tape, spray cans and marking tape they were repairing damage done by the Baboons in the area over the past few days. (Always lots of fun setting an enduro hey?)

We pushed on to the new show ground area and found a decent parking very close to the registration area. Yep! The same old faces from years ago! It’s great to see old friends again and catch up.

Strange how it’s always the same faces, a handful of people that are passionate about the sport and will give up their own time to assist with events like this.

It was now time to kit up! Everybody was having problems with this! It was cold and windy, very cold!

Nobody wanted to take off the warm cloths that they had on only to replace them with cold nylon pants and shirt! I watched in amusement as most of the guys tried to get kitted up inside cars or bakkies, only the true hard core okes where standing on floor mats outside their vehicles and braved the cold wind in their underwear and knee guards. Eish! It was cold!

Riders briefing was held at 09h05 and all the necessary warnings and ambulance locations given.

Yes Ambulance LOCATIONS! Two ambulances had been booked for this event and placed in spots that would have access to and could attend to any possible injuries. (Piece of mind is a great thing)

Are you aware of what an ambulance charges per hour? Between R300.00 & R400.00 per hour!!!!

The Queenstown okes have really gone out on this one I thought. As usual for them, if you do something, do it properly! Thanks guys!

The ride started soon after with bikes off first, 2 at a time with 30 second intervals. This is a big safety issue that tends to get overlooked on some of our recent fundays. Guys that have no knowledge of what they are doing and trying to host events like this. A staggered start is a must and will reduce incidents or accidents later on in the loop. This particular event was started very well with a decent gap between riders.

I was the third group off the grid and feeling very positive about the ride, with almost 2 liters of Oros already down the hatch and another 3 liters in my tripper, I was not going to dehydrate on this ride!

The plan was to take it slow the first loop and check out the scenery and terrain. The start was as usual, open felt with smooth flowing paths. This came to an abrupt halt as I approached the first bridge/cannel we had to go under, with no more that 1,4 meters clearance I dismounted my bike and pushed it through. While climbing back on I saw Shane come putting out still seated?? Ok, I thought, He is a bit smaller that me but if he can, so can I!!!. Next time I’ll ride it.

Now entering the woodlands section on the other side of the road I headed up to the Dam wall, weaving through tree’s and winding in and out of dry river beds, this was awesome I thought! How lekker is this!

I stopped soon after this to have a look at the rocky mountain on the right, hmmmm I wonder if we are going up there. This rocky outcrop reminded me of Zimbabwe; we would stop on the side of the road, unload and attempt the climb! Eish! Yaaa! I’m a “WHEN WE!”  Blaaa blaaaa bla. Lol

Just so by the way! The new term is “SOWETO” So where to now? Jokes! I love this country and call it my home! Grrrrrrr back to the loop! Where was I?

Oh ya!

With every one stopping and asking “is every thing ok?”

I decided to get going again and pulled in behind some of the local youngsters on 85’s. Following this group we headed up to the dam wall. This must be the “Wall of death” we were warned about in riders briefing! The warning went something like this; if you over shoot this turn you WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE A HORRBLE DEATH! You will plunge down an 80 meter kraans with huge rocks and you will die!

If you are fortunate enough to survive the fall, you will land in the dam and you will still die!

This section however looked like (?Lack of words?). Marshals all over the place, cars, bakkies, people, candy tape, warning signs, stop signs and enough day-glo paint to blind you! If anything, it looked like a road block as we had to almost come to a stand still before turning. (Safety first hey!) From this point we headed through the game farm mentioned at riders briefing, Gavin’s incident sprung to mind, shooo! He got knocked off his bike by a Wildebeest at the Winterberg. Best keep my eyes open on this stretch I thought. The next section was a flat section heading towards Aloe Grove, if I was going to find rocks on the loop, this would be the place I thought. YEP! There they where! A bit different this time though.

This grass section looked like a box of Smarties!

Almost every rock had been painted! Day-glo red, day glow orange, day-glow green and,,,,,believe it or not, day-glow PINK!!!!   PINK???? Is this a cry out from one of the local marking guys??

If so, come out of the closet already! We don’t care! As long as you ride bikes/quads, mark and set loops

You are all good! I have seen more and more riders wearing pink nowadays.

As I rounded the dam and entered the new settlers track next to Bonkolo dam I assumed this must be the half way point. A quick short cut through the middle of the track to avoid getting to much air on those jumps, Shooo! I exited out and headed up to the tar road which would lead us back onto the loop at the dam wall. This was a fast section and a welcome breather, it gave me time to absorb the surroundings and realize what an awesome venue this is. Shoooo! We have had some fun at this place over the past few years! I miss it so much! Aaaaah shame! This was a great excuse to come back to Queenstown and see all the old faces again. With the rest stage over I entered the final stage, more dry river beds with a perfect flowing section through very large thorn trees, This was a very forgiving section, the trees were quite far apart and offered alternative lines should you over shoot some of the turns, the soil was awesome, loose but thick and heavy offering plenty of traction for the bikes. This terrain suited my beast down to the tee!!!!! Husqvarna TE450!!! Yehaaa! The loop now turned towards Dordrecht side then took a sharp right and ran about 20 meters away from the highway fence. I could see some dust far ahead and realized this was a nice straight-ish run and will give me the opportunity to open my beast’s throat.

I positioned my self for this and grabbed a hand full! Only easing off the throttle a fraction as I applied a bit of pressure under the gear lever to step in up a notch, with seconds I was at terminal speed weaving through the trees but still managing to just clip every one with my elbows. This section was awesome!

Plenty of safe distance between the trees (5 meters or so) and loads of thick sand that suited the 4-strokes perfectly. With an audience already parked on the side of the road I felt it only fair to do my bit to entertain them. Grabbing a hand full of clutch and a serious jerk on the bars I managed to bring the front wheel up, Yahoo! Perfect power wheelie at 120kph!!! With my foot covering the rear brake I was ready for any scenario! Then something strange happened!!! It just kept on pulling! With the front wheel not even a meter off the ground and a very gradual incline the bike behaved perfectly !!! This is what the Husky’s have been built for I thought! Oooohps, with a turn fast approaching I positioned my self to the front of my ironing board “seat”. Tapping down 2 gears I threw the bike into the sand corner and grabbed a hand full! No rolling on for me today! The bike answered my request with an immediate response! The motor erupted and dug in catapulting me out of the corner and brought the bike up perfectly to face the straight. Again with a hand full of throttle I tucked in, bum suspended over the rear mudguard, helmet pushed up against the fuel cap and peeking through the gap in the bars I “pinned it” This machine of mine was really pulling well today I thought, with a little tickle of the clutch I tried to get that little bit more out of it, Then,,,,, silence! All I could hear was the wind trying to force it’s way through my goggles. I could not even hear the thunder/roar of the Husky’s perfectly engineered motor, everything got a bit queter????? And calm set in again! Until I looked up!

Oooohps! A 90deg turn to the left under the bridge, with a hand full of brakes and crashing down through he gears I almost came to a complete standstill under the bridge. Still with buzzing in my ears I was amazed at how quiet everything was, then it happened!!!!!

With one horrific/horrendous blow! My sound caught up to me under the bridge!!!     EISH! BANG! GROWL! THUD! THUD! THUD!  (Perhaps a very slight exaggeration) haa ha

Just for good measure and to let the spectators know I was about to exit the tunnel, I gave it a bit more with a 1 second red line! There it was!, the inner child coming out again! LOL

Shooo! I just Love my bike! I think I’ll call it “WEDWO”

Finally, I thought, things are starting to come together again. Under the bridge I went and over the tower hill with some more awesome sections that took us back towards Cathcart. The loop finally doubled back and ran next to the train lines on the Queenstown entry road. Flat out and full of confidence I got back to the control point. WOW! What a lekker loop.

This was my first proper ride after my leg injury from our previous regional. What a lekker way to come back! When things just go perfectly, you find your rhythm and let the bike do the work.

Downing another liter of Oros and filling up with fuel and having a smoke I headed out again.

Faster, smoother and just feeling so relaxed. Word cannot describe the feeling of calm I had, things where going great and I have not enjoyed a ride like this in a long long time.

The second loop went off very well with me getting a bit more air than usual on some of the erosion mounds on the one game farm section, I was more relaxed and had no cramping or rider fatigue setting in. The only really doff thing I did was I got head stuck between my bars and the roof of that *$#@ bridge!!! Grrrrrr! My Thor helmet now has a bit of Qtn on it or Qtn has a bit of my Thor??? I should have known! Shane is like 1,2m tall how the hell did it think I was going to get my almost 2m frame through! Qtn = 1 Mike = 0

The 3^rd loop, YES!

THIRD loop was even better! I decided to play a bit in two of the sections; I took a short detour to look at some of the river/erosion channels that ElMC&CC could use for the regional we may have up there.

My official excuse for going off the loop was the following: I was looking for good vantage points for Dean, Brent and Cody to film from; they were making a DVD production of the event. I did actually go and tell Brent of an awesome spot and told him to follow me as it was about 500meters away.

For those of you who now me, realize how far my 50 meters is, so 500meters is a good trek!

He eventually arrived at this river point and started to unfold the camera tripod and stuff. We could hear a bike coming from a distance away (or so we thought)

Then it happened!!!!!  A load SHREEEEEK!

As we looked through the bushed we could see a rider face down in the river sand (Long blonde hair sticking out of the helmet) This was a lady rider!

The next thing was a sound that sounded like screaming in agony! (Bone chilling)

I threw down my helmet and started ripping off my gloves as I tried to jump over the river, Just making it and taking a bit of a tumble we arrived at where this unfortunate rider had bought a piece of land.

Standing along side her was her boyfriend/husband chuckling????

This “Chic” on a black DR125 was lying in the dirt laughing her head off! The only tears were that of laughter!!! Geeeeez man! I got a fright! I’m glad it was a false alarm!

I took this opportunity to have a smoke and walk around to admire/absorb the surroundings. I managed to find and point out some warthog holes and a meerkat colony to the cameraman before heading back to control and opening one of the cooler boxes for the first time that day.

Guys do not realize how important it is to hydrate! I consumed 2 liters before riding, 1 liter at the first stop and managed to drink about 3 liters from my tripper.(This was without using the boys room or car tyre)lol

The lucky draw was held soon after the ride and saw most, if not all receiving something from the generous sponsors.

Things that jump to mind about the ride.

Aloe grove is a lekker place and Qtn folk are awesome!

Moss coming back after repairing a puncture and trying to make up lost time by breaking the sound barrier on the loop.

Report on the ride. (Only my personal opinion)

1.)The loop was very well marked and set with all danger areas clearly marked.

(Marking tape, sprayed rocks/stumps and painted tyres used on open sections)

2.)The loop was set to cater for the whole family and flowed very nicely.

(This was not a bike breaker and the entire family could have completed it with minimal assistance)

3.)Marshals were all over the place.

(I counted at least 20 with plenty of bakkies next to the loop to assist with breakdowns.)

4.)Registration was a breeze and involved a incident report as well as a feedback/comments     section that needed to be completed after the ride.

(The okes want to improve and cater to our needs, I think more fun rides should follow suite)

5.)The start was staggered and controlled.

(Very important, some event organizers should look seriously at this or risk having a poor attendance)

6.)Medical assistance was at hand.

(Always nice to know, we want our rides to be as safe as possible and should a rider need assistance, it should be there)

7.)The venue was not very well suited for camping.

(I did chat to the event organizers about this, they have offered the use of the yacht club for the next event, awesome camping ground at the dam, showers, club house, toilets, electricity for camping spots and plenty of open safe riding area for the kids)

It’s a pity we could not use this venue to start from. I believe the ride was intended to support the Ag show and increase attendance. I personally believe this could/would be one of the best social fun rides in the region if this venue could be used as the control point. Hint Hint!

Could you not relocate the agricultural show to the fishing area next to the yacht club?