Trail bike enthusiasts are a charitable bunch, and riding charity rides is one way we can contribute. The awesome fun we have, just happens to be a convenient bonus. And as usual Team EMD, was front and centre to the action of the 2009 Milton Ulladulla Apex Charity Trailbike Ride
Sunday the 3rd of May was booked in the riding calendar very early in the new year. Its one of our favorite weekends of the year, and this is largely due to the "boutique" feel this ride has. At 270 riders Milton Ulladulla Apex trailbike is one of the smaller events, but this is a huge part of the attraction. The forest is prone to a little dust at times, but the low numbers, and the split trail loop format, mean that the rider experience is maintained no matter what the conditions.
We rolled into Batemans Bay just on dark and hooked up with the rest of the crew. This year we had myself, Rob Mendham (TM250 2T), Glen Partridge (KTM280EXC), and Steve Scott (KTM300EXC) as part of EMD "officialdom", with Steve Coates (Husky 450), Andrew Poppet (KTM450), Steve Durie (Berg450), Mathew Cox (WR450), James Dean (WR450), and his brother "PJ" (Shane) aboard a CRF250. PJ was on his first serious bush bash after getting his "Learners", while Glen has ridden more rallies than I've had baked dinners. So all in all a great spread of rider experience and age.
We and had a relatively quiet night at the Bayview Hotel, our usual haunt, in anticipation of the big day ahead...... Well actually, we had a quiet night because us old blokes rely on the younger boys to provide the entertainment. All was going well until the place filled with girls wearing stilletto heels, and garter belts. We smiled knowingly, thinking "watch these young blokes", looking around only to see the three of them (Matt, James and Shane) walking out the door, mumbling something about getting a jumper because of the cold. These boys must be seriously in love, or seriously scared of their girlfriends. They tried to make out it was all in the name of commitment to riding, but this held little credibility.Scaredycats!!
Scrutineering started at 7AM, and we were amongst the first to arrive. Check-in, and scrutineering only take a few minutes, but catching up with both old and new aquaintances takes a while.
We elected to take the Southern loop first, as it was rumoured to be the most technical, and likely to dust up in the afternoon.
Setting a suprising pace, considering the limited on bike time lately, it was pretty dissapointing to look down at aound the 20km mark, and see steam spewing everwhere. I initially thought a holed radiator was a fault, until I saw the bleed screw missing. DOH.
With Gatorade filling my Zacpeed, I was at the mercy of a water laden passerby to top the radiator back up. Luckily a bloke pulled up and offered me his drinking H2O. Well actually, it was his mates!. After grabbing another "spare" 8mm screw, and using my new best mates stash of water, I was back in action. A huge thankyou to Mark Payer for donating his mates (Darren Jarvis) stash. Mark's gesture is pretty symbolic of the good natured attitude in these rallies. Much appreciated mate.
At this point some of our crew had caught up and we attempted to ride together for a while, but although the dust wasn't bad , it was more pleasurable to puts some yards between the bikes.
The Southern loop was the more technical of the two, and was largely run in reverse to last year. This meant some of the challenging uphill sections of 08 were now downhill, but it still left the rally essential - a Heartbreak Hill.
It was located in the Hard section and was basically a rocky hill, laden with bulldust. The lack of momentum caused by a sharp left turn at the base, meant it didn't take too much of a stuff up to cause havoc with the ascent.
I put my foot down in the dust on the corner at the bottom and slipped, causing a halt in progress. I looked up and saw Rob with the camera about halfway up, and knew what little rep i had was on the line. So with my hefty backside near on the rear guard, i ambled up. Not pretty, as I didn't get my feet back on the pegs until near the top, but progress is progress.
With the Berg parked, I joined Rob in the best of spectator sports - watching blokes fall on a snotty hill. At one stage there were about ten bikes stranded some were twenty to thirty metres off the track!! With ample pictures of the spectacle, we continued on for the remainder of the loop.
"Parc ferme" was a welcome sight with ample time to refuel, and have lunch, before the sponsor supported prize draw. And their were plenty of smiling faces carrying their prizes back to the cars before loop two.
It always amazes how people can pack up and leave at lunch time. I think I would have to be busted to not have a go at least, although I suppose driving four hundred kilometres does give some added incentive to ride both loops.
The Northern loop was a more open loop than the South, with a much quicker pace to boot. We expected some dust so left at intervals of a few minutes. Rob left first to get a vantage point for pics, with Steve and myself departing shortly after.
I caught up to Rob at a traffic jam on the bank of a dry creek bed. It wasn't a particularly hard section, but a slippery root just at the top brought some to a standstill, and others to an embarrasing slide backwards down the bank.
A nice fast couple of kilometres followed, and ended at a T intersection, where a number of riders had gathered. I initially thought they were just a group of mates gas bagging, and started to ride around them and also a secong group with an older "bushwalker". I got a cooee from one of the blokes talking to the walker, and stopped.
Apparently the "bushwalker" was claiming to be a land owner of the portion of track ahead. He was quite irate at the riders and was using dubious (hitting passers by with a steel pole!!) protest tactics. He has torn all the track markers down, which left the twenty or thirty of us lost. We had to wait for a sweep to arrive to direct us to alterative tracks.
The last ten kilometres or so after meeting Old Man Emu, was ridden at a quick pace, knowing that I would now be one of the last of our group to return.
The Roc Stompa Steering dampener I fitted late last year for a product review was awesome. With limited visibility at times, you are always prone to some deflection off hidden rocks, sticks, ruts etc. With the dampener set to minimum, it did its job and I hardly noticed it was there. In my opinion, that makes it user friendly, and an enhancement to the riding experience.
Matt Dell of Apex had this to say of the event, " Today was a bit dusty I guess but really all we heard was praise, so that was excellent. We have committed money to St Johns, and also and a couple of local groups, and we are saving up to do a large local projects.
"We had 250 paying riders today which was a record. There were two "incidents", one rider got lost, doubled back, and had a head on with an oncoming rider. The 'lost' guy was fine and rode on, but unfortunately the other guy limped home with a damaged bike. One other rider unfortunately went over the handlebars and did a bit of damage to himself."
Aspecial thanks to the event sponsors:
Motoquip Ulladulla, Undecided Extreme Clothing, Southern Highlands Motorcycle Centre, Glen Henry Motorcycles, Yamaha Academy of Off Road Riding, A X Motorcycle
Hendo's Power Tools, Barkbusters, Forests NSW,Rodney Giffin pty Ltd, T&L Matherson, Hampton Hire & Storage, Compuport Computers, Recross Remoulds, Premier linings, Marso's Mega Music.
The 2009 Milton Ulladulla Trailbike Ride was another awesome event, and continues as a "must do" on the trailbike calendar. We had heaps of fun, and will certainly be signing up again in 2010. A special thanks to Rob Mendham for eating the trailside dust while getting some pics for our enjoyment.
The next NSW event for "Team EMD" will be another Apex fundraiser at the KTM Batemans Bay APex trailbike ride in July. Stay tuned for more thrills, spills, and excitement.
Shane Corney
shane@eatmydirt.com.au
photographs by Rob Mendham.