First of many rock garden victims WetoldyouthoseFreerideswereabitsoftChris couldn’t be prouder of his creation Creek crossing carnage on the West Loop
http://www.adbmag.com.au JUNE 2019| 81
TOP GEAR
Any bike ridden regularly at Kowen
will have an almost pristine top gear.
Riding in pine forest is mostly first-to-
third gear going, with only the odd
brief blast on a fireroad section, just to
give you a false sense of relief as you
take a deep breath and enjoy the breeze
before a sudden turn back into the
trees. Pines are planted in straight
lines but the Kowen course markers
seem to have an aversion to travelling
more than 100 metres before changing
direction and pine forests are full of
fallen branches, tree roots, ploughed
up rocks and stumps.
It is a challenge to be met with fierce
determination, technical skill, a good
eye for the smoother line and
contentment with all of the campfire
stories such riding supplies. If you love
riding singey then the Kowen Forest
Ride is your nirvana, it’s tighter than a
Scotsman’s grip on his first pay packet.
Just to digress briefly, did you know
why a 50-cent piece has flat sides? It’s
so you can use a spanner to get it out of
a Scotsman’s hand.
Of course such riding throws up a
plethora of stories and wandering
amongst the campfires for a chat on the
Saturday night is a great way to hear
them. I met one group of mates who do
both Kowen and Sunny Corner each
year and award a trophy within their
circle for the best (best is a word open
to wide interpretation in this context)
get off of the day. It’s called the “Busted
Arse Trophy” and is made up from
scrap parts and the tradition is that
each recipient adds a bit more to it
before passing it on.
The happy nominee for Kowen only
wanted to be identified as “Rooster”
and lost his form part way up a steep
rock step up. He did a somewhat
graceless dismount straight to the
bottom, hitting his head when he
landed. His Husky delayed it’s descent
by bouncing on the rocks on the way
down, enabling it to take careful aim
and land on Rooster’s head just as he
started to get up. Both bike and rider
were shaken but not stirred.
Dave Onyck decided that the West
Loop was the challenge he was looking
for but only made it about 100 metres
in when he got a bad case of whisky
throttle and explored what happens
when an unstoppable force meets an