Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

THE KOWEN FOREST RIDE IS NOT THE

DSMRA’S ONLY TOP-SHELF ACT. IT’S

ANNUAL CANBERRA-TUMUT RIDE IS ONE

OF THE BEST TRAILRIDES AROUND

I

f you’ve ever wondered how

much work goes into the dirtbike

events we all love, ponder this

message from DSMRA ACT front

man Shaun Lonergan the day

before the Canberra-Tumut Ride:

“I was still out sorting trail at 10pm

last night. And I learnt the hard way

that my head torch just stops when the

batteries run out ... and man, it’s dark

out there in the forest late at night!”

That’s right, at 10pm on a Thursday

night, less than 48 hours before the

DSMRA ACT’s big-daddy trailride was

due to kick off, Shaun was out in the

middle of the Brindabella Ranges, on

his own, in the dark, in a howling gale,

marking track. When his head torch

went out. Now that’s service above and

beyond the call of duty.

And just for the record, that bit of

track Shaun was cutting in the dark

was a pearler. It was tight, it was

technical, it was greasy and best of all,

it was virgin singletrack. Excellent. All

of which goes a long way to explaining

why the DSMRA Canberra-Tumut Ride

books out weeks in advance, for as

guided trailrides go, this one is an

absolute ripper.

MEET IN THE MIDDLE

The C to T has been going strong for 12

years and the story of how it came into

being is a good one. All those years ago,

long-time DSMRA ACT honcho Peter

Daley rode out of Canberra and headed

west up over the mighty Brindabella

Ranges in the direction of Tumut,

trying to plot an overnight trailride.

Meantime,DSMRAwesternNSW

primemoverPeteCambrellhadleft

WORDS & PHOTOS // ANDREW CLUBB

There was a bit of fallen timber around

It takes a cast of thousands to keep 65 trailriders fed and watered

http://www.adbmag.com JANUARY 2018 | 131