Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

WALK THIS WAY

Soon came yet another section of

virgin track that Daley and his cohorts

had plotted over five weekends, by

walking through and tying pieces of

pink ribbon to the trees for riders to

follow. At one potentially deep creek

crossing, they’d even built a bridge

from pallets and steel mesh to ensure

everyone could get through.

It was awesome, and at times

challenging, Grade Three riding, and

with fallen trees littering the ground,

you were on your toes the whole time.

This made reaching the lunch stop and

getting a breather as good as

Christmas. The DSMRA crew, as

always,hadlaidonaripperspreadof

meats, rissoles, salads, rolls and fruit,

along with hot and cold drinks, and a

roaring fire to take the chill off.

But of course, we were late getting

there, which meant poor old Pete

Cambrell, who would be trail boss for

the avo, had to cut short some of the

‘treats’ he had in store for us, including

a hard split that sounded like it was

designed purely to kick arse and take

names. Ah, there is a God ...

Nevertheless, Cambrell still had

some aces up his sleeve, delivering

some cracker virgin trail as we kept

tracking west across the mountains in

the direction of Tumut. But what had

many of us in fits were some sections

2009

flash

back:

Snow job!

Time, as they say, heals all wounds.

That also applies to frost bite, because

back in 2009, the DSMRA’s Canberra-

Tumut Ride went down in history as

one all 45 participants would never

forget. Why? Because it was an epic

white-out, as Mother Nature decided to

dump her guts and cover the

Brindabella Ranges in snow!

Now, riding in snow looks like it

would be fun, but I’ve got a couple of

issues with it:

1). If it snows long enough and the

snow gets deep enough, you can’t see

the rocks, logs, ruts and holes in the

ground that you’re slamming into;

2). It’s fun for 30 minutes, but after

that your fingers, toes and face get

cold, and if you stay out even longer,

your whole body gets cold to the core.

Back in 2009 we were riding in the

snow for hours on the way to Tumut and

Ihadatotaloffivelayersonme,which

was just enough to keep the cold from

getting through. Other guys, wearing

just MX jerseys and lightweight enduro

jackets, weren’t so well prepared, and

one bloke copped hypothermia,

requiring the sweeps to stop at a farm

house and get him in a shower to bring

his body temp. back up.

If you’re going to have to ride in the

snow, make sure you’re ready for it.

http://www.adbmag.com JANUARY 2018 | 135

Pete’s Berg hit the trailer on Sunday Bush banquets were something else

Traction, grip and drive were

very rare commodities and it

took ages to get everyone through