Friday
Got organised through the week and fully loaded up on Thursday night. Called pids to confirm he was still going. Up early Friday and left home about 5.45. Found pids ready to go and off to Sydney to collect 650 after leak fix. It was ready to go and no charge for consumables like fresh oil and coolant either, which was great. Thanks Sutto. Head west and over the mountains to Louee and got there about 16.00.
Expected to find OrangeBerg somewhere assembling wildman's 550 but neither were obvious. Down to the track to check it out and check in and still no sign of another Berg. They'll no doubt turn up soon. Signed up and bikes in secure storage and back up to the shearer's quarters to get settled. Found wildman's ute with engineless Berg shortly before finding wildman having a beer and wondering if his bike would be operational soon. Not much else to do now but kick back with a beer with wildman and pids.
Can't remember exactly, but after a while hamberger and the Geelong whiners arrived to find out what was happening. Not much, but shortly thereafter OrangeBerg, cafey18 and the rest of the Orange crew arrived and proceeded to assemble the workshop and setup some flood lighting. They were ready to go before wal got his bike of his ute. An hour or so and a suitable quantity of amber fluid determined that wildman would need new throttle cables before going too far. The closest were in Orange, or perhaps my spare Yamaha set attached to my 501 which was locked away down at the track. Worry about it tomorrow so off to the pub for a beer and a feed.
Saturday
Breakfast and watch a few soggy heads getting mobile was entertaining. Close to riding time so down to the track and get ready. pids and my KTM mate from Sydney were ready to go when the Geelong mob arrived as did the crew from the Murray. we decided to wait a bit for wildman and and the Orange crew to get down to the track so we could get a photo, which they eventually did. Got the photo, 14 Bergs lined up, and now it was overdue for a ride. We went out into the bush in a few groups after a couple of warm up laps of the grass track for me and others used the MX track.
Did a few hours up in the bush and then back to the canteen for lunch and to find out what was happening with wildman. My Yam cables were unsuitable, so he was off to Orange on a 5 hour trip to get some cables. cafey18 also had a tale of woe, a stick through his radiator after 10 mins of riding on his 4 hr old 650 was making him cry. My tube of epoxy steel was not enough to fix it, it was a good size stick. **** happens sometimes.
Back out for the afternoon and some more quality time in the bush. Met up out there with the Geelong mob in time to watch Irish walk up a snotty hill from the top and shortly after we all pitched in to drag a bike up from over a bank a bit further on up the trail after it had overshot a corner. Lucky I had my trusty tow strap. After a while it was down to me and a KTM. It was starting to get a little gloomy so we headed back and found that wildman was out riding, which was great news and also cafey18 was out. wildman had found a spare radiator in OrangeBergs shop and so all was well for the time being.
Back to the shearer's quarters for a shower and a beer and off to the pub for another beer and a feed and spin some ********. OrangeBerg donated a Berg banner to all the riders to hang in their sheds and wildman's great T shirts and stubby hiolders were distributed.
Sunday
Time for another ride, so back to the track and get the bikes out of storage and get ready to go. Time for some pics in the bush, so cafey18, wildman and the Murray mob and pids and I headed out to do some laps of the special test. A bit of toing and froing and then I came around a corner to find pids gearless. Fortunately not too far from camp. Ahh well, **** happens. Down to me and cafey18 and wildman to cut a few laps of the special test to get some more pics. I offered the boys a ride of my 650 and that seemed to open their eyes a bit as to what setup means so after a few more pics I got the screwdriver and spanner out and dialed some clickers for them which they seemed to appreciate.
Nearly eleven and time to head back to camp, load up, get some lunch and head home as I've got to be on the road at 06.00 Monday. Also cought up with the Louee owner to discuss what we were trying to do and what could happen next year. All good, and more to come on that subject soon.
OrangeBerg had the clutch cover off pids' bike and some damaged bits were identified. Not repairable there, so it would return to Orange for a proper fix. Farewells all round and 7 hours later got home, unloaded and checked in with the wife, get this thread started, and then get ready for work Monday.
A great weekend and thanks to everyone for making the effort to be there and contributing in some way.
Roll on Force Ride Oz 2008
Steve
