The first real Amtra ride for the year for me was the Karoonda ride. it has a bit of a reputation as being a long day, with the ride finishing around 9pm last year, but there was an injury which made it late.
The ride briefing said I needed to be able to do 90km's, which given the 9.2L tank on the 2005 husky, would not be a problem, so I was sort of wondering why such a long day (I found out later, its because 90km is really about 120!)
As we waited in the carpark, I realised that this ride had about the widest range of bikes i'd seen on a ride in a long time. We had:
1 TM 450
1 Suzuki DRZ400
1 Husaberg 450
1 CRF 450
1 KTM 200
2 Yamaha 450s
3 Husky 510's
and a couple more KTM 450's I think.
Well, the first few km's was side of the railway stuff, fairly straight forward, but then we got into the single tracks. Great 2nd and 3rd gear all the way, a few bangs on the helmet from overhanging branches, but great fun!
The Tech 3's were holding up excellently, they are doing a great job. I tried to stand up as much as possible, just like the pro's say that you should, and the Tech 3 boots are very comfortable, and have no trouble with them slipping off the pegs.
I managed to catch up to Scotty at one stage, and him being about 6 foot 6 seemed to be making navigation through the single trail a bit hard, with him ducking and weaving like crazy, where my 5 foot 6 seemed a lot easier through the tight stuff.
I was going to back off a bit and let Scotty get away and then try and catch him again (its like fishing ;-), but Darren came up behind me, and kept the pressure on, so I did the same to Scotty of course.
Not long after that the Big Husky started to idle really high, and I thought Uhoh... I might be running low on fuel. I guess 90km's in 2nd/3rd/4th is a lot more than 90km's open riding. I hit reserve, and did run out on the final run to lunch, with Mike sacrificing some fuel from his big tank to keep me going. I think that having Regular unleaded instead of Premium may have contributed a little to the poor fuel economy, I'll make the change next time and see how it goes.
While the tracks were enjoyable, we were all building up a bit of a hunger, and it was close to 1:30 when we caught up with Burgo in the Troopie, who had been our support vehicle for the day, providing transport for our fuel, and providing an excellent BBQ lunch. Thanks burgo!
After lunch we did a few dirt road K's as we got back on track, and then back to some more fantastic single track for the afternoon before a 40+ km run on the bitumen back to the cars.
With everything all packed back up by about 7, and on the way home, it was a great day riding, with some pretty tough
The new Tech 3's worked outstandingly well, and the big husky handling soaked up all the bumps beautifully, while the power just ate up the K's
Cant wait until the next ride.
Thanks Dave for leading, Justin for going Tail, and Burgo for the backup vehicle work, and all the other riders for a great day.
