After the success of having the Garage Motorcycles and Aprilia bring out demo bikes in 2008, I thought we definitely needed to get some more demo bikes this year.

I spoke to Bills Motorcycles from Adelaide about bringing out some demo bikes and Andrew said he could help us out and bring along some for the Amtra blokes to try.

SWAN REACH RIDE 4/6/06

20 riders fronted with a sea of yellow predominant on a fine cool day, just what the doctor ordered. It wasn’t long before the rugged downhill started to warm us up, quickly followed by the beginning of LOTS of single track to get the blood pumping even harder. Ian’s 300k pre-ride the previous Sunday gave lots of track with very little boring road to us to enjoy & we skirted around any contentious farm houses so no dramas. First crash I came across was Andrew & XR4 lying down across a high speed rut as a result of the old uh-oh the front wheel is climbing out, what do I do? Too late, I’m down! A slight headache for the rest of the day didn’t keep him down, although he did stall twice soon after on a tricky hill climb – oh for a button. Ian’s yellow markers in the odd strategic tree kept us on the crooked & narrow, just as we like it, til we eventually emerged at the ferry. Over the river & not far away was the shop we couldn’t find last year, just around the corner from the other one. They were well prepared & well organised & dispensed fuel & lunch quickly along with much appreciated FREE cold waters to top up drinkers – we will be back.

LAMEROO CAMP 20-21/5/06

After a cold night around the campfire the 5 riders were joined by 3 more in the morning for a cool day’s ride. Straight in to the whoops soon had us warmed up. Lots of mostly roadside tracks with plenty of sticks attesting to the little use they get & some old railway routes saw us lunch at the border after 100k’s with various gourmet delights coming out. After lunch we headed down the sandy & whoopy border track with Jim going through the sand riding learning curve at a rate of knots on the new blue 450 with noisy pipe. We came across the legendry Klaus Mueller leading a tour group of 10 & amazingly after a brief chat he took off instead of waiting for both groups to get there to avoid any head ons. We were not impressed by this from someone who should know better. Luckily there were no direct hits, but plenty of near misses. Eventually we hit Pinnaroo for fuel with Mat getting in on lay over.

EASTER CAMP 14/4/06-17/4/06 - PYRENEES

Arrived a bit before midnight to find a few still up & the rest in bed. No fire going but it was a mild night so there had been no need to look for wood in the dark. Welly was there after the big trip down from the Hill. Started Saturday with 9 riders & quickly commenced throwing ourselves up & down huge hills. Quite a few get offs with Welly excelling. Lunched atop Mt Cole as the weather closed in. Those silly enough to bring jackets even though the day started fine & warm put them on as the rain started & the rest of us got wet. Due to the inclement weather & Welly suffering from a longstanding flu with his asthma taking a turn for the worse in these conditions we high tailed it for camp to get there before the big rain started after a big 46k’s! Did a wet wood patrol & cranked up the fire in the very welcome shelter shed & settled in for the arvo & evening keeping warm & dry with plenty of bench racing & a little liquid refreshment.

COOMANDOOK 2/4/06

24 starters was a good turn up for the first ride of the season, all champing at the bit. Mark G had the new 300cc 2 stroke Gasser out but Mark R left his Gasser home as he thought the terrain suited the XR650 better. A good mix of blue, yellow & orange bikes with a sprinkling of others with Ben coming all the way from Moonta leaving Katie to drive the tractor!

Off we went on time up the track. It wasn’t long before rusty riders started to hit things & fall down, with Mike P going over the bars in front of me ending up sprawled on the sandy rut with the bike pointing the wrong way. All bikes must have been well prepped over the off season as we had no mechanical dramas or flats for the day. At a regroup Matt did a speccy jump over the road with no-one else game (even Tom whooping it up on the 525 having recovered from his bout of glandular fever). At one stage leader Becky was tapped out in 5th on the 426 & Tom pulled alongside & proceeded to do a mono next to him for a long way – Peter was duly impressed – oh yeah, Tom posted a new max speed during the day of 152 – it must be properly run in & loosened up now.

Kickstarters Gascoyne Dash 2005 is the most extreme off-road desert race in Australia winding through mountain ranges, desert plains and dunes, vast river beds and scrub.

It is a two day race covering over 500 kilometres starting on the edge of the desert and finishing at the sea.

With divisions for Motorcycles Western Australia accredited bikes and Confederation of Australian Motor Sport accredited four wheel drives and buggies, 150 participants are expected to contend in this years Dash.

The Dash begins on Thursday the 20th October with a street parade in Carnarvon involving all competitors and a welcome dinner to follow. On Friday at 1pm is the prologue at Coonantha on Bidgemia station, 35 kilometres from the Gascoyne Junction.

The excitement started the previous Monday when I rang the dealer & arranged for him to stay back Tuesday night so I could come & trade EXC250 on a new 06 525. The deal was duly done, then it was flat out getting the bike prepped in time. Tom took a day’s holiday leave Thursday so he could get it all done. The text that came through about 1pm said it all “holy shit!

The October long weekend camp was at Dergholm near Casterton in Victoria, which is beautiful at this time of year, very green and lush. The weather was perfect, sunny in high teens and no rain which was a pleasant change from the Sunday before where it poured down all day and everyone was wet to the skin.

I had the day off Friday to get my act together i.e. wash bikes, change oils, go to shop and buy tyres and oil, change front tyre on Darryl's bike (there is another stone stuff up, which shall stay on the trail). Pack caravan etc and get to city to pick Darryl up by 2 pm. We were using Darryl's car for the first time as we had bought it the week before. An XF wagon on gas for a $1000. Found out that with all the weight of van, bikes fuel etc and 3 people, let us say it lacks a bit of power up hills and tended to get a bit hot. Fixed overheating at Tailem Bend and proceeded at a leisurely pace i.e. 95 ks to Dergholm, thank god we didn't have to pass anything as it may have been a problem. Anyway it got us there and is not a bad old bomb for the money and at approx $90 for the return journey good value as well.

22 brave souls ventured out despite the weather, a few without jackets – it drizzled all day! The new Gasser made its first appearance & wouldn’t start! After a few had a kick despite the button, Stoney threatened to get out the hammer, whereupon it burst into life on his second jab!

Off we finally went & soon caught up to Peter groaning by his pranged green meany. Too much instinctive front brake when he suddenly saw the lake across the sandy track & he went over the bars & landed back first on the embankment – his ride ended right there – a slight possibility of a broken rib meant we got his car to him & he drove himself to hospital.

A good turn up despite the weather forecast with Welly all the way from the Hill. A few early evening showers saw some set up just in time for the rain to stop.

1 arrival sat morn saw 9 riders head out in sunshine, with some dust as the area has not had a lot of rain. We took the reverse of the usual route this year for a change which gave us a different perspective. A fast pace as all were sand savvy saw lunch at Tinty early without incident.

A longish lunch & off again down a different track for a while parallel with the railway line – interesting when a train came along – some thought who’s passing in this difficult spot?! More quick paced riding saw us back near camp around 2.30pm, with the thirsty bikes short of fuel as usual.