Thrills, Spills and Muddy Hills

by Matt Keegan

Sunday 20th, July 2008 saw 10 riders from Harvey and Donnybrook tackle some of the toughest, muddiest and down right dirtiest terrain that the south west town of Balingup could throw at us.

After meeting at Brett Lawtie’s house at 9:00am we set off to the tourist town of Balingup to tackle some of the trails I had mapped out the week before. Those accompanying myself for the day were Andrew Eyre and his sons Jason and Nathan, Brett Lawtie and daughter Brittany and family friend Josh Watts, Dean Lawtie and Shaun and Harley Radovan.

We arrived at our destination with the clouds still covering the hill tops and valleys making a picturesque setting for slinging mud and having fun. The silence of atmosphere was broken as all 10 bikes were started and warmed up. Then at 10:15am it was on for good and old.

Not long into the ride the mud was flying with bikes and riders being covered from head to toe. Unfortunately the slippery conditions meant there were going to be some spectacular “kick offs”. Shortly into the ride Brittany’s bike suffered a flat tyre and retired her from the rest of the ride, she is to be commended for mixing it up the big boys though and I’m sure we have not seen the last of her. Josh also retired at this time and the pair of them limped the bike home.

With some riders just warming up and others asking when they could go home we pressed on over the next set of hills with heights of over 200 meters above sea level we were literally riding in the clouds with fantastic views to boot. After a long and grueling “Man From Snowy River” down hill, we lost another of our riders to fatigue and Dean left us after swapping mounts with Shaun.

A lengthy break later, we then moved on into the pines and some of the nastiest terrain. This terrain did not leave one rider on their bike for the rest off the ride, with some specky “kick offs” and true mate-ship to help each other up and over all sorts it was a day of riding to remember with everyone returning home safely.

So if you have a bike and no where to ride or you just want to come out for some fun keep watching WACMEN for up and coming rides or send me your details to matanika@netserv.net.au and I’ll email or text you with info on upcoming rides.

Hope to see you on the trails,
Matt.