Well thats the 2022 edition of the Nuggets ride in the books. Another great day out with an awesome crew. One last minute drop out due to him resembling lady parts.
The crew gathered at the usual location,
@DangerDirtyD had thrown a curve ball into the mix by scheduling this the same day as a time change. Some people may have been ready an hour earlier than others. I think at least half were rocking new or near new rides. There was a lot of discussion pre-departure on how many layers of clothing was required and how much snow was going to be encountered. I decided to replicate the Michelin man and went with 5 layers, 2 pairs of gloves, thermal socks over my normal riding socks. Clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed though cos I was still in shorts and everyone else had tights/trousers on.
Borselleck took up his usual seating position at the front of the van and stunk everyone else out behind him. Matt was starting to get a bit queasy from the fumes but managed to keep his breakfast down. Fair bit of snow on the side of the road in places but in other places it was totally clear. Jeff (the e-biker) had planned to get out somewhere earlier than the rest of us and do some laps but the van didn't stop until the Wildhorse drop off so he came with some of us. Burt, David and Matt kept going to take the route we took last year - although they found an alternative way in with a lot less hab and the snow wasn't as bad as anyone expected that way. We'd all regroup at the bottom of Wildhorse.
The ride up the fire-road to the meadow was uneventful. Fecking freezing in the shadows and actually quite nice in the sunshine. There was a few spots with snow still across the road but it was all rideable without any problem. Higher up it was a bit icy but no dramas for this rag tag collection.
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I dropped one pair of gloves pretty quickly as the hands were pretty toasty. Jeff, George and I got chatting and inadvertently dropped the others. So we chilled out on a corner while we waited. Borselleck was not on his tradition whip and seemed to be enjoying being on the blue bomber, so happy in fact he rode most of the fire road up to the meadow on his back wheel.
Don't believe me? I have proof!
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We got to the meadow before the Lightning Gulch crew so after a quick break a message was scratched into the road and we took off. Snapped a quick Izzo beauty shot.
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The run down Wildhorse was pretty sublime, great conditions. Only one real issue and that was the size and number of pine cones that we were carving through. Follow the person in front to closely and they'd be moving around in front of you. I hit a few but none tried to take the wheels from under me. Matt caught us on the final run down to the trailhead carpark. David and Burt met us in the carpark. We bombed down the highway to the entry to SART. Borselleck has let himself go a bit these days so looks more domestic terrorist than suave man of mystery, that earnt him a telling off over the bullhorn from a passing highway patrol officer.
The crew entered SART at pace and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Only 2 other riders encountered on that portion. One tried to throw himself over the side in front of me as he seemed a bit out of his depth. A few of our guys took tumbles along this part. Matt tried to shoulder charge a tree out of the way, Borselleck took offence to his newly installed rear mech and tried to rip it off. I think nearly all of us nearly lost it on the same muddy corner before the now washed out bridge not far from the exit to Middle Control road. I had a puckering 2 wheel drift but stayed upright.
There was discussion about hooking up Borselleck to the motorbike for a tow up the hill to the lunch stop but he politely declined and powered up in his usual Thomas the Tank Engine way.
Some confusion at the Angelus Oaks diner, it appeared not to be open but we were then informed by the waitress that came out the front for a quick smoke (only the classiest joints for us!) that the closure was temporary whilst they did the dishes. George was, well, George for the whole trip but for some reason decided sitting with the rest of the crew was beneath him. I think it was cos we weren't all as stylishly matched to our bikes (he'd taken the murdered out look to the extreme)
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George wasn't the only stylish mofo at the joint, this pair of splitties out the front caught my eye. It seemed to be the weekend for splitties out that way as we'd been passed by another one at Glass road while we were re-grouping.
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I dived into the store at this point and bought some pain killers, the elevation gives me a headache everytime I come up here and ride. It sucks but the riding and comradery more than makes up for it! I downed a handful of over priced tablets and would eventually come right. The crew got a bit fractured at this point, there was some confusion of who had left or not. Burt and Matt disappeared with David, Sean and me tagging along. Thomas Hunting Grounds was in great nick with the usual gobsmacking views. The first 5 of us re-grouped at the end of that were it came out onto the fire road and waited for the others to show up. Eventually Borselleck would make an appearance and then enquire where Jeff and George were. The rest of us shrugged our shoulders
. After quite some time they would turn up. They'd taken an unintended detour and added on a bit more elevation before re-finding the trail.
We bombed down to the junction up to Morton Peak and then made the slog up the hill. I was finally feeling good at this point so stretched the legs with Burt close behind. We took in the views whilst the others made their way up. I don't know why but this is always one of my favorite spots of the ride. Probably because I know the climbing is basically all done by this point and we just have the run down to the airport to go!
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We bombed down from Morton Peak in prime golden hour conditions. It made for some interesting moments as this was definitely the dustiest part of the ride, so at times following the guys it was pretty hard to see where you were actually going but everyone got down the hill safely. David even managed a clean run down his chute (I reckon it was cos he couldn't see the ruts this time
)
The moon was coming up over where we'd been as a nice look back before we roadied back to Hangar 24.
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Due to the need to get back to a very tolerant wife I bailed on the boys at this point but a few of them had a well earned beer at the brewery.
No mechanicals, no serious injuries. Another quality ride with a great bunch of blokes. Great success!
