Picture This

This entry is part 14 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #14

Tasmania can be a place of meteorological extremes, but there’s plenty of times when the weather in the Apple Isle is nearly as good as the adventure-riding terrain. Andrew Brodribb found a window of weather opportunity.

Picture the depths of a Tasmanian winter in August. Imagine two weeks worth of high-latitude wind, snow and rain.

Now forget all your preconceived ideas. Storms like those were over a fortnight prior to the ride dates, and the August weekend of the ride saw a group of Tasmanian stalwarts gather for the North East Safari, and the final leg of the inaugural event was blessed with glorious riding weather… blue skies, reasonably firm tracks and no wind.

A good Paddock

A dozen riders, including two ladies, turned up for the start on Saturday morning, and half the fleet consisted of GSAs. The ride travelled from Perth through Evandale and White Hills’ hedgerows and lanes, then east across the northern side of the spectacular Ben Lomond National Park to Upper Esk, where fortunately someone had cleared some fallen trees off the track.

That was where Chris Wharmby’s GSA had a bit of a wallow in a mudhole he’d fixated on.

From Upper Esk it was into the Mathinna Forests and some fast, gravel, transit stages, where Andreas Gretchsmann managed to get intimate with the gravel.

Lunch, after a descent from the mountains, was at the famous Pub In The Paddock at Pyengana.

Scotch missed

After the riders were refuelled – with schnitzel and beers for your correspondent – the ride continued east, winding through the Blue Tier Forest Reserve and on to the world-famous Bay Of Fires. Sandy trails saw some of the big bikes squirming around and the lighter bikes dominating.

The fishing village of St Helens was the destination for the overnight stop. Tim Ritchie sorted comfortable accommodation at less than $50 per person, and scotch fillets with mushroom sauce was the almost unanimous order at the RSL.

Mind in the gutter

Sunday morning started with a huge $10 cooked breakfast and coffee at a local café before the riders then plunged into the east-coast forests behind St Helens.

One of the early challenges of the day was avoiding a bike-swallowing hole right in the middle of the track. A couple of decent hill climbs provided some photo opportunities, challenges, and skill displays.

Riders progressed through Upper Scamander to the Avenue River area.

Visualise riding along the crest of a ridge-line with towering gumtrees either side of the track and you’ll see why it’s called The Avenue – just don’t look at the sheer drops on either side.

My personal highlight was riding this track at a fair pace, and at an inadvertent moment launching a quarter-ton of GSA off a gutter across the track while accelerating in third gear.

Fortunately I landed it!

Saw point

A recce run a few weeks earlier identified a couple of large trees across the track that needed clearing. Hard panniers on a GSA allow a medium size chainsaw to be carried, and that saw well-and-truly earned its keep.

A quick lunch-stop at Mathinna was followed by more trails traversing the southern side of the Ben Lomond National Park as riders headed west towards Rossarden where some riders peeled off and headed home.

The remainder tackled the final track of the ride and finished at Deddington.