Sweat, Blood, Dust and Beers. Myrtleford 2005

Originally it was to have been a Sidetrack Subs ride, but somewhere along the way, things didn't happen. But not to worry, about 25 riders, mainly OAR members descended on Myrtleford on Friday afternoon, and decided to have a ride anyway.

Sweat. It was near 40C on Friday,and some riders had ridden with that sort of heat for a couple of days just to get there. Saturday, and we awoke to a short shower, but as we headed south, the temps began to climb again, and by afternoon we were starting to sweat especially those who were trying to pump up a front tubeless tyre with a hand pump.

Blood. A couple of riders unfortunately gave blood, but not in the traditional way. Nothing major thank God. With a few get offs, a bit of skin and blood was left on the road.

Dust. It was everywhere. With no rain of late, and the heat, there was lots of dust. Best bet was to set off, let the fast riders go ahead, and regroup often.

Beer, agh! glorious beer. It helped replenished the body's dehydration, dull the pain of the loss of some flesh, wash the dust out of dry throats, and generally enhance a great time.

Highlight of the ride was the arrival of Peter Hill on his brand new, factory prepared KTM 660 Rallye. Sitting around the pub at Anglers Rest on Saturday night and the consensus is that this bike is the benchmark on which all other bikes need to be compared to. It is simply awesome.

Friday night over pizza washed down with copious amounts of beer and local wines, we decided that we would aim for a pub where you could camp, as everyone had come prepared and this would eliminate having to drink warm beer on what was to be a hot day.

The Blue Duck at the Anglers Rest 30 kms north of Omeo was chosen. It has a great camping area across the road from the pub, and offered several ways to get there from Myrtleford. You could opt for a VERY CHALLENGING RIDE, or a very scenic, modest dirt ride with a bit of a challenge, or even stick to the bitumen.

A small group headed off to follow Hilly on the 660, the majority took the 2nd option.

This entailed heading for Mt Hotham for a coffee stop, then down the Upper Dargo Rd to Dargo for lunch, somewhat delayed by a flat front tyre to a R1200GS, hampered by the fact that none of us, nor the half dozen 4wd's I stopped, had a sufficiently big enough air compressor to pump the tyre up to a suitable compression, to be able to locate the leak.

Leaving Dargo, we headed up via the Dog's Grave to Omeo for refuelling and then to Anglers Rest via one of the best roads around. 30 kms of flip flops. Riders who had never ridden this road before were gobsmacked. This would rival anything else in Oz.

Saturday night was spent enjoying everyone's company, drinking beer, sampling some more of the local wines, and eating some of the best steaks I have ever eaten anywhere, (and that is a BIG statement)

Sunday morning arrived cool and cloudy with a damp campsite, it had rained during the night. Typical of Victoria.

We decided to head north up to Falls Creek. Those heading for Sydney or Brisbane would continue up the Omeo Hwy to Tallangatta, we took the dirt up to Falls Creek for a rather nice brunch, then it was down to Mt Beauty, over the Toowanga Gap to Myrtleford and back home to Melbourne.

One hellva weekend.

* OAR - Oz Adventure Riders - a Yahoo groups email list