After signing their life away and going through the brief safety breifing it was onto the troopy transports to tame the mighty Mt Taylor. Radios were buzzing, troopy’s were roaring (in first gear) and the dust was hanging in the air. The local boys took the lead and dropped in at the top. The first run is always about checking out the track, looking at various A, B and C lines and generally taking it easy. I sat at the top watching everyone drop in and I reckon the safety briefing had become a distant memory as most riders just went for it on the first run – which resulted in a few over the bars crashes, wash outs, stacks and general mayhem! The tone was set for an epic day as the shuttles turned over with the help of a few dedicated volunteers, the BBQ was fired up, the esky was stocked up and the camera’s were clicking over. The track was so well groomed by the local boys, and full noise goes out to all of you who had anything to do with this track being built.

The rock roll in at the top and the first big gap proved a favourite with onlookers and the boys who stopped to hit it up to take a few shots and get some footage gave everyone a good look at what you can do on a bike if you put your mind to it – Hope it comes out good. Some new track work has seen a couple of nice berms that ended up getting blown out by the end of the day but they were drifty as and heaps of fun.

The rocky gully had a few riders taking the outside B line while others went for the A line G-out and overtook riders who chose to take it safely. The next rock garden had multiple lines but the best line was definatley hard left which set you up for a little booter into a fast straightline descent into another fast jump. I believe this is where Woodsy the Tree Magnet came to grief on that fateful “last run” which I heard someone utter… In the book of downhill 101 never, I repeat never say “Let’s do one more run”, it always ends in grief to superstitious downhill riders. The cabbage patch gap was a sweet part of the track, a small drop then step down which gave Lucas Roberts a few headaches as he went on to smash up his chain device and bend his chain ring out to a stupid angle (nothing a good old shifter can’t fix!). The flow at the bottom of the track was good and the small double has fun to hit up followed by a fast small step down. A few more twists and turns put the riders back out into the Boys Camp staging area, ready to load up for another run.

A few riders who made it to the end of the day went for a ‘Road Runner’ down the shuttle road hitting up the water bars and putting in some hard pedalling to finish the day off. The Kona Team riders Ben Barrett and Micheal Bourne were looking strong all day, proving to everyone why they win races. With cornering ability and the mentality to hit lines at speed, these two boys are ones to watch out for as they are really starting to dominate in Victorian events and hopefully at this years National events – good luck boys. On behalf of GMTB I would like to thank everyone who made this event possible – it was worth every effort, and to those who didn’t make it you have really missed out on a quality day. make sure you get the next DH club day! To sum it all up – Mt Taylor – 32 riders, heaps of parents and friends, 4 radios, 3 troopy’s, 2 bike trailers, 2 BBQ’s, 1 stocked up esky, 1 first aid kit, 1 ambulance, 1 green whistle, awesome riding and heaps of fun.

Kingy

Words from Woodsy the Tree Magnet 

Big shout out to Kingy and Graeme for organizing the ride day, Kelvin for all his work on the track, the track was awesome. Thanks to Simone, Kelvin and James for getting me down off the mountain and looking after me. Thanks to every one else that helped especially whoever it was that got my car to the hospital (Adam Verrall). Really bad time to break a collar bone 2 weeks before the start of the season but what can you do.

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