Farmer Brown's Paddock

Yesterday was a motor ride held down at Beaudesert, starting around 8am. This ride is only a one dayer and there is no briefing beforehand except when coming in the gate and handing over the money for the privilege of riding there.

Full weekend rides that we have done have a briefing at a set time and no-one can ride before then, which is usually a start time of nine or ten o'clock.

We left at 7.30am with a view to arrive at nine. Jason and Paulie both live much closer and they were there and set up waiting for us to get there.

I am always amazed at who and what turns up at these things. There are utes and trailers, 4WDs, covered purpose built things, all manner of vehicles all with one thought in mind, get out on the track and blow some cobwebs away.

The short track was short and the boys did it twice before morning tea. I had packed coffee and rolls, pasties and lamingtons. As Warren's bike fits on the camper van we had taken that, handy to tow and then we have the shade of the van when we are there. I took along the computer and finished off some editing work that I have been trying to do for the last few weeks.

The boys decided to go on the long track it was 23 ms and Warren sad they would be about an hour. One hour went then two, many are packing up and leaving, I start packing up our stuff and finally they get back all looking very weary. Not only was it a longer ride it was much much harder. Two hours and forty minutes it took to do 23 kms, there were a few falls along the way.

Not one of our bikes but this was a bike that I saw when we stopped at Maccas on the way home. The guys were back at 2.10pm but the lunch tent had packed up by then so there was no hot food available. We stopped in the nearest township for toilets and food as many others, Warren thought that this bike had probably fallen in one of the creek crossings. 

 

Sold a bike today

After trying to sell the unregistered bike for awhile, Warren decided to put up both bikes for sale and he would kept which ever bike didnt sell.

He had listed it on Gum tree and had lots of interest and even phone calls and arrangements to come and see but they never turned up. Gum tree ads run for a month.

Last week he put them on a Bike sale web site and still nothing until yesterday. Some-one contacted him and offered a thousand (it was listed at $1450) I said tell him no lower than $1250 and we would make up the difference. (No longer his bike but he was selling it) Arrangement to view was for Friday. last night the phone goes again, some-one else wants to look at it and could come on Saturday. Warren told him that some-one was coming on Friday and it may be sold.

Today while Warren was at tennis, a guy rang him from the same town, he wanted the reg bike, came over and looked at it put down a deposit. We need to get a road worthy done on it.

Warren then had to text the other two guys to tell them that the unreg bike has been withdrawn from sale. I guess they were a bit miffed but he did put up that he wanted to sell one of them.

Bike riding at the weekend

Time to head off to the bush for a bit of bush bashing (trail bike riding). We leave at 10.30, (camp opens at 3pm!) morning tea at a place up the road called Moore, I had prepared thermos and we had cake and coffee makings, nice park there just off the road and toilets. Then on to Dalby (we call it Dalby like its spelt but Queenslanders have no clue what we are talking about, they call it Dullby). Anyway, Maccas is there and fuel so we fill tummies and tanks, car bike and a jerry can.

One more hour and we arrive at the camp site approx 3.15pm, yikes there are already about fifty units there, the last time we were there we were about the third to arrive, shaping up to be a big weekend. We head across the paddock to our usual spot, the Pee wee track is just at the back and as Declan was coming and I would be keeping an eye on him it was the ideal place to be.

Twenty minutes and we are sitting down for a cuppa in hand and spend the next couple of hours watching other rigs come in and get set up. The cold is starting to be felt and the sun is getting lower in the sky, time to cook dinner before we lose the light.

I am introduced to the Game of Thrones which we watch while snuggled up in bed, Warren was up to date but I hadnt seen any of them although I did know some of the story as he would watch them in China usually while I was working and it was almost finished so no point in me watching and trying to get up to speed on where it was up to. I had said that I would watch them one time.

People were coming and setting up most of the night it seemed and the next morning there ws a hive of activity when I got out of bed. Toilets were about a hundred metres away so a jacket thrown over my pjs (its easy to be uncomfortable so pjs are packed) and off i set. This place sets the toilets around in different places so we had the choice of three within a hundred metres just depended on which direction one walked. (the closest toilets had several families scattered around it with lots of kids and that was the first one to run out of water).

This little girl spent many hour going on the peewee track, she had all the gear on and the pink fairy wings on her back. Its a little blurred because she was going so fast.

We were able to have contained fires and it was great sitting around "chewing the fat". Saturday night a guy turned up with his portable wood fired pizza van. he would have made a killing, it was a family affair, him, his wif and two young sons. One son was taking order and the money, the other boy was chopping, Mum was preparing and dad was cooking, a very neat operation. We were lucky as ours was made, it apparently caught on another one and he said that he would make another free, cost was $10 and the two pizzas feed the four of us. Didn't taste any different but he wasn't happy but we were.

The boys on their bikes ages from 8 to 63.

While riding, they are all covered except the dirt and dust gets in so there was about a quarter of dirt on his face but he couldnt keep the smile off his dial. Next one is in four weeks time and about the same distance.

Three generations of bike riders

Today we went south of Brisbane to a bike ride, usually we go for the weekend but these particular rides are only for one day. The place is about a hundred and thirty kms from home or an hour and forty minutes. Even though the bike is registered

and warren spoke about riding it there, I just think that's too much in one day, ride there then ride on the tracks and back home again.

The options are to put the bike on the trailer which is at Chris' or load up the camper trailer with its bar on the front to hold the bike. I wanted to take the camper as then, those of us who don't ride have some shelter, I won.

Bike strapped to the front of the camper.

 Eight year old grandson has his own bike and is a keen and careful rider. He has only ridden on the pee wee course before, some kids on there look about five, usually they are between four and ten.

Father and son went on the open track which was about twelve kilometres and J, oldest son in the middle says to me "You need to tell your husband....." he paused and I asked what do I need to tell him. J then said in a rush "That hes 63!" he went on to tell us how he got left in the dust! Apparently Warren was quite a bit
faster and J couldn't catch him. Then the boys all went on the novice track and had D riding between them, he had a ball but all three were pretty tired packing up. It costs $35 for adult rider and $10 for kids, the track is open from 8.30am until 3 o'clock, pretty cheap day out of course then there is getting there. I pack lunch and as we had the van there, we could make coffee. I even had a short sleep inside while they were out. Not a quiet day though as lots of bikes revving and accelerating and today there were lots of cow pats to avoid while walking around.