30
OCTOBER 2021
By Duncan Bennett, Member #4171
W
e’d long talked about doing the ride to the top of Cape York before we were too old. Unfortunately we missed that window, but fortunately didn’t realise it. So how do these things come to pass? The Women’s Adventure Riders Australia (WARA) group must be held fully accountable, Cindy has ridden with them and follows their social media enabling exploits enthusiastically. As we’d ridden as far south as one can on the mainland and stood in the Australia’s most southerly car parking space at Cockle Creek in Tasmania in March 2021, the theme naturally continued, and Cindy started talking about doing a Cairns to the Cape tour as I said “hmmm” while totally distracted by a very funny post on Snapchat.
IN C AP E A B L E National Park in May demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that reasonable doubt existed about our abilities; it was noted by our Dirt Dayz trainer Warren Dennis, ex enduro guru of Cairns, that the dry and rocky conditions of the D’Aguilar were as similar to the Cape and its rivers as Milan Fashion Week is to a western suburbs op-shop bargains rack. No worries though, until Cindy suggested a final training run two weeks before the trip. Our Golden Rule since before the Cairo to Cape Town has been to eschew any risky activities in the eight weeks before a big riding commitment; enough time for minor injuries to heal. Two weeks isn’t enough time unfortunately, and the X-Ray confirmed the need to call Ellyse, the Ell of Ellwood.
Bribie Island sand training run. Damage to the photographer after a minor off inset.
The 1350km Cape Crusade Next thing I knew we were booked on a Cairns to Cape York Tour for the end of July with Ellwood Motorcycle Adventures. It was April. Possibly still time to get ready. First thing on Cindy’s agenda was to buy an appropriate training bike, a Yamaha XT250, while I tried the latest middle-old bloke trend of getting fit by consuming servo dimsims and German Club beers for a month before deciding that running and stretching were more likely to succeed. The prep program was proceeding smoothly (some were likening my abs to a mahogany washboard hidden under a mattress) through May and June. A Dirt Dayz session up in the D’Aguilar
Initially it looked as though the earliest possible alternative tour was several lockeddown lifetimes away in August 2022, a finding that brought on explosive Temporary Tourette’s Syndrome. Damn you, riding incompetence. But enter Covid to the rescue for us, non-Queenslanders were held at bay and we were able to reschedule to a month later. The end of August. Very mild exercise was resumed after 3 weeks without risk of compromising the thickness of the mattress. Age shall weary them, and the beers condemn. A side note on trail bike riding versus adventure riding here. Ellwood had sent through a packing list which was great, but our wellused adventure riding stuff is better designed for storing lip balm and keeping out rain than looking Motocross cool. We needed to adjust wardrobe. Perhaps not strangely, MX stuff is designed for MX; short and sharp bursts around a track with riders five feet in front throwing rocks and clods of mud
