Cutting Control

Once again the club has run a very enjoyable 24hr control. Our spot was in a open paddock easily accessible 9km out from Main Control at Eudunda. It was a bit windy and wet and the 12 early helpers did have their hands full setting up camp. Lunch just before lap one, we settled in for a comfortable stay with endless coffee and cakes for all and the bar now open with heaters at the ready for the evening. The Utes and trailers kept coming in with fire wood and it looked like we would have to take some back.

Dinner was served early before lap 2 with a tasty pumpkin soup followed by the famous J Burger to feed the 35 members and friends. Many thanks to the cooks that was a great job and much appreciated. Our camp was well set up keeping us out of the intermittent rain and strong winds with the heaters working well.

We did have an out Control and for this year the race direction setting up a new “End of Section” some 50 meters from our control point and that was a positive change as the riders rode in slowly to have their time recorded. A mention must go to the Post Man doing all 4 sessions and thanks to the time keepers also.

Having control 8 we finished early then 22 lined up for bacon, eggs, hash browns, snags and coffee. It was still drizzling and windy but everything was packed up quickly und we were away by 10:30 with all that fire wood gone. A great weekend out thanks every one. Looking forward to next year, don’t miss it!

Otto.

This year Juventus was allocated the Main Control at Kapunda. Because we had declined manning the Main Control several times before we could not get out of the rotation this time.

We congratulate our 8 club members who entered this year’s event:

There were a few drawbacks at manning the Main Control; a lot of public spectators, no bonfire, no alcohol, and having members awake at the control at all times, an IN and an OUT which required a minimum of five people every lap, plus having to be there from the start of the event to its finish. On the plus side we were under cover at the Harness Racing Complex. For feeding of the troops we enlisted the help of the Kapunda Canteen which was run by the local primary school’s fund-raising committee, and that worked out well as we could not use our own BBQ. Nibbles, cakes, coffee, soft drinks etc. and heaters were supplied by the club. It was dry but cold, and on Sunday morning it was only 1 degree but it felt like minus 3 degrees.

The 24Hr Organising Committee was very pleased with our efforts and we thank everyone who helped out: David Goldsworthy, Chris Richardson, Otto Muller, Les Donnon, James Buckingham, Anthony Steele, Fred Hardin, Bernadine Hardin, Rebecca Kelsey-Evans, Rory Stocker, Joy Harry, John Harry, Jo Jenke, Greg Jenke, Trudy Brew, David Brew, Travis Brew, Emily Collins, Peter Plowman, Tina Hardin, Alexis Cattley, Susan Long, Ethan Long, Vy Vo, Brian O`Grady, Alan Tassell, and Pearl Tassell.

Next year we can again look forward to a control out in the sticks, and camping somewhere remote, with the Cub supplying all the creature comforts to keep us warm and dry inside and out.

Otto Muller.

This year the club manned control #24, which was the last control before the riders headed back to the main control at Eudunda. The site was located in paddocks, which we shared with the wombats and rabbits. There was varied terrain for the riders, with the track sweeping back and forth through the hillside and creek areas.

The threat of bad weather held back, with no wind and only some rain during the night at about 3:00 o’clock in the morning. We were able to keep warm around the huge bonfire, thanks to the generosity of the landowner who had supplied us with a very large pile of wood.

Whilst most of the group turned in late at night to earn their much needed “beauty sleep”, a few soldiered on to man the checkpoint, often giving words of encouragement to the riders who were battling all the elements. The weekend was a great success, with good food and company. Many thanks to all the club members and their offspring for coming out to the control, and helping throughout the event.

T.J. Brew

Juventus had four club members in the Open Event: David Schwarz, Ian Potts, Paul Collins and myself.

Alan and William Tassell entered the 12 hour rally class.

The weather during the week leading to the event was awful and not too promising for what lay ahead. There had been lots of rain and some serious hail storms throughout the week.

I had asked the organisers to if they would allow we three older blokes to ride together, because this was most likely the last hurrah for the three of us. They agreed to my request.

We were due to start around 12:30pm on Saturday. My wife Vicki volunteered to get the club guys’ fuel out to all the stops. Consequently she missed our start and missed out on a club photo. She rang me about 2 mins before my start time to wish me luck and tell me just how bad the weather was because she was struggling enough just to drive a car in it! As it turned out it wasn’t raining as we headed off on the first lap. By the time we got to the first competitive section it was all about to change.

Thinking about it now, there were some early signs that this 24 was going to be a little different to the others I have ridden. The second competitive stage led straight up a very gnarly quarry climb while not that long when wet and in the dark would most likely be quite a challenge. What was also evident was how tight the timing was to be as we were all entering controls with very little rest time available to us, and it was still daylight! There were a couple of very nasty transport sections due to the very wet roads. The course through to the Eudunda fuel stop was all fine although the splash and dash fuel stop was a bit bizarre as 10 mins later we were at the Eudunda servo anyway!

Eudunda through to Truro had a couple of really good fun stages although Ian might disagree as he got caught up on a short rocky climb over a creek. There was one very long, technical stage along a rocky creek bed with very deep water holes in it. I saw Joel James almost disappear into one of them! At the end of this creek bed was what appeared at first glance to be a near vertical wet rocky climb. I will admit that I found this very intimidating the first time around. In my opinion this area was more suited to moto-trials. The Truro fuel stop was at the end of this section, and after a quick top-up and some concerned glances between us we all headed off, trying not to waste any time. We all arrived at the next section late!

This was the start of Juventus stage and it was dismal. Very muddy and difficult to get any sort of flow happening. Most of the Truro to main section of the course was like this with the final stage containing two deep creek crossings similar to the usual Robertstown stuff. I got stuck in one of them, Paul manage to get through but got hung up on the bank on the other side, while Ian found a hole so deep it was literally up to his eyeballs.

Needless to say the tea break was very welcome but very concerning as to what was to come next. All of us had dropped a number of minutes by this time so were out-of-touch with each other for the second lap.

Ian was to be first out but sadly he couldn’t get his bike going again as he’d been totally submerged in that last section. That was the end of his 24.

Paul was next away and I was about 2 minutes behind him. Early parts of the second lap were reasonably incident free as the worst sections had been diverted. However I did get caught up on the same rocky climb as Ian did on the first lap, and that sucked a lot of energy from me. I lost Paul at this stage as I had dropped a few more minutes. In the last section my bike expired in the bottom of a deep canyon. Fortunately there were some kids there with a huge LED light so I could work on the bike once I got through the huge ball of mud on it. Once again I lost a swag of minutes sorting this out and entered main control about 40 minutes behind scedule.

As I did last year, I enjoyed the third lap most of all until it all went wrong. I was still dropping my bike at fairly regular intervals, and every drop sucked just that bit more life out of me. There was some serious fog between Eudunda and Truro and as I had bent my low beam mount in an earlier incident my lighting was more of a hindrance than a help in those conditions. I thought at this time I was travelling OK until I got to the start of the Juventus stage again. By now the early section was getting almost impassable due to the mud. There was a also creek crossing early in this stage which I knew had some confusing arrowing. Arrows pointed left but they meant “get across the creek first then go left”. In my fatigued state I forgot this and went left too early. This was a huge mistake because this creek had been used as the farmer’s dumping ground. I ended up amongst 200litre drums, rolls of barbed wire and railway sleepers. I had to physically lift/drag my bike out of this creek, and it took ages and every skerrick of life I had left. By the time I had done this I felt that I didn’t have enough energy for my body to function let alone ride! I dragged my sorry self through to the Juventus control and expired there at 05:29am Sunday morning. Otto, Fred, Adam and Vicki were trying their best to keep me going but I am sorry to say I just could not do it. Adrian offered to cut some wires on my bike so it wouldn’t go any more but this wasn’t necessary. I don’t know how long I just sat there stunned.

I called Paul later in the day and found that he had completed the event. Huge congratulations Paul, what a mighty, mighty effort!

I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned David Schwarz at all as I had no idea how he was getting on, but he finished also. Another mighty effort.

I think Alan may have some hair-raising stories to tell too!

David finished 31st outright, and Paul was 68th. I’m not sure about the class placings as I haven’t seen those yet.

Paul Rumsey