When I was a kid ADB was one of my favourite magazines. At the time I rode a ’77 Honda XR75 and I used to get all excited when I saw modified versions of XRs in the mag, especially ones with a longer fork, a monoshock conversion and a pipe. Luckily I didn’t have the coin to butcher the XR back then because as it sits in my garage today it’s still almost totally stock.
Anyway, after a couple of other dirtbikes I soon transferred over to roadbikes and eventually scored a job on ADB sister publication AMCN. Then, in 2012, I was appointed Editor of ADB, despite the fact I hadn’t ridden a motocross or enduro bike in about 10 years.
I needed to get match fit, because not long after I started we were to host a weekend away with our advertisers in the Otways in Victoria, so that meant heaps of rides prior with current Ed Mitch Lees throwing me in the deep end on some of the toughest singletrack I’d ever ridden.
Honda kindly teed up a CRF250F for me to ride on the advertiser’s weekend, which long-time Honda man Graeme Baines trailered to our start point at Otway Off-Road HQ, owned and run by Con Thermos.
As well as our advertisers, we had a couple of special guests along for the ride – Ben Grabham and Toby Price – so it wasn’t like there was any pressure on me not to look like a gumby…
Anyway, there I was on a bike I hadn’t ridden before, with only half a dozen off-road rides under my belt in the previous decade in what turned out to be some of the slipperiest bush I’d ever experienced.
At the start, the tracks were all loamy and fun, but as we headed deeper into the forest conditions became wetter and much, much trickier. Before I knew it we were sliding through bog holes and scrambling up gnarly hills, all the while negotiating hidden tree roots that ran at about 45° across the track. I lost count of the number of front-end washouts I had and by this time I was starting to think I had spent more of the ride under the bike than on it!
Towards the end of the day I rounded a corner and there it was – one of the the biggest, steepest and gnarliest hills I had seen. Everyone had gathered at the base of the hill and were discussing the best line to take.
Con went first and made it look like a walk in the park, bouncing his bike from one side of the track to the other and then leaning it up against a tree at the top. A few of the ‘more seasoned’ riders followed, some of them getting up without too much trouble but some of them requiring assistance from the growing number of riders who lined each side of the track.
Of course, Mitch was there with camera in hand to catch all the carnage as bikes started cartwheeling or spearing off into the bush. By the time it was my turn to have a crack, there were only about two or three bikes still at the bottom of the hill, so there was a large contingent of onlookers ready to take the piss if things went pear-shaped. And pear shaped they went…
On my first attempt I made it about halfway up the hill before stalling the CRF and falling over. My second attempt wasn’t much better and ended up with me spearing off the track. My third attempt was on foot…
When I got back down the bottom ready to have another go, Pricey took over, jumping on my CRF and blasting up the hill like it was a suburban driveway. I trudged up there in what is best described as ‘the walk of shame’.
But there was no shame. Everyone was pissing themselves laughing and we had a brilliant night recounting the day’s adventures.
I bloody loved editing ADB, not just for the magazine itself but for all the fantastic people I met along the way, whether they be readers, advertisers or others involved in the industry.
Here’s to another 50 years!
