A Day In The Dirt - Down Under

What the hell is A Day In The Dirt I hear you ask?
Well, click on that link and it will take you to the original US of A website for the ADITD and all will be explained. Except the bit about Down Under that is. Basically, someone (Red Bull?) decided that it would be a good idea to host a version of this weekend of everything dirtbike down here in Oztraylia. Hence, A Day In The Dirt Down Under (ADITDDU) was born.

I happened to stumble across it as a mate of mine works for one of the sponsors, Lusty Enterprises, importers of (sweet looking) Fasthouse apparel. He was able to score me a promo ticket or two for the weekend. I combined this excuse to attend with a ride on the BMW to get there, then a mtb ride out there as the location of Queensland Moto Park (QMP) is right by Mount Joyce mtb trails! Win, win, win!!

Rolling up it was obvious that the event was well attended with heaps of camping set-ups in the parking area already. It was only Friday morning!

Looking to the trails and there must have been 100 bikes ripping them up! It was free practice for anyone and everyone. I soon saw a big Red Bull emblazoned KTM cleaning everyone up on the track. Of course, it was none other than Toby Price. He certainly had that big Kato flying on the tight moto tracks!

There was ample room to move in the promo area. As well as displays from Fasthouse, Bell helmets, KTM and a few others there was plenty to eat and drink. I wandered around in the relative quiet of the Friday pre lunch rush, taking a few photos.

As it was still pretty quiet I jumped on the F800 and rode around a bit to check out the facilities. At the top of the hill I sat for a while watching the action spread out below me. Apparently QMP had linked up all of the tracks for the weekend so the laps were quite long. This is just a portion of the track.

Behind me there was a motocross/supercross track (not sure of the difference to be honest) and I watched the lads practice there for a while. Some shaky video that I did as an Instagram post is below.

My mate and I made a break for the mtb tracks just after lunch. He had taken my mtb and riding gear out in his car as he was working the stalls for the weekend which worked out awesome for us getting a ride in. A short 15 minute drive saw us at Mt Joyce for a few hours pedalling. I hadn't been to Mt Joyce for two or three years and was a bit shocked at the state of some of the trails. They were highly eroded and quite challenging on my 120mm travel bike. I had definitely bought a knife to a gun fight today!

Either way, I survived the ride but I won't be hurrying back. We have too many great trails on our doorstep to do the two hour roundtrip drive out to Mt Joyce.

Back at ADITD the Dirt Hustle races were beginning. This was basically a small, mostly flat track with just a few small jumps that was being raced by all manner of bikes. The first out were the pit/Posty bikes. The first three riders in this race were absolutely flying around the track, roosting the spectators and getting seriously sideways around most corners. One guy was on a little two stroke Yammi, with a doll strapped to his chest, sunnies and a fake hipster beard and was absolutely smashing it. He had everyone in hysterics as he roosted his way around the track, all the while the ultra-high-pitched Yammi screaming it's head off in a two wheel drift. He ended up coming in 2nd place but both he and the winner were flying and COULD ride despite their diminutive bikes.

Baby Dude from the Friday race. 

This is Saturday morning and you can see that they have had considerable rain overnight.

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos as I was just enjoying a post ride Young Henrys while taking in the racing - good fun in the dirt not to be spoiled by looking through a camera lense. 

I sort of wish I had taken more photos though as the next group out were all on classic bikes. There were Maiko's, Bultaco's, old Jap two strokes and this beautiful Triumph powered Rickman which was music to the ears as he powered past! He was rocking the full Steve McQueen look and watching these bikes I could have been time-warped 30-40 years into the past......

While the Friday was dry and trending to be dusty, overnight storms Friday night dumped about an inch+ of rain on QMP. This turned the dust to mud and added another complexion and level of difficulty to Saturday's riding. I am sure glad it wasn't my bike out there in those conditions!

Yeah, easy if you were just walking around taking photos.....

Actually, it sort of doesn't matter that I didn't get that many photos as this YouTube video by MXStore captures much of the feel and look that was ADITDDU. 

Enjoy the bikes and the vibe!!

 (baby dude at 2:50 if you want to hear what he sounded like)

If they run it again next year I am pretty sure I will be there. Now I just need to find a classic two stroke dirt bike to take along...........

Cheers and thanks for checkin' in.