Day 3 saw us all a little tired and our resolved was immediately tested when we awoke to see intermittent rain and wet roads, however we donned our wet weather gear and finally set off.

Actually there was a moment of drama at the first left hand turn of the ride with Rocky not knowing a left hand turn was coming and Spurge suddenly swinging sharply into the turn across Rocky's path.  Luckily Rocky's superior riding skills (pure arse) served to keep him upright.

Having survived the first turn we came to the first obstacle, one of three pick a plank briges in the ride.  Now whilst the bridge above is not the actual first one, it does serve to demonstrate the Fortuna style. Rocky uses the kid's scooter technique whilst Frank has developed a technique whereby he serpentines his way back and forth across the planks so as to avoid the gaps. There was a serious glitch in this technique however which Frank demonstrated to all and sundry.

As he came to the side of bridge he began to perform a fairly tight turn whereby his wheels once again found themselves running parallel to the gaps. Luckily this technique puts you very close to the handrail of any bridge (if it has one), as Frank dropped his front wheel down a track, got totally out of control and we saw him clawing for the rail as if there were a 100 metre drop below him.  I know some people are squeamish so I will not speak of the resultant blood and gore.  Suffice to say, we patched Frank up enough for him to continue the ride and personally I took note to scratch the Fortuna serpentine method from my mental riding skills journal.

The next testing section of the ride was the Dalgetty hill.  It is unbelievably steep and this time it was wet. As usual Ritchie was out by himself having set out by himself about a half hour before the main bunch. (and he calls other people anti-social !)

Here's our resident maniac, Mark "The Slapper" Robertson.  There was no max speed on the descent this year however Slapper still managed to get off the brakes and get into a tuck towards the bottom of the hill.

No problems at the next obstacle, a cattle grid just after the base of the Dalgetty hill.  Ritchie and Slapper no problems. 

Here's Pat Jones coming up to the cattle grid.  One would expect there to be no problems for an ex pro rider.  Paddy merely jumped it like many of the other stars.

I do not know what happened here.  The only thing that John Hadley would say to me about this incident is, "You are not going to put that picture on the website are you?"  Obviously I answered, "Of course not John."

Frank gets through the cattle grid ok and pokes his tongue out to the photographer as if to say, "That was easy".  I guess he was feeling better the blood having finally stopped spurting from the bridge incident.  At this point Frank and Rocky were at the back of the field.  Even team "Hubbard" was split up.

Here's Pete "The Machine" Macdonald about to jump the cattle grid with little Tommy Paton tucked in right behind him.  The bunch was really split up at this stage and I knew that the infamous Dalgetty sprint woulf fade into history.  Well for this year at least anyway.

Spurge takes on the Dalgetty bridge and does it easy.  The Spurgeon method, "Sprint accross it".  But what's this action happening a little further back behind him?

Ah, the wonders of technology.  Aren't these 4 megapixel hi resolution pictures fantastic.  You can zoom right in to get a great shot of Pat Naughton coming to grief with one of the gaps and hitting the planks.  Luckily a bruised hip and backside were the only injuries.

Here's another shot (left) of the action.  Paddy Jones looks very professional and totally oblivious to the drama unfolding behind him.

With no Dalgety sprint this year it was off to the next obstacle, the Dalgety pick a plank bridge.  Above little Tom Patton makes it look easy as one would expect of a champion mountain bike rider.  John Hadley also looks pretty stylish having collected himself after the cattle grid incident.

Here's the front of Team Hubbard.  Big Chris making it look easy with Mark Murdoch up the back.  I reckon that it is really easy to ride in the middle of a plank so I try and keep to about an inch off one side.  Now that takes skill !!

Finally all the bunch has reached the Dalgetty Pub at the other side of the Dalgetty Pick a Plank bridge and we cringe in horror as the 2 remaining riders, the Fortuna brothers come into view.  Rocky immediately clips out to go into the now infamous Rocky "kids scooter" technique whilst Frank ponders the position when he will throw into the Frank "Serpentine - pint of blood" method.

No problems for the boys as Frank has perfected his "Serpentine" method and Rocky has actually stolen a skill from his brother.  Yes Rocky has now adopted his brother's "hang onto the rail" method.  Rocky's new techniques is probably best described as, "Push like a kids scooter unless a handrail is available and if so grab on for dear life" method.

Finally the entire bunch was safely across the Dalgety Bridge and we regrouped at the Dalgety pub and took on some food and drink and joked about some of the happenings thus far.  Eventually it was off again for the next 2 stages of the ride.  The next stage would be  Dalgety to Berridale with one final pick a plank bridge enroute and then the relatively recent "Berridale Sprint"

Spurge takes the bunch over the final pick a plank bridge of the ride.  Everyone got through this one ok.  I think that we were all seasoned veterans by this stage.

This is apparently the sprint into Berridale which came down to Josh and Spongee.  Don't know why The Machine is raising his hands in the background.

Paddy and Sneaky Pete roll in easy to Berridale saving themselves for the final stage.

Pat Naughton and Anthony Spurgeon roll nice and easy into Berridale.

Here's little Tommy Patton looking very relaxed and saving himself for what will be a surprise attack on the bunch.

Here's me signaling victory of Team Hubbard.  I told them I was going and tried to get them all motivated for the sprint but in the end Frank Fortuna said to me, "I wouldn't sprint against you !"  or words similar.

The dregs of Team Hubbard roll in.  We adopted Brendan Ingram into the fold for stage 3 as he was feeling a bit off.  As usual Rocky is protecting the back.

Ah, the team all meet up at the Beridale Inn.  I should put on record that even though all these stages end at pubs, noone partook of any alcoholic beverages.  (It was before opening time fortunately or the stage could have been instantly shortened) Well a couple of riders wimped out at this point and threw their bikes on the cars.  I won't embarrass anyone by naming names.

Well while everyone were telling war stories, little Tommy Patton hit out and got a good break on the bunch for the final Beridale to Jindabyne stage.  This sneeky tactic has become common since it was first perfected by one of the club's biggest cheats, Chris White, and the now infamous "I'm just going to those toilets up the road" technique.

A little into the ride back, Pete "The Machine" McDonald got a puncture and Spurge and Scotty Callum were there with him assisting.  I sang out and asked if the boys were ok to which they signelled thumbs up.  I rode up a little further to see the peleton stopped and waiting near the crest of a hill.  I rolled past the peleton slowly and said, "I'll just roll slowly ahead".  As soon as I crested the hill, I slipped it straight into the "Big Dog" was into it.

Boy did I pick the wrong time to go off the front.  Not long after doing it I realised I was into a headwind and then saw a road sign "20 kilometres to Jindabyne".  Oh well I put my head down and dug deep.  I eventually got sight of Tommy but couldn't put much of a dent in closing the gap.  In the end it was Tommy to Jindy first and me second.  The boys reckoned that they didn't even bother chasing but I got the photos of you guys, tucking down the descents and swapping off turns.

I came across this guy on the way back and I let him drag me up one of the climbs and then I very ruthlessly came round him and dropped him.  I think everyone would have passed him on the way back.  Well perhaps not Rocky. If Tony Horneman had been on the Easter camp, this guy would have found a club card wedged in between his front teeth.

Well that's it for Day 3.  Stay tuned for more adventures in day 4 which should be out hopefully before next year's Jindabyne trip.

Last updated: Tuesday, 05 December 2006

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