Harro is our back up four wheel driver cum sweep rider. He alternates roles depending on circumstances.

When he rides, he’s always the sweep. Whilst he is a very capable rider and can crest anything we put in front of him (thinking back, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him have a crash, although it is rumoured that he has), he is not prone to riding that fast (geez I’m nice to you Harro) and is almost always found in the important sweep role.

So, naturally, when it came time to work out who got the 14 litre Safari tanks and who got the 21 litre model I had sitting in my shed, Harro drew the tanker.

Before you agree and pronounce the tank as unsightly, consider your thoughts should you be saved by Harro the sweep as you ponder your fuel - less plight in the middle of nowhere.

Bikes are way uglier if one has to push them.

The tank comes with it’s own Force brand radiator guards, which we found easier to fit if you use 8mm headed bolts instead of the supplied 10mm headed bolts, as with the 8’s you can get your ring spanner in to do the job, but with the 10’s you’re stuck with an open end spanner, which we all know are a poor substitute.

Range? 300 to 500 k’s.

Intrusive on your cockpit? Not really.

Heavy? Yeah, if you fill it up, which there’s no need to do all the time. Not as heavy as pushing though.

Whilst there, we turned his pilot screw out to around 1 3/4 turns out to fix the flat spot down low.

We set the race sag on his rear suspension to around 108 mm. 100 is desirable but Harro is too ‘wholesome’ for the standard spring and if we went for 100 mm of race sag he’d be left with insufficient static sag and an ill handling pig.

A bit more race sag at 108 will simply leave him with a bike that doesn’t turn as sharp as it should, which at Harro’s speed, may not be an issue.

So, we’re close to being ready for Groggin in 3 weeks and like you are praying for rain. We have some new tracks planned and are fully primed.

The troopy is a rocket. It pulls a gear higher everywhere and not has more grunt on gas then it ever did on premium. Uses less gas too, always a bonus.

It’s still old, not that fast, rough to ride in, with poor brakes, no air con and stuck with strong - arm steering. Thank god we like the look of the thing.

Wayno and I rode from Mudgeegonga to Porepunkah yesterday. Note that to avoid lengthy stints of bitumen, this ride requires permission from a farmer, to allow access to tracks that start in their backyards.

The hill between the Myrtleford - Yackandandah road and Rosewhite suffered badly, as the photo in the last article clearly shows.

The only thing left alive were the blackboys, which are extremely fire resistant and despite no water for an eternity, have sprouted green.

Check out the rocks on the side of the track. Rough country up here and a good reminder to keep your speeds down to a reasonable level, as an off - track expedition won’t always be simple.

In the gullies the fire damage was the worst. They act like funnels at times and the fire roared up them with incredible intensity here. Nothing other than the blackboys seem to have survived. It’ll be interesting to see if some of the trees re sprout in due course.

Surprisingly, the Barwidgee creek has started flowing again, after months with no water. The gurus tell me that since the trees are cactus and no longer suck as much water, the creek gets the surplus.

The pines down a bit further got burnt too and Hancock plantations have been quick to commence harvesting here too.

The riding conditions were shit. Wayno will say that he’s not in focus ‘cause ‘he’s a blur’ but the truth is I had the camera set to auto, with no time to set it up prior to taking the shot. Despite the low quality image, it gives you an idea on the dust issue.

We seemingly need about a month of light to medium rain to fix this part of the world in the short term.

We crossed to the Porepunkah area, where we found that the dozers had visited many rugged ridges to push fire breaks.

We hit Porepunkah via some more private property we had permission to access, then grabbed lunch at the local cafe. At $16.50 each, the steak sandwich had a fair bit to live up to!

Wayno thought it was good and broke out into a smile.

So, the upshot is that some of the riding country is rooted for now. However I think it will be a boon for us.

Riders on tour will get short spurts into some well burnt areas that are well worth a look. Most of the Harrietville tour was untouched by fire and as it has rained from March every year that I can remember, hopefully by the start of May things have greened up a bit, as some of the tracks we plan to use are ace.

From a local perspective and talking only about damage to tracks from a dirt bike point of view, we’ve been fairly lucky.

My most favourite local hills have not been devastated.

However some really cool nearby tracks around pine trees have been modified.

The tracks around these pines were fully sick. Single trail types due to limited use, green grass in patches, undulating.

I went out with a CFA bloke, Dennis, on Monday morning and found the fire trickling here. Hancock plantations responded to our call with a big yellow Caterpillar and some ground crews. They ‘cleaned up’ (their term) ‘our’ tracks into fire breaks and managed to put the fire out.
Only about half the pines were burnt, therefore only half our tracks.

The blackened logs must make a mess of the mill, which is at Myrtleford. Behind the pile of logs is a Forwarder, which is a large wheeled (rubber tires) vehicle with a ‘grabber’ to grasp and load the cut logs into it’s carrying area at the back, then stack them into piles.

Right out the back is the jigger that cuts the trees down. It’s got a huge arm with this awesome head that grabs and cuts the logs, also trimming the branches. Ace to watch if you ever get the chance.

So, now the tracks are wildly different. Still undulating, but no leaf litter or green grass. Luckily the dirt is loamy and now it’s possible to Thumpernats them with road race style lines, as opposed to the single track type that existed previously. We’ll see what some rain does, it may actually have improved them for us.

The complete removal of the burnt pines will be telling I suppose, letting full sun in.

Don and I then cruised up to check out Mt Stanley and found Steve the fire watcher in his perch. We helped him untangle his milk crate full of goodies that he was trying to winch up then accepted his offer of a visit.

The view was a little hazy but we could see to Bogong no worries. It allowed us to put into perspective where the fire had burnt. The brown swathe it had cut across from Beechworth was frightening.

This is looking out to the South and it doesn’t look that bad. The burnt trees however extend for a couple of kilometres to the south and around fourteen to the West towards Beechworth. The fire was wickedly hot in some spots and bare, dead trees indicate the intensity.

The Mt Stanley jeep track to the south was covered in fallen trees and too dangerous for the public to access. Don’t fool yourself, large branches can drop without warning. The track may be closed for some time.

Wayno and I are heading out further today towards Mudgeegonga and behind Myrtleford to sus out how the next leg of our Harrietville tour in May has fared.

I’ve got a gut feeling we’ll be spending some time on this hill with the saws.

Ivan has done some good work and the motor is bolted up. Like many 28 year olds, she looks like she’s done a little work but is still fairly clean, polishes up all right and offers a good ride if you don’t thrash it too much.

Any more power than that and the drum front end - coincidentally made of ‘won’t stop’ - would be left wanting.

Luckily, the incredible reciprocating mass of the engine provides a fair lump of torque (foot - pounds, not newton - metres - it’s old).

Should be right to go any day now, which is timely, since bike riding season is upon us.

Due to a couple of last minute cancellations, we have a handful of spots left for the Groggin tour at the end of March.

None of that area has been burnt.

We’ve not been so lucky with the May tour, to Harrietville, with some of that one decimated in the Mudgeegonga area.

The entire hill was razed and there will be a fair bit of work needed with the chainsaws before we can get back up there.

After that, I felt like assuming the foetal position under the car and blowing bubbles. If it wasn’t so tragic, you’d probably say it was a great photo.

But then it did this and it all got a bit ugly.

Anyway, now that’s out of my system, anyone wanna come to Groggin and do some wheelies and skids with us?