TRANSTERRA FLINDERS
This is a story of a love found and a love lost. It is Romeo and Juliet for the modern age. It is a story of a bogan called Daryl and how a moment’s inattention crushed the love of my life.
When Maschine called me about the Flinders Rally they promised “Dust, rocks, $6 coffees, $12 beers and some of the worst seafood in all of Australia”. Clearly this was going to be too good to miss. However, with some weird female sixth sense my wife could sense the danger in the offer. She instantly pointed out that every ride I had been involved in ended up with some sort of self-inflicted catastrophe. This has included a broken knee (Simpson Crossing), demolished cameras (Alpine Assault) and destroyed DRZ (APC Rally). With a new bike, new camera and new knee, she wanted a guarantee that this one was going to be different. Given I now had a brand-sparkly-new Husqvarna 701 and had lifted my riding skills from ‘absolute muppet’ to ‘keep an eye on that one’, I was very confident that there was going to be no requirement for awkward conversations at the end of this ride. I was of course badly wrong.
MEET THE PEEPS
Team Maschine is Trudi (logistics and marketing) and Nick Selleck (eye candy). The Maschine ride was a wonderful change from the shambolic affairs I’m normally involved with. We got fully loaded GPS files, daily detailed itineraries, accommodation, food, baggage carriage, tech support, tyre service, sweep riders, a medic and a clueless photographer all thrown in. They also attracted a wonderfully eclectic group of people, all of whom seem to have been some of life’s successes in their own unique way.
I was bunked with Chris, sweep rider extraordinaire and thoroughly decent human being. It wasn’t my first time working with Chris and he is one of those individuals who you can’t help but like. He has the patience of a saint, is unfailingly generous, has the mechanical skills of the McLaren pit crew and rides like Toby Price. It seemed extraordinary to me that someone on the ride had taken it on themselves to print posters with his face and “registered sex offender” in large type underneath. They
