2009 KTM Sunny Corner Trail Bike Ride

This years Sunny Corner was always going to be a ripper. When you have in excess of four hundred early bird entries, it pretty much sets the scene for surety in numbers. And that atmosphere is a big part of the attraction of this event, because its there in spades. When you reach the crest of the road near "Parc Ferme", and see the hundreds of cars and campsites littered through the bush, I still get a bit of nervous excitement. It's the Australian trail bike fraternities version of Woodstock, and with the Central Tablelands Motorcycle Club leading the rally into its third decade, its undeniably reached iconic status.

The EMD crew for the twenty third KTM Sunny Corner Trail Bike Ride was Rob Mendham (TM250 2T), Josh Clark (WR450), and yours truly on my trusty Husaberg Fe450. Josh is my nephew, and it was his first foray into dirt biking officialdom. He has a fair bit of experience with "bum on seat" riding, but having only just attained "L plate" status, had never ridden in an organised Trail Bike Ride. So with licence in hand, and his newly acquired 2008 Yamaha WR450, he was set to become part of the action.

Rob and I headed out to Sunny Corner on Saturday afternoon loaded with the bikes. One of our "secrets" to enjoying this event is getting scrutineering, and the other official stuff out of the way on Saturday, for a few reasons. Firstly it prevents the temptation to leave bike preparation to the night before, with the all too common disastrous results. Secondly, we don't have to join the long scrutineering que on Sunday morning. And thirdly, but most importantly, its an awesome social opportunity to catch up with bike mates,both new and old, enjoy trade alley (which just gets bigger every year), and generally have a great social night around the enormous bonfire to the sounds of "Pygs of Men".

Sunny Corner is our local event, so many of the EMD crew members that make up the group at the other rallies down south are there with workmates, friends, and riding groups. Andrew "Red" Thompson, Todd Chamberlain, Sam Millar, Andrew Poppett, Steve Durie, James and Shane Dean,  Mick  and Luke Austen, and Matt Cox were there mixing it up. Actually there was more "talking it up" than anything, but thats part of the fun.

Mick Johnson was there with his 2009 Husaberg blinged with his latest carbon guards and parts from MotoComposites.  His Aussie business is taking off, with international orders coming thick and fast, and I cant praise his gear enough. Its awesome.

The Trade Alley at this years event was again excellent. The businesses that take the opportunity to display their wares benefit by excellent exposure to the target market, the Joe Average bike rider.

Major sponsors KTM Sportmotorcycles Australia,were well represented with two of their top NSW dealer principles, Chris Sutton (Suttos Motorcycles- Penrith), and David Mendham (Dubbo City Motorcycles) available for expert knowledge on all things orange.  Other businesses represented in trade alley were Roc Stompa, Kelly Enduro Products, Muc-Off, Beard Bros Motorcycles, Sports Cameras, Newlite Bike Haulers and Trailers, Technik to name but a few.

The seventy eight kilometre morning loop was a good mixture of open fire trail, and some great single track. As always there was a "sprinkling" of the beloved Sunny Corner "pebbles". Even though there had been a reasonable amount of recent rain, the hot, windy conditions in the days prior to the event meant things were a bit dusty on the fire trails. On the single though, and particularly in the pines, the ground was perfect. In contrast to a week or two prior, where traction was the issue, a reasonable tyre meant some really enjoyable riding.

It was in on this loop that I realised the true awesomeness of my Roc Stompa Steering Dampener. Although I have had it fitted for just over twelve months, and ridden on a variety of terrain, it was the Sunny Corner stones that highlighted the benefits of having the dampener fitted.

The Roc Stompa Advanced has a "zero to centre" feature, meaning on deflection the bars will return to the straight, centre position before they meet any dampening resistance. This is available whilst ever the dampener is turned on, even with resistance settings at minimum. I have had it set like this for a

Rob and Josh were camped taking photo's, at the top of a hill at around the 40km mark, so I stopped and demonstrated some gumby U-turn techniques for them.For entertainments sake only mind you. Just after this there was some great virgin single trail through the "rock farm", basically hundreds and thousands of rocks varying in size from fist to football. The unwary could end up on their backsides very quickly. Standing on the pegs, and transferring weight as required is what my learned friends have taught, and it served me well.

A steep downhill single followed, which turned and followed what appeared to be an old creek bed. I was looking for a photo opportunity, and not concentrating on the track ahead, when my back wheel slipped into the edge of a four foot deep hole. A fellow Berg rider behind kindly helped me pull the bike out, ready to hit the trails again. I restarted, and with a little too much acceleration ended up in the same hole!! This time though it was the whole bike. As Effie would say - "How embarrassment"!!! The Good Samaritan looked at me, said little, and helped me out..........again. Thanks mate. Hope it didn't spoil the rythm on what was the best of the first loop.

After a bit more riding, I spotted Max Sullivan of Maximum Motorcycle Consulting taking photo's at his favoured river crossing. It was down in level a bit on last years torrent, but was still providing ample entertainment for the spectators.

Knowing the end of the loop was close, I  stopped to take some pictures of the punters on a short uphill through some razed forest. Standing on top of a stump, I felt a little like "Karate Kid with a camera" (although I couldn't stand in the Crane stance), but got some good snaps of passers by. Josh and Rob arrived, with Josh sporting a flat front tyre, so we left to return for lunch and tyre changing.

With the tyre changed, and the bikes refuelled, we went to get lunch. Greeted to a line about one hundred metres long, we decided eating was overrated and hit loop two instead.

This loop was simply awesome, and was the best NSW rally loop of 2009. No dust, a great mixture of single and open trails. I loved it. Any of those that "gave the second loop a miss", you missed out big time.

There will always be those that complain that the "Hard" section were too easy etc. etc. In my opinion the trails were selected well, providing good safe riding for all ability levels, and more importantly the trails were sustainable for over 800 riders. All too often, track setters utilise tracks that are great for twenty or thirty riders, but get trashed when a rally contingent uses them. This is not good for the rider, the event, or the tracks. Being ecologically friendly is, or should be, of the utmost importance to the modern trail hack. The maturity level of all the riders is demonstration of how far we have come in this aspect over the last five years. I didn't see one bike digging furrows when stuck in this rally, and that is a very good thing. Congratulations. I hope NSW Forestry take note.

OK, off soapbox and back to Loop Two. I love single track through pine forest, and there was heaps of that, so I was chuffed. Open fire trail is fine as long as its not dry, and most of the open stuff was in shaded area's, and had actually started to berm up a bit on the corners by the time I got to it. So hooking was in was quite easy.

The 78km morning loop, and the 48km afternoon loop, used a common return track to the finish. This was via the river crossing I mentioned before, and just prior to this was a nice slippery puddle. So after I went through Checkpoint Charlie, and crossed the river, I stopped to go back for some pictures. Rob was happy snapping the river crossing, so we pretty much had the area covered.

Everyone that takes photos at these events knows that as soon as someone sees a camera on hand, they speed up. So after taking a couple of shots, I saw a WR coming down the hill. The rider saw both me, and the camera, and maintained his considerable speed. He hit the water at a great rate of knots, and for a moment I thought that it could be an over the bars moment. But with feet planted he made it through the puddle. It wasn't until he hit the mud on the other side that things started to skew. There was not much that I could do except move to one side, and let things evolve. The big fella and his bike hit the ground at a great rate of knots, and I did the right thing and put the camera down to go and help him! "Are you right mate". "Awe yeah, I think so, ooohhhh. Nah, I'm winded!!" He took a while to regain composure, remounted, and rode off, but I'm sure he would still be hurting now!!!!

Speaking of hurt, four riders didn't make it out of the bush with all their bones the same as when they entered. According to Geoff henning, of the CTMCC, the fractures were "non threatening", and minor in nature. In any case fellas, I hope you are getting mountains of sympathy on the home front!! I doubt it, but we can only hope.

I rode back to the finish with a major smile, the type you have after a great, memorable ride. After spending a fair amount of time on the trails with the camera, I was only just in time to pack up the bikes, and get ready for the No.1 occasion of the day. The prize draw.

With a one in 800 odd chance of winning a $14000 dollar motorbike things always look good at the beginning of the prize draw. When you look at the Undecided, truck and see a 2010 KTM450EXC, a 2010 KTM50SX, and a mountain of other prizes, odds are that you will win something .....NOT. Seriously though, the amount of sponsor support with prizes at this ride is simply amazing, and a credit to the spirit and generosity of the industry.

Chris Sutton, the KTM rep at the draw and was only too  pleased to hand over the keys of the 2010 KTM450EXC to Stephen Vella of Sydney. Stephen was a very happy man, and even more chuffed when he realised that Luke Smith of InsureMyRide, was on hand to add a 12 month free insurance cover  for the bike. InsureMyRide generosity was also extended to Tony Roxby, also of Sydney, who was the lucky winner of the KTM50SX mini racer.

Both KTM Sportmotorcycles Australia, and InsureMyRide, should be congratulated for their enormous generosity, not only for the Sunny Corner Trail Ride, but for their corporate presence in the industry as a whole. They both seem to have their chequebooks at the ready, something not that common in these times.They are enjoying a deserved success, and lets hope that with our returned support this will continue into the future.

In addition Pirelli, ADB Magazine Staintune, Motul, Suttos Motorcycles, Sunny Corner Trail Tours, and Teknik Racing, are the major sponsors of the event and without their support this iconic event would not be a proposition.

Supporting sponsorship is provided by Barkbusters,  Acerbis, Staintune,  Scott, BRT Racing, Dirt Bike Chix, Force Accessories, Camelbak, B&B Offroad, Kenda Tyres,  KTM Trail Tours, BelRay, Animal Handles, Motorex, Whipps Alloy, KC Tools , Motoz, Kelly Enduro Products, Leatt Brace, Roc Stompa, Lithgow Bike Stop, Unifilter, Kingchrome, Recross Tyres,    Ballards Off Road, Torque Motorcycles, Auto One, Black & Gold Country Cabins, AXO, MX Retreads, Shell Advance Oils,  Sports Camera, Muc Off, RXT Helmets, Premier One Cleaning Products, Maximum Motorcycle Consulting, MultiAir Foam Filter, All Action Photography, Dirt 2 Dust, Highway Performance Motorcycles, Undecided, Forestry NSW, Lithgow Visitor Information Centre,National Hire Group,Newlite Bike Haulers and Trailers , and of course EatMyDirt

Fellow bike riders take note of these names. When next you are selecting products, and businesses in which to purchase them, remember that these industry participants are active in supporting the sport you love to enjoy. Without your continued support they are unable to function. Please show your loyalty and appreciation.

Catering was provided this year by the Bathurst Red Top Soccer Club, and the Saturday night entertainment was by band "Pygs Of Men".

A special thankyou to all those that supported the event with time in track preparation, sweeping, event coordination, administration, medical support, track communication, bike recovery, etc. etc. etc. on behalf of all the riders I thankyou for you efforts.

We had an awesome time a Sunny Corner '09, and by the look of the riders, they did too. All the more reason to get the entries in early for 2010. Stay tuned to EMD or www.sunnycorner.com.au for entries in the new year. We will be there for sure.

Keep your ears to the ground. There could be an big event coming to the area soon.Remember, you heard it on EMD first!!

See you on the Trails,

Shane Corney

shane@eatmydirt.com.au

Photo's by Shane Corney and Rob Mendham.