Hi everyone ,
so sometime in the weeks leading up to up to that ride day in Briagalong.
I was riding one day with a few mates in town and they said let’s go out the beach for a ride .
So we headed up to Campbell St and rode out of the residential area into a coastal land reserve that we all here called the pines.
It was a big patch of low coastal scrub that sometimes people camped in , and there was about an area of an acre of big pine trees in there also , and we locals sometimes had parties with beer kegs in the clearing there and it was just a pretty secluded and an isolated place .
So we rode to the top of the dunes overlooking Cutlers beach , and we rode down the steep hill on to the beach, this ride was best undertaken on low tide as then there was then a lot bigger area of more harder compact wet sand available to ride on .
The beach was completely deserted and we turned right and headed towards the mouth of the Powlett river .
It was the first time I had ridden on a beach and it proved to be an exhilarating experience. The sand was soft and so cool and comfortable to ride on , but it would suck up a bit more juice than normal ,
for the same type of speed reached on dry land , you needed a lot less throttle as riding in the sand the bike just bogged its self down. So it was flat out on the gas or you just basically stop.
So we raced around on the beach with the water on my left side big dumper waves were crashing down , and gulls flying off the beach as we fast approached them.
I guess that by the speed I was doing that fourth gear was the ideal choice, as when I put the bike in top the motor would start to labour a bit and I would actually loose speed.
Then with a short sprint down the open beach we came upon the first woop ,
a woop is a big mound of sand going across the beach towards the water and they were up to around a meter high and a few metres wide .
They are formed by the wave and current movement effect on the sand in the tide. And they constantly change.
I hit it pretty fast and hard and l jumped over it onto the softest most cushioned comfortable landing that I could ever imagine .
There was a whole series of them coming up to jump for km’s up ahead so
I was in for a real treat .
Some of the other guys were weaving in and out of the beach when the waves retreated , they were playing chicken , but not for me I wasn’t going to take the chance ,
others went riding up high in the soft dry sand in the lower dunes , I tried that but I found that it was too slow and not any fun.
The long sections of woops were such a blast, l was hitting them pretty hard and then just soaring through the air and onto a pillow soft landing was absolutely thrilling, I can still remember it well.
Too soon it was all over and we got to the track to the Powlett river car park the track was pretty skinny so we lined up in single file , and as we went though the bushy part of the track this old man jumped out in front of us and stopped us,
His name was
Bobby Rainbow , he was the caravan park manager.
He was going right off tap and yelling at us , how we can’t ride on the beach and he was reporting us all to the police and he was trying to look at our registration plates.
It was like he thought that he actually owned it.
Of course we all laughed , swore at him and all gave him the bird , we all then just took off back over the bridge and up to the railway line and back to Wonthaggi riding on that .
So my first beach ride was a fantastic experience that day , but soon enough I was going to learn a lesson about riding in soft sand .
I enjoyed that ride so much that one morning that week I left for work early on my bike and I thought I’d go for a quick blast on the beach again but this time by myself.
So by the time I got through riding the tracks ,
I was warmed up and I stopped quickly at the top of the dunes for bit of a look , the beach looked spectacular with medium waves breaking on the shore , and an early sea mist in the air and I took off down the steep dry sand hill onto the beach , and went for a quick splat toward the Powlett , for about five minutes l jumped a few woops and I glanced at my watch and thought that l better get going now so I’m not late for work , but what an awesome way to start my day . I was in such a great mood. 
But , when I went to ride back up the hill I didn’t actually make it back up to the top , I fell miles short so I went back down again for a short run up and try and tackle the soft sand hill again ,
Same result , i think I might now be going to be late for work , and l was getting a little stressed out , bugger .
I tried again and this time with a fast long run up off the beach .
I got within about five metres from the top and stopped, so l got off the bike , feathered the clutch reved the engine and I pushed the bike as hard hard as I possibly could with sand flying everywhere back up to the top.
Was I puffed out by then
but relieved to get back up to land and I jumped straight back on the bike and l rode to work I think about I was two minutes late .
So the lesson I learnt for that day from my mates is that in those type of conditions or in slippery mud, you should let your tyre down by the valve pin to near flat , as this spreads and widens your tyre tread thus increasing your traction in soft and slippery conditions.
Cheers
Curlyg