“Repetition is an essential part of learning”, or so Rosie claimed in his ride description before taking us on the ride earlier this year. It all started innocently enough, with him announcing that the ride would focus on learning. But then, in the middle of the afternoon loop, Rosie, who always seems to have a “great idea”, suggested a more challenging track. The group eagerly agreed, not knowing that his track evaluation skills were far from accurate and the group were about to face the infamous “Marysville Mayhem”.
And so, the Marysville Mayhem began. The riders were forced to resort to tow straps to drag those poor ATwins up the hill. Despite the mishap, Rosie took the blame for weeks, but he soon had a brilliant idea. He duped poor Maz into leading the even more insane tracks, only to divert the blame on him this time. Maz unwittingly became the leader of the Mazcats, a devoted cult of followers😀. He created the perfect ride called “Mazcats Do Marysville,” completed with a brutally honest and accurate description of the ride on the website, making the decision very easy for all potential riders who were doubtful (not mentioning the names who pulled out in the last mins, scared 😜).
The day started with a group of Huskies and KTMs champs, accompanied by a fat, heavy, unfit T7 (I’m writing about the bike and not the rider, just to be clear, OK 😜). After the ride formalities were out of the way, Rosie made it clear that he wasn’t going to get involved, putting his phone away and letting Maz take the lead as planned. The warm-up ride was supposed to be the last level 2-ish track.
So we’re out there, ripping it up on the Meadows and Triangle tracks, when all of a sudden, Anthony’s front suspension starts leaking oil like a sippy cup in the hands of a toddler. So he decided to return and have a repair. Rosie, as usual, shouted, “Another Husky down!” We continued the ride and quickly realized that we already finished the warm-up route well before 10am. So, the group decided to take on the “Marysville Mayhem” tracks (Akerman and Perry Tracks). We all cruised up the first hill without breaking a sweat (the one with the ruts and stuff). Most of the crew were at top, no drama, others like Maz had a couple of stops on the hill. Despite Rosie’s little struggle on the first try, he conquered the hill like a pro after riding all the way down and up again with both feet on pegs and no stop on the way.
We nailed the “Mayhem loop” and tackled the tricky Granton DH track like champs. As we approached the end of the hill climb, Rosie thought it would be a great idea to introduce himself to a friendly tree. Despite starting out nice and easy up to 5ms to the end of the hill, he quickly realized that trees don’t move, and unfortunately, he didn’t either. Anyway, finding out that nothing was damaged, we helped him and continued the route.
Christian and Phill evaluation the hill:
And this is him just behind the tree:
The riders were ready to take on more challenges, so we decided to take the rocky and challenging Strickland Spur track, shown as 4WD on the map. This time Rosie led the way. Despite the rocky terrain and steep hill climbs, which caused a few drops, we all made it to the top of Mt Strickland. It was admirable to see that only three riders (Trevor, Robbo, and Christian and maybe Phill) managed to keep their bikes upright all day, which was like watching a unicorn ride a bicycle – rare and impressive.
After conquering Mt Strickland, we were looking forward to an easy downhill ride to Marysville. But, as luck would have it, the leader decided to test the laws of gravity and go full-on Spider-Man on a steep corner. He ended up hanging upside down on a cliff like a bat out of hell, proving that the well-known “upside-down” adjective is not a thing that only one can carry forever. Robbo and Mitch came to the rescue, but it was clear that the brake pedals had seen better days. We were all amazed by the way it bent- it looked like a modern art masterpiece as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the pedal and then tried to reshape it with a pair of pliers. So, we decided to name the track “Maz’s track” since he lost two brake pedals and a clutch cover trying to navigate it.
Anyway, once all down the hill, the group enjoyed some delicious baguette sandwiches at Fraga’s Cafe in Marysville. Disappointed to see his plot didn’t work and no one had complained about the ride and they all had a great time, Rosie learnt a clear lesson: leading a ride is more than just putting some GPX files and giving random unevaluated recommendations 😂, and actually being a Madcat ride committee is not a position easily achieved 🙂. But joking aside, it’s remarkable to watch him taking the mighty T7 to places not many dare to take.
As the clock ticked past 2 pm, we realized we still had some time to kill before the day was over. So Rosie, being the gracious host that he is, took us to some nice tracks around the area. This was then accompanied by some cold beer in his Palace up there. Those who stayed for the night ended the night at the Marysville pub, laughing, eating, drinking, and joking. We finished the night with four glasses of Kahlua n’ Milk, while we reminisced about the incredible ride we just had. We all left the pub with a sense of anticipation for the next Madcat adventure, hoping for fewer drops and mishaps, and more laughter and good times.