River deep, mountain high

By the afternoon of day three of our Mt Buller Motorcycle Adventures trip, my brain is getting too tired to keep up with our Husqvarna WR250 and a tumble results.

By this stage we have been pushing our luck for some time, hence the laughter.

The ride begins on a Thursday night at operator Mal Palmer's ski lodge in Sawmill Settlement, a hamlet on the road to Mt Buller.

Mal immediately demonstrates that he has an excellent nose for trouble when he homes in on a Honda XR400 that won't run properly. It takes a while to figure out that it is water in the carburettor from its last wash. Better to find out now than in the morning.

Bob Condon and Mark Joy, who've driven down from Toowoomba in Queensland, have made sure they have no problems with their immaculately prepared bikes.

Participants are still arriving after midnight, including a first-time dirt rider on a rental bike wearing rental gear, an "interesting" combination for this ride.

Breakfast is bacon and eggs for us and bird seed for the king parrots on the veranda.

"This is not a sprint race. It's a marathon," Mal warns the riders. No worries, the bacon and eggs will slow us down nicely.

The Alpine National Park beckons. Lead rider Tony Pickering and "sweep" Mal are on Husqvarna TE450s. They have ridden the course so we have no navigation dramas. Mid-sweep rider Darren Swindon is there to record the fun on DVD. Mal has a digital camera for still shots.

It's dry and dusty and there are plenty of rocks hidden in the dust.

Up front, Tony gets to stay clean and check the wildlife before the noise scares it off.

The morning's riding is fairly easy, with few gnarly climbs.

The ghost gums burnt in the 2003 fires look like they've been spraypainted silver, but life is bursting anew from their trunks.

We stop at Bluff Lookout and at Craigs Hut on Mt Stirling, the romance of the Man from Snowy River scene spoilt somewhat by earthmoving machines putting in a two-wheel-drive access road.

Mal hangs back, waiting for punctures that never come.

Though we're officially riding to Bright, we're staying at Freeburgh a little farther south. Most are staying in cabins at the caravan park.

It's not the grandest accommodation in the world, but the boys are here for the riding, not the resting.

Council requirements have delayed plans for the riders to be put up at the neighbouring Riverbend Homestead, a 40ha property covered with trails from its former role as a horse-riding venue.

Here there's plenty of room for maintenance and for Mal's brother, Mark, driving the support truck, to refuel the bikes.

Stuart McClintock's Husaberg has a damaged countershaft sprocket. Another is ordered from Wangaratta.

Dinner is down the road at the Harrietville pub and some riders drink more than necessary on the basis of having made it this far.

The next day's riding involves a blast around the property and an off-road trip to Mt Feathertop.

Novice Michel drops his Yamaha at the first hill and decides to seek more pleasant surroundings for his day's riding, and the Husaberg's chain starts slipping. It's not waiting any longer for that new sprocket, which hasn't arrived by courier.

Sunday dawns cloudy but the rain has killed the dust for the trip back, covering much of the same route as on the way over.

Everyone ups the pace, though Mal has warned us to avoid over-confidence. Even the less experienced are showing a marked improvement in their riding.

Our riding coaches/first-aid officers/mechanics/chefs all take tumbles. Mal explains a missing handguard by saying it "fell off", but the big skidmark going into the previous corner is a giveaway.

The rocky ride up No. 3 Mountain claims several victims, and Stuart's 'Berg, complete with new sprocket, snaps the drive chain. Mal repairs

it, having had not a single puncture to fix.

Our big tumble comes when the Husky gets off line on a rocky downhill, but damage is minor.

Mal finishes the day with some sweet single track near Timbermill Settlement for the diehards. Tony leads the rest of the riders back to Aalfor Lodge.

It's been a magic three days of riding. Not easy, but memorable rides rarely are.