Adventure Assault - And what an Adventure it became!!
I decided to ride down to Masterton from Napier on Friday afternoon due to the weather forecast, I thought I might as well try and get south before the rain hit, that way I only had a 40 minute tail wind ride to Pahiatua, not a 2 hour ride into the Southerly head wind.
Day 1
Well Saturday dawned and the first thing I did was look out the window, sure enough it had been raining, but only a few rogue showers so that wasn’t quite so bad.
I saddled up and decided to ride to Pahiatua with my rain suit to stop getting soaking wet before I had even started the adventure ride.
This was a good idea as I was about 5 mins out of Pahiatua I meet some serious rain.
I pulled into the BP in Pahiatua which was our meeting point for the trip; we fuelled up and said our hellos before we followed Aslan through the misty depths to Makairo.
The grin factor of the first few km’s of gravel was huge, even considering the few showers along the way.
The showers had stopped when we reached the start of the Makairo; we stopped to let down tyres etc before heading into the very wet bush!
Aslan took the lead on his DR350; I followed with BusaJim behind me on his BMW 1150GS. We had travelled about 100 meters in before we hit the first of the mud, which was slippery after the overnight rain. The smaller bikes tackled this with ease, but the bigger bikes (BMW’s) didn’t really have much option than to go down the middle of the track due to their width.
I was amazed at our BusaJim handled his machine, he stayed on my tail the whole time!
We approached one corner and here was Aslan, he was so dedicated that he had laid his bike over on its side to snap photos of us coming through.
The track itself starts with a climb, with the track consisting of a rocky base, but in some of the guts the water accumulates making some tricky slippery boggy sections. This proved to be the downfall of the bigger bikes. As BusaJim and I were in the front we missed most of the carnage with bikes and bodies going over the side in numerous places.
By this time the low cloud and rain had set in again, we were slowly getting drenched and even the bush was becoming increasingly wet and offered little protection from the rain.
BusaJim and I reached the Summit, but didn’t get the views because of the low cloud and persistent rain. We waited for the group to catch up, after about 10 minutes we started to get a little worried as the others hadn’t caught up! It was not until we regrouped that we realised that this was because Dane had managed to put his 650GS 10 meters over the bank
We again left for depths unknown, by this time the persistent rain had made the ruts into small rivers and the visibility was reduced on the track from the overgrown bush that laid in waiting for an unsuspecting rider, it would whip your face like a wet blanket.
In one spot there was a washout with a small climb on a tight right hand bend, I managed to get round ok, but thought the big BMW of BusaJim might have a few problems! And it did, BusaJim gracefully laid it over on the rocks. It took 3 of us to pick it up and I looked for broken parts, but there wasn’t any?? I am suitably impressed by the strength of these bikes.
They probably fell over a dozen or more times between them, yet there was not a broken part on them!
I even managed to go over the side in one section of the track, I had stopped and dismounted to help one of the others out, as I went to get back on I got onto the seat ok and then put my right foot down, only to realise that there was nothing there!!! Over I went down the bank!!
We guided the others through this tricky section before starting the descent. The track got remarkably worse I thought, with deep ruts and a lot more water. I managed to get the Suzuki through, but the BMW’s got well and truly stuck. It was all hands on deck to push and pull, and then we manhandled them around the deepest of the ruts. BusaJim I was impressed you do not seem to have any fear of the bike or the terrain.
The last 300 meters of the track to the quarry was possibly the worst, and I am so glad I don’t have hard panniers, I now know why!
I followed the 650Gs down the last section of track, and there was a washout with a single track over it, as we approached he picked the right line, but as he went into the dip the left hand side pannier hooked up on the bank and therefore lifted the front wheel into the air, it swung around and down the hole again! At least these aren’t as heavy as the 1150’s.
We regrouped in the quarry before again following Aslan to Russell’s pad for fantastic coffee and home made scones! Cheers for that Russell!
We took about ½ an hour drying out a bit in his shed, and telling stories of the track.
I can’t believe how Dane, Carl and Jim rode their BMW’s on the track; I know they will be more accomplished riders after that.
We left Russell’s pad and headed down another gravel road, the views you would normally expect were now non existent as the cloud had really come in, although the heavy rain had gone it was kind of good to ride with my visor up to try and dry it out a bit.
I stopped to take some photos on the road of the riders going past and therefore I ended up at the back of the group. As I approached a tightening left hander I was greeted by BusaJim standing to the side of the road, covered in Mud from head to toe on one side of his body and his 1150 on its side!!
We made it to the bottom and with time against us we decided to miss out the falls in the now heavy rain and push on to Pongaroa, we arrived in Pongaroa at 4pm to be meet by a wonderful lady who opened the garage for us to fill up our bikes with.
By this time the rain was persisting and showed no signs of letting up, we gathered under an abandoned shop veranda, and decided that we would not attempt Owahanga Station in this weather but use the road instead.
Bart and Hugh, what was in the bar that took you so long?
The trip was slower due to the weather and by the time we reached the turn off at Alfredton we were losing light fast.
We had to decide whether to push on to Mataikona Shearers quarters, which consisted of about 40kms of gravel and 30 kms of tarseal or simply abandon it and head to the comfort of Masterton?
Given the weather and the temperature falling we decided that in the best interest of all the riders we would go back to Masterton and end our first day of Adventure riding.
7 very wet and cold riders made it back at about 7pm.
I am now totally impressed with the Dririder Rallycross gear, I was riding the DRZ250, and as you know like most trail bikes doesn’t have a screen for protection from the elements, so I faced everything that was thrown at me, when we finally made it to Masterton, I was cold and a little damp, but otherwise ok. I am sure the temp dropped to low single digits!
We got out of our wet clothes, dried off and sat down for plenty of refreshments and talked bikes until late that evening.
It was a great end to a great day with great company.
Day 2
The seven riders met for at the local Caltex for a 9.30am start.
I was still damp from the day before, and I was sure the others were too!
Carl had sustained an injury from the day before, so made a wise decision not to participate today, and headed off back home.
We left Masterton, although cool was not wet like the previous days riding, just after we turned off to Riversdale Dane also decided that he didn’t want to aggravate his injury any further and decided to head back, then there was 5!
We made good time to Homewood road, the first section of road was long, straight and fast, but had plenty of loose and deep gravel to catch anyone out that was paying close attention to the road ahead.
Bart and Hugh certainly know how to hoof up the gravel, and at times take some very interesting lines!!!
By the time we hit the river the track become hard and fast, with a great section through the forest. At times it felt like I was riding by myself as everyone seemed to be riding at the same pace and at times you would not see any other riders.
Jim certainly had the 1150 singing on that section of the road.
After a stop on the tarseal if was off to Gladstone and lunch at the local, and a good feed it was with good company.
After lunch it was on for the final leg to Mount Dick, none of the others had been up here before and luckily the cloud had lifted enough to get some great panoramic views of the Wairarapa. We talked for a bit and then said our goodbyes as we headed off in different directions. I finally managed to get back to Napier at 5.00pm; it was a cold lonely ride home after such a great weekend.
We are planning more as a group so we will keep you all posted
Photos
1- Busa Jim guiding his BMW1150GS Adventure through the Bush,
2- Parked at the Summit,
3- Busa Jim and Carl on Aslan's DR
4- The Slippery section of track
5- Aslan, Carl and Bart making it look easy
6- Hugh on Carls 1150, stuck!!
Dusty Butt 1000km - We knocked the bugger off what next?
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Originally Posted by BusaJim
Makairo madness continued
Homewood Station
Mt Dick and adios
) 
Poor Busa doesn't get to go out and play like it used to.
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