The brokeback mountain ride.

[Crisis management]

Seeing as I'm too broke to go to the CCA, it's a there and back again type ride and there's a mountain somewhere near.........


Latte riders would like to invite any willing participants to turn up at 10.00am on saturday 20th March in the middle of Te Aroha to re-enact your favourite Paris-dakar scene up Thompsons track in the Kaimais.

My usual disclaimers, I have never been there before (I don't even think I've been to Te Aroha so thats two navigational firsts in one day coming up) so have no idea what we are going to find but what I am expecting is: clay track up a hill and down the other side with some muddy bits, the worst of which is on the downhill side. Obviously if it pisses down before the 20th it will be slipperier and my half worn tyres will become marginally useless......should be entertaining!:shit:

Following the conquering of the Kaimais a suitable pub will be located where we can tell lies about how good we were and try and get a cohesive story knocked into shape for public consumption.


Thats the organising bit, post any suggestions in here, gems of wisdom and rash commitments to turning up.


So in summary.....10.00am saturday 20th March in Te Aroha (somewhere) for a 10.30 departure...I'm on a discretely coloured bright orange KTM 640 so fairly hard to miss.


If anyone wants to ride down from Auckland I'm taking the Firth of Thames coastal route down! :scooter:

[dino3310]

awesome mate. Just remember to go around the puddles on the eastern side. if you have any issues with bikes getting up the western side then i wouldnt atempt the eastern decent.
i would love to join you but the pig wont be ready by then.


someones gonna bite at that name

[Waihou Thumper]

Okay...sounds good.
Saturday is a very busy day, if the weather is fine, every man and his dog will be up there in their 4WD cages. having said that, it would also be prudent to really be careful on the blind corners. It is a second gear, first gear track anyway Iain. A little different to the 42 Traverse but fun all the same. I can't commit to this yet but if things pan out I might be a starter seeing this is in my back yard an all....I do know of a good ford on the way back, the guys can rinse the bikes off and have a bit of fun going in and out...(ford that is) not brokeback style...:)

[Eddieb]

oh goody, please please please take lots of cameras for the carnage, especially if it's been raining in the few days before.

[Padmei]

Damn I should have bought that bike Eddie. Wadidit go for in the end?

[Eddieb]

$4K and it's one of the most fun bikes I have ever owned. It just lapped that stuff up and plowed through it.

[Crisis management]

oh goody, please please please .............................

Where's the momentum Eddie, none of this paddling your way through.....





No doubt there will be incriminating evidence produced after!

[Eddieb]

Where's the momentum Eddie, none of this paddling your way through.....

You can't see what I'm riding over ;) There were tree trunks laid across the track under there at irregular intervals, it certainly wasn't smooth.

It's a fun track, lots of variation and every time you go up there it's different. it could be extremely wet or bone dry, smooth as a babys bum or a rutted nightmare. If it's wet it's better to be REALLY wet as otherwise the first section is gluggy clay with the consistency of wet cement.

You won't get out of 2nd but there's sections where you will romp along in 2nd, then you will turn a corner and it will be first gear balancing along some ridge between 4x4 tracks or dodging rocks.

[.chris]

I would be keen for this ride just about any weekend other than the one you have planned.

damn.... next one eh!

[MXNUT]

gems of wisdom and rash commitments to turning up.


So in summary.....10.00am saturday 20th March in Te Aroha (somewhere) for a 10.30 departure...I'm on a discretely coloured bright orange KTM 640 so fairly hard to miss.

My gem of wisdom would be to take the 200 instead ....... its easier to drag out of the mud bogs

[dino3310]

My gem of wisdom would be to take the 200 instead ....... its easier to drag out of the mud bogs

or get through them quicker to get camera ready

[rogerh]

I would be keen for this ride just about any weekend other than the one you have planned.

damn.... next one eh!

Me too. Maybe another time??

[Crisis management]

My gem of wisdom would be to take the 200 instead ....... its easier to drag out of the mud bogs

But then it's just a trail ride! Looks like I'm praying for no rain for 10 days, I promise to post a truthfull and fully photograpically documented account. :shutup:





Bunch of girls blouses........

[Motu]

It would be a good ride for old trials bikes Iain....you can go a lot further than you can on an ADV bike,and less sweating too.I'm not up to a real trial these days...but a bit of a trail ride might be doable.

[.chris]

Me too. Maybe another time??
Yep sure,

Can someone on this ride record the route on a gps please.

[Eddieb]

Yep sure,

Can someone on this ride record the route on a gps please.

The Matamata side to the top is in my gps stuff in my signature.

[Crisis management]

It would be a good ride for old trials bikes Iain.....

You're right Motu but I'm pissed about not doing the Capital coast so this has to be an adventure bike ride for me, you are more than welcome on a trials bike tho, at least then on eof us has a reasonable chance of getting thru!


Can someone on this ride record the route on a gps please.

I will record whatever we do Chris and flick that on to you.

If others are keen for this ride again later, you should propose some dates on this thread and at least then the discussion can take place now and not get forgotten about.

[rogerh]

If others are keen for this ride again later, you should propose some dates on this thread and at least then the discussion can take place now and not get forgotten about.

Sounds good to me. I am keen, but plannning is a bit hard for me very far out. my vote is to avoid the school holidays (say until the 16th of next month I think??) but others should set the date, and I will do my best to tag along.

[stormtrooper]

Hey this track is great fun, i have memorys from 12years ago staying at the camping ground which is not far from the start of the track and heading in on a IT250 and my mate on a PE400 we road over the ridge and down the other side, the ride seemed to last forever, there were some really really really big water holes, ruts and nasty slippery stuff that in the end got me.
Went into a really big puddle thinking i was going to ride through and the bike all but disapeared, i tried to save it but it started to make that dreaded sound of water being sucked into the motor, it shat itself and would not start, time was against us and the light was fading so i left the bike there and got out on the back of the PE400
Apparently the wost storm in 10years hit and we were stuck at the camping ground for 2days before going back in to see if we could get the IT250 going again, the barstard would not start so ended up puching it forever and managed to crash start it.

I would be real keen to go back , but would hate to get court in there again.
WATCH OUT FOR THE BIG PUDDLES

STORMTROOPER

[Woodman]

Is this the same track where a couple of guys took 6 hours to dig a klr out of a big hole right at the start?

[dino3310]

Is this the same track where a couple of guys took 6 hours to dig a klr out of a big hole right at the start?

naa you got that wrong mate, it took them 6 hours to bury the F#cker :lol:

[igor]

oh goody, please please please take lots of cameras for the carnage, especially if it's been raining in the few days before.

Hey Eddie must not ofrained for a few months when ya did this. looking pretty dry up there. my back wheel wass solid in shite when i did it

[Crisis management]

Despite a huge lack of support crew (I will remember this you lot…) I wandered off from sunny Auckland this morning to conquer the bike consuming Thompsons track, or something vaguely like that.
Rather than take the main highway route I turned off at Bombay and used back roads from there pretty much all the way to Te Aroha, maybe not as fast as the main road but a lot more pleasant, Te aroha was awake when I got there but the first part of my plan met a minor problem.
I had thought, seeing as I was there, I would wander up to the summit of Te Aroha…..there’s a road all the way, how hard can this be?
Some bastards put a gate across it, and not just a little gate but one of those that requires dismantling the bike to get over it, bugger!

Oh well, off to Thompsons track then…..12km south later, a variety of signs and a gravel road. After a brief chat to a few motorcyclists and 4x4 drivers hanging about I toddled off up the track (not without some trepidation) remembering Eddies comments as I went.
Luckily for me it has been dry for weeks and the Te Aroha side has been graded at some stage this year so the biggest obstacles were football size & bigger wet, slippery, rocks. There were a few moments of “whose idea was this?” and a fair bit of bike going sideways until I removed most of the air from the rear tyre at which point it got manageable. The first two thirds was really rocks with the odd mud puddle with the last third being a straight clay base that was remarkably grippy. Thanks to the advice of a couple of guys on trail bikes I actually found the summit, the trail forks all over the place at the top and the cloud I was travelling with was trying really hard to not let me see much.
Couple of words of caution, the last 50 metres to the summit is fairly steep and requires a bit of throttle, there’s about 10m of flat on the summit then a huge drop straight down – don’t give it too much throttle coming over the crest…….
I had a brief look over the Tauranga side but the first thing I found was a huge bog and seeing as my trail riding buddies refused to go over there without a group of them to assist in the extraction of bikes I thought a solo attempt in that direction was well outside my comfort level! Has anyone actually completed that part of the track?
Actually I was surprised at how adamant everyone I talked to today about the Tauranga side was, without fail the only advice was to go on small bikes in a group and be prepared for mayhem but also that this side gets really boggy given a bit of rain…engine covering deep stuff!

There was he odd buttock clenching moment coming down, slippery rocks and a front end that felt a bit overloaded got interesting at times, I survived however, but the centre stand needed a bit of repair after a couple of bits got munched, broken bolts and zip ties later I was off to Coromandel. The weather was improving so having failed at Mt Te Aroha , got zip view at Thompsons, I figured Castle Rock in the Coromandel ranges had to be worth the effort.

Long story short, had a great ride but castle rock road is a forestry easement and due to logging it’s closed at the moment…another of those bastard gate things you can’t get around!

So, carried on over the 309 to Coroglen, had lunch at the pub, down the Coroglen Tapu road and via various circuitous roads in the Hunua ranges got back home at 6, 540kms later.

For some reason I can't upload a couple of photos and these are all out of sequence but are all of Thompsons.

[.chris]

Great RR, really wish I could have come with you, it looks much more fun than moving house.
I am pretty sure I could have convinced you to continue on the Tauranga side, 2 adventure riders on KTM's is a group right?

[dino3310]

there’s about 10m of flat on the summit then a huge drop straight down – don’t give it too much throttle coming over the crest…….
theres an xr500 over there somewhere
Has anyone actually completed that part of the track?
yep when i was in me teens

Actually I was surprised at how adamant everyone I talked to today about the Tauranga side was, without fail the only advice was to go on small bikes in a group and be prepared for mayhem but also that this side gets really boggy given a bit of rain…engine covering deep stuff!
its a real shitta but a lot of fun.

ive only ever trailerd in from the Tauranga side, would be one hell of a workout and to then ride home again..
Hopefully next time i'l be ready to join ya

[Motu]

So a trials bike would have been overkill today? Let's make a winter appointment then.I went up there last week for a look - to see how to get there from here.I only went to the end of the gravel to take a look,as the R65 was on road tyres,and is not the bike to take off road anyway.But saturday is not often my riding day - it was my turn to be bossed around by a 3 year old girl....and I'd give up riding every day for that.

[Crisis management]

So plan a later date is it? I would be in to have a go as long as we had 3 or 4 bikes, less than that and it could be struggle, as far as trail or trials bikes go the stuff I saw was pretty much b loop trail bike ride stuff so with dry weather was not difficult, it's this rain stuff that seems to make a difference.

Chris, the coromandel roads seemed best around the castle rock, 309 area with lots of open access forestry tracks, PM Blackbird at Coromandel as he has someone that rides off road in that area and he's also a good maker of coffee & muffins.....the tapu - Coroglen road was the best gravel, the 309 was very hard packed and watch out for tourists!

Off to carry out "maintenance" on the 640!

[igor]

i did it on a R100GS PD in 1999 by myself. fuckin near killed me. took 5 hrs and had 3 days off work after due to being rather saw from pushing and pullin.

whatta pussy not doing it on that light weight chook chaser

[Eddieb]

i did it on a R100GS PD in 1999 by myself. fuckin near killed me. took 5 hrs and had 3 days off work after due to being rather saw from pushing and pullin.

whatta pussy not doing it on that light weight chook chaser

Dunno about the Katikati side but the Matamata side is a lot worse than it was in 1999.

[Crisis management]

whatta pussy not doing it on that light weight chook chaser

We're not called "latte riders" for nothing you know!

I was sort of hoping for a bit more useful information, like I was there a year ago and it was rideable on a trail bike....however if you can take a PD throught there, I take my hat off to you, you're a better man than me.