Anyone going 2 mid-north adv...

[ducatijim]

......ride @ Trounson Kauri park this weekend?

Just off the phone to Des and it sounds like a good challenge with a pinch of fun thrown in!:argh:

I am taking the trusty DR along for her first outing since getting home from the tropics back in July....we will see how she goes in mud!

Look me up if ur there; Battered old DR beside a yellow MSR tent :eek5:

Jamie

[CRM]

Would love to but then looked at the cost - $225:no: Looking at their website the far north one looks fantastic but $1850!! :confused: At least that one includes accommodation. It's pretty much where we're planning to go but we'll just do it for free (they do have access to a lot of private areas I understand).

[MXNUT]

......ride @ Trounson Kauri park this weekend?

Just off the phone to Des and it sounds like a good challenge with a pinch of fun thrown in!:argh:

I am taking the trusty DR along for her first outing since getting home from the tropics back in July....we will see how she goes in mud!

Look me up if ur there; Battered old DR beside a yellow MSR tent :eek5:

Jamie

Isnt it just a 2 day trail ride for unregistered bikes also


Would love to but then looked at the cost - $225:no: . far too much $ :eek5:

[Bass]

......
I am taking the trusty DR along for her first outing since getting home from the tropics back in July....we will see how she goes in mud!


Jamie

Have you managed to get her started yet?

[CRM]

Isnt it just a 2 day trail ride for unregistered bikes also

far too much $ :eek5:

It is for registered bikes only - see registration form at: http://www.adventurerides.co.nz/29-30Nov08Entry%20form.pdf

Really appeals to me as there won't be crazy people on MX bikes pushing slower riders into the gorse :baby:(as per normal trail rides) but not sure how they justify the cost of $225 when a trail ride is normally around $30 for a full day. I'd love to see more of this kind of thing up north though at an affordable cost (but maybe that's how they keep the numbers manageable).

[ducatijim]

It is for registered bikes only - see registration form at: http://www.adventurerides.co.nz/29-30Nov08Entry%20form.pdf

Really appeals to me as there won't be crazy people on MX bikes pushing slower riders into the gorse :baby:(as per normal trail rides)YOURE ONTO IT!! but not sure how they justify the cost of $225 when a trail ride is normally around $30 for a full day.NOT TRYING TO 'JUSTIFY' WHAT THEY ARE DOING, BUT; YOU GET 6 MEALS AND CAMPING + LAND FEES TO OTHERWISE UNACESSABLE TRAILS I'd love to see more of this kind of thing up north though at an affordable cost (but maybe that's how they keep the numbers manageable).

I haven't done this ride, or any other 'northland' adv rides but they come well reputed...I know Des, 1 of the organisers, and he is a TOP trails man. I have done the Mike Britten rides before they went over the grand mark, and this type of event is just the dogs knob....for real Adv riders.( ie....you have EARNED your beer at rides end!!):Punk:

Too many 'free' soft options rides competing for this weekend I think:bye:

[MXNUT]

I haven't done this ride, or any other 'northland' adv rides but they come well reputed...I know Des, 1 of the organisers, and he is a TOP trails man. I have done the Mike Britten rides before they went over the grand mark, and this type of event is just the dogs knob....for real Adv riders.( ie....you have EARNED your beer at rides end!!):Punk:

Too many 'free' soft options rides competing for this weekend I think:bye:

Damm :argh: Would probably have done this ride if i had realized that this was not just another trail ride. O well, already commited to coromandel soft ride this weekend and coromandel hard ride next weekend ... so many rides ... so little time :whistle:

[CRM]

I haven't done this ride, or any other 'northland' adv rides but they come well reputed...I know Des, 1 of the organisers, and he is a TOP trails man. I have done the Mike Britten rides before they went over the grand mark, and this type of event is just the dogs knob....for real Adv riders.( ie....you have EARNED your beer at rides end!!):Punk:

Too many 'free' soft options rides competing for this weekend I think:bye:

Yeah I phoned Des and asked him about where it goes and it definitely sounds like the real thing!! Very tempted... And yeah when you realise what you are getting and the free entertainment and the trouble they go to to set up 300km of trails :2thumbsup with signs etc and do sweeps etc etc it's actually pretty amazing ride. Apparently only about 10km is seal, the rest is forests, tracks, cross country, gravel etc. So I'm tempted - maybe see you there...

[CRM]

Well we've booked - but no cabins left so we'll sleep at home tonight :sleep:and trailer the bikes out first thing in the morning (only one night in the tent should be bearable). Should be great ride - will take the camera and post some pics. Looking a little wet right now but forecast for tomorrow is good :wari:.

[MXNUT]

Well we've booked - but no cabins left so we'll sleep at home tonight :sleep:and trailer the bikes out first thing in the morning (only one night in the tent should be bearable). Should be great ride - will take the camera and post some pics. Looking a little wet right now but forecast for tomorrow is good :wari:.

Ride report and Photos are where ????

I want to see what i missed out on .:whistle:

[CRM]

Ride report and Photos are where ????

I want to see what i missed out on .:whistle:

:done: Pretty good time. Weather was fantastic and the camping was great. Some of the riding was more hard-core than what I was expecting - it was more of an extended trail ride than what I'd call your typical adventure ride. Fifty riders though so lots of space and everyone was really helpful.
It had been raining so there was a fair bit of mud and the river crossings got interesting at times...

This was where we camped at Trounson Park - beautiful spot by the river.

[Bass]

Ducatijim rolled in my gate about 5:45 pm last night.

Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that a vaguely bike shaped heap of dried mud rolled down my drive and Ducatijim hatched out from somewhere in the middle.

I gather that it was rather more strenuous than he expected, but he may elect to tell you more himself, when he gets home.

[CRM]

Saturday started with a 'challenge' section to sort out those who should stick to the main track and those who could do the tough bits. It was a forest section - muddy and rutted. The XR600 with it's new AC10's handled it fine but Matt was new to ruts and had a few close encounters with the mud so we thought we'd stick to the main track as we had to survive another 190km before dinner:wacko: With the rain even the main track had some interesting bits... This was a beautiful single track piece through native bush that was really overgrown - one of my favourites.

[CRM]

Next was some nice open gravel road. We stopped for a photo op - chilling out and enjoying the surroundings - until the sweeps caught up and told us we needed to do the road instead of going through the farm section :weep:. Really disappointed as open farm land is my favourite :Punk: but talking to the guys who did it afterwards there was something about a bottomless swamp and a muddy unridable clay bank they mentioned that was probably okay to miss...

[CRM]

Finally arrived after a long gravel stretch at Twin Bridges. I spent a lot of time there in my youth on a farm owned by my sister and brother in law. He and I did a lot of hard-core riding on our TC100's :eek: and later on my XL175 then XL350. One of my favourite places in the whole world - good memories!

[MXNUT]

Saturday started with a 'challenge' section to sort out those who should stick to the main track and those who could do the tough bits. It was a forest section - muddy and rutted. The XR600 with it's new AC10's handled it fine but Matt was new to ruts and had a few close encounters with the mud so we thought we'd stick to the main track as we had to survive another 190km before dinner:wacko: With the rain even the main track had some interesting bits... This was a beautiful single track piece through native bush that was really overgrown - one of my favourites.

Photo number 4 looks suspicously like an RM,i didnt know they made `ADVENTURE ` versions in the RM range :innocent:

[CRM]

North on the Kaikohe road then east into the forest - but a really nice smooth gravel road with big sweeping corners. :niceone:. Finally Te Horo School in Pipiwai for lunch. Extra nice:2thumbsup

[CRM]

Photo number 4 looks suspicously like an RM,i didnt know they made `ADVENTURE ` versions in the RM range :innocent:

Yeah I wondered about that too... Actually about 25% of the bikes there were unregistered. Apparently there are no :Police: up there (they would have made a killing on the weekend if they had been with all the unregoed 'adventure' bikes and all the the guys on sports bikes that passed us at warp speed when we were driving home).

[CRM]

So after lunch we did a loop in a forestry block not far from the school. This was nice open milled forest for the first bit and really the only chance I took to open up the big XR a bit... love that grunt. Then it was through some more mud, back down past twin bridges and onto the Opouteke Road and back into another pine forest which took us right back to Trounson Park. A long but fairly easy section with some challenging river crossings. The first one was my only 'off' of the day. The water was dirty from the rain but it didn't look too deep so I went first:whistle:

When the front wheel disappeared suddenly I knew I as in trouble, :shit:fell down the low side but managed to hold the bike above water and pull the clutch in until I got up and walk it out- no photos unfortunately (and fortunately I wasn't under long enough to drown the camera in my pocket).

This was a bit further on - I thought Matt might struggle with this one so I stopped to take a picture :lol: but he handled it like a pro. So we stopped for a munch and topped up his radiator (the fan stopped working so it was overheating in the slow sections).

[CRM]

They put on a bit of a feed in the local hall in the evening with a guy playing an accordian and one-man-bang stuff. Real good country hospitality - pavlova, trifle - the works. Then we all wandered off and crashed into our pillows:zzzz:

[CRM]

Sunday the idea was to ride back out the Mangakahia and do the Taraire Station (I think). Anyway we set off on the wrong road :doh:(note to self - take map next time) and had our own private adventure up towards the Waipoua Forest. By the time we got back the sweeps had gone and some other guys there were going out to the coast instead. The thought of riding the same roads we'd ridden the day before for and hour to get to this station wasn't totally appealing anyway :blink:so we decided to do some sightseeing towards the west coast. Went to Kai Iwi Lakes, then out to the coast. We were going to do Baylies Beach down to Dargaville but the tide was too high so just had a play around then went back for lunch and home.:woohoo:
Day 1 200km, Day 2 118km.

Thanks DucatiJim for putting us onto the ride.

Next ride I think we'll carry all our gear on our bikes and do as much of the Northland Coast as we can (seen one pine forest you seen em all!!)

[CRM]

Ducatijim rolled in my gate about 5:45 pm last night.

Actually, it is probably more accurate to say that a vaguely bike shaped heap of dried mud rolled down my drive and Ducatijim hatched out from somewhere in the middle.

I gather that it was rather more strenuous than he expected, but he may elect to tell you more himself, when he gets home.

Yeah I bet he slept well after doing all the hard bits on the big 650 then riding to Auckland...

[ducatijim]

.....yeah, wot he (CRM) said. Felt like I took a bat to a gunfight!

The true adventure sections were to die for....the trail bits would have challenged me on my KDX!!!!!

Good weekend alround: lots of good ridn and meetn heaps of new and exciting folk!