Auckland - Dualsport day at the sandpit.

[.chris]

Who would be keen for a bit of a dual sport day at the sandpit?

Plenty of tracks out there that are semi suitable for your mid sized DS bikes, and plenty more for people who like to pretend they are a trail bike.

Cost $25 per rider for those who have never been.

[Kokopelli]

semi suitable

Please define semi suitable :-). At least the Waitemata Family Day trail rides have an ambulance in attendance. Mind you they probably have these on the weekends as well.

There is also this one coming up. It should be dry by then.

[.chris]

Please define semi suitable :-). At least the Waitemata Family Day trail rides have an ambulance in attendance. Mind you they probably have these on the weekends as well.

There is also this one coming up. It should be dry by then.

Well that track your photo (in that other thread) was from one of the easy trails, but because of the sand those trails are not that easy to ride at all.

There are a couple of tracks (convict and criminal, I think they are called) which are no where near as sandy as that one you took.
But saying that once you get your confidence up at riding in the sand, even the sandy bits can be ridable.

I have been meaning to get out to riverhead for one of their trail rides, as I bet even in the dry riverhead could be a challenge.

[Kokopelli]

After struggling on the "easy" bit I had no intention of finding out what the enduro section would be like. I went past the convict track and I think you may be right, it did look a lot more like the Muriwai end tracks.

I've been reading up a bit on sand riding, my technique was sort of right, but there is certainly room for improvement. Some people suggest starting in second gear and using your weight to steer a lot more at lower speeds.

I guess what unnerved me where the trees. Maybe I should just go and have a good run along the beach to try things out, without the fear of hitting stuff.

Also, ending up under a 210kg bike did not appeal to me all that much, even if it is on soft sand.

[Baldyman]

I would be keen, pretty much any of the dates above should be ok.

[Crisis management]

Just a word of warning...Riverhead is never dry and would be a very serious challenge on a dual sport bike, it's a serious challenge on the 200EXC!
There are guys that turn up there on trail bikes that give up after 30 minutes and go home.

Not a good idea.

Woodhill, there is never an ambulance in attendance but they are readily called, if there were enough volunteers I might be tempted just for the embarassment value but you want to get in soon while it is still wet to get some traction, good tyres essential.
The convict would be ok, the criminal not, the dead forest is ok and the farm loop is do-able but be prepared to sweat abundantly. Chris is right about the easy trails they really are soft sand and a pain even with a light bike, the single track is better (harder surface) but is very tight for a big bike (over 450cc).

[Kokopelli]

I wasn't intending to go to the Riverhead ride, it's only a suggestion for the gung-ho crowd here :-).

I've I have time I might come up and watch.

Yes, the wet sand offers more traction. Maybe I should have tried the convict trail. Having never been there before I wasn't going to take any chances. Riding in a small group would be a lot more confidence inspiring as well.

I've been through the Muriwai-end trails on a DRZ-250 once, that was pretty easy and a lot of fun.

[warewolf]

Wish I could be there!

I've been reading up a bit on sand riding, my technique was sort of right, but there is certainly room for improvement. Some people suggest starting in second gear and using your weight to steer a lot more at lower speeds.

Sand is like riding in molasses. It eats power - you need lots of it because you are throwing sand more than getting traction, especially when getting accelerating. Ditto stopping - come off the power, the bike sinks in and stops. The bike kinda surfs in sand - get your weight back, on the power so the front is floating, then you steer with footpeg pressure (I suspect because it causes the powered wheel to bite on one side) in a kind of gliding motion. Trying to ride like a road bike on tar simply doesn't work. Turning the bars does very little without weighting the correct peg. When the front sinks, tucks and plows, you have to wind the throttle open to power on and lift the front wheel back up to get steerage way again - it took me a while to get the thinking part of the brain to override the instinctive brain saying "you're already crashing - don't make it worse by adding throttle you idiot!!" The fastest way to stop is to lock both ends and get the bike snow-plowing.

Great fun once you work out how to control the bike.

Convict is definitely good; that and the dead forest are the two non-deep sand (mostly) loops. Both had hundreds of metres of flat deep sand to access them though. At least, it was like that 4 years ago when I last rode there.

Go visit the Off Road forum, bound to be lots of good advice.

[Cary]

WoodhillThe convict would be ok, the criminal not, the dead forest is ok and the farm loop is do-able but be prepared to sweat abundantly.

Come on Iain, your not on the 990 now

Took the XR up when I first had it, not a problem.

I would not do Woodhill on an Adv bike without knobbys.

[.chris]

Come on Iain, your not on the 990 now

Took the XR up when I first had it, not a problem.

I would not do Woodhill on an Adv bike without knobbys.

Knobbys are not essential, the Sahara 3's I had on the 690 were pretty good in the sand. But then again, a tire named after a huge fracking desert should probably be quite good in the sand.

I think the sandpit is fun on (almost) any kind of bike, I even enjoyed riding my KLX250s out there, combine the terrible Dualsport tires and lack of power with the very soft suspension made it hard work, but still fun.

Do not let all these people scare you into thinking woodhill is so difficult to ride, it has its easy trails too. And sand is only hard when you are not doing it properly, once you have sand riding nailed you will have a ball.

[Cary]

Knobbys are not essential, the Sahara 3's I had on the 690 were pretty good in the sand. But then again, a tire named after a huge fracking desert should probably be quite good in the sand.

I think the sandpit is fun on (almost) any kind of bike, I even enjoyed riding my KLX250s out there, combine the terrible Dualsport tires and lack of power with the very soft suspension made it hard work, but still fun.

Do not let all these people scare you into thinking woodhill is so difficult to ride

Depending on what tracks you do yours is a fair comment. I took the XR on tracks I would do on the KDX & some would be very difficult if not near impossible on non knobbys. Stick to main trails and yes any bike could do it and have fun to boot.

So long as i'm not working/busy on the date selected i'll be there. Very good idea Chris.

[Kokopelli]

You don't think the weight of the bike is an issue then?

This sort of surface I'd ride any day.

[.chris]

You don't think the weight of the bike is an issue then?

This sort of surface I'd ride any day.

Nah I would not say that, but I still think there are a few trails out there which would be great fun on the R80, you can hardly expect it to handle like a trail bike, but you can still have some fun.
Some of the trails out there are not too different to your screen shot. It is just a matter of finding them, and getting stuck on a 1 way system of deep nasty sand trying to find a decent trail is not an ideal way to spend your day. So coming out with others who have ridden there before who can point you/guide you around the easier trails could be ideal for you, and for other dual sport riders.

Depending on what tracks you do yours is a fair comment. I took the XR on tracks I would do on the KDX & some would be very difficult if not near impossible on non knobbys. Stick to main trails and yes any bike could do it and have fun to boot.

Exactly, I was not suggesting that all the trails are easily dealt with, as some of them are pretty damn tricky even with the right bike/tires, but if we pick our tracks to suit the rider/bike we could have a really good day out there.

[Kokopelli]

Nah I would not say that, but I still think there are a few trails out there which would be great fun on the R80, you can hardly expect it to handle like a trail bike, but you can still have some fun.
Some of the trails out there are not too different to your screen shot. It is just a matter of finding them, and getting stuck on a 1 way system of deep nasty sand trying to find a decent trail is not an ideal way to spend your day. So coming out with others who have ridden there before who can point you/guide you around the easier trails could be ideal for you, and for other dual sport riders.

Yes, that's what I needed, someone to show me which trails to ride. And pick me up and dust me off occasionally. Too bad that I am now running out of time for this sort of thing.

Hopefully you'll have a good turn out, and if it's at all possible, I'll turn up too.
None of the MX'ers are going to mess with a group of adventure riders :-).

[Taz]

Too bad that I am now running out of time for this sort of thing.

Come on you're not that old......