Pukemanu Adventure Ride 2011

**junkmanjoe** · 28th July 2010, 22:04

Originally Posted by Re-cycled

wonder if its big bike friendly....

No worries Junkmanjoe, the Pukemanu crew have always specialised in laying out a "one size fits all" course and providing a team of helpers at any difficult bits.

yea mate, i live in the area and know what the country is like down that ways....it have to be very dry to be my big bike friendly.....not at the moment, its VERY wet...

JMJ

**Crisis management** · 29th July 2010, 08:25

How about some more info, it's a long ride for a one day bash in a farmers paddock. So, is it one day, the whole weekend, will there be scantily clad nubile track marshalls, is there free beer and will I be famous for ending up stuck somewhere as usual?

I would be keen if I can string a decent ride together, maybe stuff in the national park on the way and east coast Wairarapa the other....sounds like more than a weekend now!

**clint640** · 29th July 2010, 08:30

Cool! Noted in the diary!

Over a beer after several adv rides I've heard many a tale of the lengendary Pukemanu ride related by crusty old riders, who wistfully wondered if it would ever happen again...

I look forward to giving it a go.

Cheers
Clint

**Jimmy** · 29th July 2010, 10:55

Yep - nice country going over farmland and gravel to ride round a decent section of the Wairarapa coast line. Did it last time very comfortably two-up on the old TTR600. Only complaint was the seat - there's some rather long gravel sections. Good for the lounge suites though.

**Re-cycled** · 29th July 2010, 11:05

Originally Posted by Crisis management

How about some more info, it's a long ride for a one day bash in a farmers paddock. !

Well CM, planning is just getting underway so this has to be read with that understanding. But usual format would be a full days riding around parts of the unique and rugged Wairarapa Coast, the generally interesting coastal hills, and diverse bits of farm track, cunningly linked together via as many gravel roads as can be found in the chosen locality (and sealed bits where this can't be avoided).

Lunch laid on at a local school or hall, dinner and social Saturday evening. Breakfasts maybe ?? - watch this space. Camp site provided for Friday and Saturday nights or motels and such are to be had for those who don't want to camp. One well known adventurer first met his wife at a previous Pukemanu but you would be best advised to bring your own pit accessorys.

Previous Pukemanu's have traversed different segments of the coast from Orongorongo Station
(Wainuiomata Coast) in the South to Castle Point in the North, and a pylon track across the Rimutakas. Ship wrecks and high mountain places have been visited. The organisers have to date specialised in providing a single route which all entrants should be able to cover, with assistance on hand at any tricky bits.

Click-clack lunch box rolling route sheet navigation should save you from getting lost, provided you use yours and don't follow other idiots who are already lost. Sweep crews are standard on these events but of course they cannot pick up those who stray off the designated course so it is a good plan to buddy-up with one or more other riders for the day.

Format was pioneered by John Nicholson with his Kiwi Rider 500 events back in the late 70's and 80's, then other good folk around the country were encouraged to pick up the challenge and a wide range of out of the way places have been visited by troups of off road / back road enthusiasts, all grinning widely and generally fizzing from the excitement of it all. It was a visit to see out of town mates at a Pukemanu after-match do that convinced me to get into the game, a bit over 20 years ago.

One thing I have learned is that a good sharp pair of knobbly tyres is more use than a half dozen helpers when it comes to wet grass and clay tracks. A shower of rain can transform a pleasant doddle into something of a nightmare if you don't have the appropriate equipment - and even the best organisers can't altogether control the weather on the day.

**cynna** · 29th July 2010, 11:38

sweet - have marked the date down, we be good to head up north again after the CCA ride this year

**Crisis management** · 29th July 2010, 11:46

Originally Posted by Re-cycled

Well CM, planning is just getting underway so this has to be read with that understanding.

Fully understood and your reply has given me more than enough info for now, it's on the calendar up here!

Thanks
Iain

**merv** · 29th July 2010, 13:33

Nice one Re-cycled, I only ever missed the 1991 edition of the Pukemanu (being the first one and I wasn't looking out for it too well back then) so I'm sure I will be there. Then of course there were all the various other Wairarapa Adventure rides such as Takahe, Next etc until the resurrection of Pukemanu and I enjoyed them all. Pukemanu was definitely the more big-bike friendly of them all as some of those others, particularly when it was wet, were more like farm trail rides.

Here's my pics from the 2004 event FYI:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...Adventure-Ride?

**yafeetup** · 29th July 2010, 18:39

yea ha cool country side, hopefully they have some A grade stuff as well

**pete376403** · 29th July 2010, 21:55

I never finished the last Puke due to bike seizing (IT400, ran out of gas, too late getting onto reserve). Spent the rest of the day in the back of the sweep ute.
I have unfinished business...

**Re-cycled** · 30th July 2010, 12:08

[QUOTE=Re-cycled;1129822730]
Format was pioneered by John Nicholson with his Kiwi Rider 500 events back in the late 70's and 80's.[/QUOTE]

Merv's immaculate statistics have prodded my failing memory and I am embarrassed to find I misstated things by about 10 years in the above quoted passage. It had to be wrong, it was not until around 1986 that I became "Re-cycled", having quit the bike scene in 1966 to do the family thing. It would have been 1992 when I acquired the XLV 750, now part of Motu's stable. I recall doing the road routes in the 2nd and 3rd KR500's and I can state with certainty that no 3 was held in October 1991 and based at Rerewhakaaitu. No 2 was centerd at the Country and Western Centre at Taupo and would have been around 1989 or 1990. So that places John's (and Pete's) pioneering work in the late 80's. They were superb events whatever and provided a great model for all those grand organiser folk who have followed on since. The off-road enthusiasts of New Zealand owe a massive thankyou to these people.

So, apologies for providing dud information. My only excuse is that when one looks back over almost 7 decades things tend to roll together and come out somewhat jumbled. And we won't talk about Alzheimers, please.

**merv** · 30th July 2010, 12:49

I never did the KR500's so don't remember their dates, but I know Pukemanu started after the format got going with the KR events and it was because I'd read about the 1991 Pukemanu in the KiwiRider magazine after it happened (too late to enter) that I looked out for it in the following years. I'd done enduros in the 80's but once the family came on I didn't stop riding, but did stop competing mainly because it was the travelling dragging around a young family or leaving them behind that was the problem.

Then along came adventure rides - just great for a bit of casual fun - and I only bother doing the ones close to home for my fix.

As for statistics I keep track of what I've done through my photos which are all complete with date, either in albums for the old ones or digitally for the new stuff.

Give it a go if you haven't been on one before.