Northern Gravel Adventure Riding Club

**suzieq** · 8th January 2012, 08:44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvw-1...ature=youtu.be

**suzieq** · 8th January 2012, 11:31

NEDURO TO DAKAR: Day 7, Check. Rest day tomorrow.

KTM RACING:

http://www.ktm.com/news-events/news/...rall-lead.html

CHRIS BIRCH SITE:http://www.chrisbirch.co.nz/

STAGE 7 SUMMARY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUsy0...ature=youtu.be

IN FROM GINGER:Latest Dakar Update from Toby
"10Km from end of stage 7 at 9pm. However last climb too steep and sand too soft, have little strength left. A truck has rolled and 5 cars stuck. Lights all over these huge mountains of sand in the star filled night under South American skys. The dunes are a sight to be seen. Am going to wait till dawn to try again.....so close. Road book broken, GPS nearly out of battery and no front lights!

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DakarTeamGB - Update. Had a call from Toby this morning, the last few days have been epic in Argentina.

"50 degree heat in some of the most hostile sand dunes and 'fesh fesh' tried to protect bike after crash with a car yesterday meant a late night engine swap. Rideing with Jago we were 1/2 way with 12 hours in the saddle and in a bad way, Jagos hydrolic clutch was bust, our lights weren't working and flash floods made the going very dangerous. Tried towing Jago through dunes and sandstorms but about 4 a.m the organisers stopped us as was too dangerous. Gutted for Jago who has had to retire from Dakar 2012 (along with 40% of the field) I maaged to limp back just in time to set off again, stage closed due to snow. No sleep and constent rideing for 40 hours, altitude and fatigue taking their toll. Have a huge day again today having crossed into a new country and the dryest desert in the world. It is so dusty with cars passing me at 110 mph it is rather dangerous too, need my wits about me, will miss my riding partner"

Stan Watts is higher up the field and broken into a very competative top 50, this year has easly seen the highest calabre of riders ever seen.

CHRIS BIRCH:
moved from 47th to 42nd overall today. Good fun day, now for the rest day - eat eat eat sleep sleep

**suzieq** · 8th January 2012, 18:05

Meet up 9am BP Kumeu (just before Kumeu village) route planned at this stage South Head and out to Wainoni Lagoon, we may go visit the bombing range also

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**suzieq** · 8th January 2012, 19:22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUy-U...6&feature=plcp

(ps turn the sound up Love It)

**suzieq** · 9th January 2012, 05:32

http://www.facebook.com/suzette.denh...type=3&theater

If you cannot open this link pm me and I will upload these pics to you separately

KTM RACING: AT HALFWAY MARK STILL THE TALE OF TWO KTM RIDERS:
http://www.ktm.com/news-events/news/all/details/news/detail/News/dakar-2012-at-halfway-mark-still-the-tale-of-two-ktm-riders.html

EN MAGAZINE - STAGE 7 - KTM STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n0tX...layer_embedded

CHRIS BIRCH;
Chris is now halfway through Dakar 2012! He had a really good, fun day on the Copiapo loop, he was a bit nervous and think he expected it to be much longer than it was for him.

Chris finished 34th today which sees him now sitting in 41st overall, after making up about 6 places today.

NEDURO TO DAKAR:
Observers of stage 7 will have noted that Ned was off pace today. There's a very good (actually, two very good) reason(s) for that. Tune in to hear how Ned MacGuyvered his way through the stage, and lived to Dakar another day.

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/e/d/6/ed662bd...1998980fdbe7e7

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/e/d/6/ed662bd...52276a02cca465

**suzieq** · 9th January 2012, 06:05

LATEST MESSAGE FROM CHRIS BIRCH

Chilling in down town copiapo oon the rest day off Dakar. Things have gone really well so far apart from getting blatted on day three. 1500 euros of damage and over an hour of playing bush mechanics to keep moving. this has put me pretty far back in the pack with loads of dust. Im not going to risk my arse trying to make up for lost time but keep chipping away at it and get my arse to Lima! This race is amazing, its not too difficult day by day but when you go so far for so long it grinds you down. Its a lot of fun and an amazing adventure! Thanks to everyone who has sent there messages of support!

NED SUESSE calls in from the bivouac on the rest day........
http://www.facebook.com/suzette.denh...73148525397#!/

FROM CHRIS BIRCH:
Rest day in Copiaipo whew! Will keep chipping away at the second half of the race now!— 4 hours 3 min ago

CHRIS BIRCH VIDEO:
http://www.chrisbirch.co.nz/

Chris will be kicking off on the special stage of day 8 of racing at appx 12:30NZT (wee hours of Tuesday morning...)

Pretty long special - 477kms!!! Hopefully the rest day with lots of feeding time has prepared him well...

Wow thank you so much to everyone who has donated to Chris's Dakar 'parts bill' over the weekend! amazing support around the world! Mon— 4 hours 13 min ago

Just found this one ... just so you know, for the most part he is talking about Romaniacs, so, when he says full support of KTM, he means in Romaniacs, they are awesome there. Chris is being helped by Memo Tours during Dakar and is not an official KTM team rider.

(Also, I love how he says I am the boss. I am so glad I have that recorded - Mon).

http://www.chrisbirch.co.nz/

THE REST DAY:
http://century.co.za/blogs/blog5.php

**suzieq** · 9th January 2012, 16:46

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Joined by new lady Cat with her new Xmas pressie we met and journeyed thru Makarau gravel roads and headed out and over the Krippners Road. Wet and muddy, but made for a great run. Excellent ride and I was impressed with Cat's level of ability as she is new to riding gravel roads. Tomorrow we will take those new skills and head out to South Head and explore Wainoni Lagoon. Fingers crossed the tide will be a long way out again.

**suzieq** · 9th January 2012, 18:25

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Chris Birch in action during the 7th stage of Dakar Rally in Copiapó, Chile on january 7th, 2012 © Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool

**Taz** · 9th January 2012, 19:13

Originally Posted by suzieq

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Chain looks too tight. Check it while sitting on it.

**hellokitty** · 9th January 2012, 19:37

Originally Posted by suzieq

Joined by new lady Cat with her new Xmas pressie we met and journeyed thru Makarau gravel roads and headed out and over the Krippners Road. Wet and muddy, but made for a great run. Excellent ride and I was impressed with Cat's level of ability as she is new to riding gravel roads. Tomorrow we will take those new skills and head out to South Head and explore Wainoni Lagoon. Fingers crossed the tide will be a long way out again.

Thanks for a great ride today - I hope you aren't going to put up video of me falling over in the sand tomorrow!

**suzieq** · 9th January 2012, 20:10

Originally Posted by hellokitty

Thanks for a great ride today - I hope you aren't going to put up video of me falling over in the sand tomorrow!

was only kidding Will save the vid for another day

The lady in pink L E A T H E R ooh this is going to make electic viewing

sorry could only find purple

You did well today, the bike will stay upright, bring it on.............................

**suzieq** · 10th January 2012, 05:31

Originally Posted by Taz

Chain looks too tight. Check it while sitting on it.

Thanks will check on the chain fitting

**suzieq** · 10th January 2012, 05:32

RawHyde Dakar Rally update #1- the adventure begins with the redistribution of tourist revenue.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...89933671054683

Thelone surviving USA rider in the Dakar
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Texan fans At The Dakar
That's Chilean flag! (I made the same mistake once at the World Cup in Paris. Thought I'd run into a bunch of Texans and they just thought I was nuts when I started talking to them. I couldn't figure out why they'd never heard of Terlingua and didn't speak any English.)[IMG]

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EN - BF Goodrich - Experience The Adventure From The Inside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djy46...6&feature=plcp

Dakar 2012, A Night In The Dunes: -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p06C1...&feature=share

RANKING STAGE AT STAGE 8:http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/us/stage-8/rankings/stage-bikes.html#ancre

BAD DAY FOR DEPRES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJTy0...&feature=share

**suzieq** · 10th January 2012, 05:38

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SldSSPxWMfk&sns=fb

Quick Question: if he was solo and no other person accompanied him then how was he able to film himself riding along the road (like in a full view of him riding)? did he place the shooting camera on a tripod or something then go back and ride towards it? please explain.

ANSWER: Yes that is exactly how it was done. Leave the camera, ride into the shot and come back to fetch the camera

Voyage moto Himalaya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRzC...watch_response

**suzieq** · 10th January 2012, 05:54

Marc Coma is a MACHINE! I hope Chris gets a photo with him and his autograph for me haha

he is kicking ASSES!!

Monica, having fun at the control panel, the control panel has taken a hit......................
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F5 is getting another hammering ... poor little computer!! Chris through WP1 all good ...

Chris Birch

Chilling in down town copiapo oon the rest day off Dakar. Things have gone really well so far apart from getting blatted on day three. 1500 euros of damage and over an hour of playing bush mechanics to keep moving. this has put me pretty far back in the pack with loads of dust. Im not going to risk my arse trying to make up for lost time but keep chipping away at it and get my arse to Lima! This race is amazing, its not too difficult day by day but when you go so far for so long it grinds you down. Its a lot of fun and an amazing adventure! Thanks to everyone who has sent there messages of support!
[Stage Program] - Stage 8 (09/01/2012)
COPIAPO - ANTOFAGASTA : 477 km > Follow the live !!!
★ Rankings before the start ★
Bike : 1. DESPRES (FRA), 2.COMA (ESP), 3. RODRIGUES (PRT)
Quad : 1. A.PATRONELLI (ARG), 2. MAFFEI (ARG), 3. M.PATRONELLI (ARG)
Car : 1. PETERHANSEL (FRA), 2. HOLOWCZYC (POL), 3. GORDON (USA)
Truck: 1. DE ROOY (NLD), 2. LOPRAIS (CZE), 3. STACEY (NLD)

HomePage Live - Stage 8 Dakar:
http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html

EN Magazine - Stage 7 - (Copiapo - Copiapo) 07/01/2012
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...jw&h=NAQHr5MYG

CB and DC thru WP6 in 31+32 ... about 2/3 way thru the special— 2 hours 26 min ago
•CB and DC thru WP5, staying strong!— 3 hours 18 min ago
•CB thru WP3 in 31st with Darryl Curtis in 30th, bet they are having a ball!— 4 hours 14 min ago
•CB through WP2 just now, has made up a few places so far today, sitting at about 33rd ... started in 42 overall ..— 5 hours 3 min ago
•CB thru 31st WP1 on Stage 8 of Dakar ...— 5 hours 48 min ago

Ned Suesse At The Rest Day - 2012 DAKAR
http://rallyraidio.net/webpage/2012-...t-the-rest-day