Oxford Trail Ride, 3 July 2011

[been_there]

Who's up for this?
Any info on it from your experience?

This will be my first "official organized trail ride", and looking forward to it...something different from the waimak....

[thepom]

Go for it and enjoy...........

[browny]

yea will be there. good riding in oxford area.hurunui ride on sunday looks good also,long way from here tho. so wont be there this weekend but will make the journey one weekend apparently opens every third one.good to see a park opening down south weve ben missing out down here

[been_there]

yea will be there. good riding in oxford area.hurunui ride on sunday looks good also,long way from here tho. so wont be there this weekend but will make the journey one weekend apparently opens every third one.good to see a park opening down south weve ben missing out down here

Can you give us more info? Always keen to find new areas to ride....

[browny]

Can you give us more info? Always keen to find new areas to ride....

dont know much about it really, apart from a mate rang the guy running it. his info etc on the my rides site.

[TangoCharlie]

There was a huge crowd at today's ride, 300 plus. First lap was tough with a lot of snow and ice. Second lap was worse as there was now sluch / mud on top of frozen mud, rocks. Great views, but not a good ride for an RM250....

[Ducky848]

Great views, but not a good ride for an RM250....

I binned it big time on the first lap cos of ice.
Second lap and goin uphill on a 2T over frozen shit had become a major misson.
Third lap and the slopes had thawed a bit so everything came right.

[Transalper]

Shoot just noticed this thread while searching 'new posts'.
This was my second Oxford Trail ride. Last years video been online for a while.
Last year was more muddy, less icey.
This year I did 3 laps again, agree it started icey with snow up top and blinding glare riding into the sun on several climbs.
All 3 laps I did mostly quite slow and had no major issues, only came off once going downhill just after I passed a slower rider.
One amusing thing about that was someone else passed me in a similar place next lap and did the same thing infront of me.
Most spectacular
I helped one guy patch a snapped handlebar and helped pull another up off a bush back on to the track.
The most frustrating bit was waiting about 15minutes in a que to attack a small hill that was causing some issues for some.
The CRF230s quiet power is great at allowing me to maintain traction up the slippery bits. My front tyre has been showing it's age for a while with torn side knobs but the rear is in very good condition which adds to the confidence on this ride.
Peeteey and I both recorded several laps and saw lots of other cameras out there today too.

I'd say the track is similar to a lot found on this type of organised event but being July this is the slippery version, and to some slippery = more fun though I'd prefer less ice, more mud maybe.

[been_there]

Geez the ice made it interesting, especially trying to start the bike on the slope while sliding backwards. Then trying to pick up bike and losing your footing.
But hey it was fun.
The first lap took an age as others mentioned at the small hill. But was cool to get a pic of the bike in the snow at the top.
We headed back out around 2 and was flying on the first bit till the bit before the creek crossing where 2 of group slid down with one putting a rock into the crankcase cover
Will do it again but not in Winter!!!
There was a heap of cameras out will be good to see some footage..

[KiwiPhoenix]

Sounds like you guys had fun! Can't wait to see the footage!

[cooneyr]

That was a bloody awesome ride. Did 4 laps. Mat and I did our first lap before most had got there and it was good. Our second lap the track had turned to crap. Frozen dirt had been worn smooth but not yet thawed. On the hill climb after first creek crossing I was thinking I must have had a flat rear cause it was handling so strangely. Ride was all about smooth right wrist. Anything more than gentle = spin. Good old 4 strokes. Could maintain quite a bit of speed if you were smooth and looked for traction.

Got stuck in the queue as well. Hill was a piece of cake - was a bit nervous waiting in the queue thinking it must have been really bad. Was awesome watching the youngn on a KLX110 (or whatever) motor up the hill and yet many were slipping and sliding.

Did all except two of the enduro's. First time I've ever tried the enduro's so was good for the confidence.

Had a couple of little lie downs but nothing serious. Most interesting was when my head ended up 100mm from a fence post. Already broken my neck once thanks!!!

Looking forward to the vids Peeteey and Transalper - no pressure

Cheers R

[Peeteey]

Had a couple of little lie downs but nothing serious. Most interesting was when my head ended up 100mm from a fence post. Already broken my neck once thanks!!!

Looking forward to the vids Peeteey and Transalper - no pressure

Cheers R

I had one little off, right on to a cliff. Thankfully, it was the uphill side Still, have a couple of bruises but that's about all apart from the scratches on my wrist from the little plastic tag thing they gave us. Looks like I've been trying to end it all ...

Video will come, like TA said, we both had our cameras rolling so will sort through it and try to make something entertaining as time, and wrists, allows. Some good footage in there tho, we tried an experiment with a backwards facing camera on me riding up front, kinda worked, we'll see ...

I can't find any other footage yet on youtube. There were many other cameras riding around. Will be fun seeing what pops up.

Thanks to Cooneyr for sneaking up behind me and giving me a heart attack in the middle of my first lap! Riding along, concentrating as hard as I could then from out of nowhere, right in my ear, I hear "G'day Pete!"

[cooneyr]

.....Thanks to Cooneyr for sneaking up behind me and giving me a heart attack in the middle of my first lap! Riding along, concentrating as hard as I could then from out of nowhere, right in my ear, I hear "G'day Pete!"

Right where it was nice and icey as well. Haha sorry mate. It was ya left ear and I though you had me sussed by then.

Cheers R

[Transalper]

Gmap of my track log for those who want to see where we were. (it's just a google map with the path drawn on it you can zoom on etc)

Laps were about 19 or 20km long, Peeteey and I were on the course for around just over 1hour, 10 minutes each lap.... not always going foward.

[Peeteey]

If anyone is still monitoring this thread, I've got (finally!) my video uploading as I type so watch this space ...

The good thing about winter (holidays and no new rides recorded) is I have time catch up with all my editing that's been sitting there for a while!