Pukemanu Adventure Ride

[Motu]

Yeah,stop looking at yer new bike - too many kittens are dying,git typing instead!

[Oscar]

Yeah,stop looking at yer new bike - too many kittens are dying,git typing instead!

Ha! The bike is old news - I'm engaged in replacing the Peugeot, with this:


Pukemanu Pics are here:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/85966
I havenae had time to label any - Some samples:

[merv]

That first pic above was that on a detour to the pinnacles or something because I don't remember that on the route?

[Motu]

Strewth mate - a Generals parts bin special,nice colour but.I'll open the pics on Jetstream tomorrow.

[Oscar]

That first pic above was that on a detour to the pinnacles or something because I don't remember that on the route?

Johnny, Rog and I went down to the Pinnacles on Friday - that's what's left of the track after the recent flooding...

[merv]

Johnny, Rog and I went down to the Pinnacles on Friday - that's what's left of the track after the recent flooding...

OK 4skins said he was doing an extra ride Friday morning. Is that a through track or do you go in and back out again?

[Oscar]

OK 4skins said he was doing an extra ride Friday morning. Is that a through track or do you go in and back out again?

Up & back, about 2k's riding and 2k's walkin'

[Motu]

Takes all sorts - how did these two manage?

[merv]

Takes all sorts - how did these two manage?

Andrew Templeton was on the 110 and as far as I know he did OK. The other bike, dunno who was on that.

[Oscar]

Takes all sorts - how did these two manage?

They both did the whole thing.
The CT110GS rider is a trials guy from Wgn. and he gave it death all the way.

[merv]

As a general comment Motu, I've done all the adventure rides in the Wairarapa since 1992 (only missed the 1991 Pukemanu through not knowing much about them then), and this one had to be the easiest. Blessed by good weather and I would say the ratio of sealed and/or gravel roads compared to trail type territory was quite high so there was a lot of higher speed riding on easy surfaces. A bit of farmland and a bit of coastal tracks, no forests and not much mud to speak of so I think true to the adventure principles it would suit everything from Andrew's 110 through to the big adventure traillies like the KTM950 and the big BMWs. Your XT or your XLV would have been fine I'm guessing.

[Motu]

Damn,I missed a good one eh? I was wondering how the Indian went...they have a foot clutch - I remember decades ago when they were still quite common a guy took one with us when we went trail riding on waste land in central Auckland,the foot cluch was a big problem when stating on the side of a hill!

Looking at the photos,yeah,it looks like both bikes could have done it,but the XLV would be lost in the sand,that green air head looks stuck in a big way.

[LB]

The Indian belongs to one of the Pukemanu Committee, he didn't do the ride as such, but was "roving" in places. Lovely guy, lovely bike - he's painted it in "bumble bee" colours because he when he was restoring it he also had a "bumble bee" R80GS.

[LB]

And confirming that Andrew Templeton was the guy on the 110

[merv]

Looking at the photos,yeah,it looks like both bikes could have done it,but the XLV would be lost in the sand,that green air head looks stuck in a big way.

The sand was fairly soft because it was so dry. If you remember that spot on the coast it is actually a big shingle fan spreading out from the hill so it is quite pebbly and in the direction we were going we were going downhill. I think the air-head must have ventured a bit far left or come to grief in someone else's rut that had been left with so many bikes criss-crossing the stuff it was a bit tricky keeping your bike straight even my lightweight job.

So I'm sure your XLV would have been OK provided you didn't attack it too fast and kept it straight and under control as normally we have ridden up it easily enough. Here's a pic from a few years ago