I heartily recommend this place for practising off-road riding.
Yesterday being Easter Sunday, while all the Godly were in church services we all accompanied my wife's ex-boyfriend, Martin, and their son, Jarrod, to Kimmy's Moto-X park. at Waikokowai, near Huntly.
When we got there, the un-Godly were out in force, tearing around the Moto-X circuit. We let the kids go for a ride around the training circuit - Jarrod, aged 7, on his 50cc mini-moto and Taliesin, aged 4, on his electric motorbike - then Martin and I left Juliet looking after the kids while we hit the enduro trail: Martin on his XR250 and me on my XT225.
Both of us were hampered by not having functional side stands: Martin's stand snapped off while he was trailering his bike to the site and the lug that retains the spring on mine snapped off while I was riding to the site so we had to secure my side stand in the up position.
Still, we weren't going to let the lack of a side stand ruin our fun.
It must be remembered that I'm 43 and it has been over 20 years since I last "mucked about" off road, mainly zapping around the river bank and one ride around the "Times Track", a large mound of earth covered in blackberry and weeds and criss-crossed with motorbike tracks. I had found the Times Track a challenge back then, but it's not 100th of the challenge of Kimmy's 12-kilometre enduro track.
The enduro track was quite a challenge: steep grades, sharp corners, loose dry dirt, mud, red clay, yellow clay (both in various degrees of slipperyness), ruts, ridges, bumps and bone-jarring hollows.
I extend my thanks to many of the riders here for their sage advice on off-road riding. I lost count of the number of times I chanted "Ride through, Wolf, ride through" when confronted with a steep and rutted downhill slope with a sharp turn at the bottom. "When in doubt, give it Gas!" was also used to great effect.
Once on the track there was no turning back, so I had to press on - no matter how hard the challenges I confronted. I managed most of them - I fell off three times, each time because I failed to "ride through", but I also successfully negotiated trickier obstacles than those where I fell off.
The back end skated under me frequently, especially when I hit wet clay, mud or loose dry dirt but I recalled the advice I have received here and kept my weight to the front. I "gave it gas" up rutted hills, standing on the pegs with the whole bike bucking underneath me, expecting to fail to maintain traction and slide backwards at any moment, but I made it every time. I gave it gas as I plunged down steep hills and had the front drop out from under me in a terrifying fashion a couple of times, but I kept muttering "ride through" and focussed on where I wanted to go.
One of the descents was nearly vertical with a sharp right at the bottom. Martin had stopped at the top of the hill prior to it and I wished he hadn't - I would have preferred not to have time to think about it. He set off first, trying to go slow with his brakes on full, and made it around. I waited for him and a couple of riders who had caught up with us to get past the obstacle then I said "fuck it!" and took off down the incline at a decent pace, hoping to use my momentum to get me over the bumps and keep the bike on track. At the bottom I missed the corner and went off the track over a log - no, Scott, I did not use the throttle to lighten the front and kick over it elegantly - I had no time. I bounced over the log (fortunately not very high) and barely kept the bike upright. I finished up off the track in soft dirt. I couldn't back up but there was a slight drop down onto some hard flat earth and I saw I could get back on the trail from there so I rolled forward, dropped onto the flat area and turned the bike back onto the track.
There was one hill that had warning signs on it. We had come to a stop just before it and it towered above us like the palisade of Sauron's fortress. Martin's fully knobby tyres skidded on it and he had difficulty climbing it - probably because he was attacking it too slow. I was worried that my bike, with its road-biased (around 80/20) Scorpion tyres would not make it up, but I had no choice. I rolled back a little, leaned forward and opened the throttle. The XT bounced, bucked and slithered but it made it up the hill.
It got to the point I was becoming less worried about the back end skating and the front bucking under my hands - I was beginning to trust my ability to control the bike. I stopped at the top of one hellish descent and looked down at the huge humps then thought "Fuck it, I've had worse," and rolled down the hill and around the corner.
The first crash was only a few minutes into the ride and I wiped out on a right hand turn. I smashed my right rear indicator so I had to clear the broken glass of the bulb from the track. I later successfully negotiated far worse corners.
The next crash was quite some time later - also a right hand corner - and I twisted my ankle under the bike as I went down. It stung for about a minute and then settled down. Once again, I had failed to look and ride through the corner. Oddly, it was my left ankle that hurt and caused me to limp when I got home.
My final crash was when I had nearly completed the circuit - I was only a few minutes' ride from the parking area. This time it was a left hand turn. I screwed up and wound up with the front of the bike buried in a gorse bush. A bloke on a quad informed me I was nearly at the end and helped me get the bike out of the gorse bush.
When I finally emerged from the trail and rode back to where we'd left the cars I felt exhaused. It had been a gruelling and challenging ride. It had not taken long on the trail for me to fully understand that "Enduro" is and endurance sport and I had to stop on a number of occasions as the rigours of the ride were bringing on an asthma attack. I gained a whole new respect for those of you who do this sort of thing frequently and ride even longer, harder trails. I was exhausted, sweaty, sore and out of breath when I leaned my bike against our car and collapsed on the ground, but I had enjoyed myself.
I had also surprised myself with how well I had handled it, considering my lack of proper off-road experience and how long it had been since I had ridden off-road. It was often terrifying and nearly always a challenge and it was immensely satisfying to have successfully completed it.
Martin eventually emerged from the track, having fallen off only once.
I'm thankful for my wonderful little XT and its amazing climbing abilities, I'm thankful for my O'Neal impact armour that ensured my crashes were not debilitating and I'm thankful for the advice I've read here and the guidance of so many experienced off-road riders.
As we were leaving, I stopped off to talk to the people who run the place and said "I've fallen off three times and smashed my indicator - best fucking day of my life. I'll certainly be back."
I told them that I'd probably go for slightly more aggressive tyres and one of them said "You did pretty well with the ones you have," in a tone that suggested he was impressed that I had managed it with the tyres I had.
The only fear I had that my bike would let me down on the challenges was with regard to the tyres and they certainly made some of the sections more exciting than they would normally have been - like the deep patch of mud I encountered that finished up with me slithering sideways and praying for traction...
So, today I have learned: just get out and do it - challenge yourself and push the boundaries. Also: "Ride Through" and "When in doubt, give it gas!"
As I rode home along the highway at 100km/h after my off-road excursion (with a non-functioning side stand and a broken indicator) I couldn't help grinning like the Cheshire cat - the ability to function with equal facility on and off road is what I love most about Dual-Sport bikes. A great off-road challenge and a great ride on the open road - who could ask for more?
Sorry, no photos - we had nowhere to safely carry a camera.
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Originally Posted by Brian d'marge
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