Coromandel Goldrush Adventure Ride 6th December 2008

**MXNUT** · 8th December 2008, 13:30

It started on wednesday night, i had brought a new super heavy duty tube ( 4mm thick ) and Kenda K760 Trackmaster tyre and was fitting them to the back of the DRZ. I remember thinking at the time that this was the easiest tyre i have ever fitted ( and ive done a few ) and the bead popped out with no hassles using only a low pressure foot pump. That should have been a warning for me right there

My plan for the weekend was to take both bikes ( DRZ400 & 78 YZ400 ) to Thames in the van & stay for 2 nights in the van then on the way home on sunday race in the Mercer round of the Auckland club VMX champs on the YZ. Finnished work 1 hour early on friday and home to load the van. Putting the YZ backwards into the van and HER INDOORS came out to talk to me,lent the bike on the inside panel while i talked to her and got ready with tie downs. CRASH , turned around to see the bike had fallen over and the handle bars had gone through the back window of the van

.

As this was going to be my bedroom for the next couple of days i found an old warehouse poly tarp and some duct tape and made a new rear window.

This lasted about half way to Thames, very Chilly second part of trip

Arrived at Thames school and unloaded van and signed in. Taped window back on and had a few bevvies. Hit the sack at about 1.00 am after all the fire sirens had finnished. Up the next morning and after breakfast i taped my route sheet together and was ready to go by 8.00am.

First part of the ride took us to a Communications tower at the top of a hill in Pururi with fantastic views over the Hauraki plains and over to Mayor island in the other direction.

Next part had us through the Kaueranga Valley through some trail sections then onto the Kopu / Hikuai Rd and through to Hikuai for morning tea at the school, was first rider there - so far so good

Left the school and gassed up before heading to the next trail section which had us through some farm land then onto some tight singletrail and then into the forest. About 30 kms later on the top of a ridge overlooking Whangamata i noticed the bike was starting to handle funny -

FLAT REAR TYRE.

O well, i had my tire inflation kit with c02 bottles and tyre slime with me so not to much of a problem. WRONG no tyre slime in the kit, whre the f.ck did that go ??? No tyre levers with me so no option but to ride the next 10 kms into Whangamata as gently as possible sitting on the tank to keep the weight off the back wheel.

Found a push bike shop that was open in town and managed to borrow some tyre levers from him. Lifted the bike onto a park bench and got the back wheel off and the tube out, to find a pinch flat from the sharp rocks on the forestry roads.

Heavy duty tube with new enduro tyre running 26 psi, this shoudnt have happened

Fixed the puncture and checked for leaks in water bath, all good - refitted the tyre and then wheel. Tire flat again -+- removed tube again to find patch had not stuck properly. repaired again and checked again.
Refiited the wheel and set tyre pressure at 30 psi. Paid and thanked the man at the cycle shop

and on may way again thinking that if i go hard i should be able to catch up with the tail enders at the lunch stop

TO BE CONTINUED !!!

**MXNUT** · 8th December 2008, 14:56

Here i am at 1.30 leaving Whangamata knowing if i dont feck around

i can catch up with the rest of the ride at the coroglen luch stop, when about 8 kms out of Whangamata i am leaning into a R/H corner at about 80 kmh and BANG the tyre bead blows off the rim

i have to quickly stand the bike up and run off through a drain and onto a small dirt area on the left side of the road. After my arse stopped puckering i let out a few expletives at the top of my voice

riding on the tyre flat had weakened the already soft & crap sidewall of the tyre.

My ride was over.

I managed to use 2 screw drivers and lever the tyre back onto the rim and ride on the already fucked tyre back into whanga where i left the bike outside the deserted police station

.

I had missed any chance of being caught by the sweeps , so my only option was to hitch hike back to Thames.

3 hours / 4 rides and a lot of walking in full motorcycle gear later i arrived back in Thames very hot and bothered to pack up the van and head back to whanga for my bike.

The taped on rear window lasted about half way over the hills before coming loose again and the flapping drove me mad -( madder ) so off it came.

Arrived in whangamata and loaded the bike up and ready to head back to Thames for the dinner and drinkies.

YOU WOULDNT FUCKING BELEIVE IT, BUT THE VAN WOULDNT START.

It took a couple of minutes to find that the battery terminal was loose and then we were away again.

Driving back over the Kopu / Hikuai Rd and i come accross a

check point where they were stopping all motorcyles and some cars doing WOF / REGO / LISCENSE checks and breath testing.

So the police see me with 2 bikes and alot of gear lying around in the back of the van with no rear window ,
obvious conclusion ive stolen it.

20 Minutes later when they were satisfied that i was who i said i was ( thought they were going to do a body cavity search ) i was away again but by this time there were NO TOYS LEFT IN THE COT and i well and truely HAD THE PIP with all things motorcycling and i was going straight home.

I had flagged the VMX and was going to go fishing the next day !!

**MXNUT** · 8th December 2008, 16:00

After the previous couple of days there was no way i was going to get up at sparrows fart the next morning to go fishing , so after checking the tides for the Coromandel region we decided to fish the last 3 hours upto high tide at 2.30pm .

We left home at 9.30am and headed up past Thames to Waikawau and the boat was in the water at 12.00.
The guy taking the fee at the boat ramp said that the best fishing had been away from the Mussel farms and out in the centre of the firth, so thats where we headed.
I found a bit of sign on the fish finder and dropped anchor. 15 minutes later we were into the fish with 3 rods going betwwen the two of us there was no time even for lunch and 2.5 hours later we had caught our limit of 20 snapper, with nothing under 320mm long being kept ( 270mm limit ).

Included in the catch we had caught two 8lb snapper, Faye had caught a 10 lb snapper and the very last fish of the day i managed to land my personal best ever a 15 lb snapper. We threw in a couple of Kawhai to make fish pie with.

Overall a very successful day and very different to the previous one.
I spent an hour and a half last night filleting fish, and tonight i will need to clean the boat while the motorcycles sit in disgrace in the corner of the shed and think about what they have done

The Moral ( S ) of the Story

1. Dont buy cheap tyres or you will pay for it in the end ( soft sidewalls )

2.When you are doing something which requires concentration , keep all woman away !!!

3.A Shitty day does not have to mean a shitty weekend

4. From now on i will always carry tyre levers and spare tubes.

Well thats my Rave, and hopefully i will complete the ride next year.

**clint640** · 8th December 2008, 16:02

Originally Posted by ducatijim

Then I trickled home....uhhum.....1 wee problem.....I...arh....um, well see, I ran out of....ah......gas. Over the Mamakus. No, really I did!
Yes, I know its a Suzuki 'supertanker' with 35 litres capacity...but I just was having soooo much fun I lost 'touch' with the contents( or lack thereof), even when I couldn't see any fuel I felt there was enough to get to Rotorua??
Nice man from the AA couldn't stop smiling when he saw the size and TRANSPARANCY of the tank!( bet he wee'd himself once I was gone eh!!)

So it all ended well, a top weekend allround.

Cheers mate, that gave me a great laugh for the afternoon! I would never have fessed up if it was me

At least you had a better run than Mark... I run a set of K760's for trail rides & have never had a problem, even with light duty tubes at 20 psi, but I guess the country down around here isn't as rocky as around Coromandel.

Hopefully I don't have a clash of events if they run it again next year.

Cheers
Clint

**kevfromcoro** · 8th December 2008, 16:17

BEEN out around the area for the last couple of days
got stopped by the cops 2 times
rego, wof, liecence check,,
they are out in force down here
BTW... did john from wheels of thames organise this trip
he is a great guy
and he can ride too
KEV

**Cary** · 8th December 2008, 16:52

Good story Mark

So basically you carried on from the ride last weekend with the flats! At least you caught some good sized fish

Must be something about the Coro area, went for a ride with Andy on the Dukes around Thames/Waihi area today and his 900FE lost all power, turns out a part was shorting out(worn thru rubber boot) on the engine and had heated both batt leads till they broke off.

Got it going again and did another 200k after that. He'll be hunting down a new set of leads tho.

**ducatijim** · 8th December 2008, 20:09

Originally Posted by clint640

Cheers mate, that gave me a great laugh for the afternoon! I would never have fessed up if it was me

Cheers
Clint

...oh yes, ha-bloody-ha.....so glad u enjoyed that bit! Tame compared to Marks crap day though!

I had to fess-up as I had spilled to Bass while waiting roadside....I knew he would just wait in the wings till I thought he had forgot.....then dump me in it!

**young1** · 9th December 2008, 07:38

Originally Posted by MOTOXNUT

The Moral ( S ) of the Story

1. Dont buy cheap tyres or you will pay for it in the end ( soft sidewalls )

2.When you are doing something which requires concentration , keep all woman away !!!

3.A Shitty day does not have to mean a shitty weekend

4. From now on i will always carry tyre levers and spare tubes.

Well thats my Rave, and hopefully i will complete the ride next year.

Well that man definitely deserves a DB!!

**Bass** · 9th December 2008, 07:53

Originally Posted by ducatijim

I had to fess-up as I had spilled to Bass while waiting roadside....I knew he would just wait in the wings till I thought he had forgot.....then dump me in it!

Well actually .........no.
Having already had a good laugh at your expense, I had planned to say nothing.
Given the regularity and thoroughness with which I make a dick of myself, I figured anything else was just begging for it.
So......ummmm......sorry mate, but this one is all yours.

(ROFL......oops.....valiantly smothers gales of laughter......crosses legs and sneaks out the back way)

**Waihou Thumper** · 9th December 2008, 08:54

Well, almost done.....I was done for by the time and the long day!
I woke early and headed over to Thames. Luckily for me I live in Te Aroha and it is approx 48-49km to Thames....

so that is a nice ride.....short but it was a bit chilly on the willy which boded for a good one!

After the spaghetti, the toast and coffee, It was time to try out version 2a of my road book holder....
Version 2a because after thr ride I took it apart and now have a version 2b, not quite a version 3 but bloody close! All will be revealed....

I did have a few issues, namely with the roll being a little large and hitting the bolts on the back, thus stopping it rolling and more tearing...
Soooo,

Didn't think of that in my engineering workshop with diagrams, blueprints, wiring etc etc...

The briefing was held, we climbed aboard and roared off south to the view point of the morning which was magnificent! The climb up was fun and down was good too. The ride started shortly after this and away we went.
It was a bit of follow the leader at first until we all sort of spread out and made our own pace.
Did see the first spill, the Yammy took a bit of tumble on a hill, looked like it was a bit slippery from the morning dew but no damage resulted?

The trail options were fantastic! Great winding tracks through the bush, up and down. Because it was all the first time we had hit these, the speed was down and enjoyable. You never quite knew what was over the rise, care had to be excersised, that's for sure...

Morning tea and lunch was in two different schools and thanks to these guys for preparing the barby, the drinks and the much needed toilet stops!

The forestry was cool, although a little too much vibration caused the plate, the rego to snap off my Husbaerg! All that was left, two small pieces of metal under the bolts!

. I didn't even notice until almost the end of the day. Oh well, another $8.20 on the Monday and I now have a new plate with holes drilled right in the middle and the reg and warrant is now firmly stuck to my fork legs, a much better option!

Now, towards the end of the best loop on the track option my route sheet snapped and I was lost! I didn't know which way to go, left or right. I tagged onto a couple of riders and then stopped and decided to fix it! I had to unroll and then tear, then roll back up and luckily I had the spare tape.
Away I went, this time with a new route sheet and clear? directions.....A little hazy, unclear and confusing in parts....

Oh, did I mention I almost lost my master cylinder and brake handle too?
That was funny, here I am riding around the forestry and grabbing a fist full of nothing as the lever had slipped right under the bars....
The ride to lunch was spent with an eagle eye watching the bolts carefully spin around and get looser and looser....

Some might say why didn't you stop and tighten them? Well, I did it on the fly with my right hand, two or three turns at a time, I knew lunch wasn't too far away and then I really got the tools out and fixed it up....
Amazing what the constant vibration can do!
I think the whole bike needed a bit of a tighten up from the ground up after this ride...

The afternoon was spent chasing the pack over the hills and far away, I lost track of the time totally and never made it to the 309, well, I did, but had to turn back and head home.

That was bit of a bugger as it was getting late but at the end of the day I thoroughly enjoyed the views and the trails!

Next year, I will spend more time riding, less time at lunch and morning tea and really hit the trails and roads making sure I finish and see the lot!

Thanks for a great ride guys, John, Wheels of Thames and thanks for the company fellas and gals!

Monday, Tuesday I spent the time cleaning, oiling, checking and tightening! Looks good as new and I am impressed with the speed, the reliability/durability of the bike. The route-sheet holder? well, version 3 is now up and running and looks great. Smaller rolls - Bamboo garden stakes

of course cut shorter...lol
Found a couplf of rubber knobs, glued on nicely and fingers crossed will go the distance. I gotta keep this one because those smaller click-clack boxes are as rare as hen's teeth. Apparently the company doesn't make the small one anymore....
I will have to get a better system of securing to the bike though. I do like the platform system, the cable ties work but after awhile it spins around or drops.....

See you all out there sometime!

Cheers...

**clint640** · 9th December 2008, 09:22

Looks great!

So how hard was the trail loop? Would you have made it around on the 640?

Cheers
clint

**Waihou Thumper** · 9th December 2008, 09:33

Originally Posted by clint640

Looks great!

So how hard was the trail loop? Would you have made it around on the 640?

Cheers
clint

The trail loops were not that difficult because it was dry. There was a section of a lot of clay and if it had been wet, it might have been a slide fest up and down.

They were tight, narrow and windy for the most part. Narrower than the Traverse, very narrow in places and low branches and bush encroaching the trails.

I would say that the 640 might have had a bit of difficulty because you needed some speed on the track to negotiate the ups....

It would have been fun to try it and as I recall the tracks, I would say there might have been only about two or three sections that the KTM would have had difficulty.

The 640 enduro could have done it but the 640 adventure, don't think so. I would have had to strip it, take the mirrors off and have an empty tank.

Mind you, it didn't have any issues on Fishers or the Traverse, so you never know.
Somtimes it is nice to be spoilt for choice and the Husaberg was perfect for this ride!
On the Traverse, the Huzy would be amazing, nice and light and flickable, could have enough energy to go both ways even....he he