Blenheim Adv Rides

[cooneyr]

...Next time "snow ride" is mentioned though I'm wearing my good wet weather gear right from the start...

Na - ya get just as wet but from the inside out cause of all the lifting and pushing.

Cheers R

[NordieBoy]

Na - ya get just as wet but from the inside out cause of all the lifting and pushing.

Cheers R

Did some XRV and 640A pushing but lifting?

[NordieBoy]

Video time!

[NordieBoy]

No wonder Zerax breaks things.
His throttle goes up to 11.

[Transalper]

Very nice, reminds me of riding in snow/ice up Hanmer way, and Lees Valley.

[Woodman]

Bloody fantastic.

There really is no hard and fast rules for riding in snow is there, its almost a pure reactionary technique.

[buggsubique]

OK, with a rested but achey body and a belly full of food & coffee...

FUCK WHAT A RIDE!!! At the time it was actually pretty shitty and I dunno about Kyle but I had really had enough of the front wheel popping out under me and dropping the bike.

We were pretty conscious that time was getting on (it was already mid afternoon) and I knew the weather was supposed to get worse. Kyle and I deliberated on it for a minute or two. It was literally the fork in the road between Adventure vs Sensible / Safe. Adventure called.

the weather was like in Fran's photo below for most of the way up and all the way back.



I had a bit of food, heaps of water, fire and spare clothes, along with the usual survival kit of silver blankets, whistle, first aid etc so that gave extra confidence.

The bikes were taking big hits everytime we arsed off. Kyle lost his front brake lever and we spent 10 mins getting his rear to work again,,,damn soft tubular steel. Even the AT's engine bars took a walloping ...but saved the fairings of course!

The biggest "adventure" part of the day came in two parts really. The first was negotiating the Basin. I didn't take any photos here as I was too busy marvelling at Kyle's tyre tracks and their proximity to the edge and blubbering to myself as the AT chugged through the snow, getting sporadic grip on the jagged rocks I knew were underneath. The Basin? you ask. Here it is in summer. Now just reduce your visibility to 20m, add half a foot of snow and let your imagination do the rest. The hit here was that it was a very "real risk" - none of this ponsy "perceived risk" stuff. It was a long way down and although you couldn't see it I knew it was there!

The Basin:





The second realisation of adventure was 5 minutes after arriving at the summit and beginning to cool down. The weather was also coming in harder too, with drizzle turning to sleet to snow and the light beginning to reduce. Again, the real risk here was manageable but with cell phone batteries cold and getting low (remember turn em off when you have no reception otherwise they are earching the whole time!) I was only able to get one text out to Underground to let him know we made it. Kyle sent one home but I couldn't get reception any longer as the weather had worsened. Would have been good to get one home myself. Not sure how a "find me spot" box would have gone for sat reception, but on a ride like this it would have been the ideal bit of kit to let the missusus know we were sweet as.

The ride back down was just a matter of perseverance. Heaps of falls and swearing, a bit of pucker factor once in a while and a fair bit of "can't wait to get home!"

Kyle had switched the CT to reseve half way down and finally sucked it dry half way out along Northbank so the AT mothership breastfed a couple of litres on the side of the road - enough to get back to Blenheim.

Welcomed home by anxious wife and excited kids wondering what had happened. That sort of thing is always in the back of my mind, but fuck yesterdays ride was living. You gotta do that once in a while aye.

[zeRax]

i concur on all the above

i'd also like to add that i have lost the nut and dome from side cover of my ct, must have come loose again after the many many rear brake lever bendingupages. so i lost a bit of oil on the way home, havent taken side cover off yet, but clutch adjustment had changed too, she'll be fine thou


wish i could keep the front wheel in one direction!

very glad to be home, and with a list of things i need to do !

[Underground]

whats all the snow packed beside the engine on the african twin,
is that to help keep the engine cool..

Its to help keep it ballanced , but the best bit is watching buggs,s special way of packing it in there which involves sliding the bike down the road on its side just missed it on camera (gotta get a quicker shooter)

[junkmanjoe]

looks like you had a hell of a hard time getting up there.
good work out on your legs aye..

[NordieBoy]

looks like you had a hell of a hard time getting up there.
good work out on your legs aye..

Watching Underground and Warewolf tip-toe paddling along was quite funny

[warewolf]

Na - ya get just as wet but from the inside out cause of all the lifting and pushing.

I'd just washed and re-activated the waterproofing on my gear, only to wet it from the inside out. I was soaked in sweat from the pushing, rocking, kicking and the odd lift. Got pretty cold on the way home, hadn't re-adjusted the waist of the jacket so it was very draughty. Back of my shirt was still soaked. Feet were dry though but the heated grips on high were too painful to hang on too. I think they did the trick of opening the capillaries so the back of your hand freezes and the palm burns. Low was tolerable but didn't feel warm.

Did some XRV and 640A pushing but lifting?

Too busy with the camera to help??

wish i could keep the front wheel in one direction!

Where's the fun in that?!

very glad to be home, and with a list of things i need to do !

Zerax: Champion of CTs, Destroyer of Postie Bikes, Slayer of Small-bores

good work out on your legs aye..

and arms, and lungs, and...

[NordieBoy]

Too busy with the camera to help??

Funny thing...
The closer I get the quicker people pick the bikes up.
Camera induced adrenalin?

I did get a bit of footage where I had forgotten to turn the camera off of lots of slush going really fast past the lens as the camera dangled around my neck while pushing Underground. Didn't take much of that to get the heart rate up
High speed slush up the front of the pants. Mmmmm toasty.

[warewolf]

High speed slush up the front of the pants. Mmmmm tasty.

Uh, what forum am I signed in to at the mo'?

[NordieBoy]

We didn't even get within 2.5km of Lake Chalice

The blue line is the ride on Sat.
The pink line is last October.
We turned around at 2:30pm

Buggs and Zerax got to the end of the pink at 4pm...

We need to do it again but trailering smaller bikes up to the gravel.

I want to do it on the XR