Dusty Butt route planners trip

[Ruralman]

Hopefully Ryan won't be pissed that I started another thread on this - I don't want to clog up the main event thread.
On Sat Shrek and I met up at Millers Flat and rode to Ranfurly via Lake Onslow to meet up with CooneyR and his bro John, pillion Michelle, plus Karl and Colin as they did their route planning ride for the Dusty Butt 1000.

Seems like a while since I've done a good backroads ride like that and I was enjoying every bit of it

The first set of photos here are from the high point overlooking Onslow and down to the new Pioneer wind farm (small windmills and only 4 of them) and a couple of shots closer to Onslow when we stopped to use the thermos and have a natter.

The road was dry, pretty rutted in places and an absolute blast on the 990. I wouldn't like to do it if it was wet though unless I had serious knobblies because that hard packed clay/soil looked like it would get super slippery.

Once we got past Onslow it was more of the same rutted track until we got back down to the Styx valley and then it was a seriously fast blast on some great wide gravel roads. We were meant to meet up with the others at Ranfurly at 2pm and when we stopped at the turn off for the Dunstan trail it was 2:10 - figuring they would wait that long for us we carried on and met up with them at the fuel station in Ranfurly just as they had arrived and were filling up. It took us exactly 2 hours from Millers Flat which included at stop of about 15-20 minutes

Now if anyone happens to know a rider of either V Strom with panniers or possibly a GS1150 with panniers who was riding down towards Ranfurly the same day ......... well lets just say,,,, its a very wide road..........and he was only doing maybe 70km/hr.......... when two bikes went past at somewhere near double that speed!!!! The second rider noticed him do a decidedly nervous twitch after the first rider went past - the second rider following shortly behind in the dust storm must have helped him give birth.......!!!
We're not sure whether to apologize or offer gravel road riding lessons!!!!

[Ruralman]

After a catch up and coffee/food at Ranfurly we loaded up and headed out - I couldn't figure out why we were going the wrong way ???? - then Ryan explained - doh - this wasn't about getting back to the Dunstan Trail the quickest way - it was about getting there the graveliest way !!!!

So some more blasting up the well maintained Maniototo backroads until we got to the start of the section of the Dunstan trail that goes form the Styx back to Clarkes Junction. From here we were back onto narrower rutted tracks that where largely just hard packed clay and again would be bloody slippery if wet - but it wasn't wet so was pretty good fun.

Photos are of my bike and Shrek overlooking the Loganburn Lake and the second was a group shot down the track a bit further where there was a decent rock to rest the camera on. There should have been another good shot taken here, but I didn't get my camera back out again fast enough, when one of the ChCh crew gave his bike a wee lie down whilst doing a little off road escapade to get it turned around...

After a group up at Clarkes Junction it was on via Lake Mahingerangi and the direct route home via the Waitahuna backroads for me, Shrek and John/Michelle, with the others going via Lawrence to complete the route sheets

Somehow we managed to find a place for 6 extras to sleep - my apologies for the slowly deflating airbeds - thats only the second time they've been used so I'm disappointed to say the least about that.

That night there was a lot of banter and debate about the merits, or otherwise, of doing the DB on a sub 125cc bike. Certainly not for me - give me horsepower, modern suspension and speed any day

Hopefully the guys got home today without any mishaps and without being too badly effected by the predicted snow etc on the Lindis.
Great to meet you - don't know yet whether I will do the DB or set up a roadside stall in the middle of nowhere with free coffee and sausages for the riders

[Transalper]

We're back all home and safe from further 'interesting moments' for now, there were several over the weekend with people falling over and off or getting stuck here n there.
The pre run route sheets are about to receive a fairly intensive overhaul as the route is re-written to fix stuff.
Ryan will post up something in the near future when we've had a moment to collate pics and track logs etc.
Thanks for the dinner, bed and breakfast Ruralman.
Nice to catch up with you and Shrek on Saturday.

One of my favorites pics from the weekend because I managed to stay out of it and they didn't.
Has been deemed toooo deep and slippery. Seems like it's more of a swimming hole than a ford now.
Great effort by John in making it all the way un-aided.

[_Shrek_]

Now if anyone happens to know a rider of either V Strom with panniers or possibly a GS1150 with panniers who was riding down towards Ranfurly the same day ......... well lets just say,,,, its a very wide road..........and he was only doing maybe 70km/hr.......... when two bikes went past at somewhere near double that speed!!!! The second rider noticed him do a decidedly nervous twitch after the first rider went past - the second rider following shortly behind in the dust storm must have helped him give birth.......!!!
We're not sure whether to apologize or offer gravel road riding lessons!!!!

still recon it was a silver 1000 v-strom but what a blast that was & those roads Eo 9's next so we can have some more fun

was good catchin up with you all again has been to long cya in the new year if not b4
Ps: Michelle i for got to tell you I have been retrained, I have the last two words in my house every time no matter what, (yes dear)

cheers for the bed etc... farmer boy catch up soon

[helenoftroy]

..............
Great to meet you - don't know yet whether I will do the DB or set up a roadside stall in the middle of nowhere with free coffee and sausages for the riders

Come ride !!! go on you know you want too!!

We're back all home and safe from further 'interesting moments' for now, there were several over the weekend with people falling over and off or getting stuck here n there.
The pre run route sheets are about to receive a fairly intensive overhaul as the route is re-written to fix stuff.
Ryan will post up something in the near future when we've had a moment to collate pics and track logs etc.
Thanks for the dinner, bed and breakfast Ruralman.
Nice to catch up with you and Shrek on Saturday.

One of my favorites pics from the weekend because I managed to stay out of it and they didn't.
Has been deemed toooo deep and slippery. Seems like it's more of a swimming hole than a ford now.
Great effort by John in making it all the way un-aided.

Great work guys

Phew!pleased that ford isnt included !!geez me & the lowered DR would disappear never to be seen again!!

My old girl has done 54k now,& after watching Gazbur racing his DR at Greymouth at the WE,my bike might have a motard conversion done after the DB(2 race bikes !! double the buzz)

[cooneyr]

....Great effort by John in making it all the way un-aided.

Damn loose chain jumping off - should have listened to ya Shrek!

Thanks again for the company, food and leaky airbed(?) Bruce.

As TA said, ride report to come when we have been through all the photos - and taken out the incriminating ones though I suspect I'm a bit late! I'm pleased the route is shifting south. There is some awesome roads and scenery down there. The views are huge - NZ's version of big sky country maybe?

Oh - and it is was only 380kms (Ranfurly north) of riding in the rain yesterday so it could have been worse

Cheers R

[Skinny_Birdman]

Nice job guys, and some great write-ups. So we don't have to take flotation devices for the little bikes to get through that big hole?

[Transalper]

Not for that one.
We didn't get to the Omarama Saddle this time but I reckon we should be going back for another quick look at it and it's fords before the big day.

[cynna]

thanks Ruralman for the bed and food and thanks to Claire(?) for the cake. was good to meet you and catch up with Shrek again

thanks to the rest of the guys as well for a great weekend and taking me to places i never new existed

ended up with a few bruises and a bit off skin of my knee and was glad to get home after all that rain - it did wash all the bourbon and V of my bike tho

a new tyre and a a few issues with the bike to sort out and im all set again

[Ruralman]

still recon it was a silver 1000 v-strom but what a blast that was & those roads Eo 9's next so we can have some more fun

Well my view of him was very brief and also inside a cloud of dust so I'll go with your view of what bike it was - he did twitch like a very nervous gravel rider tho

Come ride !!! go on you know you want too!!


Great work guys

Phew!pleased that ford isnt included !!geez me & the lowered DR would disappear never to be seen again!!

My old girl has done 54k now,& after watching Gazbur racing his DR at Greymouth at the WE,my bike might have a motard conversion done after the DB(2 race bikes !! double the buzz)

I would quite like to do it - getting set up with a GPS or one of those bloody clacker things probably puts me off. If I was going to go with one of them it would probably be the GPS so I can just ride and look at the thing when I'm coming up to an intersection.
It was good fun belting over the Onslow road and the Dunstan trail - in the dry - not sure about that if it was wet. I've been through in a 4wd car when it was wet and I know just how slippery it gets. I don't intend putting knobblies on the KTM just in case.

Not for that one.
We didn't get to the Omarama Saddle this time but I reckon we should be going back for another quick look at it and it's fords before the big day.

Mmmmm - maybe you could contract that inspection out to someone living a bit closer ?????
Hey - where exactly was that deep ford??

thanks Ruralman for the bed and food and thanks to Claire(?) for the cake. was good to meet you and catch up with Shrek again

thanks to the rest of the guys as well for a great weekend and taking me to places i never new existed

ended up with a few bruises and a bit off skin of my knee and was glad to get home after all that rain - it did wash all the bourbon and V of my bike tho

a new tyre and a a few issues with the bike to sort out and im all set again

Good to meet you Colin - I will pass that message on to Claire. She's got quite good in the kitchen that wee girl of mine (not so wee now either - where's me shotgun?)
Did you experiment with tyre pressures in that front wheel? I should have said to you when we were talking about riding techniques before you left - for those longitudinal wheel ruts that there were lots of on the Onslow road, you want to have the front wheel a little bit soft and ride with your weight well back as this helps get your front wheel over and out of one rut and onto a better line when you have to

I've been checking out rear tyre options today for mine - they're not cheap
Have a look at this one though
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade...view/4809/776/
beware these are $US and there's still about $98 (I think) freight - I've emailed them to see if we can get a better deal on freight if we got more than 1

[Ruralman]

I forgot to mention one other moment that put a smile on my face.

We'd just come off the Dunstan trail and blasted down about 10km of new seal to the Clarkes Junction pub. As I was taking off my helmet there were two guys coming out of the pub and walking back to their shiney new Suzi Boulevards (one of them said his was about 400kg !!!)
Anyway one of them says "where have you come from to be coming out that way"??? - I say "well I started in lawrence, went up to Millers flat, popped over the hill past Onslow and down to Ranfurly, then back over the Dunstan trail to here"
His next question was priceless - "oh you've been everywhere - is that road all sealed now??"

My response - unfortunately - was the dumb one ie "well at this point I've done about 250km today and maybe 30 of them were sealed"

What it should have been was what Shrek suggested later ie yeah mate, its a beautiful sealed road - you might strike a wee bit of gravel up there a bit but just keep going 'cos it doesn't last for long..........

[Transalper]

....Hey - where exactly was that deep ford??.....

Why, you want to go swimming?
S45 14.013 E169 25.997
Chuck that in google and it will show you, not far from Alex.

The big KTM still ran in there but lost it's chain so needed a push.

[Transalper]

..What it should have been was what Shrek suggested later ie yeah mate, its a beautiful sealed road - you might strike a wee bit of gravel up there a bit but just keep going 'cos it doesn't last for long..........

Seeing them head off there would have certainly been worth a laugh.

[Ruralman]

Why, you want to go swimming?
S45 14.013 E169 25.997
Chuck that in google and it will show you, not far from Alex.

The big KTM still ran in there but lost it's chain so needed a push.

OK that forced me to use the google maps thingy - very handy .I would think that creek will be barely a trickle in summer unless theres been a thunderstorm or sudden downpour.
Do I take it that there were ways of getting through which weren't so deep ?

[Transalper]

Not through, just skipped it via the main rd.
It was only 5 minutes to Alex by seal.
It wasn't worth the hassel.
Why was it so high this weekend then?
Hadn't rained for several days.
Snow melt? Wasn't much snow around left melting.
I really have no idea what feeds it but it was big slippery boulders in the bottom.