Db1k 2012

[_Shrek_]

the weekend started out well, left home friday with Off-spring & crused up to Fairlie top 10 to find that because of a cock up in their bookings we got up graded to a motel unit

left about 7am got to the 1st xing to see some one had already drowned their bike (not a good start for them! hope he got going again) had a great run through to Kurow apart from the Rena (new name for the stead) having a wee rest & I understand TA has the evidence
lunch over & onto the zig-zag, but 1st had to go & get the old fella with us old people
making good time up the zig-zag with a few retries & starts & a very smelly clutch & alot of then about 400m from the top put the leg out for a bit of help & some more power, felt & heard the tear in the back of my leg then hit the ground big time with the Rena on top... crawled out & found I could not put any weight on it... o shit!!! was 1st thought 2nd was how do I get out now, got the bike up & Nordie boy took it up to the next corner while I tried to walk it off.... got the leg back over & set off made another 2 sections came to a halt... this is not going to work very well... after a bit of a chat I was given a hand fill of pills & rest then TR (Trials Rider) took the Rena & put me on the Dr we made it to the top then down the other side with a lot of stops & .....
another stop @ pig shit in another drink & do ya want any more pills no I'm having enough trouble now with tring to stay on board...
we took the left hand track out as it was a bit shorter... but the river xings & then I drop the Dr right in font of it's owner & could do nothing except try & turn it off & lay there until the pills took effect again... then Off-spring decides to see how deep the hole in front is good onya kid we say!!! as it turned out he had hit the kill switch when he saw how deep it was getting 1.2m, a bit of water in the carb none in the air box
back on track & a fair bit more of the rough stuff then we made it to the road, I'm back on the Rena felling realy & TR back on the Dr all is good with the world
made it home to Rox & find the BBq going cold beers in the fridge a bit of TLC from mrs Shrek feed & watered

sunday me & the beached whale take the nana's track to Danseys then Kurow etc made it back to Fairlie about 1900 with a lot of stops on the way brusing coming out lots of codine to to keep the pain away the others can tell their story

but a big thanks to TR for bringing my bike out all 75kg's of him on a 250kg (Rena) Nordie, Terry & Off-spring for great traveling mates, as donkey would say lets do that again!!!

high lights,
catching up with new & old like minded, riding with my son
our team,
Bams who dared to share our motel
Ryn & co for a great trip
the general bullshit we all swap
cheers guys

[suzieq]

When Skinny B and I were regrouping after the Lammerlaw snow, a chap in a 4WD said he'd found a small toolkit on the Old Dunstan, and from the timing it's probably from one of the one-day riders. If it's yours, phone him on 027 358-6222 and describe the contents.

Also, more detail required on one-day riders!

Cheers

Hi Dave, was good to catch up with you at Benmore. I have good pics of the small bike you bought along for this ride. What an excellent bike. Was amazed at the great fuel economy also you get out of the small bike. Puts the XT to shame. Will post up for you soon.

[NordieBoy]

431 photos & videos from the 2 days to process...

The camera only came out for 73 photos on day 2

It was hidden under too many waterproofing layers...

[Woodman]

Got home at 4.30ish.

Great times great times, good to meet new people and catch up with some others.

Done the dusty this year with a couple of flash harrys on orange things. One of them got a flat tyre 5 mins into the ride which made him swear a lot. The other one had the runs and was scared to fart, and had to have a couple of excursions into the bush, and apparently it is impossible to do number twos with mx boots on using a proper toilet. All the customers at Kurow servo are all the better for knowing that.

Thanks for the company guys.

Some random memories:

Awakino challenge was like a trip to the gym (need a lighter bike)

The snow section was great fun.
Omarama challenge section was fantastic.
Having a few bunches of riders loading up on redbulls before riding over Black Forest got a bit insane



Watching a 690 rider trying to pass Padmei on his panza going up Carricktown was friggen hilarious.

More later

[Padmei]

Anyone else apart from woodman see Wallabies?

[_Shrek_]

Anyone else apart from woodman see Wallabies?

I saw all sorts of floaty things

[NordieBoy]

riding with my son

Bluddy good rider he is too. Been taught well.

Looks funny in your old riding pants though

[XF650]

A BIG THANKS to Cooneyr for another excellent Dusty Butt (or Muddy Bummer as it was in that snot on Sunday morning). Even with his involvement in quake recovery, Ryan still made time to ensure the rest of us had a bloody good weekend of adv riding.
This year I rode with a very dodgy knee and it was hard to work the pegs at times, especially in the mud (well that's my excuse anyway). I can thank Thor Force knee braces for getting me home, as evident by my leg being like jelly today without them . The wee DT went well considering I carry too much crap and the Aux tank bracket passed the "ground impact test" a couple of times. Front tyre probably wasn't appropiate for mud but then that adds to the adventure.

We ran short on time for a couple of sections but the "substitute" squirt home through Dansey & Haka Passes was still worth it.
The highlight for me was the Dunstan Trail, the part from after the mud & ruts of the Lammermoor Range through to Moa Creek. Like last time it was dry, fast & twisty and I'm sorry to hear many riders missed it - it's worth going back there just for that bit.
Funniest sight was Padmei being called Helen & leveling the Lammermoor ruts with his tractor.
Most commendable goes to Aslan for persevering (in pain) after his Friday crash and then being stuck under his bike for some time in the Lammermoor ruts.
And my bad luck award goes to BigRedDog for crashing and having to withdraw before he even got to Waimate.

Spent most of today working on Rogson's bikes, firstly trying to fix his WR450. Thought we had it sussed but it still puffed steam. So then it was a rush to prep his Freewind from the back of my garage, so that he can join a group of Dusty Butters who have headed south to ride the Nevis, Borland, Walter Peak, Skippers etc. I also added a tyre to Roger's load to drop off to MXnut Mark, who was stranded in Fairlie.

Congratulations to all those riders who completed this years DB.
A couple of pics from a Menzie ford:

[Transalper]

....had a great run through to Kurow apart from the Rena (new name for the stead) having a wee rest & I understand TA has the evidence....

....
A couple of pics from a Menzie ford:

Just uploading video of that bit now.
Should be available on my youtube channel in about an hour.
I'll link to it properly in the morning.

[Transalper]

Here it is...
S44 38.668 E170 50.886
It's Saturday, I was there from about 10:53am through to 11:27am, we've came from Waimate and on our way to Kurow, the same river that caused problems last year.
Same boulders but only half the water, still a bit tricky for some though.

[NordieBoy]

Someone is going to have to put the track up on a map and name all the bits.
Awakino Gorge is the only one I actually know the name of and where it was. Oh and the Dunstan Trail, but only cause that's what the sign said at the other end. I had no idea what it was when riding it.

[NordieBoy]

I've got video of the Rena getting stuck on Astrolabe Creek too.

[Padmei]

That was awesome TA.

[k14]

Well I have been through my GPS logs and have a better recollection now of how it went.

Day 1

Left at 0627. Got my left boot wet at the first crossing (quite a good one to start the day considering it was my first crossing of anything deeper than about 6 inches). We made good time to Waimate, passing a few bikes and taking it easy through the greasy paddocks. Arrived at 0828 and put 6.3L in after 104km. On our way again 13 mins later into the doom and gloom of the Waimate gorge. The rain stopped the moment we hit the gravel (and dust) and we continued on through the rolling hill country. We hit Kurow right on 1100 for the second fuel stop and some food before the first challenge section. Leaving Kurow bang on 1130 we headed up and up and up. That was some seriously cool and challenging terrain. I had my first drop when my front wheel unexpectedly hit a big rock and pushed me off to one side. Only a small bruise on my knee though and we kept plodding along. The river crossings through here were a bit difficult too, stalling my bike in one and having to push it most of the way in 2-3 feet deep water.

After about 3 hours 45 mins we made it to the other side, pretty relieved that the rough blocks of shist were behind us. Through the relatively flat and straight roads of the Ida Valley and to Omakau at 15:32 for another 13 min fuel and food stop. That was the last stop of the day. We blatted over Thompsons Track (with it's 19 gates) in pretty good time, through Cromwell and up the Carricktown Track to Duffers Saddle at 17:42. Then back down to the bottom of Nevis Road and through Hawkesburn Station down into Clyde and back to Alex for the night (and to sleep in my own bed ).

Day 2

Awoken at 0300 by the rain didn't really help my motivation for getting up at 0600 but we were on our way by 0638 and made quick time down the Millenium track and into Lawrence for at 10 minute fuel stop at 08:18. Then it was down to business. We gradually made our way up to Lake Mahinerangi and onto the Lammermore Ranges. The snow started out light at first and then we see a bike approaching. It was Cooney coming to say that it was getting worse and turn around if we wanted to. What kind of adventure riders would we be if we turned around . We carried on as the snow got slightly heavier and started accumulating on our bikes. By 10:37 we had finished the Lammermore loop and come out on the Dunstan Trail. The snow had stopped but the wind blowing fairly strong, straight from the South too. We sheltered by the trees for 7 minutes and had a few things to eat before we were on our ways again. We dropped down into the Serpentine valley and through the farmland before we were back up to the final climb of the Dunstan Trail. We decided against the challenge sections for today so skipped the Serpentine Church loop. We passed Poolburn Dam and on the way down I saw another rider on a V-Strom, Jantar had gone for a ride to watch the first riders coming through. A quick chat and we were off again to our secret fuel dump location to get the valuable 7 litres required to ensure we made it to Omarama.

Back into the Ida Valley and we made quick time out through Oturehua towards the Omarama saddle. Again skipping the challenge section and opting for the traditional saddle route it was a pretty cool climb with a few river crossings thrown in and a relatively steep final few km before the summit of 1480m was reached at 14:29. A rocky decent till the gravel roads of the Mackenzie Basin leading into Omarama meant we were filling up our tanks just on 15:00 and filling our stomachs too. Now the end was in sight and after a brisk 20km down to Otemata we were onto the Black Forest track around the shores of Lake Benmore and over to Haldon Arm. It was probably my favourite track of the ride, tight and twisty with good traction and not too many loose rocks. The final 50km over Mackenzie Pass and through Albury into Fairlie was over before we knew it and we arrived in Fairlie at 17:28 to finish the ride.

A pretty enjoyable weekend and big thanks to Cooney for all the preparation, it was really well organised and I can't wait for next year.

A few stats from my own GPS data:
Avg Altitude/Distance/Time/Avg Speed/Ascent (meters)
Day 1:609.27/475.06/12:12:40/53.78/12083
Day 2:606.73/535.55/10:54:35/63.64/11653
Total:608.00/1010.6/23:07:15/58.71/23736

And attached are the route profiles (I missed the first 16km of the second day).

[cynna]

then Off-spring decides to see how deep the hole in front is good onya kid we say!!! as it turned out he had hit the kill switch when he saw how deep it was getting 1.2m, a bit of water in the carb none in the air box:

i think i know that hole well..... was that the one with rocks across the road as a warning? casualty and i went that way as well

it got deeper and deeper as i went across and then i lost traction coming out of the hole. jumped off and got 1 leg stuck on the seat with the bike stuck 45 degrees facing up. was stuck that way with my leg cramping up until sam came and rescued me. no water got in the bike even tho it was up to the exhaust and one point bubbling away


there were rocks on the otherside warning people not to cross so sam put some on the road the way we came thru and then crosssed at the left where it was shallow. caught up with transalper at the end of the track where it joined up with the non challnege section and he said you were coming thru this way .......