The Long Way Round Adventure Ride

[alane]

Could be a tad icey on some of the shaded areas .

Ice tyres -----with studs-------------CHECK!!!!!!!!

[vegeman]

...looking forward to the photos and stories. Wish I could be there...

Enjoy the ride

Vegged vegeman

[DR Girl]

We will all be thinking of you vege man. Gear packed, bikes loaded ( yeah we trailer trash today) but have all the fly fishing gear you could imagine

[MXNUT]

Cant make it down for the sign in tonight due to work commitments Still in Whangarei .
Will trailer down at 5.00 am tomorrow and see you all out on the trail somewhere or at the later.

[Shewolf]

Great weekend, really well organised - thanks Epic Events

1. Assembling at Bombay
2. Torpedo7 did a roaring trade leading up to this weekend
3. It's early and cold, but a great sunrise over the Mountain
4. 7am at the start point
5. Team Auckland!
6. The first farm bit

[Shewolf]

Thanks Greg for organising the ride down. Good on ya Julie! And Olwyn... you stubborn bugger, it was awesome finishing, and in only slightly hypothermic

1. Farm bit
2. this was fun, I got a few tumbles on video of this hill
3. Fuel stop
4. the lookout near Turangi
5. Snapped a pic to prove we made it around
6. It's beer o'clock surely? Lets get a rattle on



Olwyn took a nasty tumble, seeing his XT cartwheel in my mirror I knew it wasn't going to end well. We had our worries over him but after lunch he got back on and rode like a trooper. Legend!

[Waipukbiker]

WHAT A RIDE, Me and mah lil ole kwaka did it (1981 KL250). left Taupo at 7 am along with Robin (DRGirl) and Bernard who has been Adv riding for many years and was our navigator. The temp going out past Acacia bay was a Balmy MINUS 4 degrees but it was fine all day although we were still seing heavy frost in the sheltered areas at 3pm. Saw a whole lot awesome country with a wide variety of trails through the varios forests and farms. Got back into Taupo at around 6pm ish and had 461 kms on the odometer. There were 77 registed riders which included pillions and a big variety of bikes from a couple of old twin shockers to
1200 Beemers, an 800 Triumph Tiger (sounded very nice too) and good mixture of everything else. Most of the muddy farm tracks were frozen solid so no probs there. Apart from one shingle track which had large loose chip on it the rest were fast with well defined wheel tracks. The organisers did a wonderfull job setting up this ride and is much appreciated plus the evening meal was a very nice buffet with plenty of tucker for all. The drink prices were a bit eye watering but it was an awesome atmosphere at the evening get together and it was great to put some faces to some of the KB names. The event director is seriosly thinking about doing this again next year so this may turn into an annual event subject to all the usual consents etc. Again a huge thanks to all those involved in setting this up.

[reofix]

icey start ... slippery early middle .. deep gravelly late middle .. long cold dark end... & icey again ..

At the end of the day ..20 minutes in the shower and a couple of glasses of whiskey ( well known for its healing power) , a great dinner and an early night ...

Thanks to all the workers... see you next year ... on TKC's

[bart]

Looks like you guys had an awesome day. Must have been cold.

Still a bit pissed I couldn't make it. Maybe next time.

[cooneyr]

Back home again now. Did a 450km day on Friday, 470km day on Saturday and 460km day on Sunday. Understandably I was pretty keen to stand when riding to the ferry this morning. Cold, cold and more cold. Don't think I've ever ridden with that many thermals on down here! No decent photos as have just discovered that little man put his fingers on the camera lens some time prior. Guess better keep and eye on that one.

Met a few fellas including a Fielding local who took us back via a bit of gravel south of Tihape. Was the only bit of "real" gravel we day all weekend. You north islanders don't know what a gravel road is. Ours are much much worse - really

Was a fun ride on the EXC. Tried a couple of the challenge loops including the 3rd one with the stream crossing and the hill climb (took two attempts). The twisty seal and gravel (massive gravel!) after the forest down to Taumarunui was awesome. Minimal chicken strips on the knobblies after the seal.

Was fun to have to use the navigation materials, mainly GPS but with roll chart backup, on a ride not knowing where I'm going.

Cheers R

[Shewolf]

a bit of vid

[mazz1972]

Very cool Shewolf! Nice to see some of the ride, as the furtherest I went was the long way round the Taupo shops

[DR Girl]

Great pics & video Shewolf.
WOW. . . what an awesome day. Riding from & 7.00am till 6.00pm. A bit nippy at minus 4 degrees for the 1st hour or two.
Thank you Claire, Gordon, Tamy, Ryan (Cooneyr) & the others for an amazing, well organised ride & fab evening meal in a very nice venue.
My hat off to to our superb navigator Bernard . Great job buddy. The only slip up being, turning too soon after the gums. Had to laugh to find out when we got back, that not only was Claire waiting with fuel for those who wanted it at the 70k mark but. . . .hot chocolate & moro bars Though as you said Claire, you had a truck load of bars left so it wasn't just us who got it wrong.
No 'challenge' sections for us. The river crossing up to your thighs , needing x2 to push bikes up hills in parts was enough to stay to the main route. Seeing the pics on Suzi's Northern Gravel Thread made me v v v grateful I didn't miss the briefing to find out 'challenge' was EXTREME. Great to see you again Suzi, How was the shopping?
What a laugh you New Plymouth riders are, both on track (lost at the same section with no hot choc drink either) & at dinner. What a tough pillion you are Anne. We will keep in tough. Goes for all the lady pillions & riders, well done.
Hat off to Claire for riding the track prior on her own to check ride instructions & to Gordon for cutting the plaster off his broken & wired foot a week before it should have come off, pulling on a mx boots & riding the route the day before & sweeping on the day. You are one hard man!!
Nice to catch up with you Motorxnut, you sure had a tough day. . . & Cooneyr what a SUPEBB effort from you!
Thanks Bernard & Ross for a great weekend.

[Shewolf]

a bit more vid

[Shewolf]

last bit of vid...next ride can't come soon enough