Hawke's Bay Ride Outs - is anyone there?

[Night Falcon]

Hi Ross, got your message this morning I'm not looking good for Saturday, twisted my knee a bit last weekend playing in the mud and it is still tad ginger so my wife has forbidden me to take the steed out this weekend not that she tells me what do though

[GPS MAN]

I bet she doesn't

[Waipukbiker]

Hi Ross, got your message this morning I'm not looking good for Saturday, twisted my knee a bit last weekend playing in the mud and it is still tad ginger so my wife has forbidden me to take the steed out this weekend not that she tells me what do though

Better to get your knee sorted mate, easy to re run the ride for those that cant make it. Had a chat with the manager of Smedley Stn and asked him if we could ride through the Stn one day from the end of Smedley rd through to Makaroro Rd which the Stn bounds on to.
He dousnt have a prob with that so I said a couple of us would go through and check it out first and prob GPS plot a route through so I will touch base with you on that later in the summer and was thinking that we could combine a ride through the Stn and try and get access through some of the roads and tracks in Gwavas as well and that could turn into an awesome days ride.

[Box'a'bits]

Had a chat with the manager of Smedley Stn and asked him if we could ride through the Stn one day from the end of Smedley rd through to Makaroro Rd which the Stn bounds on to.
Was thinking that we could combine a ride through the Stn and try and get access through some of the roads and tracks in Gwavas as well and that could turn into an awesome days ride.

Would definitely be interested in coming up for that ride. I used to live just down from the station at Butler Rd...

[bart]

So....how did the ride go?

[Night Falcon]

Better to get your knee sorted mate, easy to re run the ride for those that cant make it. Had a chat with the manager of Smedley Stn and asked him if we could ride through the Stn one day from the end of Smedley rd through to Makaroro Rd which the Stn bounds on to.
He dousnt have a prob with that so I said a couple of us would go through and check it out first and prob GPS plot a route through so I will touch base with you on that later in the summer and was thinking that we could combine a ride through the Stn and try and get access through some of the roads and tracks in Gwavas as well and that could turn into an awesome days ride.

Exploring Smedley Station to plot a ride, hmmmm let me see.....COUNT ME IN !!!

[DR Girl]

Exploring Smedley Station to plot a ride, hmmmm let me see.....COUNT ME IN !!!

Me too

You looked like you were going hard last week Marty. Well done
Well done to all & esp Mr Super Tanker in all that mud
Great vid Marty & as always, great photo's Bart.

[Waipukbiker]

Just an update on Smedley, When we got there yesterday on the ride, I caught up with one of the staff and he said that we could pretty much have the run of the whole stn and spend the day on it so hes more than happy to act as a tour guide for an initial 2 or 3 bikes to plot a cse through the property and he reckoned we could spend a whole day there easy. We would also get to see the proposed dam site on the Makaroro river that they are planning for this Multi million dollar irrigation scheme that the HB regional council are going for.

Be later on when its a bit dryer so I will keep in contact with you on that one Marty.

As usual with most things it was just a matter of asking.

[pomgolian]

So how was the ride Ross ? sorry couldnt make it tried but had to do some things at home to build my points for my January trip to the DB1K.

Let me know on Smedley would love to see the dam site.

[Waipukbiker]

Yup, was a good ride, mixture of sun, showers and a brief hailstorm as we got near Noreswood, saw a whole lot of countryside west of highway 50. Took approx 7 hrs which included the "Bit on the side" which went off with a "bang", was great to see a couple of Welly fullus join in for the ride. Hope you guys had a good day. I will be doing the ride again for all the people who couldn't make it so don't worry, Will be on the forum when a date gets sorted.

Re Smedley, will keep it at 3 bikes for the initial recce and course plotting around the stn and Ive been thinking (ouch) about how to turn that into weekend, overnighter ride, need to make some inquiries about another big area close by.

[XRJohnny]

Thanks Ross for organizing a cool ride. Some of those back country roads are so SO much fun on a 650, that if the law knew, they would ban it.
The Bit on the Side was more than worth it. Too much to absorb in one visit, so i'll have to go back.
It never fails to amaze me , how much Prime Riding areas are just on our doorstep, & it looks like nobody knows. Let's keep it that way.
Getting a rear puncture ( while you guys were exploring another muddy track ) is always a guaranteed way of remembering an ADV ride.
One rusty 4" nail removed, new tube inserted & we were off again. Compulsory stop at the HB Classic Clubrooms ended a great day.
Getting another puncture riding home was not on my wish list, but after sitting down & eating my lunch that i hadn`t yet touched, i patched the tube in the rain & failing light, then carried on.

[GPS MAN]

Hey Ross, I would really like to go on your exploration trip across Smedly Station. I have a GPS Base Station up there on their deer shed..So, I know the staff and they me...

Let me know when you want to go if you can take another rider?

Wade

[DR Girl]

Hey Ross, I would really like to go on your exploration trip across Smedly Station. I have a GPS Base Station up there on their deer shed..So, I know the staff and they me...

Let me know when you want to go if you can take another rider?

Wade

Happy to let you go Wade if x4 riders are too many.

[Waipukbiker]

Sounds good Wade, Always helps with that sort of contact.
No worries Robin, 4 will be fine, I told them that we would like to check the property out first and GPS plot a route around the stn but I dont want to make it look like we are exploiting them by bringing in a too many bikes on what is supposed to be just a recce.
Access is hard enough on private property so I want to keep this one squeaky clean. It certainly helped by me doing most of the road metalling on the last part of the access road to the property with the company that I work for which they have been very pleased with plus Wades involvement can only add to it.

What I am aiming for if it pans out is to also try and get access to Gwavas forest and do Smedley on a Sat and Gwavas on the Sunday and make it a weekender with a social get together on the Sat night. (Will see what the overnight rates are like at the Tiko Pub) This may not happen till next year but doing a recce in both and setting it up can happen over the next couple of months. Be good if we can get riders in from outside the bay for something like this. Something to think about anyway.

[Howie]

Yup, was a good ride, mixture of sun, showers and a brief hailstorm as we got near Noreswood, saw a whole lot of countryside west of highway 50. Took approx 7 hrs which included the "Bit on the side" which went off with a "bang", was great to see a couple of Welly fullus join in for the ride. Hope you guys had a good day.
.

Thanks for organising the ride Ross, It was good to Have someone with local knowledge to guide us around. I enjoyed the ride, as it is an area I have been meaning to explore for a while. I didn't seem to take that many photos though. I could be interested in coming up for another ride sometime if the timing is right.

Cheers

Paul