Thompsons Track?

[laserracer]

anyone know what condition thompsons track is in at the moment ??

[krad_nz]

Sorry not sure on the condition. Keen to give it a go sometime though.

One of the guys at work thinks it would be fun.

[laserracer]

cheers for that .. couple of us are going up in the next 2 days

[spookytooth]

general rule for thompsons track is if its raining its a bog hole.If it hasnt rained for a few days its a bog hole,if theres a drought its a boghole with a few dry bits of c lay inbtween.Well the tauranga side anyway

[laserracer]

sweet thanks spookytooth ..looks like we are gonna look forward to a bog hole

[noobi]

there are videos on youtube of thompsons track, most of them are from 4wd but some are of bikes
search "thompsons track"
looks pretty horrible

[spookytooth]

the last time i rode over it was mid summer a few years ago,it had been hot and dry for about a month.My ktm got stoped dead from about 70 kph in some semi dry clay slop tossing me over the bars,took about 10 minets for 2 of us to pry it out.Haha My mates honda all but vanished into a innocent looking puddle,but still it was a hell of a fun arvo.Cleaning that sticky shit off after wasn' so much fun

[oldskool]

Where abouts is this Thompsons Track?

[Danger]

In the Kaimai ranges north of Paeroa on this side but I've only ridden it from the coastal side on MTB's.

[scracha]

In the Kaimai ranges north of Paeroa on this side but I've only ridden it from the coastal side on MTB's.

Nope. Kaimai ranges about 10Km south of Te Aroha.

Hasn't rained here for about a week so it shouldn't be too bad.

[Danger]

OK sorry, thought the ranges stretched up to Thames. Those hills that join onto the Kaimai ranges but north of Paeroa. What are those hills called? Or are you also saying the track is further south? It could be as I might have confused with Neasville. Like I said I've only done Thompsons from the coastal side so it might be south of Paeroa on the inland side?

[Danger]

Here you go, just looked it up. It is in the Kaimai ranges but south of Paeroa, sorry for the misinformation.

http://home.off-road.com/~landy/thompsons.htm

[Danger]

Heres another thread about it.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8191

[spookytooth]

Thompson Track is mud on the tauranga side and metaled on the Matamata side

[rocketman1]

Yeah went up about three times last year, Matamata side, once in the middle of summer and still was a bog hole, spent about 1hr cleaning the bike, what a mess, sloppy yellow porridge in patches over axle deep you cannot avoid.
Thats said, its a beautiful view at the top, see all over the Tauranga harbour and most of the Waikato.
I believe the 4 wheel drives stuff it for the 2 wheelers. Those things carve up huge yellow clay bog holes that the water just sits in. Anyway they are entitled to be there as much as anyone.
Just watch out for their winching wires that they stretch up and across the track, they will take your head off, very hard to see... a tight rusty 6mm wire at head height in the bush. I know all about that...
And keep left and slow on the bends, nothing scarier than a Nissan 4x4 roaring around a corner head on to wake you up...
All said everyone should try it once, not really for beginners though.