Muriwai ride tonight (16 March)

[.chris]

Well that ride did not really go to plan, bloody tides who would have guessed a week later they would be different.

It was a high tide and the sand any where near the waterline was so soft. Was pretty hard going, but most of us (the guys on the little bikes) keep going and made it to Rimmer Road, by this time we had enough beach for one day.

Pic's of Sam and Patrick fighting along the beach, then trying to get out of Rimmer road.

At least I can say I gave all that came on the ride a push somewhere along the ride.

Working on the video now.

[3L4NS1R]

Quote of the night:

"Nah dude! I don't need a push! See you at the top!"


And as the 101st Airborne said to General Patton:

"Rescue? Who said we needed a rescue?"

Lessons learnt:
1) Check tides.
2) MX riders are cool.
3) Bikes overhead when revving the crap out of them in 2nd gear.
4) When sand is flying over your head, you are only digging your rear tire in further.

With learning curves as steep as these, we'll be at Dakar level in no time.

[.chris]

[Crisis management]

And here I was telling my wife "the other guys were on lighter bikes than mine and they were getting along fine, I was starting to slow them down"

For those that didn't already figure it out....Fat Pig racing retired defeated last night after digging about 3 kms of trench along Muriwai beach! Second gear at 6k and slowing down was about the norm for that soggy, sandy mess, but if it's any consulation when I exited the beach (and needed a "small" push) I ended up returning the favour by pushing the three 4x4's that were stuck in the same area.

It wasn't just us guys!

Good to meet you three, if you want a gravel ride anytime let me know, there's lots of it out there and some good stuff to learn on.


PS. I've washed the bike twice now and there's still that black bloody sand crawling out.

[3L4NS1R]

Good to meet you three, if you want a gravel ride anytime let me know, there's lots of it out there and some good stuff to learn on.


PS. I've washed the bike twice now and there's still that black bloody sand crawling out.

Ya win some, ya lose some...

We need some options for our weekly/fortnightly rides for when the tides aren't right, so any suggestions are welcome!

And yup, the black sand keeps coming for a few days. Don't worry, you'll get rid of all of it about a day before the next beach trip!

[3L4NS1R]

Man that vid is awesome. Pity about the stabilizer fail...

Helmet cam... We all need em!

[Paladin]

Looks like you guys had a blast, even if it was hard work. Well done Chris for doing video, you're putting us south coast riders to shame now! I can see we are going to have to buck our ideas up down here!

[3L4NS1R]

Hey any one know how to change the name of a thread? Looks like this has evolved from a simple evening out....

[.chris]

Man that vid is awesome. Pity about the stabilizer fail...

Helmet cam... We all need em!

If I had that system last week it would have been awsome, damn beach.

Shame about the camera running out of battery, would have loved to get some of Paddy doing massive fish tails as he ripped up the beach, he was so close to bailing a few times.

And you guys trying to get up rimmer road would have made for a great vid.
Might head up South Head and get onto the beach Via Wilsons road and that Carrigeway on saturday or sunday.

[3L4NS1R]

That would be sick. What time on sat? I'm busy in the morning, but I might be able to get away from work for the afternoon...

[.chris]

That would be sick. What time on sat? I'm busy in the morning, but I might be able to get away from work for the afternoon...

Cool, low tide is 11:58am, so we should be all good to hit the beach and head north.
What time could you make it out to Kumeu?

[3L4NS1R]

Will see on the day. Got to sit my Dangerous goods test, so will see how long that takes...

[3L4NS1R]

I'm thinking I should be able to get there by midday though...

[.chris]

I'm thinking I should be able to get there by midday though...

Sweet that could work quite nicely

[paddy]

:-) I had a great time thanks guys. I need to get out the degreaser tonight and get rid of some of the greasy sandy patches that seem to be stuck about the place! My trip computer is still poked (which is really annoying as I have no idea when I am going to run out of fuel. I need to strip it down tonight and wash out the salt. I suspect it is probably seeing several buttons stuck down or there are some tracks/pins shorted together. Hopefully it hasn't fried any ICs.

I would have to give the weekend a miss. But I am definitely up for a weekly or fortnightly ride - can't promise I would make everyone, but definitely a good number. If we are planning well in advance, I wouldn't be adverse to starting earlier either - even as early as 1530 is potentially practical for me.

@Crisis management:
I was a bit disappointed that you had to turn back - hopefully we can plan a little better in the future. It's probably good you did though as it definitely got worse! Especially as the tide got higher and higher. It sounds like you had your own adventure on the way out though. I was well impressed with your gravel riding though. That was something else! Clearly we need to have a teaching session sometime - I'm still terrified of gravel at this stage (especially outside corners).