42nd Traverse

[Dave Ross]

#2755

We're back! For those of you who missed it, this was the first real Adventure ride planned through the forum. Desamo, Donald Duck, Richard K.and myself were the only ones on the ride. The idea was to do as much gravel as we could fit in on the ride to Owhango, spend the nicht there and then do the traverse the following morning. Donald was going to sit out the actual ride, because of his tyre choice. He had a dual sport tyres with the front still showing remnants of tread.The first part of the ride turned out as planned, until I took a wrong turn on a gravel road. We ended up in Otorohonga, were we had lunch and them cut back onto gravel via Waitomo Caves. In Pio Pio wie gassed up and carried on to Ohura, then to Taumarunui and via Hikumutu road to Owhango. By then it was a bit drizzly, but barely enough to dampen the road. We arrived in Owahango at 3pm. Because the weather forecast was for rain, we decided to do the traverse immediately from the Owhango side. By the time we had unloaded out gear and were ready to go it was 3.30pm.The traverse starts a few hundred meters behind the Hotel. You cross a bridge and before you know it your in the tick of it. It got muddy real quick and rutted as well, plus the track snaked its way up a hill. That's not so good when you are riding a boxer. Once you're committed you've got to keep on going. I skimmed the ridge left and right of my chosen path.At the top I stopped and after turning the bike off, I could hear Donald making his way up the hill. I don't know how he did it, but up he came. No pictures from this section, we were not in the mood. I kept thinking of Steve B.'s prediction of Donald making it all of three k's. We didn't want to go through this again, so the decision was made to carry on. Des had no trouble with his 250. You wouldn't have known that this was his first adventure ride, the way he handles his bike. After watching Donald make his way through and over a few obstacles, it became clear that he knew what he was doing.The track kept us on our toes. I'll wait until Des can provide some photos, and the others some additional commentary. Just keep in mind, that we had been going pretty hard out all day, just to get there on time. This made it just a little bit harder to fully focus on the task.

[Anonymous]

#11068

Des had no trouble with his 250. You wouldn't have known that this was his first adventure ride, the way he handles his bike.

It was beginners luck and a desire to get out the otherside for dinner. And the fact it was a light small bike.That was a tremendous amount of fun. I'll move the other post here.__________________________________Alex, what a stunner of a ride. I'll post up later I just wanted to mention I got passed by Richard on the Southern Motorway around Papakura. Obviously he'd been reunited with his boots and made it back okay.And the moral is....  ???(What a great bunch of guys to ride with, especially Donald, the first and fastest guy into the deepest stream we crossed when another bike stopped at the deep point.)We also did the 42nd, the wrong way round, we did it the hard way, with it raining on and off and just before dark.How far did Donald make it without off road tyres?Donald also had a barely legal bald front tyre!He did make it past the 3km point...  🙂

[Anonymous]

#11069

How about some photos next time or better still I'll be there now my skid plate is on the adventure or even the 450 might even be there. 😉 I'm thinking you do need the nice big boxer for the adventure rides and the smaller bike for the trail rides. 🙂

[Dave Ross]

#11070

How about some photos next time or better still I'll be there now my skid plate is on the adventure or even the 450 might even be there. 😉 I'm thinking you do need the nice big boxer for the adventure rides and the smaller bike for the trail rides. 🙂

Why didn't you come along. It was fun.Des had the best photos. I'll add a couple, just to get things started.

[Dave Ross]

#11071

Here are a couple of my photos. Des' photos are better and he has more. So that's still to come.Quick stop on Ohura. It's a bustling metropolis. We met a bunch of kids who were passing the time. They were keen on our bikes and wanted to ride them. Des has the photos.This is the calm after the first mud bath. I had walked back and was relieved to find all three bikes accounted for. Des exiting one of the water crossings. He just sailed through. I am a lousy cameraman and didn't catch the interesting bit. I think this is the one that had a bit of a hole. Richard decided to stop in the deepest part and turn his engine off. The next photos show a rocky climb. It is pretty steep and you had to pick a line. This is were Donald got caught out and lost a mirror and dropped his chain. He was quick thinking though, and got it back on, once the bike was upright again. The photos do not do this section justice. We don't have photos of some of the more difficult sections. We found it was best just to go for it, without stopping or thinking too much about it.

[aegis4805]

#11072

well done you guys – gutsy effort – 'you knocked the bastard off' eh?IMO much of this stuff is all about attitude - being in the right head space and looking where you want to go - easier said than done for some of us  😳

[Dave Morris]

#11073

heres the most releived people thoughhttp://www.rescue.org.nz/taupo/helicopter.php

[Dave Ross]

#11074

well done you guys - gutsy effort - 'you knocked the bastard off' eh?IMO much of this stuff is all about attitude - being in the right head space and looking where you want to go - easier said than done for some of us  😳

I've never seen you having trouble with this kind of riding. If it wasn't challenging we wouldn't bother. Riding a big bike adds a bit to the pucker factor. I gave the sump guard a couple of good hits, the R80 just hasn't got all that much ground clearance, especially if you get the line wrong.

[Anonymous]

#11075

Alex, thanks for posting up the photo's. I'm new to playing with that stuff so here's where I got to(is how I would post them - I should drag you over to give me some pointers on how to get around a little quicker on photobucket)http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp320/Desamo/

[Anonymous]

#11076

I loved this ride, my second gravel outing and first off road experience. We'd left papkura at 7.30am and from Raglan South spent most of the day on gravel.I struggled to stay with Alex, Donald and Richard. Donald on his road orientated tyres and pretty much bald front was exceptional on gravel. For me it was a case of trying things I'd read while trying to keep up. the first gravel stint went well but in the second run I hit the first corner too hot, locked up the rear and almost slid off the corner. By the second corner I had that sorted, came in too hot again, hit the brakes and this time slid right off the corner over the huge moung of a shoulder and onto the grass run off area.After that I settled into a routine and got progressively faster.Interesting events on the way down were;- trying to get through a herd of cows the farmers were herding up the road in the same direction as us.- passing an ostrich farm I had an ostrich run along the fence line the same speed as me. We were both doing 73kmph. An amazing site.- the suicidal sheep. It ran across the road in front of Alex, but Alex missed him, it then turned and ran straight back in front of Richard but Richard missed him and then it turned and ran straight back in front of Donald and Donald missed. The bikes were fairly close together. After we'd failed to do the job three times he gave up crossing preferring to wait for someone more competent.- We stopped at  Otorohonga (an unplanned stop) due to human error. The cafe midtown next to the small open area has great pies. - We stopped momentarily in Aria for gas.- at Ohura, we seemed to exhibit the skills of the pied piper. We'd stopped for our first break and it wasn't long before we were joined by the kids from the town. They chatted and asked for rides (even though they couldn't reach the pedals) and two ended up sitting on Alex and my bikes. What a neat bunch of kids.- We'd continued South past Taumarunui, then back up to the big T before heading straight out and doing a loop of gravel back to Owhango.Arriving at Owhango hotel at 3.00pm and dropping off our bags we decided with the light rain and fading light that we could do the 42nd and be back for a late dinner. Willie the bar owner encouraged us to make the trip and let us know if he hadn't heard from us by midnight he'd ring someone. My concern was at midnight he may not be in a state to ring someone.Doing the 42nd from Owhango to Kapoors Road was a blast and we exited 2 1/2 hours later at 6pm at the main highway.The highlights of the 42nd were too numerous to mention. We had a great bunch of guys and all similarly willing enough to throw our machines down the hill and attempt to make it to the other side.We were all 42nd virgins and paid two mirrors for the experience. Thank you Donald and Richard for making that payment on our behalf.I'll post up my 42nd experience later. Needless to say I intend to be back for more. Returning to the Owhango hotel one of us felt it important to have a shower and the other three thought a cold beer and food was a higher priority. After parking our bikes in Willie's garage we settled in to the warmth and a good laugh over the days events.The food and beer were exceptional. Richard took his seriously wet boots apart and hung them around the fire. Which seemd like a good idea.We had so many laughs over the events of the day. The 42nd was all the more satsifying having done 8 hours travel by gravel first, then attempting the track with all of our extra gear on. The intermittent rain made the clay very slippery. And then to top it off knowing that we had limited time to complete it before dark meant we were more focused on getting through.I'm looking forward to more rides and one of the evenings topics was "where to next?". and how does Donald top himself... maybe do it in road tyres next time.Sunday morning we woke to rain and decided to head home to Auckland after breakfast at "Out of the Fog Cafe". Richard's trial separation with his boots for the night hadn't gone well. His boots were still safely by the fire, in the bar which was locked until the publican arrived between 10 and 10.30. So we went to breakfast and Richard decided he'd wait for his boots while we headed North to Taumaranui for gas. We then shot through to Te Kuiti and took another long coffee stop waiting for Richard. As we left, we realised he probalby hadn't been reunited with his boots as quickly as he thought.North of Priongia I lost Alex and Donald only to bump into them again at Mercer. Richard finally passed me at Papakura on the Southerm Motorway. He had a big smile on. Obviously being reunited with his boots was a special moment.Willie let us know the 42nd is quite rutted at the moment. As Alex can tell you from the fact that he used his cylinders as skid plates at times. Willie also mentioned that in about a months time its going to get gradered.My thoughts are if you can borrow a friends bike this is a great place to go. Now a BMW 450 day at the 42nd would be fun. Dean can I borrow your bike?

[Dave Ross]

#11077

You've done all the hard work with photobucket. All you need to do now is to click in the image code box (this will copy it) and then paste it into the forum word processor and leave it as it.  I've attached an image to show you which one to click.(I'll add a few action shots from your photobucket site, if you don't mind)

[Dave Ross]

#11078

Here is a selection of my favourite photos.The four Amigos looking for trouble 😀The local youth. For once the call of: " there is nothing to do here" is probably true.Hitting the mud with the cylinders on the right, makes the bike go left. Thanks for getting me out of this one Des. The other two Amigos where already exploring uncharted territory by then.Pleased to have made it through.Richard letting off a bit of steam. Why rush through nature, when you can be in the middle of it.I thought now I know why Donald calls himself Donald Duck, he just loves water. He was the first to respond. He is 6'5", so that creek had a deepish stop as you can see. Donald is the sort of guy you want around when the going gets tough. This cloud kept following Richard for a while. I may have been responsible for the rain later on.Des aced all the difficult bits. He was the only one who's bike didn't need a rest on its side. And he was responsible for all the good photos.Richard handled his big R100GDPD with ease. While Donald had an excuse for dropping his bike, Richard and I got caught out by the easy bits. Short lapses of concentration will do that to you.2.5 hours later. It's amazing how approaching weather and imminent night fall can focus an effort. I would not hesitate to ride with these fine gentlemen again. I guess we did "knock the bastard off". Well, let's say we crossed on ride of the list, but a few more have made it onto the list, so I guess we will ride again 😀We didn't survive the final water crossing at the Owhango Hotel, and pretty much all fell into the drink. There was a bit of snoring going on at night, so I will be sporting earplugs next time, but I am sure the others will as well.

[Anonymous]

#11079

I'll play with the photo thing later. Some of what appeared easy bits were still tricky. On the rock face that we rode up I was lucky to make it up. Donald went to use the same line and missed the launch rock by a matter of inches. This meant he hit a squarish face which popped the front of his bike up. With his skill he was able to head forward and upward and would have made it easily I thought. The problem was the jolt at the beginning of the slope knocked his chain off and he only got a couple of meters before losing all drive.At this point the slope is very off camber and as the bike fell he jumped to the side landing on his feet and his bike crashed into the rock with a huge thud. This was the second mirror lost. If this had happened to me I expect I'd have been thrown to the ground. The dismount by Donald was incredibly well done.This resulted in the second mirror being paid to the 42nd. Actually just the connector at the base, so an even smaller payment. Luckily there was no other damage.The first mirror was yielded up in the small crossing where you see Alex with his bike sideways. Both of the bigger BMW's had problems here. You had to exit in the right rut into a tighter turn as the left was too slippery to get up.Alex started in the right and rode to the left. Richard came out on the right and then had the front tuck under on the slippery clay. This of course was our first mirror gone.I think we were lucky to not have more off's or damage. The 42nd probably shouldn't be tackled when you have intermittent rain...

[Anonymous]

#11080

How about some photos next time or better still I'll be there now my skid plate is on the adventure or even the 450 might even be there. 😉 I'm thinking you do need the nice big boxer for the adventure rides and the smaller bike for the trail rides. 🙂

We'd have loved to have had you there. I think four was a good minimum number for the 42nd.

[Mohammed Mahdi Essop]

#11081

GuysThanks for the great ride. Also thanks for the great write up but I would never have made it without your help.Photo's came out great.Looking forward to the next ride. I might even buy a new front tyre!  😀

[Author]

Posts