Snoozin

FUCK GO MARK SKAIFE WOOO YEAH KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!

Sounds good to me, if anyone would like a pre-hang between Daytonas and The 'Ding we can host fluffy white cat visits by appointment at casa del Richy and Bex. There can be light refreshments (perhaps scones) and cups of tea if there is interest.

1981 Toyota Starlet KP61 4AGE (341)-Edit by Richard Opie, on Flickr I present to thee, a fine example of a super scary, gonna crash and kill a busload of nuns, 'stretched' tyre fitment.

Nah nah nah no need for RB25, RB20 sounds so much better on the booiiiill.

We didn't get up Patriarch - instead chose some other routes and up to Black Birch Ridge instead. I'll be back down to have a go at Mt Patriarch and I'm keen to run through Maungatapu too!

It was super weird lining up in that reserve behind a bunch of houses then heading thru essentially a turnstile onto bicycle tracks... felt very naughty. But Dave must have some amazing connections to have pulled off the access he did. It had me wondering if there was any pushback from the community afterwards. Actually an eventful ride for me (not negatively), and some good stories from it.

From posting, still riding the bikes. It's punishing taking pictures and stuff all the time. We had a belter of a 2 day ride around Nelson several weeks back on the 690, then spent the Monday exploring Marlborough. I've been humming around a few trails on the 350 and I've got another big one on the 690 at the end of the month.

I've retired.

Looking sicko, very tempted to sell up my stash and buy some 16x8.... 7.5's are the widest I currently have and I'm not sure what a 225 would go like on them.

Keen on one with tyres tbh

Pics of C4, man I pine them and haven't yet been able to sack up, sell one of my cars and buy one.

While I haven't 'officially' finished the healing process, I'd done a few short road rides to try and get my head back in the game, and on the weekend signed up to a single day ride in the Wellington region. It was a led ride - ie no GPX file or running at our own pace, but the promise was a relatively easy ride and I thought it'd be a great idea to get back on the horse and see some stuff I wouldn't ordinarily see. First though, a road ride to Makara. 150 or so km right off the bat, a 6am departure, meeting a mate in Rongotea then another couple of dudes in Otaki. I got smoked on the twisty road section to Makara, as I'm regaining my road confidence so wasn't pushing on at all. The ride essentially took in the wind farm gravel roads on Terawhiti station, with a bunch of short sand sections, grass and rocky farm tracks. This is all private access stuff you can't normally get to. Initial sort of views after our first climb into the wind farm. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (127) by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (126) by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is further along, beyond the Red Rocks area I believe. Again it's still on private land. Lots of seals doing seal stuff, wondering why a bunch of weirdos on raucous machines were interrupting their morning siesta. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (104) by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (106) by Richard Opie, on Flickr From here, we'd climb again, and eventually end up at the spot where the HV cable from the South Island makes landfall in the North. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (108) by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (110) by Richard Opie, on Flickr This is the cable patrol boat, ensuring the cable behaves itself and isn't being led astray/smoking meth/doing ram raids or anything I guess. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (111) by Richard Opie, on Flickr As an additional special little surprise, I got to see the bike that started this whole thread being used in anger by the bloke who bought it off me. Here's Guy on my old XT660R alongside the current steed, which TBH is just a modern day XT660R. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (109) by Richard Opie, on Flickr We'd then climb towards the next bay, where there was again, lots and lots of scenery but also the remnants of a coastal homestead. I thought I'd park in the living room. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (114) by Richard Opie, on Flickr Meanwhile, here's the 690 and the old bloke who owns it/makes some sort of excuse at riding it, enjoying some scenery. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (115) by Richard Opie, on Flickr 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (102) by Richard Opie, on Flickr The next part took us back to the gravel then up along a couple of ridge lines on grass tracks, with a rocky, rutted descent down to another bay that caught a few blokes out. Thankfully, not me for a change. You can see it in the back ground of this shot, snaking up the hill to the right of the background. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (118) by Richard Opie, on Flickr Here's me and the lads I rode with. Their bikes are pretty damn fancypants. I appear to be balding but please rest assured, it's not quite yet. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (120) by Richard Opie, on Flickr From here, it was a pretty sweet squirt out, again on some farm tracks that were rutted, but dry. It would have been chaos if it had rained and some of these guys were stuck in there on their almost-road tyres. We'd move on to Kinnoull Station, a short ride back down South Makara Road. This was fun. Relatively quick double track stuff, with about 12 or so river crossings - not massive ones, maybe half a metre deep at the most, but bloody good fun. I had a total blast wheelieing puddles, ruts, and even popping the front heading into a couple of the smaller crossings. I wish I'd taken some pics now of people attacking the rivers, but alas... I was having too much fun! This was an "in and out" track, so we had to wait at the end (beach) and allow the whole group to filter in before we could head back. 2020 KTM 690 Enduro R Phone (125) by Richard Opie, on Flickr That about calls it for that ride. We arrived for lunch about 1:30 and after a quick woolshed-cooked burger I chose to head home, rather than complete the small afternoon run. Feeling OK about it all at the mo.

We do actually have a member with a real life BTCC super tourer.... /sorry for the ACKSHUALLY moment.

I don't think it matters what it is, I'll still fall off it, struggle with the most moderate obstacle and get left behind 😅

^ Still not sure, that big spiel dates from before I crashed and encountered further struggles. I've learned this isn't a pastime for folk who suck, unfortunately.