That valley again...

So this bloke I know was keen to get some more miles on his new KTM and this time around he'd already decided that he wanted to go up the Whangaehu Valley again - even thought we'd only just been up there a few weeks ago!  I think it was the new bike thing...he even managed to rope in Carl on his new, you guessed it, KTM1090R...

On Saturday, we met up around 9:30ish at the usual Sanson garage and sat around drinking coffee, and waiting for a truck to roll in with an elephant or rhino or something equally interesting.  Ah, but it wasn't to be so we finished up and hit the road.

I was determined to put a little variation into the ride, so rather than riding to Fordell we turned in and took Turakina Valley Road over to Mangaitpona Road.  It's not like we ride Turakina Valley Road that often is it?  To say it was a nice (if a little cool) day is an understatement.

Travelling West on Mangaitpona Road we eventually got to the turn-off up Mangamahu Road and took it.  The weather hadn't changed much...

Along the way I'd come up with an idea that meant we wouldn't be riding the valley in the same direction as last time and this meant a turn-off onto Te Rimu Road to cross over to the Paraparas for a bit.

Te Rimu Road was a little different than last time through with the road being less gravel, more dirt/clay.  Luckily it wasn't wet and slippery.  Even more lucky, the blokes below ignored us and carried on with whatever they were doing as we idled past...

Here's the video:

At the end of the road Carl left us to it and Colin and I promptly took off to chase this guy down:

I wonder if he'll make us famous?  He certainly wasn't mucking around, but in the end...

Nearing the falls, we turned off onto Fields track for the sublime ride up the hill to the usual photo stop.

Enjoying his view

From there it was back down the other side.

It was either the below corner or just around it where I had my closet shave with wildlife in a long time.  I'd just come around the corner when I was suddenly upon two big billy goats having a conversation in the middle of the road.  One broke left and tore off up the bank while I hit the picks hard and threw the Tenere to the left to miss the other one by nothing - I haven't checking the bike for stinky goat hair yet but need to...it was that close!

Over the bride we took the right hand turn to get us onto Whangaehu Valley Road for the run back South.  The first bit of the road had recently been graded so was a little chunky but soon the road improved no end and it was a really brilliant ride on nice hard packed gravel.

That'll be Colins dust ruining the picture...

I never speed...

More beef!

At Mangamahu I caught up with Colin and we had a breather to take in the lovely views and brilliant day.

Crappy phone picture of an old hotel

All your bacon needs taken care of (seriously big sow)

No exit road unfortunately

Hotel to the right

We were enjoying the views so much we decided to retrace our steps a few hundred metres to check out the local school - it's been there a while...

And this was the trip back out from the school, dig that old bridge eh?

By now it was getting pretty near lunchtime so we rode back through to Turakina Valley and then took our last bit of gravel on Taurimu and Galpins Road through to Marton.  I even stopped at the same place as last time for pics...

In Marton we had a nice lunch before I decided that my lawns needed mowing and Colin decided that he also had chores.  So with just the short ride home that was it.  What a stunning day weather wise (give me this time of the year over summer anytime) and the riding wasn't half bad either!

Mighty Mouse in the Maungatuks

Yesterday I finally had the chance to ride the little WR in the mighty Maungatuks - a place that Colin had been promising would be fun and challenging.  Hence the tyre changes earlier in the weeks before...

So, on a drizzly Saturday morning I loaded up that fabulously expensive new farkle (without dropping the bike on it and making me cry) and headed on down to meet Colin in Waikanae.

In Waikanae, the bike was unloaded and introduced to Colin's WR while we had a coffee and got ourselves sorted.

Words to live by...

From Colin's place we rode about 10km to the place where we were entering the fun zone.  Somehow I knew it was going to be fun when I noticed you had to ford a creek just to get into the car park...

Creek successfully negotiated we were quickly into it, clambering up rocky and narrow tracks where 2nd and 3rd gear were about all that was really needed.

As we climbed higher we also got to ride on some hard packed dirt and then clay...I first noticed how slippery the clay was when I saw Colin get nice and sideways climbing out of a corner.  I buttoned off a bit and changed my line only to slide the back out and into a drain...

I didn't drop it but I sure was stuck on some slippery stuff.  The clay was that hard and slippery that the rear just couldn't get any bite.  I had to left the back wheel out of the drain and then get the bike pointed back up the hill.  Yes, this does warm you up a little...There was still no grip even with the bike pointing uphill and idling in first with me walking beside it.  It wasn't until I could find some gravel/rocks that I could finally get on and try and catch up with Colin.  I eventually did up at a wee intersection in the middle of nowhere.

More zigs and zags and general brapping about got us back down into a valley and after taking a wee shortcut through some pine trees we arrived at the orange hut where my crappy camera took some crappy pics.

We had a bit of a breather there and chatted to some mountain bikers until this lot turned up.

Apparently they were the "Shiny" section of a local 4WD club.  Quite glad we met them where we did...We also found out where they were going and were happy that we wouldn't "run into" them along the way.

Next up was a few more creek crossings and rocky climbs before we got up nice and high among the power pylons.

Pathetic photo of some other bikes at a pylon opposite us...

Shortly after this we descended a very steep, rocky and rutted downhill track (think it was Zig Zag Road but really I had no idea where we were) which was reasonably hard work.  About halfway down I decided that I should stop for another photo.

Eventually I made it down to the bottom and then Colin took us bush bashing...We slipped, slid, stalled, restarted (and I think one of us even had a lie down) in the the creek below and then clambered out of it only to decide that it was only going to get tougher and turned around...

"Track" out of creek is about smack bang in the middle of the picture

Then we definitely needed a breather.

The last picture I took...

We returned back up that rocky hill (much easier going up) and then Colin lead me off again all over the place.  We often came to dead ends or to bits that started looking a bit serious but it was all an absolute barrel of fun.

One other memorable bit was where we rode 50m or so up a stream (who needs a track) and then into some pines where there were plenty of mudholes to avoid/splatter through.  Once again we rode in so far and Colin warned that it was going to get tougher...I made him feel better by chickening out...

On the way out I nearly had my own bath in the creek.  I was getting a little over confident and was charging after Colin when I slid on some rocks.  I didn't end up dropping the bike - one of the advantages of the WR over the Tenere is that it doesn't weigh 265kg+.

More exploring and another trip to the orange hutt followed as we started making our way out again.  And then we had to deal with that slippery clay slope again - this time downhill...

As I came out of that same corner where I'd had trouble on the way up, I couldn't help but notice that there was a WR and rider blocking my way...I still don't know how I didn't slide off and join Colin but it was a close thing.

Heading back into town we swapped bikes for a bit and yeah Colin's is wider with his bigger tank (I need one of those) with a much nicer seat and a gloriously rorty exhaust - hmmmm....

Anyway, what a great way to spend the day.  We did something like 95km - maybe 75km of that off road in about 4 and half hours.  Great entertainment for about 4 litres of fuel!

And yeah, I'm a little sore in places today...

Here's a wee map from my GPS track - use it at your peril...