Terrorizing Takapari

After having a blast on the yellow bike last weekend, I decided that maybe I'd like to see if it was still as much fun this weekend.  I then managed to persuade Rhys from work and Colin to join on WR's - Rhys borrowing mine for the day.  The idiots took the bait...

Come Saturday morning and Rhys only just bet Colin to my place where all that was required was loading the RMX onto the ute and the other guys going in search of fuel.  I took the direct route out to the bottom of Takapari Road and once again somehow managed to persuade the others to go via Pohangina so they could have a wee gravel warm-up.

I beat them out to the bottom of the hill, had the bike unloaded and was just starting to get my gear on when I started hearing some revs approaching.  It took a while but I could hear them for ages before they arrived with grins already plastered on their faces.  Yeah, WR's are a blast!

Geared up, we hit the gravel up to the first gate.  I played tail-end charlie and had fun sitting behind Rhys who was riding fairly well for someone who hadn't been on a bike for a few years.  The RMX was a hoot on some of the gravel corners.

The next leg was the squirt up the farm track to the top gate.  Once again I stayed at the back for a while until Rhys made a slight navigational error (gave a bank a bit of a scare) and I snuck past and chased after Colin.

Missing a WR somewhere...

We waited for a few minutes wondering what was keeping Rhys and then:

Is that dirt hanging off the bike?

Well, it turned out that Rhys had had a little bit of excitement back at one of the gates and ended up hitting the ground fairly hard.  He managed to dislocate a finger (which he fixed straight away) and pick up the odd graze along with getting the wind knocked out of him.

We sort of commiserated (and also gave him a bit of stick) with him and let him have a bit of a breather for a bit before he said he was up for the next bit.

The next bit is the climb up to the corner where we usually stop for photos and it includes those 4WD churned up bits.  These were also fairly muddy and slippery from rain the day before and we also had to get past three 4WD's on the way up.  They were great though and saw us coming and then let us through easily.

Unfortunately, I somehow started the camera recording in hyperlapse - doh!

One of the things about the 450 is that it goes fairly well and eats up most terrain up there fairly well too.  This meant that I may have got away on the other chaps just a little.  It did enable me to get a few cool shots of them making their way up though - I really like the ones as they are crossing the ridge.

Rhys looking good up on the pegs

Here comes Colin!

Time to take in the scenery:

On the next wee leg to the hutt I finally managed to persuade Colin to have a spin on the yellow bike while I tried out the sofa on his WR.  I think it went well enough for him...

At the hut there were already some 4WD's and we let them know about the other three on their way up so that they knew to expect them.  Shortly after they left (and while we were enjoying a snack), the other three vehicles arrived and we spent a bit of time yarning to them.

Seeing as there were three of us to help each other get out of trouble, we decided to head on past the hutt and check out the track a bit more (I'd last done this about 25 years ago).  The 3 4WD's tagged along too.

The first bit involved a reasonably steep and rocky descent which was no issue but the next uphill was a different story.  The track split off to the left or right and taking the left one we quickly came unstuck in some fairly soft (not muddy) rock and dirt.  The 450 proved very good at digging holes in this stuff.

We did a 180 and dropped back to the bottom for another try on the right side track.  Colin got away first and disappeared up the track with a Pajero chasing him.  Rhys and I went next.

Nearing the fork in the track the Pajero was blocking my way (actually backing down for another crack at the climb) so I was forced to go left again and hit the soft stuff again.  I quickly got bogged down again and Rhys and I had a bit of a go at trying some different paths but we seemed to always end up getting stuck again.  

Looking up the hill we could just see this sort of thing continuing all the way up the hill.  Maybe if we could have had a good run at it with plenty of pace we might have got up it but it was also fairly rough.  I'd pretty much had enough of getting stuck, stalling the bike and lifting it around (even with Rhys' help) so we ended up parking up to take in the views and wait for Colin.

Back at the hut is was my turn to ride Mighty Mouse so that Rhys could have a bit of fun on the 450.  Heading across the tops, I got away on the guys again and managed a few more action shots:

And then it was time for the downhill.  I was a bit more careful in the slippery bits this time with the WR not quite having a front tyre as good as the RMX's and the rear brake peddle a little hard to find for some reason 😉.  There was also an added hazard of a dick in a Hilux not stopping or pulling over at all for us - check it out on the video.

Safely back at the bottom, the RMX was loaded back up and we trundled off back to my place for a drink and a debrief.  Yet another great day out playing in the dirt and mud 👍