Adventure Rider Issue #10

28,59.9487S 140,59.9564E WGS-84

It’s what we do

Tom Foster - Editor

post popped up on the advridermag.com.au forum a few weeks ago, and it gave me cause for a great deal of thought – something I’m not good at.

AAnyhoo, rmhrc628 asked, “Is there a way to embed digital GPS locations for a certain number of the pics in your mag?”

Believe it or not, this was something I’d been considering, and I think it’s a great idea.

For readers who may not know about geotagging, it’s the process where images have their exact position embedded in the image when the the pic is taken. This information, called EXIF (exchangeable image file), is stored by most digital cameras these days. Usually the camera records a heap of technical info about the exposure value, lens length, settings, time and date the image was shot and a heap more. On top of that, upmarket cameras can be programmed to include things like the photographer’s name and contact details, and, becoming more common all the time, the latitude and longitude of the camera’s position when the image was taken.

This last one is geotagging, and I

thought it’d be great if we could make that information available. Then, any reader who wanted to experience the amazing location seen in the mag could punch it into his GPS and just go there. Or, if he’s on a ride in the area, he could include the location as a waypoint. Most phones geotag their images automatically, but none of my cameras could, so I bought one specifically for the job.

“Start with this one. Where was I when this image was shot? ”

It’s new technology to me, but I know it’s been around for a while. Some GPS units will let you take a pic, then wirelessly send that pic to another GPS. The second GPS will than navigate you to the spot where the image was shot.

I phoned John Hudson, the most fullbottle GPS person I know, and he shook his head and explained there were difficulties. He thought it was unlikely I could get the idea to work the way I’d described it to him. A simple lat-long can be pinpointed on a topographical map for instance, but who has topo maps on hand? And the lat-long given by GPS can apparently vary according

to the ‘format’ the GPS uses.

My blank response to this tipped John off to how hopeless it would be to try and explain it to me.

Still, I want to give it a try, and I’m counting on you readers to help.

From now on, whenever I can geotag, I’ll put a map pin in the corner of the image with the lat-long information I have. There’ll also be a section on the website where you can download the image, along with its EXIF information. Since I started looking at this a couple of knowledgeable readers have shown how easy it is using the web. So far, the easiest way I’ve found is to log on to the AdvRiderMag forum, download the image that’s caught your eye, then upload it to www.geoimgr.com. The location will appear on the map, and you can zoom right in close to see where it is and how to get there.

I haven’t had anyone jump in and say the lat-long is usable yet, though.

I reckon with so many of us working to make it happen, we’ll get it sorted out.

Start with this one. Where was I when this image was shot? There’s a lat-long and the format with the map pin in the bottom corner, and I’ll put the image on the forum under GEO TAG images. See if you can work it out, then email and let me know how you got on.

That’ll get us started.

Images marked with the map pin in this issue will be on the forum ready for you to import into geoimgr.

Adventure Rider Magazine is published bi-monthly by Mayne Publications Pty Ltd

Publisher Kurt M Quambusch

Editor

Tom Foster

tom@advridermag.com.au

Phone: (02) 9452 4517 Mobile: 0481 349 034

Sales Director

Marcus Hucker marcus@trademags.com.au

Advertising Sales

Mitch Newell

mitch@trademags.com.au

Phone: (02) 9452 4517

Mobile: 0402 202 870

Production Manager

Melissa Perreault melissa@trademags.com.au

Rebecca Cotton rebecca@trademags.com.au

Design

Danny Bourke art@trademags.com.au

Subscriptions

Linda McFadden (02) 8355 6841 linda@trademags.com.au

Accounts Jeewan Gnawali jeewan@trademags.com.au

ISSN 2201-1218

ACN 130 678 812

ABN 27 130 678 812

Postal address: PO Box 489, DEE WHY NSW 2099 Australia

Website: www.advridermag.com.au

Enquiries:

Phone: 1300 76 4688

Int.ph: +612 9452 4517

Int.fax: +612 9452 5319

On the cover: The Triumph Tiger 800XCx. One of our favourite bikes got even better for 2015. Pic: Wilkinson Photography u

According to Nick Fletcher, The Wonnangatta River had a crossing deep enough to drown a New South Welshman.

Toby Price

Still the same happy, down-to-earth bloke.

After a mind-blowing podium finish and stage win in his first Dakar earlier this year, Toby Price, 27, from Maitland NSW, has shot to international motorsport stardom. That’s not a mindless cliché. Toby, possibly the happiest, nicest bloke in motorcycling, is now poised to begin a serious international career in the fast-growing, elite world of motorcycle rallye. You wouldn’t know it to chat to him over a coffee in a busy northern NSW café, though. He’s remarkably unaffected by the fame. When we last spoke to the KTM star he’d just collected his third Finke win. This time we were able to listen to his thoughts on an even bigger result.

AdvR: When we last spoke you were hopeful a Dakar ride might be in your future. Now you’ve finished third in your first Dakar. How did it all come about?

TP: Basically, Ben Grabham, team owner here in Australia, put me in touch with Alex Doringer, the manager of the KTM rallye team in Austria, and it all fell into place at the last minute.

They offered me a ride in the Morocco rallye, just to see if I liked the sport and that style of racing. I had a couple of rough days, but it all went well.

That was my very first rallye ride, so I wasn’t expecting too much, but we finished eighth and I loved it. So we worked out a deal to get to Dakar.

AdvR: That was October and Dakar kicks off in the first week of January. It didn’t give you a lot of time to adjust to the idea.

TP: Definitely not.

There wasn’t a lot of time to prepare and there wasn’t a lot of time to practice or train. Dakar was the second rallye I ever competed in. I’d only had a week experience with Marc Coma in Spain, six days in Morocco doing the race there, and I trained two days in America with a good friend, Quinn Cody.

Then I came back to Australia and did nothing until I went to Dakar.

I didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

AdvR: Did you have to qualify to enter Dakar? Was Morocco part of that?

TP: No. Anyone can enter Dakar as long as they have the big dollars needed to do it. Morocco was just a trial run to see if I liked the actual event and doing the navigation while riding.

It’s definitely something interesting and different.

AdvR: You started with a stock bike, but finished with something a little more advanced. How did that come about?

TP: That’s right.

The first week in the Dakar I had the same bike I rode in Morocco, which was a stock-standard KTM 450 rallye bike. If anyone in the world wanted to buy

Far left: The high point was just finishing the event.

Main: Everything about the race just takes its toll on the body. There’s always a mix of things making it physically hard.

Credit: RallyZone Bauer/Barni

Main: Dakar was only the second rallye Toby contested. A third-place finish was a phenomenal result.

a KTM rallye bike and have it in their garage, what they would get sent in the box is what I was riding.

We ran the bike in and all I changed was the clickers on the suspension. I didn’t know what type of terrain we were going into and I didn’t know what I was in for. It might’ve been that the bike felt great where I was riding and practicing, but 20km out in the first stage it might’ve felt like crap. So I didn’t make a big fuss. The main thing KTM wanted me to do was go there, learn and get the experience.

As the days went on I just kept plodding along and not making massive mistakes and not going too crazy, and I found myself in top 10 and top 20 positions.

Unfortunately, for my bike to get upgraded, it meant other riders on the team had to drop out. Sam Sunderland lost a lot of time on the second day and then he crashed. I think he injured his shoulder on day four or day five. So from there, after he’d dropped out of the event, I got his forks and shock. It made a humongous difference. It just made the bike handle so much better, and I could get through the rough stuff just a little bit easier.

Suspension was the thing I most wanted upgraded, but while all the team’s riders are running it’s hard to do. The team only has what it can carry, and that’s just enough for each bike.

Then when Jordi Viladoms had bike problems from the salt pan day – that day destroyed a lot of bikes – I got some motor parts. The team didn’t tell me specifically what the parts where, but I could feel the difference. There was a little bit more power and a clutch cover that had an oil line.

They were the two main upgrades. It was a bit like playing a video game

Credit: Marcin Kin

Toby PrICe

where you go and collect coins along the course and then you can go to the shop and start buying parts to upgrade your ride.

AdvR: You’re carrying some fairly serious injuries these days, but you’re in good shape at the moment and your fitness level generally is very high. How did you find the physical and mental challenge of Dakar?

TP: My fitness is good, but my fitness can always be better.

While the event was actually running it wasn’t so bad. At the end of every day I was a bit sore and I had a few strains here and there. The KTM team had a physio that worked on me each night if I had sore or tight areas and he made things a little easier for me.

Each day you run off five or maybe six hours sleep. The way your body recovers is while you sleep, so if you don’t get much

sleep it doesn’t recover too much.

Each day at the finish line I’d feel a bit sore, but as the race goes on you fall into a rhythm – more like a robot, really.

AdvR: Talk us through a typical race day.

TP: You’d wake up usually between 2.30 and 3.00am and get a bit of breakfast, usually some leftovers from the night before – maybe some pasta. There was definitely no toast and cereal and Weetbix (laughs).

Some days you’d be on the bike at 3.00am and sometimes you’d have until 4.00am. It might be a 300km liaison – transport – to get

to the first special for the day, so that’s how early you have to leave.

I think the earliest finish I had was about 4.00pm. Sometimes it might be 5.00pm, depending on the day.

When you got back you’d eat some food to try and get energy back into you, then jump in a shower.

After that was two to three hours with your head buried in the roadbook, marking it and painting it so you’d know when you had to make your turns and so forth.

Rider’s briefing was usually at 8.00pm, so you’d spend probably 30 minutes or so there.

Left: Being able to share the knowledge

After that we’d spend 30 minutes to 45 minutes in a camper van that had Google Maps of the next day’s course. That was so we could try and see what we were in for.

Before you knew it it was 10.00pm or 10.30pm and you climbed into bed to do it again the next day.

They’re big, long days, and they’re flat out and crazy.

AdvR: What advantages did you have over a full-on privateer?

TP: I was a little better off.

The KTM guys got me a spot in a camper van. I didn’t have to tent it, and that in itself is a big plus. You have the comfort of a campervan to mark your roadbook. You’re not in a tent getting covered in dust, getting rained on, coping with the 45-degree heat some days and five degrees at night…it’s definitely a big bonus.

As far as the bike goes, I think at the start of the race there were probably privateers who had a better bike than me, but at night I didn’t have to spin my own spanners, and I had access to basic parts like spare levers from the team truck. I had access to the physio as well, but really the biggest advantage was the other team riders. Just getting their background and knowledge of where we were going and what we were heading into, the terrain and conditions, that was a massive advantage for me. Guys who just rock up there on their own can’t get that, and having

Above: Alex Doringer (right), KTM’s rallye team manager, financed Toby’s 2015 Dakar. Discussions are under way for the 2016 campaign.

of other team riders was a huge help.

Credit: Marcin Kin

Credit: Marcin Kin

those guys in my corner definitely fasttracked a few things for me and helped a lot.

AdvR: What was a high point of Dakar for you?

TP: The high point was just finishing the event.

Now I can look back and say I’ve completed a Dakar. And to just sit there and look at a piece of Dakar history, a third-place trophy, is amazing. It’s hard to put into words how special it is.

Just getting to the finish line in Dakar is a win in itself. Whether you finish first or ninetieth, when you cross that finish line after 9500km, it doesn’t matter about your position. You know what you’ve been through. You’ve been torturing yourself pretty damn bad and just to get to the

finish line is unreal.

Getting the stage win on the second-last day was a high point, too. For sure.

AdvR: What was the toughest part of the event?

TP: The whole lot of it was tough.

It was all new to me. I didn’t know what I was going in for and that made it tough for the whole event. The Dakar’s been in South America since 2007 or 2008, and some of those guys know that area. They go there and practice and train, the same way I go to practice and train at Finke. They know the areas and they have some knowledge. I went in blind.

The navigation’s tough, too. It’s a hard thing to get on top of. The maps are in French. I can barely speak and read English

(laughs), so it’s hard to get all that dialled. I know my outright speed is definitely fast and I can put it to those guys, but trying to mix that speed with navigating makes it really difficult. As soon as you take your eyes off the road and look at that roadbook you’re putting yourself in 99 per cent danger of ending up on the ground. You won’t have seen what you hit or know what you did or where you went wrong.

That’s the way it is. You’ve just got to do it.

Physically, I guess probably the second day when it was 45 degrees was tough.

I know it gets hot here in Australia too, but when you’re lugging around a bike that’s maybe 180kg, and you’re going through sand dunes and trying to get through as quick as you can, it’s a lot of hard work.

u

And then there’s altitude.

Everything about the race just takes its toll on the body. There’s always a mix of things making it physically hard. You’re always trying to breathe deep to get some air into your body, and as you climb the temperature drops from 45 degrees to 12 degrees. The bike won’t run because there’s just not enough oxygen. On the coast the bike feels perfect. As you climb it ends up feeling like a KTM50. Your body just gets put into shock every day. It doesn’t know what it’s going through, that’s for sure.

AdvR: How’s the reaction been in Australia now you’re a superstar?

TP: (Laughing) I’ll never see myself as something like that!

I ride a dirt bike for a job and I try and do the best I can every time, but the response from here in Australia about Dakar has been overwhelming.

It’s crazy. I’ve lived in the Newcastle area for something like 12 years now, but since I’ve been home I’ve had sometimes 10 people a day come up and say, “Congratulations on Dakar!” A lot of the people who come and say that don’t look like they have anything to do with motorcycles. The wide range of people who’ve come up said, “Well done,” is amazing.

People do the same in Sydney. Sydney’s a big area! Just to get noticed even once there is pretty cool.

It just shows people understand it was something pretty special.

AdvR: If you go back next year you’ll have a yellow numberplate. Tell us what that means.

TP: A yellow background means like a ‘seeded’ rider.

If one of the factory guys or one of the frontrunners – those with yellow numberplate

backgrounds – has a drama, like perhaps getting lost for two hours or something like that, they’re automatically reseeded back into the top 20.

This year I had a problem and dropped back to 68th. If I hadn’t ridden back through the field, 68th would’ve been my starting position the next day. I would’ve been in a hell made up of dust. With a yellow numberplate, 20th is as far back as you can go. It takes a bit of pressure off if you’re having a bad day.

AdvR: What about the level of team support for next year. Do you know where that’s up to?

TP: I’d love it to be a full factory ride!

But I’m not too sure what the plans are yet. We’re in talks. I definitely want to go back to Dakar. I definitely wouldn’t want to go back

next week and go through it all again (laughs), but in 12 months time when it rolls around again I’ll be looking forward to it.

I’m pretty sure with a third-place result we should be able to seal a deal to go back, but whether or not it’ll be a full factory thing, or maybe a factory bike but in my own colours, or I might even have to source sponsors here in Australia to put on the bike to cover some costs.

This year I was lucky enough to have Alex Doringer’s support. He’s the manager of the KTM rallye team, and he footed the whole bill.

AdvR: After standing on the podium at a World Championship event, how does it feel to be racing back in Australian domestic competition?

TP: I’m looking forward to it!

Every race is something different and special in its own way. The main goal is always to win races. Being on that top box is what I’m paid to do.

Just to have my Dakar trophy to show some people and let them hang onto a bit of Dakar history – there’s only two of those trophies in Australia, so they’re pretty rare – and seeing everyone at the races and mingling with everyone and seeing fans and people that followed me and supported me the whole way through…that’s the big bonus for me.

Just to say ‘thank you’ to everyone.

Top: “Your body just gets put into shock every day. It doesn’t know what it’s going through, that’s for sure.” Below: Every night two to three hours are spent marking and reviewing the roadbook.

Main: “I know my outright speed is definitely fast.”

Credit: Marcin Kin

Credit: Marcin Kin

14 days in Northern Thailand

Bow down and kiss the trail. His majesty the King of Thailand, or one of his influential subjects, must be an adventure-motorcycling aficionado.

Twogether Tour’s Philip King outlines a dream landscape of riding in what was once Siam.

To experience the thousands of kilometres of Thailand’s fantastic riding is one of adventure motorcycling’s greatest life pleasures. Riders can be stunned by the superb roads, easy riding and spectacular scenery to be found in northern Thailand.

Using Chiang Mai as an operational base, seven-day, 14-day or longer tours can be enjoyed most

of the year. Maybe giving the greatest bang for the buck, 14 days in total with nine days riding is optimal. Seven days with five riding can be a wonderful taster of greater things to come, and while some undoubtedly cannot squeeze the extra time away, 26 days leads to another dimension as to what might be on offer.

Fine line

Enough to satisfy any appetite, 14 days probably offers the best result for the time most riders could find. A typical itinerary might follow a course like this one…

Fly into Bangkok and make a short, 55-minute hop to be met at Chiang Mai. On arrival, a wonderful 700year-old moated and walled city

Words and images: Philip King

greets you that evening. Cooler than the much stickier lower reaches of southern Thailand and Bangkok, Chiang Mai has pretty much all the sights, sounds and smells you might associate with Asian fusion culture. The pace is slower, and while the traffic congestion is still pretty high at rush hour it’s an easy assimilation into northern Thailand.

Grab a scooter for the first day

and take in the local sites, getting used to the closeness of the city riding. Finding your way around the old moated city is fun as the jet lag wears off.

An interesting change over recent times has been the wearing of helmets. It’s now mandatory but widely flouted, with the 400 baht ($16) infringement ignored. Now well over half the bike-riding citizens are complying during the day. However, come evening, the rules seem to change – or at least when the young and glamorous are out and about, as they still have little regard for the rules. And yes, you do see three- or four-up on scooters much of the time and it seems perfectly accepted.

You bet

Doi Suthep (Doi Mountain) and the Mae Rim loop of about 130km gives a little taste of things to come. Elephants, water buffaloes, overladen Toyota Hiluxes and temples abound as you flick through hillsidehugging, sweeping curves and cruise by sleepy villages.

Stepping up to ‘real’ bikes (generally around 650cc, big for Thailand and always interesting for the locals) for the next nine days, head north to Chiang Rai, closer to the infamous Golden Triangle. Opium and the great Mekong River are synonymous, however opium is now replaced by legal crops of coffee and tea, although the illegal drug trade

Main: Golden Budha at Chiang Saen.

1: Little load on the Mae Sai/ Myanmar border.

2: The guns are real and loaded. Near Mae Salong.

3: White Temple at Chiang Rai.

4: Girls out riding at Chiang Mai.

still seems to be alive and well. Crystal meth has replaced opium, it seems.

The Golden Triangle sits at the confluence of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma), just north of the lovely old riverside town of Chiang Saen. A rider can spend much of a day cruising around this area, and can drop by the opium museums for an hour or two and gain a greater appreciation of the surprising British influence on the historic drug trade.

Briefly crossing the Mekong over to Laos can be fun. Check out the snakeand scorpion-infused whisky or pick up a gorgeous, real leather handbag or two for next to nothing. More fun can be had travelling up-river by long-tail boat to the casino, actually in Myanmar, although somewhat illegally accessed by Thai folk of an evening.

Longnecks

Sweeping back toward the west on tight, back-country lanes, riders can head right up to the chaotic Thai-Myanmar border town of Mae Sai.

Crossing into Myanmar for half a day is generally enough with the cultural cringe still a little high for some. Young children with their legs broken and cruelly unset, angled to the point of disablement, beg on the Tachilek streets, and touts hassle with gigantic Viagra tablets and soft-porn playing cards. However, among the markets hugging the river banks some great bargains are to be had. The quality is excellent and prices ridiculous.

Between the greater Chiang Mai valley and Myanmar border running north-south, the beautiful mountains and valleys of

Mae Salong are the next roads to enjoy. Experience a tea tasting with what seems dozens of different blends to tempt you. And see the tea and coffee pickers hard at work on the very steep, but beautifully planted, plantations.

Stop off at Thaton for the night and visit the seven Wats (temples) and the Karen long-neck tribe women with heavy brass windings pressing their collarbones down, but giving the impression of hugely elongated necks. Their silk and cotton weavings, throws and pashminas are beautiful – and we’re sure the brass neck adornments, which originally were to support heavy head loads, are also a display of beauty for their men.

Cool pools

Riding into the mountains the air is crisper and we’re pretty sure the bikes run stronger through steep passes, switchback corners, sweeping downhill sections and towering escarpments. Every moment is just joy on wheels. It’s so hard to suppress the ear-to-ear smiles as you slow to greet very well-armed police and army at the regular control points.

Pai is a hamlet of romance set neatly on the Pai River. It’s a magnet for locals enjoying a weekend retreat and European tourists alike, and it’s an easy place to

Above: Happy travellers and hosts near Saraphi.

1: Myanmar across the valley.

2: Typical village accommodation in the Thaton mountains.

3: 700 years of history at Sukhothai.

4: True banana love close to Pai.

spend a couple of days and explore the wonderful art and cultural opportunities that abound nearby – if a break in everyday riding is desired. Otherwise just explore. The riding is great.

Mae Hong Son is next and the area boasts wonderful eco resorts. Cool swimming pools, green, green rice paddies and gorgeous teak chalets slip gently into the jungle enjoyed with a post-ride beer or two, soothing away the road grime.

Riders will wonder where the week went.

Say, Wat?

Days dawn in misty silence, and Mae Hong Son offers a sumptuous early breakfast at the outdoor restaurant. The riding planned for the day is 169km of smooth, winding bliss, challenging in its varying altitude, and popular T-shirts claim 1080 corners. Thailand’s liberal approach to speed limits can increase the immeasurable enjoyment, and a variety of surfaces keep everyone alert. Maybe even a mountain rain shower or two will add to the experience. Thick jungle canopy above and ground-level foliage creeps right to the roadside, and riders aim to clip the apexes of those tighter curves every time. Now and then there are small villages to enjoy.

Never has adventure riding been this good.

Mae Sariang signals a turn back to the east for the run across country to Chiang Mai. It means another day of great riding, and the fantastic scenery seems endless as the road descends into the food-bowl area of Hot and Chom Thong for a night or two of well-deserved luxury.

Next comes an overnight cloverleaf ride with an easy cruise to the town of Lampang. Lampang is off the main tourist tracks and many suggest it’s a more industrial city – not so! It has World Heritage Wats, hundreds of years old, delightful people and fantastic hosts.

Wake up

Chiang Mai beckons and sadly the bikes will have to go back for the next lucky rider – we know you will have bonded and it’s hard!

With still two or three days in Chiang Mai, a massage or two, a spot of last-minute shopping and the experience of a few hidden ‘locals only’ restaurant treasures and then, as if needed, a farewell silver-service dinner at the best restaurant around makes for life-long memories.

In case you’re still unsure, the roads of northern Thailand cater for all tastes. Highway 1334 will test most (if you can find it). It has ruts and washouts, broken bitumen, moss and extreme narrowness to contend with. Concrete and cobbled laneways cling to cliff sides. Neck-craning, first-gear switchbacks with super-steep gradients and mountain descents on carpet-smooth bitumen will also keep riders on their toes regardless of skills.

Fear not, however, an average skill set will be fine. Even novices will be okay, but those more adventurous will not be disappointed either. There are fantastic roads and destinations for all.

Have we remembered to tell you about the two or three abreast oncoming traffic on your side of the road? Maybe we’ll leave that for another time, and of course we also forgot about the food. Yes, the city street food is only surpassed by the roadside-village fare enjoyed daily.

Fourteen days, 2300km of adventure-motorcycling heaven, nothing better.

Dream or reality?

That’s up to you.

Think about this

Kym Stock, from Portland in Victoria, sent us this. It’s important. Read it and think about what Kym is saying.

Adventure Rider Magazine has been promoting the use of protective gear in some great articles, but there is one item I think all ADV riders over 40 should consider – a neck brace.

I used to think neck braces were for motocrossers and I didn’t think a sedate riding style like mine warranted wearing such an item.

While I was setting up a DRZ400 for the APC Rally I managed to prang at about 40kph in sand. While lying in the face-plant position with the bike on my broken leg I noticed pins and needles in my thumbs and fingers. With my medical background I knew I had sustained a neck injury, so I told my mate that I didn’t want to move.

The DSMRA guys I was riding with pulled the bike off my leg and called the ambos.

After a helicopter ride to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, leg surgery and wearing a medical neck brace for six weeks, I was on the mend.

The doctors told me about Central Cord Syndrome (CCS) and that I had bruised the spinal cord at C4 and C5 level when the sand pushed my head back. The swelling put pressure on the nerves, which led to altered sensation.

too, but was better than not riding at all! However, nobody told our local wallaby population. I was trying to be careful and one of them charged into my front wheel and put me onto my head again. Once I came to, I was happy to survive with no neck injury. Five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, but no neck injury. So the Omega S1 has been crash tested by me.

increased sensitivity to touch at my wrists, which I still have four years later. They said I was lucky to only have minor damage.

I Googled CCS and the findings were sobering. After 40 years of age our spinal column narrows with bone growing inside the space for the spinal cord. On sudden impact or severe bending of the neck the soft cord gets squashed and bruised and nerve impulses don’t work so well.

I will list what can happen:

v Loss of motor control of arms and legs and muscle weakness

v Increased sensation of the skin – it feels like ants on the skin

v Loss of control of urination

v Difficulty breathing and swallowing

This is a sobering list of damage. My decision after two years, when my leg finally healed, was either to sell my bike and retire, or wear a neck brace and ride like an old man. I chose the latter.

I researched neck braces and chose an Omega S1 as the one that might work with my existing jacket and armour. It took a while to get used to riding with the brace on. Now it doesn’t feel right without it.

Riding like an old man took a bit of an adjustment to attitude

Last week our local ADV rider group organised a road trip to Phillip Island to watch the Classic racing. We were to meet at a farm and leave the next morning. I received that call we all dread. My mate had crashed and had been airlifted to hospital. A week later we visited him in the spinal unit, and he displayed all the symptoms of CCS. I felt like crying. He has a long period of recovery ahead with no guarantee of what the future holds.

The city-based adventure riders have been great visiting him, as we live in a remote rural area. All of them have gone to look for a neck brace.

If you can raise awareness of the need for neck protection you would do your readers a service.

Yours sincerely,

Kym Stock

Kym’s helmet after hitting a ’roo and landing on his head.

Kym Stock had a close call and wrote to remind us the importance of a neck brace.

Timor-Leste

In a world becoming ever more accessible and with many countries facing the prospect of losing their identity, Timor-Leste is one of the few places these days that can still provide an adventurous traveller with a sense of discovery and exploration. Ray Friedrich went for a look at this fabulous, largely unspoiled eastern half of the island of Timor.

It’s hard to focus on the road when you’re distracted by scenery like this. Heading to Mount Ramelau.

Words and images: Ray Friedrich

From a tourist’s perspective, it’s a unique time to be travelling through Timor-Leste. It’s blessed with much of the natural beauty offered by other South East Asian countries without the throngs of tourists that flock to many of its neighbours’ shores. The country itself still seems to be finding its feet with the scars of the Indonesian conflict still very much visible, a noticeable divide between the wealthy and the poor, a lack of basic infrastructure in some places, the recent withdrawal of the UN and Australian Peacekeepers and a

tourism industry still in its infancy. Far from being a deterrent, this unique blend of factors combine to make Timor-Leste an ideal destination for those following the path less travelled.

All welcome

The country’s capital Dili is itself a city of contrasts. The bustling harbour city is one of Asia’s fastest growing, its streets are full of beeping cars and motorbikes, and are lined with vendors selling their wares.

Rice terraces flanked by imposing mountain ranges are a common sight in Timor’s rural areas.

Dili’s fortunate in having a picturesque beachfront overlooking the tranquil Atuaro Island and is lined with bars and restaurants mostly frequented by expats, travelers and aid workers. But you don’t have to scratch too far under the surface to find local neighbourhoods occupied by people living a far more modest life, and it was these backstreets I most enjoyed visiting while I was in the city. In these areas I got to glance at the dusty underbelly of Dili and had the opportunity to meet and befriend locals. In spite of living in what I perceived as poverty, these were some of the happiest and most welcoming people I’d met. I was warmly welcomed to local gatherings like cockfights and beachfront “fish on a stick” barbecues. More often than not the travelers I brought along and I were the only westerners there.

Head for the hills

As much as I enjoyed Dili and its surrounds, the advice from expats to ‘head into the districts to discover the real Timor-Leste’ rang in my ears. I was keen

to explore the pristine beaches and lush rainforest that I’d heard so much about.

I was very fortunate to be on a BMW 1200GS which was quite an attraction for the locals and a very good conversation starter. Most importantly though, it allowed me the freedom to travel at my own pace and interact with the local people in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible if I was travelling in any other form of transport.

I left Dili and headed east along the northern coastal road to Baucau, the country’s second-largest city. The scenery on the way was spectacular and the winding road passed through beachside villages and mountain passes surrounded by thick rainforest. Although the road wasn’t in the best condition, dodging the potholes and oncoming buses around blind corners added to the adventure and made the ride

all the more enjoyable. Nestled in the thick jungle and overlooking white sandy beaches, Baucau had a real Portuguese flavour to it, the colourful buildings gave it a vibrant feel and the local market place was a hive of activity. After exploring Baucau my next stop was the very pretty resort town of Com. The main street was lined with guesthouses, most of which enjoyed views over the picture-perfect beach. Although the water looked extremely inviting, some recent crocodile sightings and a few warnings from locals ensured I stayed on dry land.

Above: There’s some spectacular scenery along the coastal road from Dili to Baucau. Right: To the victor go the spoils. This local punter looked happy to be collecting his money after a win at the cockfights.

Uphill battle

From Com the road headed south to Tutuala beach and Jaco Island, Timor-Leste’s easternmost point.

I came to Timor-Leste for an adventure, not just a riding holiday, and the road to Tutuala beach definitely didn’t disappoint. At times it was very rough and at other times it was nonexistent, culminating in an eight-kilometre downhill section that was a test of both bike and rider.

After wrestling with the big Beemer for well over an hour I somehow made it to the bottom of the hill without incident. I was absolutely exhausted and thoroughly enjoyed a Bintang while watching the sunset from my traditional beachside bungalow. I happily decided the ride back up was a problem that could wait until tomorrow.

Universal language

The further I ventured out of Dili the more I became aware a western traveller was still quite a novelty, especially one travelling on a fully loaded 1200GS. As such I was greeted by almost all the locals I passed, and as soon as I’d meet somebody who could speak even a few words of English I’d be enthusiastically ushered aside for a chat. The friendliness of the people was quite astonishing, especially in the remoter villages where communication was often a barrier. It’s amazing how far a friendly smile can get you. With a smile, a little patience and at times an absurd form of sign language I’d generally get my point across.

Bottler

With the start of the wet season imminent I took the local advice and avoided the unreliable south coast road and returned to Baucau before heading south into the interior mountain region.

The riding was once again spectacular, and as I made my way toward the town of Loi Hunu the vegetation grew denser and I passed through the region known as ‘The Lost World’. The road began to climb into the mountains and the higher altitude brought rain with it. As the heavens opened the dirt roads soon turned into muddy streams, and although I was soaked through and the roads were becoming a little precarious, my enthusiasm for the scenic mountain ride was certainly not dampened.

Petrol availability in Timor-Leste is limited to the cities of Dili, Baucau and roadside vendors selling petrol in plastic water bottles. Not wanting to try my luck with the bottled fuel, I explored the area around Loi Hunu and then made my way through the u

If it wears the Andy Strapz brand, it’s made to the highest standards here in Australia.

Enjoy the Adventure Without the Drama

ASIA MOTORCYCLE TOURING

Experience the fantastic riding, food and culture of Thailand, Laos or Cambodia

Small groups, fully guided and supported 7, 14 or 22 days options suit every budget

For more information please visit www.twogethertouring.nz

Email: info@twogethertouring.nz

Phone: +61 417 417 464

Waterproof Cape Horn boot from Forma Waterproof Adventure boot from Forma

mountains back to Dili to refuel and prepare for the ride to Mount Ramelau, Timor-Leste’s highest peak.

Smokin’!

The road to Mount Ramelau took me through many quaint mountain villages and the town of Maubisse, which is home to an old Portuguese Pousada – hotel – that offered magnificent 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside.

As the road wound its way up into the hills it once again meant rain. The dirt roads soon consisted of long patches of mud and the potholes in the tarmac sections quickly filled up to create water crossings that spanned the width of the road.

I must say, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Some of the locals were confused when I’d get through a large puddle of water and then turn around to do it again faster.

The last 18km to the village of Hautobilico at the base of Mount Ramelau was a cobbled mountain pass with sheer cliffs to one side and unmatched scenery. It was slow going and I crawled my way to the base of the mountain in 90 minutes, arriving quite late in the afternoon. A local guide assured me we could do the return trip up the mountain before it got dark, so we set off at a cracking pace. My guide soon showed his lack of fitness, and I left him smoking a

cigarette halfway up. After I’d reached the summit alone I found him not much further along with another ciggie on my way down. To his credit, we did get home before dark.

Coasting

It was time to head west and the coastal road to the Indonesian border offered some stunning views. Unfortunately there were 110km of roadwork to the town of Liquica which made it a slow and dusty ride.

I was surprised to find the resort I stayed in had hot, running water, a rarity outside of the cities.

I was refreshed and raring to go the next morning when I headed to the small town of Morobo, a weekend getaway with natural hot springs in a mountain setting popular with the local people.

There were always a few common occurrences as I headed into the more remote areas of the country

v The roads would always deteriorate, often into rubble

vCommunication would generally get harder, meaning more sign language

vThe local people just seemed to get friendlier, more welcoming and very enthusiastic to see me and the bike

Morobo was no exception to these guidelines.

Follow Ray’s travels on www.2wheelvagabond.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/2wheelvagabond.

After enjoying the unspoilt forest of TimorLeste’s mountain region one last time I headed back down to the coast and decided to spend the night in the town of Balibo, known for the tragic events of the Balibo 5 in 1975. I was soon chatting to aid workers, volunteers and nuns, and it wasn’t long before the local parish priest offered to let me stay as a guest in the church’s accommodation.

The priest was quite apologetic about how simple the accommodation was, but I found it as nice as most other places I’d stayed in while travelling the country. Although I offered several times he refused any payment, saying he was just happy to have the opportunity to practice his English.

Into Indo

I left Balibo in high spirits thanks to the generosity of the locals and headed to the border town of Batugarde. I approached the border with mixed feelings. I was excited about the new adventure Indonesia had to offer but a little saddened to be leaving a country that had provided me with such a mixed bag of great experiences.

Timor-Leste delivered the riding adventure I was searching for, but I still had much to explore.

A curious local along the mountain pass to Mount Ramelau. BMWs aren’t too common in the highlands of Timor-Leste.

Here’s an adventure rider chosen at random from the thousands who read this magazine. Probably not many like distance riding as much as this bloke. Everyone, meet…

ed brown

Q. Where’s home?

A. Cambridge Park, NSW.

Q. How old are you?

A. 44.

Q. Do you feel that old?

A. Never. I always said I didn’t want to grow up, so my mother still only puts 12 candles on any birthday cake she makes for me.

Q. Your mother still makes birthday cakes for you! Are you registered on the AdvRiderMag forum? If so, what’s your handle?

A. Yes. It’s ED535

Q. What bike do you ride?

A. I ride a 2013 Kawasaki KLR650 and a 2013 Victory Cross Country Tour. Both bikes being 2013 models is just a coincidence.

Q. What’s the longest ride you’ve ever done?

A. It was a long weekend. On day one I rode from Sydney, NSW, to Murray Bridge in South Australia via Benalla, Mildura, Willmington and Port Augusta. On day two I rode to Toora, Victoria via Kingston, Mount Gambier, The Great Ocean Road, and Melbourne. Day three was home to Cambridge Park for dinner via Bairnsdale, Narooma and Kangaroo Valley. It was about 4200km.

Q. What’s your favourite place to ride?

A. I love being away from the cities, riding the backroads or uncrowded highways, watching the scenery pass by with nothing to worry about except if the next servo is open.

Q. What do you like most about the mag?

A. It’s Australian, it’s about Aussies, where and how we ride, not which chalet to stay at and which boots the rich kids are wearing in Europe.

Q. What’s something that really peeves you on a ride?

A. Cafés, and ride routes that go from café to café. I don’t drink coffee or tea.

Q. (Gasp!) Have you ever raced or

ridden competition?

A. No, I have only ever ridden for the love of riding.

Q. What’s the most boring ride you’ve done?

A. A group ride from Ashfield in Sydney to Pie In The Sky at Cowan and back to Ashfield. It was 114km, and with the café stops, toilet breaks and Sydney’s Sunday traffic, it took five hours.

Q. Are you going to Ironbutt it on the KLR?

A. Absolutely. It’s a great bike and won’t have any trouble with the time and distance.

Q. What’s your favourite music to listen to while you ride?

A. I like a variety: Rose Tattoo, Trace Adkins and Rob Zombie.

Q. Heated grips: Yes or no?

A. Yes. Wet and cold hands can get painful, but wet and warm hands are okay.

Q. Maps or GPS?

A. Definitely GPS. I have three and use active and static maps on them. I sometimes cover three states in a trip and it would be very difficult to carry and use all the paper maps needed.

ed brown

Rodney

Stefan Granquist - Pro off-road racer, AORC, 4ADE, Scott Britnell - Extreme

Coping with a

Smart riders prepare their bikes for deepwater crossings and possible submersion.

u

For most riders, rain means discomfort.

But while rain itself can be challenging, some of the effects of rain in even very warm climates can create potentially harsh conditions for adventure riders. It’s not just a wet crotch and water in the boots we’re talking about here.

Practical experience

Rainwater has to drain somewhere, and of course it goes into waterways and becomes part of our beaut environment, nourishing all the little animals and native fauna. As the rainwater heads to the ocean, the waterways

themselves become much larger and deeper. For riders that can mean some very tough creek crossings, and if it rains hard enough, water across roads and trails.

First of all, if you don’t know what’s in the water, don’t ride into it. That’s simple, and common sense.

We don’t know anyone in the world who deals with bikes in deep water as much as Roy Kunda of Cape York Motorcycle Adventures. Over the years we’ve seen Roy prepare and dedrown countless bikes, and he has coping with deep-water crossings down to a very fine art. He’s also done more river crossings than Adventure Rider Magazine’s editor has had hot

coffees, and that’s saying something. Roy recommends walking the crossing first. That lets the rider check the type of bottom under the water – whether it’s smooth, potholed, boulders, slippery, rutted, whatever – and to get a good idea of the force of the current. A rider’s legs won’t offer anything like the resistance of his bike. If the current’s pushing hard against the rider’s legs, chances are the bigger surface area of the bike will mean the whole lot gets swept downstream and there’ll be nothing anyone can do about it.

Everyone’s seen pics of Roy’s groups carrying bikes across the rivers of Far North

u

Above: Roy Kunda is an expert at deepwater crossings and dedrowning bikes. Bottom: If you don’t know what’s in the water, don’t ride into it.

Trail / Enduro / Adventure

Roy Kunda has restarted more drowned bikes than he’s caught barramundi. That’s a lot of bikes restarted!

words of wIsdom

What if the bike sucks water anyway?

Despite all the preparation and care, it happens – you can count on it at some stage of your riding lifetime. Roy Kunda has spent a considerable part of his working life restarting drowned bikes. In Roy’s riding environment, a drowned bike often means a bike that’s been totally submerged. We’ve watched him retrieve submerged bikes, clear them out and get them started so often he makes it look easy. Here’s how he does it…

“The quickest and easiest way to dedrown the bike without engine damage is to follow these steps,” he barramundied.

“There’s no real shortcut if you want to get it right. And once the bike has been submerged make sure you don’t try and start it. The gears will work like a blender and mix the water with the oil immediately.”

1. Open the airbox and remove the filter. Squeeze the water out of the filter and leave it to dry.

2. Turn the fuel off and open the drain on the carbie float bowl and leave it open. Water will have worked its way into the engine cases. If you haven’t started the bike the water and oil won’t have mixed. Water is heavier than oil and will sink to the bottom.

3. To remove this water, crack the oil drain plug of the sump and carefully unscrew it slowly until water starts to seep out. Don’t remove the plug or you’ll lose all your oil. Once the water is dribbling out let it go on until oil starts to seep through. That’s when you’ll know most of the water has been removed. Tighten the sump plug.

4. Once you’ve removed the water from the engine cases the motor is safe to wind over. Remove the spark plug and with the throttle wide open wind the motor over until all the water stops pumping out of the cylinder head. Replace the spark plug.

Now you’re right to start the bike safely. Do up the carbie drain screw, turn the fuel back on, replace the dry air filter and do up the airbox.

Remember, if you push or tow the bike to start it without following the steps you’ll run a high risk of severe damage. Take the time to do it right and it will ensure you can keep riding.

Queensland. Whether to walk, ride or carry is decided by Roy’s rules-of-thumb refined over a couple of decades.

“If the water’s axle-deep you can ride across,” guided the Cape York pioneer. “If it’s as deep as the top of the wheels I’ll walk the bike in first gear with the engine running, remembering to be on the downstream side of the bike. If it’s up near the seat it’s an obvious time to walk the bike across with the engine off.”

If you do decide to walk the bike through water that’s likely to be up over the engine, the single-cylinder guys should turn the ignition off, put the bike in gear, then push it forward until the compression locks the rear wheel. Click back to neutral and start pushing. Having pressure inside the cylinder will help keep water out of the bore itself.

Sucker!

Roy learned a lot about preparing bikes for deep water in over 20 years of leading tours and running hire bikes in Far North Queensland. It doesn’t get much wetter than the stretch between Cairns and Cape York.

“You can make a big difference to a bike’s tolerance to water by re-routing the breather hoses from the carburettor and engine,” he explained.

“On most bikes the engine breather is routed down low between the rear of the cases and the swingarm. When you tackle a

deep-water crossing, the engine cools fast and creates a vacuum that sucks the water up through the breather.

“Re-route the engine breather up high to the airbox, and the two or four hoses – depending on the bike – from the side of the carburettor can run up underneath the fuel tank toward the steering head.”

These two minor changes allow the bike to handle increased depths of water.

Remember not all the hoses from the carbie need to be re-routed. The drain hose from the float bowl should be left as is. It’s sealed until the drain screw is undone, and the hose needs to run downward to drain the bowl anyway.

Fuel injection

Roy’s tips are about as good as it gets for carburetted bikes. But adventure bikes, especially bigcapacity adventure bikes, tend to be much closer to the leading edge of technology. What do owners of fuel-injected bikes need to look out for, and what kind of preparation can they do to increase their bike’s tolerance of wet conditions? What does a rider need to do if their fuel-injected bike cops a drowning?

We went right to the top man for the tips on this one. Cliff Stovall, based in Melbourne, is Australia’s Triumph Technical Manager, and we’ve seen first-hand some of Cliff’s work with drowned, fuelinjected bikes.

Left: Triumph’s Cliff Stovall knows fuel injection inside and out.

Right: Fuel-injected bikes are fairly well-sealed, but they still benefit from some preparation.

“As far as preparation goes, and using the Tiger 800 as an example,” step-motored Cliff, “the first thing we’d do is install an oiled-foam prefilter. In the case where the bike does end up in a river crossing that’s deep enough introduce water into the inlet side of the airbox, the oiled prefilter will help repel the water. Clearly, it won’t keep the water out forever, but it helps.

“The reason I say a prefilter is because most of the standard air filters in fuel-injected bikes are very difficult to get to. So a prefilter is easier to service, and it’ll help stop the water before it gets into the airbox proper.”

Where carburetted bikes have a collection of breather hoses from the carburettor, engine and airbox, fuel-injection is a sealed, pressurised system, so there’s nothing to worry about there. Cliff has a couple of often-overlooked breathers he recommends rerouting, though.

“The fuel-tank vent itself, and the fuel-tank overflow hoses on fuel-injected bikes, run down beneath the bike. I run those two hoses up underneath the tank and over the top of the frame.”

With Cliff’s set-up the water level would have to be higher than the tank to get in through those two hoses, and if the water’s that deep, you have a whole world of other problems that will make water in the fuel seem minor.

After those two main changes, Cliff recommends filling the rubber boot over the stator lines with silicon.

“If you’re going to be doing a lot of water crossings, there’s two plugs for the pick-up coil on the stator side of the motor. There’s

normally a rubber boot protecting those plugs and wires where they go in through the engine case. I like to take that rubber boot, which is supposed to seal water from getting in there, and fill it with silicone. That way the water can’t run down the loom to find its way in.

“The boot is a good seal for normal rain and wet conditions, but if the motor’s going to be submerged, particularly for any amount of time, that’s what I do.”

Cliff also pointed out that some shaft-drive bikes have a vent from their diffs. Dunking the hot diff can cause water to suck in through that vent. If you can see the vent on your diff, give some thought to running that access to somewhere higher on the bike.

Gulp

So what when the worst happens? The bike falls during a creek crossing and under it goes? What’s involved in getting a fuel-injected bike running again?

“You do exactly the same things you’d do on a carburetted bike,” spannered Cliff. “Make sure you take the air filter out. If it’s saturated with water, you don’t want the motor sucking all that in as well when you’re trying to start it.

“Pull the air filter out, pull the plugs, tip it upside-down, turn the engine over and try and pump as much water as you can out of the motor. Some water-displacing fluid like WD-40 might help compensate for some of the moisture that gets caught in there.

“After that, put some spark plugs in it and try and get it fired up. Once it’s running it’ll clear itself out.”

What about electronics?

“The electronics on modern bikes are pretty-well sealed,” injected Cliff.

“All the coils and ECU plugs are sealed into them and are waterproof.

“If you really wanted to get hardcore you could go through and take all the waterproof GM connectors apart and hit them with some dielectric grease and put that back together, and then make sure that’s done for every ride, but I’d call that very extreme.”

Easy does it

There you have it. The good oil on preparing your bike to handle water crossings and the procedure for getting it going again if things go wrong.

Make sure you do your preparation, and make sure you don’t attempt crossings without doing the risk assessment first.

Cameron Corner

Want to get away from it all? From absolutely everything? The Bulloo Shire, the junction of three states, is probably the destination you’re searching for.

Cameron Corner, where New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland meet, is one of those destinations on every adventurer’s list. Usually it’s misspelled as ‘Camerons Corner’, but that doesn’t make it any less challenging. And out there in the heat and red dust, work and problems of the city shrink to near nothing.

There’s nothing that earns the wide-eyed respect of newbies like gazing off into the distance, grimacing, and muttering through clenched teeth, “Yeah. Gonna head out to The Corner.”

There’s no easy way to get to Cameron Corner. It’s at the centre of a great, big expanse of sun-baked red dust. There’s inhospitable desert off to the horizon in every direction, and temperatures are often above 40 degrees.

A kilometre in any direction from Cameron Corner, all a bloke can think about is making sure he survives. Whatever’s threatening the bottom line at work assumes its proper priority when a low oil reading on a dipstick can be, quite literally, a matter affecting survival. An empty CamelBak, even a single kilometre from the Cameron Corner store, is an issue that could well affect someone’s

health in a very short time. For adventurers looking to test themselves it’s a likely destination. For adventure riders making their first attempt, a run to The Corner is about as confronting as it gets.

Old and new

Just before Christmas a few riders set out for a run to Cameron Corner, and although it was a celebration of an annual ride, two of the riders, Craig and Al, were making their first attempt. Al was on his not-very-old Sertão, and Craig on a not-very-new DR650. Adventure Rider Magazine’s editor tagged along on his 1995 Honda Dominator. It’s definitely not a new bike, that one. The rider has a few years on as well, so the pair was a bit chancy all round.

Leaving the coast early on a Friday morning, Craig and TF headed west, sticking to the dirt wherever possible, and with two days planned for the run out and two days back, no need to rush.

Still…there was no time for nancying about, either.

Powder dry

As the lush, green pastures of the eastern side of Great Dividing Range rolled away the day unfolded as a glorious, warm, sunny slice of perfection. Guyra made for a nutritious breakfast of chips-and-gravy – a tradition of the ride for the coastal boys – and an ideal place to rendezvous with Al, who’d ridden across from Armidale.

From Guyra the scenic majesty began. Baldersleigh Road and Gulf Creek Road took the trio to the base of Mount Kaputar, and it was descending the western slope of the range that the first fiery breaths of desert heat scorched the riders. The temperature rose until, in a sliver of shade outside a Narrabri roadhouse, the temperature nudged 36 degrees. And the sun was well short of its zenith for the day.

From Narrabri the group had intended to continue west through Pilliga and Come By Chance, but thanks to the editor’s geographical dyslexia, everyone rode around in circles watching the Narrabri heat climb for half an hour before rejoining the Kamilaroi Highway and following the signs to Pilliga.

night, and the only way for the group to be in Bourke before dark was to slog through the sand to a turnoff named Nilma Road, which would in turn lead back to the bitumen.

Looking for a thoroughfare called Nilma Road would be all very well in any town in NSW, but west of Come By Chance? Road signs just aren’t all that common.

There was an unmarked dirt road heading off in the right direction, but a look at the map showed that if it wasn’t Nilma Road, it was probably a winding line of sand that swerved south to end up near Coonamble…a very long way from where anyone wanted to be.

With the temperature still in the high 30s – even though the sun was well past its peak – the three elected to continue to burrow on westward.

30,2.7839S

From there it was a matter of following the only road west.

The road, on this trip, was a sandy wallow with less substance than talcum powder. It was a battle to just ride and keep the bike upright.

And the temperature continued rising.

Take a Chance

The delightfully named Come By Chance is not much more than a few buildings roasted on to the dust. There was a tree though, so the riders tried to take advantage of the frugal shade as the thermometer made its way above 40 degrees.

Come By Chance also lies pretty much in the middle of a sand road. It’s sand on the way in and sand on the way out. With the day slipping away fast and the pace held to not much above a trudge, a hard decision had to be taken. The plan was to camp in

It was a good decision. Nilma Road, complete with signpost, appeared a few kilometres later, and shortly after all three bikes were humming along the Kamilaroi Highway, heading straight into the setting sun, bound for Bourke and the oasis of the Kidman campground.

Main: The gate in the dingo fence at Cameron Corner. The riders thought it was a goal, but it’s really a beginning.

1: The green, fruitful landscape of New England is a stark contrast to the arid desert of 24 hours later.

145,57.3828E WGS-84 u

2: Kidman’s Camp, eight kilometres north of Bourke, is an oasis. It’s a fantastic place to stop and rest up at any time of year.

3: Uh-oh. For anyone else this is a disaster. For Craig it’s just another chance to exercise his incredible mechanical talent. The thing was patched up and running in no time.

4: Everywhere you look there’s…nothing.

29,14.9059S 141, 40.0788E WGS-84

Plug gap

Craig’s normally faultless and beautifully modified DR650 had been cackling and farting on overrun and at idle, so, with camp established on the plush grass and the ferocious hammering of the sun lessened by a huge margin, he set about finding the problem.

It turned out to be an easy one to spot. When he went to remove the plug cap it broke into two pieces.

That would explain the symptoms, it was thought.

For anyone else this would’ve been a disaster, but Craig is a master of fabrication and adaption, and with a liberal application of Liquid Steel and duct tape, the bike was running like a dream…not a wet dream, for sure, but running. It still cackled and farted occasionally, but so did the riders.

So it was all good.

For reals

A good night’s sleep in a comfortable and very pleasant camp had everyone refreshed,

and the trio headed west from Bourke and the ‘real’ riding began. After the 50km or so of bitumen from Bourke there was nothing but desert for the remainder of the trip. There were patches of tar around townships like Wanaaring and Tibooburra, but not enough to give any relief.

The road surface is different for every trip into the heart of Australia, but for this trip it was soft, deep, talcum-powder sand.

Adventure Rider Magazine’s editor, full of self-assurance, offered the advice that the sand drifts…“never last long. Maybe 400 metres at most.” As it turned out, there was only one sand drift, and it went from the end of the bitumen outside Bourke all the way to Wanaaring. That meant about 80km of battling through the most torturous surface known to adventure-bike riders.

Fortunately, both Craig and Al were experienced racers. Craig disappeared into the heat shimmer that made up the western horizon while Al took a little while to find his feet, but all three rolled into Wanaaring for fuel and cold drinks with a minimum of drama.

Always welcome

Wanaaring store is run by Ben and Margaret, and over the last few years, their daughter, Ashley. The coffee is legendary, Ben and Margaret are fabulous people, and the store itself is a haven. There’s fuel, food, fresh fruit and vegetables, car and bike spares and just about everything else an outpost like this could carry.

Cold drinks were the choice on this day, and as is always the way in the outback, an exchange of news is mandatory. As the three riders looked blankly at enquiries about things in Bourke, Ben and Margaret pounced on an Adventure Rider Magazine carried out there especially for them. In return, they laughed at the appalling state of the road out from Bourke, and assured the riders that the run to Tiboobuura was much easier, “Nuthin’ like what you’ve just been on,” beamed Ben. Much heartened at this news, the three hit the road for the long step – 242km –to Tibooburra.

Ben and Marg were right. It was much easier going as far as the road went. Still the temperature soared, and by the time the bone-dry trio rolled into Tibooburra for fuel, the thermometer on the cocky’s cage at the door read a cheerful 46 degrees.

Make a choice

From the granite boulders of Tibooburra the dirt road began to wind a little, and a dune or two made things far more interesting. Glimpses of the dingo fence caused the riders’ heartbeats to jump, and before long, the famous gate was opened and the goal had been reached.

With awe and amazement the riders sweated into the store and began consuming cold drinks as fast as the barman could pour them. The thermometer under the awning outside the store showed 48 degrees, and no-one doubted it.

The heat from the direct sun was murderous.

After gazing at the horizons and wondering about the Strzelecki to the west, White Cliffs to the south and Birdsville to the north, it was clear that this place, Cameron Corner, wasn’t so much a destination as a beginning. It’s a junction where riders can choose their adventure.

As the heat dried the sweat before it could cool their bodies, the riders climbed on their bikes and headed east, back to where the care and worries of the modern world filled their days.

Next time, they knew, Cameron Corner was where the adventure would start.

Above left: From Tibooburra west the dirt road begins to show some character. A turn or two and even the occasional dune pops up as it approaches Cameron Corner. Above middle: The temperature in the top left-hand corner kept climbing. Above: Al took advantage of the sliver of shade outside a Narrabri roadhouse. It was as near to comfort as was available. Main: The Bulloo River Overflow begs riders to go for a powersliding rampage. The deep, sunken ruts were a warning and everyone stayed on the road. 30,19.7036S 149,46.5867E WGS-84

Landlocked

in Laos

After watching Ewan and Charlie’s Long Way Round for the third time a monster was born. Don Clinton and two good mates just had to try this adventure-motorcycle stuff out firsthand. The only problem was, unlike the two celebrities, these guys had minimal time and funds available.

Words and images: Clint Donald

Main: The guys wondered whether the dream of an uncharted adventure might be better than the reality. Laos proved way better than anything they could’ve imagined. Left: The author tries to work out where in Asia they actually are.

After some serious beer-storming, Laos was named the destination of choice. It ticked all the boxes: cheap, still fairly undeveloped and had lots of hills and dirt roads to get lost on.

Three months later and there we were: myself, Luke Jenkins and Ross Jordan. Three hung-over blokes sitting on three CRF250s in Vientiane, Laos, wondering whether the actual dream of an uncharted adventure might be better than the reality.

Listen up

We’d just finished our bike handover and had been given a 30-minute briefing on what to expect. It was a fair list that included things like crazy bus drivers overtaking anytime anywhere, a range of animals from elephants to chickens living free-range in the middle of the road, logging trucks, dog trucks, crazy half-tractor/half-wagon things that seemed to carry any type of cargo imaginable, and, worst of all, the dreaded shuttle buses that will overtake anytime, anywhere. Blind corners were their specialty, apparently. When we asked about road rules we were told there was only one that mattered: size has right of way.

It turned out the bike-shop owner wasn’t joking. It was the most important information he could possibly have given us.

Eat it

Off we went, the wind in our faces, GoPros on helmets and nothing but the open road ahead.

Actually it was a one-hour grind to get out of Vientiane, but the time on the bikes let us start to feel a little more comfortable on the road and confidence began to build. We pulled up after the first 50km mark and made sure everybody was okay and was comfortable with the speeds we were doing.

We arrived in Van Viang that night and celebrated surviving our first day with a few too many Beer Laos. It was New Year’s Eve after all, so we went out for some traditional Laos food…pizza! This was followed by visiting some of the many local watering holes to see out the midnight countdown. We’d already broken two of our rules: no big nights when riding the next day, and only eating true Laos cuisine.

Dream times

After a late start we jumped on our bikes, said farewell to the modern life and prepared to head out into the unknown. We didn’t know where the next stay would be, only that we would need to be there before dark. The ride was an amazing mixture of dirt and semi-paved bitumen combined with next-to-no traffic. We rode past many small, dust-covered villages with kids running out to meet us waving and clapping as we rode past, and this was what we were after: the Ewan-and-Charlie effect. In that moment we felt like true pioneers traversing strange new lands for the first time.

Clean sheet

We stopped in a small town called Feuang but couldn’t find any restaurants, so decided to check out what looked like an open food market. We rolled in and walked around the same set of stalls about five times trying to find something edible that wouldn’t lead to the next five days riding the porcelain bowl instead of the bike. Our meal consisted of six sugar bananas, a packet of two-minute noodles and a massive plate of the best damn roast-pork crackling ever – all washed down with a well-earned Beer Lao or three.

Above right: Eating Laos food was part of the plan. Small village markets filled the menu each day. Right: It’s the elephant man! u

That night we stayed in quaint little bungalows that turned out to be Boom

Boom bungalows. ‘Boom Boom’ was the term the locals used in regard to the escort profession. It was safe to say we all had broken sleep due to the coming and going of these ladies of the night and their very excited customers.

For some reason I thought it would be more hygienic to sleep on the floor instead of the well-used bed.

Soft ball

The next few days found us zooming – or should I say sliding – along powdery, semipaved roads feeling like we were in the adventure we’d hoped for. We hadn’t seen another foreigner in three days. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners were no longer taken for granted, and all too often we’d have to scavenge through some middle-of-nowhere little village searching for a packet of chips and a luke-warm beer for lunch. Most of the villages we stopped at had no electricity and would run a beaten-up, hand-me-down generator for a couple of hours a day to keep the fridges semi-cool.

Left: A barby! Beauty!

Right: From left, Clint, Luke Jenkins and Ross Jordan. Adventurers.

The village kids always sat patiently, waiting for us to finish our mangy meal so we could kick an old, flat soccer ball with them.

Fair go

The Laos New Year goes for five days, so we often randomly came across traditional village carnivals. What these guys lost in technology and resources they made up for with enthusiasm and ingenuity.

We would walk through these carnivals with no less than 50 kids on our tail. We’d play their local fair games, throw a tennis ball at some old beer tins or a dart at a balloon and, if we were lucky, win a bunch of bananas or some type of seafood that looked like it had been in the sun for three days too long.

The kids, dressed in their best clothes, would watch in awe as the gigantic white guys terrorised (in a good way) their highlight for the year.

Traffickers

As far as riding went, we never thought we’d experience so much variety.

The days ranged from riding our bikes onto a wooden raft and getting pulled across a river to winding through the hills on brand-new bitumen roads that would make even the Marlboro man scream in ecstasy.

Unfortunately not all roads were so accommodating.

Laos didn’t seem to operate under the same work, health and safety rules as we were used to. Roadwork involved both lanes being worked on at the same time while traffic operated as usual. This led to some of the scariest riding of the trip. Roads consisted of powder and potholes, machinery and trucks created copious amounts of dust and Laos traffic came from every direction possible. It wasn’t unusual to pull up after one of these sections and say a little prayer to The Big Fella, thanking him for another safe passage.

Bare essentials

We clocked up about 4000km in 11 days. The CRFs were fantastic and, except for the usual wear and tear, never missed a beat.

For luggage we went with the minimalist approach. We each carried one small duffle bag and between us had two spare tyres, one tool kit that contained a few standard sockets, a tyre lever, a spanner and a chain. The duffle bags were attached to the bike using a very complicated system that involved getting an ocky strap and wrapping it around the bag and bike’s rack as many time as possible. At night we parked the bikes as close as we could to where we were sleeping, but we never once felt like they were in any danger of being stolen.

Life lessons

Laos is certainly a country steeped in poverty. Its people live in some of the harshest

To see the video Don and his mates shot on their run through Laos, log on to www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FmratRfQSU&feature=youtu.be.

conditions imaginable, with limited access to the amenities we take for granted, but this doesn’t seem to dampen their spirit.

I can honestly say it’s the people who make Laos the great country it is. They have an attitude towards life that would put most westerners to shame. They don’t have much, and everything they do have serves a purpose. Things don’t get replaced. Ever. Anything that breaks can always be fixed. They don’t have flash TVs with full surround sound or computer games to keep themselves occupied. They have each other and most of their waking moments are spent eating, working and socialising with family and friends.

This then begs the question: who’s better off? Us, with all the comforts of life yet still wanting more (and constantly worrying about what the future holds)? Or them, who have just enough to survive, yet are very grateful for what they do have and live life in the present helping each other get by the best they can. I guess this is what I like the most about travelling via bike. It gives you a chance to see life a lot closer than you would if you were sitting in a bus with a set itinerary and only stopping at the scheduled top tourist spots. The bike will bring you closer to the people

every time and it’s the people that will let you see what their country is really about.

What’s next?

The hardest thing about this kind of travel is not procuring the bikes or working out where to go and how to get there. It’s getting the

right crew to be at the same place at the same time.

We’re looking at doing the Garden Route in South Africa, or possibly the riding through the Himalayan Mountains. We love the idea of doing another self-run ride, but we have to weigh up if the options and risks outweigh the safety concerns.

NSW

April 17 - 18 Mt Seaview Level 1

April 19 - 20 Mt Seaview Level 2

June 20 - 21 Dargle Level 1 All Brands

August 15 - 16 Dargle Level 1 & 2 Hire Bikes available

QLD

July 31 - August 1 Conondale Level 1 Hire Bikes available

August 2 - 3 Conondale Level 2 Hire Bikes available

VIC

June 6 - 7 Broadford Level 1 All Brands

September 18 - 19 Broadford Level 1 Hire Bikes available

September 20 - 21 Broadford Level 2 Hire Bikes available

WA

October 23 - 24 Kirup Level 1

October 25 - 26 Kirup Level 2

BMW’s two-day GS “Adventure bike” training courses are the ideal way to learn and develop the skills to take your GS further off the beaten track. Courses are designed for riders of all levels and our world-class instructors will take your riding to a totally new level. Our 2015 dates are: W bmwmotorrad.com.au

Triumph 800XCx Tiger

Go anywhere. Do anything.

Triumph says it’s made ‘refinements’ to the Tiger 800. We think the bike’s had huge improvements – and it was already a great adventurer. Now it’s a-fricken-mazing.

Image: Wilkinson Photography

The Tiger 800XCx is well capable in tough adventure settings, and will go through mountain roads like a kitchen blender through over-ripe banana.

We’ve loved the Tiger 800 since it was released in 2011.

It didn’t have any real faults, it was fast, agile, and a boy racer’s screaming delight on a twisting mountain road. But Triumph hasn’t rested on its laurels. For 2015 there are some considerable changes to the 800 Tiger.

Two good

Triumph offers two Tigers, the XR tourer and the XC off-roader. Also, each variant has a base model – the XR and XC –but there’s now an up-specced option, the XRx and the XCx. The additional features on the X models are significant, and, it seems to us, very keenly priced. If you were to take an XC and add the features of the XCx, we doubt it could be done for anything like the price Triumph is asking.

Goodies

We’re riding the XCx for this issue, so we’ll leave the base model for another day.

Here’s a rundown of the X upgrades:

R Three selectable riding modes –Road, Off-Road, Programmable Rider

R Four selectable throttle settings –Rain, Road, Sport, Off-Road

R Three selectable traction control settings – Road, OffRoad, Off

R Three selectable ABS settings – Road, Off-Road, Off

R Cruise control

R Engine protection bars

R Advanced trip computer

R Auto-cancel indicators

R Centrestand

R Handguards

R Aluminium sump guard

R Additional 12-volt power socket

Right: The front guards on the media bikes were all raised with a Touratech kit. Braking is excellent, front and rear. u

Right top: The fully adjustable WP suspension front and rear has given the Tiger a big lift. The rear seems especially compliant and well-sorted. We didn’t move a clicker.

As we wandered wistfully through the spec sheet, there were a few things that caught our attention. Compared to the model we rode for issue #06, the new bike is five kilos heavier –no doubt a result of all the new gear – has its capacity increased by a single cubic centimetre, the ’bars are five millimetres narrower, and of course there’s additional electronics and WP suspension.

The ride-by-wire throttle and cruise control were the first things to hit us in the eye of the Tiger, but there’s a stack of very high-tech and up-market features. Here’s a rundown of the ones we haven’t already mentioned from the supplied media material:

R Coded key immobiliser

R Switchable ABS as standard

R Adjustable handlebar position and rider seat height

R Hazard light switch on instrument panel

R Adjustable clutch and brake levers

R Radiator guard

That’s a hefty package of all-good gear. In addition to those features, our test bike had a Touratech kit to raise the front guard, and

several of the media bikes had Arrow pipes.

The Tiger sits well and truly in the ranks of the high-end bikes. We love it!

Driven

From a riding point of view, Triumph is claiming an increased fuel efficiency of 17 per cent, the new WP suspension is fully adjustable, and of course there’s the electronic rider aids.

As we climbed on board the new Tiger the first impression was the feeling the bike was slimmer around the front than the previous model, and that the switchblocks and gauges seemed a little busier than we remembered.

In fact the plastics protecting the tank and front end are slimmer, but so is the motor, thanks to a slightly smaller alternator. The seat is the same comfortable, long-distance-ready bum bucket, and the ’bars have a new shape we liked a lot.

A touch of the button had the restrained snarl of that fabulous three-cylinder motor purring aggressively, and we set ourselves to

Left: The gauges and dash look the same, but there’s more information available with the electronic aids. The communications set-up by the Triumph tech team is the best we’ve ever used.

Above: The rubber footpeg inserts fit better on the new model, and still allow the boot to contact the steel ’peg. They remove without using tools, and we chucked ours, but we noticed a lot of the other journos didn’t, so they must offer a good compromise.

Below left: Flicking through the menu and choosing rider modes and so forth takes some getting used to, but it all makes sense after a while. The left switchblock is the control centre.

Below right: A couple more buttons for cruise control makes the switchblock seem much larger, but it’s probably not. It’s very comfortable to use.

slingshot off into glory…only to find the traction control in the ‘Road’ setting is quite aggressive and doesn’t allow much dirt slingshotting. A quick change to the off-road setting – done on the fly – and we were well on our way. The familiar joy of the sharp throttle response and very linear torque and power delivery make this motor an absolute joy to roost around dirt roads. It’ll lug along through sand and mud, or scorch along with everything screaming it’s brains out at the redline, and the motor seems to be always giving.

It’s superb.

ToP gear

The Triumph guys set us up with really nice gear for this three-day ride, and we want to tell you about it because it was pretty damn good.

First up was the Triumph Navigator jacket.

It comes with a liner, but that’s only for the cold. The jacket itself is waterproof, well-vented and very comfortable. It had built-in, removable armour in the elbows, shoulders and back, stretchy bits right where we needed them, side adjustment zippers, and will zip up to the Triumph pants that go with it.

Tough stuff

We’ve commented a few times on how Triumph seemed to encourage the media to go mental on the Tiger when it was first released. The media did too. The result was a big bunch of hard-to-impress media types coming away with a very high opinion of the bike.

The same thing happened with the XCx. Some of the more outrageous things you’ll see in photographs around the place were the suggestion of the Triumph guys, and it all peaked with a run along Stockton Beach –on a 220kg adventure bike with used 50/50 tyres…

Holy mother of Dog!

The bikes did it easy. Not just the sand, but the whole ridiculous, extreme thrashing

All for around $500. That’s a great price for a jacket as good as this one. We flanged it through the heat, rain, sand and mud, and it didn’t let us down.

Along with the jacket was a new Bell MX9 helmet.

For a helmet priced below $250, we couldn’t believe how light and comfortable it was, and how well-made it seemed to be.

Good stuff!

handed out by the journalists was fuss-free.

Just to sum up what we found: On the road? Superb. On dirt trails? Fantastic. In the shitty loose sand? Incredible.

Technically speaking

We’re glossing over a great deal here because we’re short of space, but we want to make sure we get the message across about how capable and versatile this bike is.

Let’s quickly look at the new features. The suspension is really good. We don’t know that it could be a lot better for the bike’s intended purpose. It can be tuned for individuals to improve its performance for sure, but straight off the showroom floor it’s good. We rode the bike on the tar, over some rocky ground for quite a distance, pancaked it

off erosion mounds and never moved a clicker from the factory settings. We didn’t see anyone else playing with the suspension either.

The rider modes are really interesting. We’re not big fans of electronic aids, but they’re getting so good they can’t be ignored.

The preset road configuration gave an aggressive traction control and ABS set-up, as you’d expect. The traction control is so aggressive we thought we’d run out of fuel on some dirt corrugations, but it was the traction control trying to regulate the rear wheel as it bounced. It works fine on the road and is brilliant in the wet.

The Off-Road preset was really good. The traction control backs off considerably and the ABS applies to the front wheel only, so that’s got to be the setting for about 95 per cent

off-road TesT

of adventure riders. Finally there’s a ‘Rider’ setting which allows a customised mix of all the presets on offer, and that’s where we ended up. Although it allows turning off all the electronic rider aids, we liked the Off-Road ABS setting so we went with it. We also had the traction control off, and because the XCx allows a choice of throttle response we opted for the ‘Road’ setting.

‘Throttle response’ isn’t a great way of saying what happens. The Tiger allows the rider to choose how far he wants to twist the throttle to get the engine responding. It’s like being able to choose between a short-pull and regular throttle on a carby bike, but in this case it’s at the touch of a button.

It’s very effective, too. Ride-by-wire, eh? Awesome.

Love it

One touch of the starter button on the Tiger and we were instantly transported to our Happy Place – where bitumen is always curving tightly around mountainsides, tree-lined trails are loamy and wide, and deserts beckon bikes that can sit on speeds in excess of 150kph in comfort.

That’s how the Tiger has always made us feel. But now it’s a wet dream on wheels. If you’re a capable rider who

can make the rider aids work for you, the XCx is going to have you cutting stinging times and conquering mountains – figuratively and literally. If you love the aggression of an in-line mutli-cylinder engine but want to be confident you can tackle the terrain no matter what gets thrown at you, the Tiger XCx should be very high on your shopping list.

And if you’re looking for a bike that will help you along a little as your skills improve, this could be a good choice.

More to come

We’re fretting because there’s so much we want to tell you about this bike, but we just don’t have room this issue. The good news is the folks at Triumph have parked an XCx in the Adventure Rider Magazine shed for a while, so we’ll be able to tell you more over the next few issues. For now, go ride one at your Triumph dealer. You’ll straight away see why we’re so excited.

TrIumPh 800XCx TIger

Web: www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au. Rec retail (with ABS) $17,690 plus ORC

Engine type: Liquid-cooled, 12-valve, DOHC, in-line three-cylinder

Displacement: 800cc

Bore/stroke: 74.05mm x 61.94mm

Rated output: 95PS (93.6hp) at 9300rpm

Maximum torque: 79Nm at 7850rpm

System: Multipoint sequential electronic fuel injection

Exhaust: Stainless steel 3-into-1, high-level stainless steel silencer

Gearbox: Six-speed

Final drive: O-ring chain

Clutch: Wet, multi-plate

Oil capacity: 3.7 litres

Starter: Electric

Fuel tank capacity: 19 litres

Transmission: Six-speed

Frame: Tubular steel trellis

Swingarm: Twin-sided, cast aluminium alloy

Front suspension: WP 45mm upsidedown forks, 220mm travel, adjustable rebound and compression damping

Rear suspension: WP monoshock with remote oil reservoir, hydraulically adjustable preload, rebound damping adjustment, 215mm travel

Front wheel: 36-spoke 21 x 2.5 inch, aluminium rim

Rear wheel: 32-spoke 17 x 4.25 inch, aluminium rim

Length: 2215mm

Width (handlebars): 851mm

Height (without mirrors): 1390mm

Seat height: 840mm/860mm (adjustable)

Wheelbase: 1545mm

Brakes front: Twin 308mm floating discs.

Nissin twin-piston floating calipers, switchable ABS

Brakes rear: Single 255mm disc.

Nissin single-piston floating caliper, Switchable ABS

Wet weight: 221kg

Dry weight: 196kg

While you’re doing that, we’ll start prepping this bike for ADVX, and you know what? It’s ready as it comes off the dealer floor. All we’re going to do is a few comfort changes and organise to carry some extra fuel. The Tiger is that good.

A huge thanks to the Triumph guys for not only a superb few days, but a great time on a fabulous bike. Cheers! AdvR

One tough MoFo

Adventure Rider Magazine’s KLR650 has taken a pounding. If ever there was a tough bike, this is it. The KLR is tough and capable, unlike the rider.

When we last had a look at the magazine’s 2009 KLR it was being set up for ADVX and the editor was pounding around the countryside with it loaded to the max to make sure it was ready.

The bike made everything seem easy, and if the luggage load worried it any, it didn’t show. The bike kept munching away on long distances and tough terrain – swag, tools, lack-of-maintenance and all.

Everything was rockin’…until it was time to pretty the bike up and send it down to the Moto Expo in Melbourne.

Tank you!

The folks at Safari Tanks sent one of their superb, 30-litre fuel cells, and it was fitted just before the bike began its journey to Melbourne.

As with every Safari Tank we’ve ever used, the KLR model slipped into place with a minimum of fuss. All the plumbing, mounting brackets and hoses were supplied, and the only problem we had fitting the thing was with the stainless steel crossbrace under the tank needing a tweak to line up on one side.

No drama, pig farmer!

Not a problem, but a little scary for us because we’re not too precise with any kind of hardware work, was trimming the skirt of the radiator. It’s all outlined in the instructions supplied with the tank, and it turned out to be as easy as falling backwards down a slippery, rocky hill in the rain, but it was a little stressful for us.

We cut, tweaked, bolted and, because the bikes need to be dry of fuel to be displayed at the Expo, left the tank empty.

Neat

The Safari Tank is interesting in a couple of ways.

Because the tank replaces the lower fairing sections on each side, the outline of the bike is unchanged. The Safari fuel tank with its extra capacity doesn’t change the size of the bike by even the tiniest amount.

Another facet of that change is that the sides of the tank offer considerable protection to the radiator on one side and reservoir on the other.

Finally, because we asked for the translucent tank, checking the fuel level is as easy as looking over at the bike while you stir your cappuccino.

It’s brilliant.

Seeing as the tank was bone dry, we marked the 10-litre and 20-litre levels with a

texta as we filled it for the first time. It’s not perfect, but it’s an approximation. And it’s handy, because something that’s taking a while to get used to is how much capacity is in the upper part of tank. At the bowser you splash in a little fuel and the tank suddenly looks half-full. Another splash and it’s filling fast. But then you scratch your ’nads and look around, maybe zero the tacho and see if it’s a good-looking sheila on the console in the servo, and you look down and see you’re $35 in the hole and the fuel level doesn’t seem to have risen more than about 10mm.

The same goes the other way, of course. You ride around all day and hardly seem to use any fuel, then suddenly it seems you’d better find a servo. Fast!

The range of the KLR with the Barrett pipe and Safari tank is around 500km of mixed riding, and the balance of the bike, thanks to the Teknik suspension, stays surprisingly neutral right up to about three-quarters of capacity. With a full load on, the bike’s front tends to plough a little, but the only times

Above: Looks good and doesn’t alter the silhouette of the bike.

Bottom left: Look away if you have a queasy tummy. This is the left-hand handlebar, clutch perch and switchblock, or what’s left of them, after the trailer fall. Bottom right: The fairing copped a scrape, but it’s only cosmetic.

you’d fill the tank are times when an hour or so of top-heaviness are the last things you need to worry about.

We also saw a comment on the AdvRiderMag forum that the fuel trapped in the front lower regions of the tank is lower than the fuel taps, therefore unavailable. It looks like this is true, but when we were checking the range, we ran the tank down to where the fuel wouldn’t draw any more, and it still took over 30 litres according to the bowser, so we don’t feel as though there’s any misrepresentation about the tank’s capacity.

And if you were stuck somewhere, you’d find some way of getting to that fuel. For sure.

’Bar none

Another mod since last issue was the addition of new ’bars and risers.

This was personal tuning to suit the editor.

The 50mm risers allow the ’bars to be moved forward, and the handlebars themselves are a flatter bend than the stockers, so the height gain is deceptive. It’s probably something like 20mm.

Having the handlebars set a little further forward meant the handguards had to go, because they were smacking into the screen.

Finally, Andy at Andy Strapz sent us a prototype tankbag designed for the Safari Tank.

So with the bike clean, shiny and starting to look good, it was shipped off to Melbourne, and that’s where things became a little…smashy.

Trailer trash

It was actually on the way back from Melbourne that the bike fell off the trailer.

We weren’t there, but apparently the bike didn’t leave the trailer, it just fell and dug the left handlebar into the Hume Highway.

The result wasn’t pretty.

The left ’bar, being alloy, had ground away on road and what was left was melted into a mushroom shape and kind of melded with the remains of the switchblock and clutch perch. The switchblock had copped it fairly hard, the mirror was no better, and the fairing had a few battlescars and a fair chunk was missing from the corner of the screen. The gear selector was bent back against the engine casing, but still in one piece.

A new set of ’bars from the ones stored in the shed, a new switchblock for $185, some fiddling and straightening, and everything was pretty much ready to go again.

Except it wouldn’t.

Some professional help was sought and it turned out the battery was shagged as well.

Another $230 spent and the bike was running sweetly, straight, and busting to go.

The editor headed out for a weekend ride, only to dump the bike in a creek – twice, once on each side – and then make a mess of a not-very-difficult hill. The trip on its side down the rocky hill snapped off the clutch lever, but didn’t seem to do any other damage… nothing that could be seen as new, at least.

A new clutch lever was slipped in and the bike carved off another faultless 500km or so.

Tough, and so dead-set unbreakable that it’s a dream to ride anywhere.

Interesting

It was an overnight ride, so the panniers had a few clothes in one side and tools in the other. Both panniers were completely submerged in separate creek cock-ups, and yet both kept their contents bone dry.

Andy Strapz gear rocks – not that we mind our tools getting wet occasionally.

The editor is in raptures about the footpeg mod (see issue #07) and claims the KLR is now probably the most comfortable standup bike he’s ever ridden.

We couldn’t get the tankbag sorted for this ride, so we’ll let you know about that when we work on it a little more.

Meanwhile, the KLR seems just about ready for any major ride that may come along.

Next up

Originally the bike was being prepared for ADVX, but it’s beginning to look like it won’t be let loose on that epic. The essentials of

motor, suspension and rider tuning seem to be well advanced. At this stage we’re pretty confident there’s no ride this bike couldn’t do.

Now it needs some general maintenance: brake pads, oil change, new clutch lever…small things.

But when the bike is as tough as this one, once it’s set up that’s about all it needs.

Left insert: Trimming the radiator shroud was scary, but no problem, even for us. The instructions made everything clear.

Main: The editor says the KLR is supremely easy and comfortable to ride. He’s bragging he’ll take it anywhere and do anything. Obviously he said that before he fell in the creek and got stuck on the hill.

Above: Sneaky, but very helpful when working out distances and available range.

how to ride Riding

remote areas

Concentrate on being smooth and smart. Speed will follow.

miles davis

If your concentration isn’t where it should be, it’s only a matter of time before you get that wake-up call. Sometimes it can make you the target of jokes from your friends. Sometimes it can be much worse.

We live in one of the best countries in the world to ride an adventure bike. Mountains, deserts, beaches and rivers… we have it all.

But when you look at a map, you can see the majority of the country is dominated by flat, open, barren landscapes. That being the case, in most parts of the country you don’t need to head too far from the coast to find some fast, open non-sealed roads. And when you find your ride heading this way you can almost guarantee riders will ride at higher speeds. The open landscape and straighter roads make it hard to stay focused and riders are often caught out by sudden changes in terrain. Usually sand, floodways or the odd corner are the traps.

Considering the crazy places some riders take their adventure bikes – steep hills, rocky terrain and twisty roads – it’s amazing how many accidents can take place on relatively basic roads. And one of the most concerning things is the severity of these accidents, mainly due to the quite high speeds those ‘easy’ roads allow.

So here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re tackling these conditions. They’ll

improve your riding and hopefully greatly increase your chances of a safe arrival.

Stay focused

Riding big distances at speed takes a lot of concentration. If you aren’t used to that sort of riding be very cautious to start with. It can really catch you out.

You need to be very pro-active in your approach. It may sound like simple common sense, but gradually build up your stints on the bike. Don’t try and ride 1000km in a day if you haven’t ridden 500km previously.

Don’t get distracted. It doesn’t matter if it’s your GPS, buttons on your bike, maps in your tankbag or a loose mirror that you didn’t stop to tighten. If your concentration isn’t where it should be, it’s only a matter of time before you get that wake-up call. If you’re lucky you’ll have a get-out-of-jail ticket up your sleeve. If not, you could be sailing off your bike and the consequences might be severe. Your GPS can be your best friend, but it can also bring you undone if it gets too much of your attention. Use it for what you need, and don’t fluff around with it when your focus should be on the road.

Disciplined riders finish rides

As riders we need to be able to make good decisions on the fly and we also need a good dose of discipline. There is definitely a balance between knowing when to go for it and knowing when to back off to have that bit extra ‘up your sleeve’. This gets easier with experience – hopefully – but it’s clear to see that some riders are overly cautious and others are not cautious enough. Like anything, it’s about finding a nice balance.

Be aware of your condition

For some riders eight hours on the bike is a nice bit of therapy. For others it’s like a solid session of bootcamp.

Riders need to know how to manage fatigue, read their body, know when they’re losing their edge and have the awareness to do something about it before things go pear shaped.

Hydrate

Unless you have a lot of riding experience or a background in endurance sports, most people are not good at staying hydrated. In fact, most people wait until they’re already dehydrated before they even think about doing something about it, and then it’s too late. When you’re piloting a bike you should be drinking between three and five litres of water a day. Make sure you’re keeping your fluids up or your muscles will lose strength and start cramping and feeling fatigue. At the same time your brain will lose its sharpness and you’ll become an accident waiting to happen. Most of the larger CamelBak bladders max out at three litres, so you should really be doing more than one fill up per day.

Snacks

Try to eat well.

It may take a little planning, but always having some small snacks on board can really make a difference. Dried fruit, trail mix, salami…it doesn’t really matter, but being able to have a small snack regularly through the day is a great way of staying on top of fatigue.

Avoid eating nothing, then having a massive lunch. You won’t be on top of your game digesting a megameal. Having regular snacks and then a lighter lunch will give you an edge. Even though energy drinks are like poison to the average Joe, a can of Red Bull in your kit could be the difference between you or one of your crew making it through the last 100km of a long day. Have one onboard, but don’t use it unless it’s really necessary. It won’t

Top: Staying loose helps a rider with bike control. Riding with one arm stretched out against the wind will help pecs stretch.

Above: Always having some small snacks on board can really make a difference.

Below: Managing fatigue is vital.

Right: Open landscape and straighter roads make it hard to stay focused, and riders will usually run at higher speeds.

hydrate you but it might give you a slap in the face for the last stint when you really need it.

Stretch

Spending long periods on a bike isn’t natural, your body can tighten up and you can lose your agility.

One thing I really push when training riders is to get people to relax on the bike. A tight, stiff, tense rider has no chance compared to a relaxed, agile rider who can move around on the bike to maintain balance when the bike starts getting unhappy in rough terrain or sand. Do the funky chicken, shoulder rolls, take one hand off the ’bar at a time and shake it around when you hit some tar or smooth sections of dirt. Stand on the ’pegs and stretch your hammies, stretch your calves by putting the balls of your feet on the ’peg and driving your heels to the ground. Ride with one arm stretched out against the wind and feel your pecs stretch, or jump around on your ’pegs and get funky. Whatever it takes to stay loose. I see it all the time. Riders who do some physical training can have a massive advantage over the guys who are unfit. Never underestimate how physically demanding riding an adventure bike can be.

Expect the unexpected

Wildlife, changes in terrain, oncoming traffic…it’s all out there trying to catch you out. It really helps to be alert and ready for the unexpected. Have something up your sleeve so when things change suddenly you’re not overcommitted. Pick your speed carefully, try to read when you need to be going slower or have the luxury to run a bit faster.

Look ahead

This was covered in issue #07 when we covered vision. It’s so important and not really mastered by many riders. Learn how to read the terrain and surface changes.

Riders that can see obstacles or situations and react early will be 10 times safer than

those who stumble across problems too late.

Know how to reduce speed quickly and efficiently

Riders who can wash off 50kph very quickly will have a huge advantage over riders who can’t. Practice braking skills! Know your limits, know your bike’s limits if it has ABS. This was covered in issue #06.

Use your body

When travelling at speed there will be times you’ll hit obstacles. If you don’t know how to use your body to take the sting out of impacts, you may crash or damage your bike. A lesser-skilled, static rider can hit an obstacle at 50kph and cause damage. A rider with good technique can hit the same obstacle on

the same bike at 100kph and glide over it. Don’t blame your bike. The rider is the key in these situations.

Respect the speed

At the end of the day, you need to minimise unnecessary risks if you want to finish rides safely. You can ride fast when it makes sense, and you have to be very focused on what is going on around you. Being aware of all these points, and making good decisions, will give you a massive advantage. One loss of concentration or one moment of enthusiasm in keeping up can bring a rider undone and that dream ride can become a bit of a nightmare.

Develop skills and take your riding seriously and you’ll have an absolute ball!

I Can’t

Words: Karen Ramsay

judge

a book by its cover

Karen Ramsay suggests some clarity in adventure-riding communication.

t seems to be a common theme these days – people hooking up online.

The world of adventure riding combined with social media has a lot in common with online dating. Not the casual Tinder stuff, more like the eHarmony, looking-fora-life-partner sort of dating.

The tentative messages to each other begin, gradually becoming a little cheeky before the parties meet. Adventure riders are certainly not immune to the attraction. It’s not difficult to post or find an upcoming ride on a forum or site and, within a short time, have a group of riders you’ve never met organised to meet. Often you’ll find someone who lives not too far away that you would have been unlikely to meet otherwise.

For me, there’s always a certain amount of trepidation when I meet other riders in person for the first time. What if I stall my bike in front of them? Why did I write on my profile that I like piña coladas? Will they ride at breakneck speed or are they out for a Sunday morning stroll?

If I turn up on a ride and they’re all on light dirtbikes and wearing motocross gear, I know there’s a fair chance it won’t be my sort of ride. For someone else, that’s ideal.

Having said that, someone could have all the gear, look the part and want to stick to the tar. Or they could be capable of propelling their big adventure bikes through places that would make a Dakar rider hold their breath in fear.

We’ve all seen people take inappropriate bikes in places they have no right to go. And make it look easy. They could’ve ridden to exotic places around the world and have incredible stories to share.

Age isn’t an issue either. I’ve ridden with many people who are a lot older than me (and I’ve even found a couple of riders younger than I am to ride with) and enjoyed the ride irrespective of the rider’s age.

The only way you can really tell if you’re compatible is to take a ride with people.

what I’ve learned

R I’m not into piña coladas, but I will ride in most weather

R Check before committing to a ride with strangers. See if the ride will suit you

R My Terra will go just about anywhere my fear will let it

R My kids don’t read these articles (do you Tinonee, Bess and Darcy?)

R If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it, don’t put it on social media

To troll or not to troll

My husband Dave is right into the whole online ADV-riding scene. He’s made lots of contacts and we’ve gone on a lot of terrific rides, both of us improving our skills as well as making many great friends.

I’m still trying to make up my mind if it’s okay to look up someone’s profile before you meet to find out what sort of adventure riding they’re into. If you do, I’m not sure if it’s creepy or being prepared.

For me, if they have lots of pictures of someone on a little dirt bike, holding a beer while jumping over a flooded creek, then we’re probably not on the same page. Similarly, if their only shots are of lattes at every café between Melbourne and Adelaide, then we might not be on the same page either.

Then again, turning up at a designated

place and time not even knowing what sort of bike they’re on can be exciting.

Perceptions

Recently I went on a fabulous overnight adventure ride organised by, and raising money for, the Emu Creek Hall Committee.

The organisers had done a great job in putting together fabulous loops over two days. According to a couple of the wives, it had taken the blokes six months of riding research to get it just right. It was there I really came to understand adventure riding can have very different meanings for different people.

They’d capped the number of riders at 50 to make it manageable and advertised around the place, including on social media, and ended up with a huge range of bikes, riders and abilities. There seemed to be a lot

There’s lots of different interpretations of what makes an ‘adventure’ ride. Different bikes and different people suit different types of adventure. Maybe we could come up with a system to identify what we’re looking for?

karen ramsay

of single-track riding (although in reality it was just a small part of it) and I spent a lot of time with my heart in my mouth, forgetting and ignoring all the sensible riding knowledge and skills I’ve been trying to develop.

At one stage some bloke overtook me, enveloping me in dust so thick I couldn’t even see the visor on my helmet, let alone what was going on up ahead. It was like riding with my eyes closed. I knew I had at least one rider directly behind me, so I couldn’t stop. With no way to know what was happening up ahead I was convinced I would crash into someone or something. Fortunately for me, God must have been having a quiet time of it, and after what seemed like a lifetime of no vision and a few close calls with trees, I was able to see again. I discovered in that long moment that wasn’t the type of riding I’m into.

It also highlighted to me the differences in what people call adventure riding.

ISOLTRM

(In search of long term riding mates)

Perhaps we need to come up with some acronyms and abbreviations to help people find their ‘perfect match’ when organising or joining rides with strangers on social media.

It could include acronyms like

ST – into single trail

Espresso – rides with coffee stops

R – sunny weather rides only

S – will ride in any conditions

Stayer – long rides; the longer the better Quickie – a couple of hours at the most

ZZZ – overnighters – male riders only

Call me ‘Sir’ – likes to lead rides

Cinderella – happy to be sweep

FF – fast and furious riding

Easy rider – nothing challenging – has mechanical skills

Regardless of any of that, even if your riding styles are different, at least you’ve been out for a ride instead of sitting at home, you’ve met some fellow adventure riders and probably learned something too.

Media release with a catch

There’s always an air of festivity about a bike media release. Generally everyone – the media representatives and the importers –know each other fairly well, and everyone gets along. There’s an implied code of behaviour for the journos, so they’ll present and behave well. The same goes for the bike’s importers. They want the bike to look its best, and they know if they put the media in plush accommodation, feed them big and wash the bikes for them at the end,

Damper

the bike will probably get a good review. They shepherd the contingent around from place to place, allowing them to work the bike a little here and there, but, in general, keeping things firmly under control.

A Triumph model release is the odd one. If there’s fun to be had, even if it pushes the borders of political correctness, it’s highly likely the Triumph staffers will be leading the way.

Here’s a few examples of what we mean…they’re also examples showing why we love our work.

Mark Berger and Danny ‘Wilko’ Wilkinson are very conscientious and decided it was important to ride the course before the event. The idea was to scout good photo locations and make sure the riding suited the 800.

It rained like seven bastards in the week before the preride, and was still bucketing down as Marty HC led everyone out on the course DualSport Australia had prepared. Everything went swimmingly – literally – for about the first 40

A media release of a new bike calls for a small group of professionals gathering under the watchful eye of the bike’s importers to ensure controlled conditions suited to the bike’s design brief. But then there’s the release of the Triumph Tiger 800XCx. Names have not been changed to protect the guilty.

minutes of the first day. Then, with the brand-new Tiger lying on its side halfway up a muddy Coffs Harbour hill and the fourwheel-drive buried up to the rear axles not far behind, the decision was taken to delete that first section.

Thanks to the rain the conditions were way beyond anything the 800 was designed to do.

If the pic looks a little gloomy and blurry, it’s because that’s how the scene looked in the pouring rain with a bogged four-wheeldrive and a yet-to-be-released bike lying on its side in the gloop.

30,29.1826S

Drive time

Always searching for the best-possible result, Triumph sent Matt Hayman, video guru, to capture some mind-blowing vision. Matt fired up his remote-control car with the camera on board and zoomed out to capture the bikes crossing the slow-moving, glassy river.

A very tiny ‘plop’ was all that was heard as Matt’s pride and joy dropped in the drink and headed for the bottom.

A quick trip on the roof rack of the four-wheel drive to dry out in the wind and the car was back in action.

No problem!

Check the video on Triumph’s Facebook page. It’s glorious.

Wet ones

There was this causeway where the water’s always flowing, no matter what. It’s ideal for photos!

Except when the Tigers arrived, it was dry as a nun’s nasty.

Triumph’s Mark Berger suggested to TF that if he hurled the 800 straight off the side of the causeway into the river, he’d be able to ride across to the far bank where Wilko waited, smirking, with a camera.

Everyone tried to suppress the giggling and snuffling, hoping AdvRiderMag’s editor would fall for it.

Proclaiming, “Hey. It’s your bike…” TF dropped the clutch and shot off into the drink. The pic you can see on page 42 looks all very swish, but it wasn’t all plain sailing, as Wilko’s camera shows.

Once AMCN’s Rennie Scaysbrook saw the outcome of Tom’s attempt, he thought it’d make sense to ride along right beside the causeway. That didn’t go so well either.

Image: Wilkinson Photography

Porn broker

One of the stops was a rustic old general store. There was this room out the back…

Image: Wilkinson Photography

Image: Wilkinson Photography

Touching

Wilko had this idea where he’d sit on the inside of the corner and the guys would all ride past, one at a time, “…as close as you can”.

As the group lined up to make their passes, someone offered $50 to anyone who could get close enough to actually tag Wilko with a handlebar.

Wilko, to his credit, didn’t flinch, even when Rennie Scaysbrook made the tag.

The big-mouth who made the offer paid up.

Pushers

On the way back from the beach the group found a Japanese tourist who read the sign ‘Beach Entry’ and thought he’d take his hire car out for a look. It took the combined effort of the entire crew to push the car back to solid ground. The driver was left to dig out and recover his own sumpguard from the sand.

The aftermath

After all that horsing around, the Triumph guys showed they were fair dinkum by making the media contingent wash their own bikes. It’s true!

Mark Fattore of bikesales.com.au did an especially good job… so everyone kind of disappeared and left him to it.

Image: Wilkinson Photography

An enormous thanks to Cliff and Mark – shown here dragging TF from the creek – and the folks at

for

At

adventure Preparing for a good night’s sleep

When preparing for an adventure ride of anything over a day in length, it’s easy to focus all your time and energy on the preparation of your bike. However, to many experienced adventurers, what happens off the bike is of just as much importance.

If you’re camping on your ride, your quality of sleep will have a major bearing on what sort of enjoyment you get from the next day.

In this issue we look closely at tents, mattresses and sleeping bags, with information we hope will have you well-rested and ready for the excitement that takes place on the bike.

After all, if you don’t sleep well, the whole adventure-travel experience may be one you’d rather forget.

Tents

With just about any product, you can spend as little or as much as you like, so we should stress from the outset that no matter what your budget, we recommend that you buy the best camping equipment you can afford. In the long run, it will pay dividends. You should match the tent to your occasions. If you’re only going to be away for one weekend, a couple of times a year, any little tent will do the job. Most tents are relatively waterproof in normal rain conditions, but not in strong or

heavy rain as often the floors will leak. You need to have a tent that’s got a fully waterproof floor, with the floor returning up the side by around 75mm or 100mm to give some vertical protection. Often you’re only looking for good insect protection and some limited protection from the elements, but if you intend to be away for longer periods, the durability is compromised on some of the more basic, or less-expensive, tents. Increasing the durability without increasing the weight of the tent will also increase the price. For travel where weight isn’t so critical,

any tent will do the job, but typically you work on a weight range of one kilogram per person for your tent. You should always be weight conscious, because once you start your ride it’s difficult to lighten the load. We hear so often of people on long trips who start sending stuff home that they don’t need in order to make their bike lighter.

I’ve learnt this from the school of hard knocks and have made just about every mistake possible over the years, but hopefully we can fast track your learning so you head off as well-prepared as you can be.

Find a level

You should use the same thinking for motorcycle adventure travel as you would for hiking. You’ll often encounter all types of weather

conditions, so you’ll need something light to carry, but durable enough to keep you dry and to cope with reasonable wind.

For the more basic tents there are infinite possibilities – from your local Kmart through to camping and adventure stores. That’ll get you out on the road, but you’ll need to be mindful of the tent’s durability and weight if you hope to use it regularly and over long periods.

The next level of tent is what you’d typically be thinking of putting in your backpack in a hiking situation. You’ll need to try to keep as close as possible to one kilogram of tent per person. While this is difficult to achieve if you’re travelling on your own, as a couple or if sharing the tent, then it’s quite possible.

A three-season tent, which will cover all conditions other than heavy snow and blizzard-type weather, should be suitable for your needs, and MSR makes a great range, with the Hubba variants being the most popular.

The difference in weight between a one-person Hubba tent (1.29kg packed) and a two-person Hubba Hubba (1.72kg packed) is only 430g. The Hubba has a vestibule (or awning) that you can put your gear under, but even when travelling solo I’ll use a two-person Hubba

Hubba tent, as it means I can store my gear inside and out of the weather. It also enables me to eat inside if the weather is really bad.

These tents are quick and easy to put up, and often you don’t even need to peg them down if you place your gear in each corner of the tent. They’re also so light that when you finish camping you can pick the tent up with one hand by the frame and shake the dirt off the bottom. They have reflective straps and ropes on them that are a lot more useful than you’d realise, even just around the camp with a torch at night, and most quality tents have

Below: MSR’s Hubba range is high quality.

The MSR Nook Gear Shed.

PreParIng for advenTure

As mentioned, we use MSR, but the CEO of Touratech in Germany will also use Hilleberg, very robust, and probably the ultimate in tents. However, they are right at the top end of the price scale and are generally heavier tents more suited to extended travel of many months living off the bike.

Print job

I always use a footprint as well, which is like a groundsheet under the tent. This means the bottom of your tent won’t be wet and dirty from condensation, and will always be dry when you pack it up. You can simply shake out the footprint and fold it up separately to your tent. The footprint can also double as an emergency shelter.

I’ll use the Mutha Hubba (three-person) footprint under the Hubba Hubba (twoperson) tent, and I’ll take some type of a doormat, such as a piece of old truck tarp, to help keep the inside of the tent clean. This is also used as a work sheet if I have to perform any maintenance on the bike.

There’s also an MSR add-on called the Nook Gear Shed that connects to the Hubba range and gives a separate area to store luggage. That can be really handy.

When selecting a tent, ventilation is very important. Tents with a door on each side are ideal, but big, tall, stand-up type tents are not really an option for motorcycle travel.

One-person tents are a good idea for solo travel, but for a little more weight you’ll be a lot more comfortable in a two-person tent.

In conclusion, you’ll want a tent that’s easy to set up, as light as possible, and with a waterproof floor. If you cover those items, you’ll be off to a good start.

You can pick the tent up with one hand by the frame and shake the dirt off the bottom.

Costs: From $99 from your local camping store through to the MSR range that includes the one-person Hubba ($649), the two-person Hubba Hubba ($749) and the three-person Mutha Hubba ($929). The heavier two-person Elixir retails for $489.

Bag man

The swag-versus-tent debate is also worth mentioning, as there’ll be experienced travellers who have established a combination that works for them. A lot of those people use swags, and for them the convenience of just rolling out a swag works really well in predictable conditions where there’s no rain. I still use swags on occasions, but usually only when we have vehicle back-up.

There are some motorbike-friendly swags now, but these are heavier than tents. However, if you have to cover more extreme conditions and encounter insects, rain or wind, a swag is very difficult, especially if it’s wet. You’ll even have to get out of it before you get dressed.

Even the most basic swag will weigh more than a well-chosen tent, air mattress and sleeping bag combination.

Mattresses

You will need some form of a mattress, and for equivalent comfort, a self-inflating mattress is a lot lighter than a foam mattress.

The mattress must be of good quality to have any durability, otherwise it could burst. We’ve used Thermarest for many years and have been very happy with them.

Self-inflating air mattresses will give a high level of comfort and pack the smallest. Foam rolls are carried by a lot of hikers, but they’re only about 10mm thick and give about the same comfort as sleeping on a carpet floor. I’ve not known any adventure traveller who doesn’t use an air mattress.

You should also store your air mattress inflated and flat, never rolled up. This ensures the structure inside the mattress that makes them stand up retains its shape. If you store them rolled up, they won’t retain their shape as well, or self inflate as easily. You generally have to add a little air to them, but don’t over inflate them, as this can also damage them.

Also, if you jump on them or fall on them, especially if they’re over-inflated, it will break the baffle lines inside the mattress and then not distribute the air evenly across the mattress.

Pump the mattress up to what you think is the right pressure, then lay on your side. If you feel your hip or your shoulder is touching the ground, you need to add more pressure until just above the point where they touch the ground. This will give you a firm, soft feel, which is the perfect combination. Getting this right will make a huge difference to the quality of sleep you’ll have.

Another trick is to scrape a small depression in the ground with the side of your foot, just where your hip or bottom will be on the mattress. We call it the hip groove, and it only needs to be about 10 or 15mm deep, but it will also add greatly to your sleep quality.

The new Thermarest ProLite Plus mattress is brilliant, and in my experience the new

Below: Thermarest has given great service for many years.

38mm-thick mattress offers comfort previously only achieved with the heavier 50mm mats. The ProLite Plus weighs just 640g, including the carry bag.

Sleeping bags

All sleeping bags serve a purpose, but generally speaking the less expensive they are, the narrower the temperature band they work in. Therefore, you need to make sure the bag you choose covers the extremities of the conditions you are likely to go into. That being said, the temperature rating given on a lot of sleeping bags is the survival rating, whereas the important figure is the comfort rating.

For example, a sleeping bag with a survival rating of -5 will usually have a comfort rating of five degrees. If it got to -5 you would be very, very uncomfortable.

Of course, you can improve your warmth by wearing thermals to bed, but you’ll need to ensure the bag you buy is suitable for the conditions you’ll be sleeping in. In places like the Australian outback, you can have 30-degree days and temperatures below zero at night, so you need to be aware of this. I’ve had times I’ve been so bitterly cold I wished I wasn’t there and couldn’t wait for the night to end. Even getting up and putting all my bike gear back on and going back to bed didn’t help. Once you get cold, it’s very difficult to warm up again.

Check the minimum and maximum

down. A down bag will be 35 per cent to 50 per cent lighter than a synthetic sleeping bag.

There’s a lot of science that goes into sleeping bags, and I’ve had all sorts of them. On my first desert experience I was out for eight days, and on three of those I had the most miserable nights I’ve ever experienced. I then went to a higher-grade synthetic bag, and then managed to cross paths with Melbourne company One Planet, who now make the sleeping bags sold by Touratech in Australia.

to get dry, so it’s important not to get them wet. The One Planet range use DWR (durable water repellency) down, which will retain 70 per cent to 80 per cent of its performance when wet.

Touratech’s One Planet sleeping bags are all 800 loft, reducing the weight and the packing size, but also offering high performance in all conditions.

A good quality 800-loft down bag has absolutely transformed my camping experience, so much so that my whole family now has them as well. I have a bag with a comfort rating of -10 (up to -16, depending on if you’re a hot or cold sleeper), and a survival rating of -38, and it doesn’t matter whether I’m travelling in the summer or hiking in the snow, I’m always comfortable. In fact, the colder it gets the more comfortable you’ll be.

Because of the construction of a down bag,

Get it right

I can’t overstate the importance of having a good sleeping bag. I spent a lot of years avoiding buying a down bag, but in retrospect, I wish I’d done it straight away. I would’ve saved myself a lot of money and hassle.

It’s also very important that you don’t store any sleeping bag compressed, as you’ll just destroy the effectiveness of the bag. Storing them hanging up, or flat under a bed, is the best storage method.

In order to preserve the bag’s compression, One Planet’s sleeping bags are made to order

High Country ride

An opportunity presented itself, so Darin Rowley, owner of Adventure Motorcycle Equipment, boarded his trusty DR650 and pointed his nose towards Lake King and Lake Victoria near Bairnsdale – the Victorian High Country.

Follow Darin’s route https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zKZHrgzE1uHM.kijBwTsM5mKc

Words and images: Darin Rowley

Main: On top of the world. 1: The author, Darin Rowley.

Time to reflect. 3: Ready to navigate. Ready to roll. 4: The abridged version.

The air in Canberra was crisp, the sky blue and the horizon beckoning. I thumbed the GPS into life and selected my pre-programmed route, hit the starter and listened to the burbling through the Staintune. A little shine was lost off the new rubber exiting the driveway.

I couldn’t help but grin as I crossed Canberra looking at all the commuters in their tin cans sardining to their respective jobs. On this day I was unencumbered and free of domestic, family and work chores...woo-hoo!

The power line I rolled out of Canberra and up into the Brindabella range, onto the dirt and was feeling good. The eucalypts smelled great and the scenery opened up in front of me. On the saddle of the Brindabella Range at Two Sticks Road, I opted to follow some powerlines and the fun began. “Stay upright,” I thought. “Throttle control. Body position perpendicular to the ground. Don’t let those wheels lock down the steep hills. Most importantly, don’t fall off and have to use the SPOT SOS button.”

Solo riding has its advantages, but the disadvantages are compounded if you’re seriously injured in an unscheduled departure from your adventure mount.

A quick glance over the Goodradigbee River while crossing the Brindabella Valley on the Tumut road didn’t reveal a rising trout, but they were there. A few sidetracks along the Tumut Road brought on a grin, and some single track, log crossings and before I knew it, I was blatting south through Bondo State Forest and following some more powerlines.

Jammed

Long Plain came into view and a spirited application of throttle in the High Country ensued. There were a number of wild horses enjoying the area nearly as much as I was, but thankfully none on the road. As I headed through the historic Kiandra goldfields, I wondered how bleak it must’ve been for miners in the winter months. The throttle was at the stop and the windy bitumen flew past in smooth curves. A quick photo stop on the back road between Mount Selwyn ski fields and Cabramurra was required to absorb the vastness and beauty of this part of the world.

A spirited, winding bitumen run through the roof of the Kosciuszko National Park enroute to Corryong had the rubber weaving on the edge of the

knobs. I descended the mountains and found my way into the Murray River catchment through Greg Greg Firetrail. It was a bit warmer down there, so the vents on my Olympia Moto Sports Ranger jacket were opened to supply a bit of cooling and remove some armpit stench. The scenery changed from high country to undulating farm paddocks, and that meant I wasn’t too far from recaffeination and some scones with jam and cream at Corryong.

Above: Been there, done that. Want to do lots more of that. Right: The cities and towns seem a world away. Main: On top of the world.

Good people

Refreshed and refuelled after Corryong, I ran into the normal shenanigans of following a GPS route. Marked tracks weren’t there and gates were locked. A laugh and some extra scenery was the result, with some unexpected trails before climbing the Mt Elliot range and heading south.

“Warning! Warning!” was ringing in my head as the trails became roughish and led me down to a pseudo gate onto private property. I elected to follow the fenceline and get down to the valley and see if I could get out from there.

A bit of a wander through a herd of dairy cows and a quick chat with a local farmer explaining my plight had me back on track. It’s great to meet good country people!

What friends are for

I tacked my way to the top of Mount Pinnibar where I felt on top of the world, but my day was slipping by, so I motored south.

The Benambra pub was too inviting, so I had a quick schooner and, as it was late in

the day, took the bitumen from Benambra to Lake King where I was greeted with a fridge full of beer, a barbecue and a heap of laughs at a friend’s house.

What a great day. About 550km in the saddle with great riding, scenery and even some cheap, classic, funny one-liners being let loose on people met along the way.

What if

After a great day of boating on the lakes, a dash of beer application, a fishing rod as a prop and a general poke about, I was back in the saddle to follow another pre programmed route a different way home. The weather was perfect again!

Tacking through the Gippsland forests, criss-crossing the old rail trail enroute to Orbost was a great way to start a day. The sandy loam made throttle slides fun and the beauty of the forest was exhilarating. A rogue wasp getting into my helmet, freaking out and stinging the hell out of me certainly made me feel alive!

It wasn’t my first wasp encounter and I

sTaTs

R DR650 2006 model with 55,000km on the clock

R Crusty, 44-year-young – but still ruggedly handsome when there are no mirrors around – rider

R Two days riding for a total riding time of 16 hours and 48 minutes

R 1152km covered

R Maximum speed...never to be revealed

R Moving average speed 68.6km

R Grin factor: HIGH

expect it won’t be the last.

A pleasant stop at a country bakery in Orbost allowed me to re-energise for the chortle north along Yalmy Road and through Deddick Fire Trail. Yalmy Road is pleasant, although the bush was hit hard by bush fires. The Deddick Fire Trail introduced the best elements of adventure riding…hills, roughness, remoteness, river crossings, views, and personal insecurities. ‘What if something went wrong?’ I pondered. But, hey! I’m a glass-half-full type of guy, so then I wondered what if everything went right?

It did, and I recuperated on the banks of the Snowy River at Mckillops Bridge thinking how

awesome it was to be meandering through the High Country.

A good one

From McKillops Bridge to Barry Way offered fantastic scenery with a bit of a waggly tail on the winding dirt sections. Following the Barry Way north and dropping in on the Snowy River was a gift. It’s a rugged part of Australia with superb scenery.

The ride north to Jindabyne was pleasant, and the climb up to the snow country provided a refreshing breath of cool air.

The hours in the day were running out, so it was a bitumen run from Jindabyne to Canberra, and it made for a relaxing finish to the journey.

FUSA

Flinders Ural Spring Adventure

Sidecar owners are a specialist and often misunderstood group of motorcyclists. They love adventure as much as anyone, and the simple, basic Ural is often their weapon of choice. It’s surprising where three wheels can go.

Life is an adventure if you own a Ural. Since buying my Ural back in 2011, we – Lynn and I – have toured Armidale, Tasmania, Victoria’s low and high country, and outback NSW and SA.

We usually tackle two or three adventure rides each year and our titles make it easy to tag the rides

R KIRSTy is Kangaroo Island Russian Sidecar Tour yippee

R VARSTy is Victorian Autumn Russian Sidecar Tour yippee

Above insert: The majesty of the Flinders is hard to beat.

R ROARy is Russian Outback Australia Ride yippee

R NASTy is planned for 2015, but we may have a name change to be PC

R VARSTY3 is happening while you read this

Do we need therapy?

No. Owning a Ural is therapy enough.

Scraping by

FUSA was in September, 2014 (hence the ‘Spring’. We’re clever like that).

Twenty Uralists with 11 Urals drove the outback. You ride a motorbike,

Words and images: Lou Leeuwrik.

but you drive a sidecar, by the way. The group of drivers came from SA, Victoria, and two from Queensland.

We started at Hawker, then drove the bitumen to Blinman for liquid refreshments, and then four days of dirt roads and tracks out of Angorichina Tourist Village exploring the ranges.

ATV is an oasis in the middle of the Flinders geological area. Nature spent millions of years shaping the land, just so we could challenge ourselves with our rides. It would be a pity not to use it.

The Flinders is a magnet for bikes and four-wheel-drive adventurers, and Angorichina Village provides camping and cabin choices. I did my own cooking on their barbecue with bread, steak, bacon and eggs from their shop. Next time though, I need to bring an egg flip or paint scraper. I think someone knocked off the last one. All that was left was the chain.

Dirt ready

It’s not that we do it rough. It’s about choice. Some camp, and some cabin. Some drink cold beer, and others warm port. Some eat under the stars, and some in the fabulous restaurant at Parachilna Pub for ‘Road Kill’ cuisine.

I set up a small ‘kindergarten course’ in the dry, rocky creek beds to familiarise our riders with what lay ahead when we did the PAR (Private Access Road) to Nuccaleena Mine ruins. Nuccaleena is a 28km return track, with loads of creek beds, sandy patches and hard-rock trails.

The Ural is great on the bitumen, but much better on the dirt. Maybe it’s the 1942 Russian wartime influence.

After a few days at Angorichina we drove the 155km to Arkaroola and stayed in the cabins. What a treat having a mattress after hard-ground camping. Arkaroola Village is also surrounded by lots of trail rides to challenge your

Ural and hone your off-road skills.

More

The great thing with our adventures is that someone (usually Norm. Thanks mate) plans a few days in an interesting place and sends out emails and posts. We then book our own accommodation and do our own thing within the group. There’s total freedom when to come and go, or drive, or just veg for the day.

There’s a lot more to read on our adventures. Log on to one of these: URALOFOZ website http://uralofoz.com.au/ Kathy’s blog http://uralaustraliaadventures.blogspot.com.au/ Our forum http://uralsinaustralia.freeforums.net/

The biggest problem with owning a Ural is remembering to put your foot down at the traffic lights when back on the two-wheeler.

Above: The Ural group ready to get adventuring! Below left: Urals are a popular choice with those who like sidecars. Their rugged simplicity makes them ideal. Below: Getting bogged is no fun, no matter how many wheels are involved.

Image ConsCIous

“Cop this!” offered Victoria’s Steve Marsh, “I think I’ve blown my bolt at three meg!” Steve was on the Triumph RAT ride in the Flinders – where this pic was taken – and Steve claims he calls his photography style ‘Wilfos’. That’s a tip of the hat to Danny Wilkinson and the editor. When Steve sent the pic it was way too small. He kept sending and sending and sending until finally it got to the size you see here. Steve earns himself a well-deserved Adventure Rider Magazine T-shirt for sending us this image. You could win one, too! Send your pic, and some information about it and yourself, to tom@advridermag.com.au.

and the award goes to...

wInner Video comp

A year ago Adventure Rider Magazine had the bright idea of offering a prize for the best video received in 2014. Angus ‘Gus’ Holmes took the win with his blockbuster, Adventure Garage.

Just about anyone can make a bike video, but only some people are good at it.

Angus Holmes seems to have a feel and passion for good video. He scooped the pool at the glamorous Adventure Rider Magazine Video awards…well, ‘award’ really. There was only one.

We all sat around talking about the videos while we waited for Toby Price to return our calls, texts and Facebook messages. But we were dripping with glamour at the time, and TF was showing a bit of cleavage, so it was like a big awards ceremony.

Anyhoo, Angus, 54, a champion fireman, picked up $500 to spend on adventure gear.

We stopped by Angus’ luxuriously appointed Cronulla AV studio – a garage, a Mac and a coffee machine – to find out a little more about the clip and the man himself.

Visionary

“I absolutely love watching videos,” frothed Angus, carefully easing the warm, bubbly milk into one of those sauve-o glass coffee cups with the bent-wire handles.

and then let it snap back to his belt. No dropping, and it’s always ready.

The fitting is designed for hunters to carry their range finders, by the way. Just in case you’d like to give the set-up a try.

Fix it later

Shooting the video – or ‘footage’ as we knowledgeable fillum types like to call it – is only part of the process. Editing the raw shoot to keep it interesting and in sensible order is a huge part of the process.

Believe it or not, Gus uses simple ol’

“I started shooting videos when I started adventure riding. I’d find myself in beautiful places, and I was either by myself or with some mates, and I’d arrive home and try to explain to the family how beautiful the sunset was, or how beautiful the river was, or how we’d come over a hill and there was a vast plain of grass flowing in the breeze. No description was going to nail it for them, so I thought I’d start videoing these scenes to share with them.”

Kicking off with an old Drift camera, Gus now carries a fair arsenal of snappers. His main shooter is a Sony NEX-6, and he backs it up with a couple of Drifts and a couple of GoPros. He even has this crazy retractable lanyard arrangement so one of the GoPros is always ready to fire as he’s riding along. He can grab the camera, swish it around with one hand,

Main: Angus Holmes won Adventure Rider Magazine’s first video competition.

Left inserts: Angus’ video showed some brilliant planning and some very advanced techniques… not to mention some good mates who embraced the spirit of the shoot.

Above middle: A retractable lanyard from a hunter’s range finder keeps a GoPro always at the ready.

Top right: Editing is done on an old version of iMovie.

iMovie 09 – an old version of the editing suite supplied free with all Macs.

“You never know. I shoot all this footage, then I come in to edit and think, ‘Where do I start?’”

Prepared earlier

Angus spotted the video competition when it was first announced and began thinking about how he might like to make a fun video. He’d been experimenting with running cameras along rails and shooting different angles, so he invited some mates over to make his mental vision into a digital reality.

“I wanted to do something a little bit different,” he pondered. “It’s really hard to do stuff differently with ride videos. You can get different scenery and you can get different riders and you can use different effects. But at the end of the day it’ll just end up

like the other ride videos I’ve done.

“I knew the guys I ride with wouldn’t take much convincing to come over and drink my beer and eat my food. The only thing I asked them to do was they had to ride over, because I wanted bikes out the front.

“I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and I knew I wanted to call it Adventure Garage, and I wanted it to be the One-down-four-up Adventures format.

I played around with it. I had the dart scene planned – we don’t play darts – and I’d filmed the darts hitting the board in good light some days before.

“The concept was the guys having a bit of a get-together in my garage talking motorbikes and reading motorbike magazines.”

With his mates on board – Goochy, Gatesy, Pooley, Blanchey and The Smirn –a mental plan and some good basic, equipment Angus produced the clip you can see at www.advridermag.com.au.

And not only does it show some very clever technical features and excellent planning and editing, we reckon it captures the spirit of riding with your mates.

And there’s not even any riding in it!

It’s that good.

Check it out at www.advridermag.com.au.

And have a Captain Cook at Angus’ entire collection of video work at vimeo.com/channels/510865.

R Make it interesting – any clip within a movie shouldn’t run more than about seven seconds

R Make connections between the vision and sound

R Don’t be frightened to edit. Don’t be frightened to cut material out

R Music! Picking the music is the hardest thing to do. Copyright can be an issue

R Don’t be afraid to direct your mates. Pull them up and ask them to do specific things for the camera

The

Travel Film Adventure Festival

Something for everyone, riders, including Nick Fletcher, came from all over.

The Adventure Travel Film Festival is difficult to describe, but it’s my favourite weekend of the year.

The loose concept of the event is various rugged traveller types make a film of their adventure, bring it to Bright in Victoria and show it.

But in its four short years it’s become so much more than this and is now a gathering of adventure riders, aroundthe-world travellers, dope-smoking hippies and the most comprehensive collection of men with beards this side of a Santa Claus convention. It’s a bikers’ heaven and has an informal trade show bolted on, with Greg from Kreiga (“Greg, do these come in blue?), Robin from

Touratech (“Robin, is there somewhere on this tankbag I can store my moisturiser?”), Bob from Alpine Adventure Bike Tours (“Bob, can you make sure my GS doesn’t get dirty on this ride?”), and the Mitas tyres team (“Which will look cooler on Pitt Street? The E09 Dakar or the E10 Safari?”). You can also guarantee some wild and wacky vehicles will drop in unannounced. This year it was three enormous Unimog-type camper trucks.

Rupert Shaw (aka The Buffoon) is the instigator of the event, and given his planning (in)abilities I was looking forward to a series of near calamities.

Bright outlook

The festival is centred on Bright Brewery and features dozens of films, speakers and events each day at various locations around the town. Because of the sprawling nature of the festival it’s almost impossible to see everything. Furthermore, there’s always a bit of a pot luck involved. You might get the 80-year-old who climbed Everest without oxygen dressed as a stormtrooper or you might score the accountant from Ballarat with a riveting slide show on his stamp club’s trip to Bendigo.

With the bar completely packed by 7.00pm on Friday the key question for

the festival had already been answered: apparently Rupert can organise a piss up in a brewery.

Bright was suffering horrific weather and with the rain smashing down the night screening was moved from the park to the Community Centre. Given that was a 400m walk I decided to stay in the pub with Steve Killela. Steve was in town to talk about his work travelling the world promoting peace. Consequently, I woke up the following morning with a truly catastrophic hangover and a new sense of inadequacy about my life.

Christophe almighty

Adventure Rider Magazine had sponsored Christophe Barriere-Varju to talk about his Dakar experiences – he’s been four times. He presented Dream Racer, the film of his 2010 Dakar ride, and even bought his race bike along. For those that haven’t seen it, get on Christophe’s website and buy it. Highlights u

Main: The night screening attracted 300 well-oiled festival goers.

Above: Neil and his Husky.

Left: The Buffoon dressed like a complete buffoon.

The advenTure Travel fIlm fesTIval

include Christophe running out of money and being forced to be his own mechanic, not doing any training because he needed to work 20 hours a day to pay for the entry and finishing the Dakar with a black, balloon-sized lump full of blood where his tricep used to be.

It was slightly disconcerting talking to this amiable but clearly unhinged Australian/ African. He comes across like your favourite uncle and it’s hard to imagine him as a worldclass rallye rider and former motocross champion, but you gradually realise that his every working hour is devoted to getting back to Dakar. He told me he needed a new challenge and would be competing in the 2016 Dakar in a single-seater buggy. He’d just dropped a seven-litre V8 in the chassis and he hoped this would give it enough power.

Action

Although the festival is not specifically about motorcycling there were plenty of renowned motorcyclists to entertain us.

Tex O’Grady spoke about his epic charity rides accompanied by his dog Bundy, who sits on his tank. Bundy looked like a hairy airbag and, given my riding capabilities, I would’ve gone through a dog a week if I’d tried to emulate Tex.

Brian and Shirley Rix were discussing their marathon trips including riding two-up around the world. Twice.

Saturday night was an open-air showing of Malaysia To UK, Ed March’s hysterical film on riding a pizza-delivery bike halfway around the world. It was a high-spirited crowd who got to watch Ed’s antics. Those antics included attaching a pair of machine guns to his bike and firing them, riding down the highway with a full-sized Christmas tree, including decorations, strapped upright to the back, attempting to marry his bike and participating in some hard-core, off-road riding with an unsuspecting hitchhiker on the back.

After the film I retired injured from what looked like being a lively night at the brewery.

F’n warranty claim

Sunday morning the Alpine Adventure Motorcycle Tours team took a huge crowd on a half-day tour of the area for free! By all accounts this was an outstanding morning and (most) people kept their bikes right side up. I took an early ride with a friend so I could get back in time to watch Ron Fellowes talk about his ride from Nepal to Belgium. Ron is 75, and he did the trip on a 102-year-old FN motorcycle with a single gear, no real brakes (he used his feet) and tyres that would detach

Main: The views were spectacular.

Above: Even the youngsters had a great time.

themselves from the wheels on a regular basis. Meanwhile, his wife Lynn was making the same trip on public transport. The purpose of the trip was to return to the original FN factory. When he arrived he was asked why he had made the trip and his classic response was, “I had a warranty issue”.

Dune Buffoon

Many of the highlights of the Festival were those unexpected little gems that genuinely surprised you.

The short film on the prissy London 20-something girl who travelled to the Amazon to live with an indigenous tribe and got roped into a naked marriage ceremony was a classic. The Ride was also pretty special, covering four paraplegic former dirtbikers crossing The Simpson on quads.

Sunday night was capped off by a pig

roast in a beautiful spot under Mt Buffalo.

This gave us a chance to catch up with a number of the speakers again. Ron Fellowes is a genuinely amazing human being and the only person I know who makes his own spark plug. For that matter he’s also the only person who makes his own pistons, gearboxes, hubs…you get the picture.

As the party got a little lively later in the evening Christophe turned out to be a man of many talents, including the ability to hold onto a live electric fence longer than anyone else and bend his fingers back to touch the back of his hand. He finally invited us to come up and visit him at Port Stephens so we could ride the sand dunes

at night. This was like a red rag to a bull for Rupert who commented, “Sand dunes at night racing a Dakar legend? Can I bring my 1980 Ténéré?”

You can look forward to reading about it here.

Below left: The riding was for real adventuring, too. Below: The Adventure Rider Magazine screening of Dream Racer was a hit.

Bottom: An adventurer’s runabout.

melbourne To brIghT Crew

Hard as nails

Victorian motorcyclists are the hardest in the world. Fact.

We may not be the fastest, we certainly aren’t the best-dressed, but there’s no doubt we are the hardest. So while the New South Wales contingent riding to the Adventure Travel Film Festival allowed a leisurely four days to ride the 1000km to the festival, the Victorian team had just 24 hours to cover 500 full-on, mountain kilometres.

To be fair to the NSW crew, they did need to ensure they finished each day in time to polish their GSs, read some poetry and give each other a sensual massage. Nevertheless, it was disappointing to see just two Victorians taking on the challenge. I assume the other Victorian riders were tied up cage fighting or wrestling bears.

Given that we ended up facing 30+ degree temperatures, neck-deep river crossings, bushfires, monsoonal rain and snow all on the same day, cage fighting would have been a safer choice.

Tree hugger

not hard enough for Jayson. He decided to precede it with an overnight economy flight from Perth and a day putting his KTM690 back together.

As he pulled into the campsite just outside Gembrook I realised I already knew him. Both of us had ridden together for part of the 2013 APC Rally – the one that was held underwater.

Given I now knew he could really ride we changed the route to take in some steeper climbs, more terrifying descents and even deeper rivers.

Chatting to Jayson that night we soon established that he is a living legend.

Koala shagger

We had the campsite to ourselves on a crisp, clear, starlit night.

After a few beers I was soon fast asleep, only to be interrupted by two koalas having what I assume was very vocal koala sex. I woke early feeling poorly rested. Jayson woke with a wistful look in his eyes. By 6.45am we were on the road for an epic days’ riding.

The route we’d selected was almost entirely off-road and took us through Neerim, past Woods Point and down to Licola for fuel and a pie. The plan was then to head off to towards Dargo via the infamous Billy Goat Track before turning north towards Bright on the Tea Tree Track.

A text on Thursday told me my companion for the ride would be Jayson and he’d meet me at 8.00pm at a campsite in Bunyip State Forest. Clearly Melbourne to Bright in one day was

He’s ridden over 14,000km on his fully kitted 690, including riding the 7000km of the APC Rally, and has never dropped it – not that he’s adverse to a crash or two on his WR450F. Just on 18 months ago he hit a tree, breaking his femur and most of his vertebrae. “I think I fell asleep on the bike,” he mused. Err…right!

As I say, a living legend.

Having started in beautifully cool, misty conditions, the day soon heated up into the low 30s and we were both sweating like Rolf Harris at a Year 7 social.

It was relatively easy riding until Licola, where we met the first of what was to be 45 riders in an organised group riding to Bright from Dargo via Jamieson. As we headed away from Licola we had the pleasure of meeting the entire group coming the other way. I’d like to thank the four riders who kept to their side of the road. I won’t be thanking the 26 who were ‘taking the racing line’, the 12 who were looking at their GPS and the one moron who was standing up looking backwards so he could film the bloke behind with his GoPro. I assume he was on a day trip from Sydney.

Declare defeat

The ride really started to get interesting at Billy Goat Track.

I’d ridden this once before and it was more

Words and images: Nick Fletcher

Main: Beers at the campsite. Insert: The Victorian team (Jayson on the left, Nick, the author, on the right).

than a little dodgy. This is the sort of terrain that would have had the New South Wales riders forming a self-help group, then declaring defeat and heading home to tuck into a nice bit of William Blake. We descended on what I remembered as a series of big rock ledges interspersed by steep, loose rocky slopes.

As I’m a completely hopeless rider I expected to be using my usual descent technique of sliding down on my face underneath my DRZ. Fortunately, the track had been recently graded, and while still steep and loose it was a lot more straightforward this time. However, a clutch that was permanently stuck on was more than a little distracting. The problem required a clutch disassembly at the bottom, and while this didn’t identify the problem it did seem to fix it.

We then met the Wonnangatta River, with a crossing deep enough to drown a New South Welshman. We dispatched it with style and panache and were soon climbing onto the Tea Tree Track. After a short detour down what I maintain is the most beautiful track in Victoria (and therefore the world) we bumped into a CFA crew coming the other way. We knew there was a bushfire near Mt Selwyn so I flagged them down and asked for advice. They told me to head south to Wonnangatta as they thought the fires were still burning. As I waved off the CFA crew Jayson pulled alongside, just in time for me to give him the good news.

Ice age

As we started to descend the track we could see the ridgeline ahead covered in black clouds being hammered by lightning. It was 3.00pm and we knew that by now the New South Wales crew would be giving each other a gentle rub down after discussing Samuel Coleridge’s use of metaphor in his romantic ballads.

Meanwhile, we still had 100km, two mountains and the mother of all storms to ride through before we could get stuck into 10 pints of lager and a pub fight.

The nsw Crew

Being sponsors of the film festival, there were big plans for the AdvRiderMag folks to cruise on down from NSW to Bright and suck up the glory.

The editor was dumped from the team when Triumph scheduled the release of the new Tiger 800XCx at the same time. The publisher and contributor Ken Dark forged on anyway, tagging up with Darin Rowley on the way.

Everything was going well until the publisher stopped to relieve himself, asking the others to wait. As he stood there, his dignity waving gently in the breeze, the other two roared off, leaving him with his future in his own hands…so to speak.

Here’s Ken’s side of the story…

“The gist of the story is this…

“I pulled up to remove a loose mirror. Kurt pulled up alongside and said he was going for a piss. He was being a bit precious and didn’t want anyone staring at his equipment, so he took off along the route to find a better spot, which he found in behind some trees – bike and all.

“No problems,” I offered. “Just keep the throttle pinned and remember you’re a Victorian.”

Climbing to Mt Selwyn we were no longer worried about raging bushfires as the temperatures had dropped towards freezing and rain had reduced visibility to a few metres. Furthermore, the track was now bordered by snow and navigating the erosion humps required use of a periscope. Consequently it was a wet, cold but triumphant Victorian team that arrived at the Bright Brewery to find Kurt and the New South Wales Team showered, refreshed and smelling rather suspiciously of essential oils.

“Darin and I just rode past. Kurt cracked the shits because we left him in the woods with all the nasty creatures. He rang my phone twice in quick succession. The first was just a mild rebuke for leaving him in the bush all by himself. The second was pissed-off Kurt in full swing – something like, ‘You blokes went past at 100 miles per hour and just took off. You didn’t stop and wait (remember he was hiding behind the bush). I’ve ridden down the road looking for you, I have no idea where you are, so f%@* you! I’ll just go home!’

“He actually got within about five kilometres of the turn before he figured we must’ve turned off somewhere. He turned around and went back.”

This, claims Ken with his delightfully earthy turn of phrase, is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

We’ll bring you the publisher’s side of the story when he moderates his language enough for a family magazine like this one.

Riding into the storm. Right: From left: Darin, Kurt and Ken.

The sunday mornIng Crowd

What better occasion and excuse for a ride than the Adventure Travel Film Festival being hosted in Bright?

We knew there’d be a bunch of adventure riders in town so Alpine Adventure Bike Tours invited them all to a Sunday-morning half-day loop.

We arrived at our meeting point a bit early to grab a much-needed coffee and pie for breakfast. We really had no idea of numbers and wondered if the rain over the previous 24 hours might deter any interest, but we had just under 30 riders roll in, and it was an interesting collection of bikes. BMWs and –perhaps surprisingly – DR650s dominated.

Four sexy lady riders joined us. They’re coming to join you fellas – look out!

A quick riders’ briefing from Bob Bondeson checked everyone was good with the cornerman system and the ride began, heading to conquer the first lookout – Mt Porepunkah.

A couple of kangaroos popped out just as we hit the dirt. I managed to dodge the first (thankfully he swerved to miss me too), but the second ’roo bounced off my leg. Thankfully I stayed upright and Skippy hopped away.

Pants man

The rain had made conditions perfect – there was no dust!

We arrived at the first of three lookouts where I watched and listened to riders compare notes about their bikes, their ride to this point and the view around us. Cameras were snapping left right and centre. I must say a huge thanks to Darin from Adventure Motorcycle Equipment who provided me with all of his photos. He was a great fella and a very impressive rider. I’m told he had his knee down in the twisty bits at one stage. That’s not a bad effort on a DR650.

After a hustle along from our lead rider and sweep, we set off again.

The next leg took us back down through some beautiful forest and on to the tar for about five kilometres, to then return to dirt and up into the pines at Myrtleford. At this point it was important to turn off whatever sophistication came with the bikes – traction control was a bit of an issue on the rougher surface, not to mention a few steeper climbs. ABS wasn’t too helpful here either.

We decided to have a ‘chicken’ and a ‘rooster’ line at one point as we weren’t sure if the climb and then descent would be for everyone. We wanted to give riders the choice. Not too surprisingly, most riders went straight up and back down the other side and loved it. I led five riders around the chicken line and we joined back up on the other side of the hill and headed up to our second lookout where we had 360-degree views across the Alpine region. More happy snaps were taken, more riders compared notes about modifications and some bike swapping was

Top: A big crew joined up for the Alpine Adventure Bike Tours ride on Sunday-morning.

Above right: There was plenty of time for a chat.

Left: You don’t get views like this from a city coffee shop.

negotiated for the next leg.

One of the riders had lost a bag between stops and was keen to track it down. There were some pricey adventure pants in the bag, apparently. After Bob had sold them back to him (not really, but he tried) we set off again.

Flat out

We descended back through the pines, taking in some more amazing views and got back on the black twisty bits up to Stanley and across to Murmungee lookout. This spot is just amazing. The pictures don’t do it justice at all. We’d had a few riders drop off along the way due to other commitments, but we got the gang together for a group shot – with smiles all around.

To finish the morning off we ventured back through the Stanley State Forest and pulled up at Lupo’s Kiln Café for some lunch and a cold beer. It’s thirsty work this adventure riding.

I thought we’d finished up without incident, but not quite. Bob had a flat rear tyre.

He limped his bike back into town escorted by a GS1200 with its hazards on – thanks Cam, you’re a gem!

Thanks to everyone that came along for the ride. Based on the feedback everyone enjoyed themselves, got to see some beautiful spots and had a laugh along the way.

Words: Julie Luxford. Images: Darin Rowley.

CONGREGATION

(A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion)

Adventure riders’ Inaugural

event (that means ‘the first one’):

September 19-20, 2015

Hosted by Armidale Adventure Riders Group

Location: Armidale, NSW

Date: September 19-20, 2015

Speakers: John Hudson (GPS and ADV riding in general). More speakers TBA

Cost: $FREE

Exhibitors: Must be clients of Adventure Rider Magazine and supply three cases of Armidale’s finest preferred lager. Email mitch@trademags.com.au

Accommodation: See www.advridermag.com.au/forum for full list

Camping: $12 per night

Venue: Armidale Showground

Meeting times: September 19 @ 5:30pm and September 20 @ 6:00am

Rides: Meet at the Showground on September 19 at 7:00am and midday on September 20.

Logon to advridermag.com.au/forum to register and for updates.

All ADV groups welcome.

ONE YEAR $55

v 12-month subscription v enews

v 6 issues v Free delivery

TWO YEARS $98

v 24-month subscription v enews

v 12 issues v Free delivery T-shirt

new products

held aIr n dry gloves

Check out these puppies!

R Highly abrasion-resistant kangaroo-leather palm

R DuPont Cordura (100 per cent polyamide), leather detailed back lining

R Waterproof compartment with Pique-Push-Pull lining

R Unlined, non-waterproof compartment

R GORE-TEX membrane (100 per cent polyester with 100 per cent polyurethane coating)

R Velcro adjustment at wrists and cuffs

R Visor-wipe on index finger

R Elasticated leather panels on back, thumb and fingers

R Perforated leather back

R Perforated hand for maximum ventilation, feel and comfort

R Hard-plastic knuckle protection

R Superfabric reinforcement on edge of hand

R 3M Scotchlite reflectors

R Sizes S to XXL

RRP: $220

Available from: www.heldaustralia.com.au

Checkout

The latest and greatest kit!

forma Terra booTs

The editor’s new favourite boot!

R Full grain oiled leather upper

R Waterproof and breathable

R Custom Enduro/Adventure Sole with extra durable rubber compound

R Plastic ankle and heel protections

R Plastic shift pad

R Aluminium buckles are adjustable and replaceable

R Rear reflective insert

R Padded liner with memory foam

R Midsole ISS (Incorporated Steel Shank)

R Antibacterial replaceable insole with APS

R Available colours: Black or brown version

RRP: $399

Available from: Motorcycle dealers everywhere

Web: www.formaboots.com.au

TouraTeCh r1200gs/ advenTure ToolboX

Premium!

R Approximately 4.2 litres of storage space

R Protected against water spray

R Large opening for easy loading and unloading

R Lid can be removed completely

R Made in Germany

R Lockable and resistant

R 33cm x 9.5cm x 19.5cm

RRP: $267.80 plus shipping

Available from: Touratech Australia

Phone: (03) 5729 5529

Web: www.touratech.com.au

fleX web sTraPs

These new straps are funky, amazing little wonders.

R Made in the USA

R Made from polyurethane formula that contains no rubber or latex

R Won’t split, crack, break or go brittle

R Super strong

R Will stretch to twice their own length

R Rust-free

R Lifetime warranty

RRP: Loop End Cord $10. Adjust-A-Strap $12. Spider Web $25

Available from: Rocky Creek Designs Web: www.rockycreekdesigns.com.au

kTm advenTure radIaTor ProTeCTIon grIlle

Radiators are very expensive. They need protection.

R Laser cut

R 1.5mm thick aluminium sheet

R Powdercoated black

RRP: $139.99

Available from: Authorised KTM dealers Web: www.ktm.com.au

Tenere eXPedITIon Ten

Absolutely the last word in bike-camping comfort.

R Shelters riders, bikes and gear in comfort

R Convenient J-door entries

R Expedition-grade ripstop nylon ground cloth and floors

R Sleeping bay has double-wall design

R Spacious garage bay

R Packs to the same size and weight as the original Ténéré tent

RRP: $550

Available from: AdventureMoto Web: www.adventuremoto.com.au

Contributors

karen ramsay

Karen’s in that growing group of females either returning to riding or taking it up. She’s worked in the Northern Territory as a governess/jillaroo, supervising kids and mustering on bikes, and bought her first bike from an undertaker.

lou leeuwrIk

Lou’s now retired after 30 years as a Telecom technician and is in his 40th year in the Army Reserve. In the 1970s he rode scrambles, but his adventure riding started in 2004 on a trip with Ferris Wheels.

robIn boX

A lifelong rider, Robin now rides, “whenever there’s a chance” on any bike available, on- or off-road. Between churning out Safari Tanks and importing high-quality Touratech gear, there’s not as much riding going on for this Victorian-based bloke as he’d like.

ray frIedrICh

Ray has ridden bikes since he was a teenager. Ray tries his best to make adventure a way of life by working as a commercial diver and previously as a paratrooper in the Australian Army, which included a deployment to Afghanistan, a country he would one day love to visit on motorcycle.

mIles davIs

Miles has been National Motorrad Marketing Manager for BMW Motorrad since 2006. He’s a highly qualified motorcycling coach and an ex-professional mountain-bike racer. Still on a bike every chance he gets, Miles has built an enviable reputation as both a world-class rider and a great riding companion.

PhIlIP kIng

Philip kicked off his adventure-touring company in 2011 and rides in exotic locations like New Zealand, Raratonga, Asia and Samoa. Philip has a six-month, 30,000km solo lap of Australia to his credit.

nICk fleTCher

Readers’ story

Nick is famous for being Rupert Shaw’s neighbour and organiser of the infamous Adventure Travel Film Festival After Party. He owns a DRZ, a Husky WR250 and a KLX 140 and can most often be found lying under his bike moaning gently. Nick is a defender of sheep’s virtue.

ClInTon donald

Readers’ story

Clint’s been riding for about 20 years. He sums himself up as an electrician by trade and a moto adventurer by nature.

Readers’ story

Here’s a map of the next major APC/ADVX rides for 2015, 2016 and 2017.

APC Rally is an adventure-bike company where riders can pay $1700 and receive GPS files of great tracks, have support vehicles following and have all the planning done.

There are dinners where all riders get together, and the best part of APC Rally rides is you go at your own pace.

Adventure Rider Magazine proudly supports all APC/ ADVX rides. John Hudson (APC Boss) just keeps raising the bar. Just when you think it’s all been done, he comes up with something new and amazing. The rides are the best!

noTes:

· Assist and Slipper Clutch

ABS Standard Centre Stand Standard

3 Mode Traction Control

Power Mode Selection

· Large Accessories Range Easy mount pannier system Available in Candy Burnt Orange

Equipment

Large Range of Accessories

Long Travel Suspension

· Easy mount pannier system

· Available in Metallic Spark Black