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The Pan America™ 1250 Special motorcycle is our premier two-wheel multitool built to endure, designed to explore, and engineered for adventure. The bike is named after the Pan-American Highway, a network of roads that runs along the Pacific coasts of North and South America. The Pan-American Highway is the longest motorable road in the world and passes through jungles, mountains, and deserts.
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Adventure Rider Magazine is published bimonthly by Clemenger Media.
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Contributors
Boris Mihailovic, Bob Wozga, Aaron Clifton, Martyn Blake, Regan Rides, Medha Rai, Ian Neubauer, Gavin Gill, Barber Biker Christine Keeble, Jodie Rogers, Andy Strapz, Thomas Pfister, Susan Plunkett. AND others
(If you would like a chance to have your adventure in print = please email susan.plunkett@clemengermediasales.com.au)
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Gavin Gill, Ian Neubauer, Nazario Salvador, Bob Wozga, Greg Smith/iKAPTURE, Regan Rides, Jodie Rogers, Thomas Pfister.
Design Danny Bourke Southern-bear@bigpond.com.au
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Copyright Adventure Rider Magazine is owned by Clemenger Consulting –Clemenger Media Sales and published by Tony Clemenger. All material in Adventure Rider Magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. We welcome ALL contributions but reserve the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Clemenger will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in Adventure Rider Magazine are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by, the publisher unless otherwise stated.
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One of the positive elements of Facebook engagement is coming to know the community and their stories. Also, their views and plans for future rides.
The different expressive voices of adventure motorcyclist writers introduce readers to places they may long to experience, or, indeed, have ridden.
Adventure motorcycling is about experience, and there are great stories of experiences and sights in this edition.
As an initiative in the area of shared experience, several regular contributors and industry folks will be offering ride experiences in 2024. The details of these are to be confirmed, however, for example, one industry contributor is offering a two-hour ride outside of Melbourne. Another will take a group on a ride to a camp location in NSW. Look out for details of these ride experiences in edition 61.
Thanks again to Miriam and and Tobias Maurer (RTWriders) for permission to use.
Please also note the advertisement for Grounded Drops coffee p.79. I had sent coffee samples from Grounded Drops to Mim Chook for a Facebook competition prize.
“ Adventure motorcycling is about experience, and there are great stories of experiences. ”
She really enjoyed them and their quality and offered some feedback to the company. They super appreciated that and have offered all our readers 20% off their product range. Mim had even bought more for herself after the prize supply ran out, so that is a great community-based recommendation.
This edition’s stunning cover photo was offered in a competition I ran on Facebook. The site is the Bolivian salt flats - Salar de Uyuni (remember the riders playing chess on Uyuni in a photo run in edition 58?).
Once again, stories are always welcome if you can also offer hi-res photos. In the first instance (before you actually send a document), get in contact at: susan.plunkett@clemengermediasales.com.au Safe and enjoyable adventuring.
Like to add your own responses? Send to yourview@clemengermediasales.com.au: Who got into adventure riding because a parent rode (and still may be riding!)?
I was interested to find out from my Papa, when he was in his 90’s, as a young man he was crazy for anything bi-wheeled. I had wondered where my fascination had come from, in the family.
But after knocking out his front teeth in an accident(he didn’t elaborate) apparently my soon to be Grandma banned him from his twowheeled pursuits. He had owned a Waritar (villius engined Australia built motorcycle) & a Douglas, that he could remember.
Back then, all motorcycling was adventure riding.
Paul C Newton
Err, my father was a lot older than me (he was 50 when I was born), but he used to tell me about his exploits of buying an army surplus WLA Harley & sidecar after WWII as a young man & I always thought how cool that was. He got me into riding motorbikes on the farm at a young age. Unfortunately, alzheimers got him when I was in my early teens . . .
Roy Stanger
Nah but my parents were lovely enough to buy me a mini bike in 1976 and took me to the local mini bike club every fortnight. Thus consolidating my love of motorcycling . My current ride is a Yammy T7 which has taken me on lots of wonderful scenic adventures with good mates.
I am forever grateful to Mum & Dad.
Peter Green
I used to stare at the old Suzuki dirt bike my dad had in his shed when I was about 6 years old. It was covered in dust, and I never saw it running. But i always wondered what it would be like to ride it. He sold it after about 2 years later. It was imprinted in my brain though.
I married not long after high school. I still had dreams of one day buying a dirt bike. My husband at the time said it was too dangerous and he’d never let me near a bike.
So I decided to get a divorce and bought my first bike. Best decision I ever made.
I have now been riding for 10 years. Riding is the love of my life thanks to that old busted Suzuki in my dads shed.
Jess De Gouw
Grandfather had a brand new BMW Paris Dakar ADV bike in the 80s. I loved it.
Reef Rash Bodyboarding
Yes! I ride because of my dad! We have ridden in multiple BMW Safaris and ADV rides together since I was 20 Daria Twist
It was hard to avoid motorcycles in my family, With a racer dad. I was at my first castrol 6 hour race in 1974 at about two weeks old! Motorcycles have been an adventure in one form or another!
Justin Thomas
I’m a ‘72 model. My parents were the first of their group of friends to have a kid and when my old man and his mates used to tear up the bush on their Maico’s, Bullies, XT’s and later Huski’s, IT’s, PE’s and other enduro weapons I’d see them off in the morning and wait at the gate until they returned late in the day. So as soon as I could walk I was getting doubled on the tanks of these bikes getting to know how a mono felt or a jump….and the odd stack. Those blokes were pretty loose back then hahaha. Bikes are in my blood and it’s fun to sit down with my old man today and show him footage of my latest adventure with my buddies in the bush.
Dan Fuller
When I was in high school my older brother bought his first bike. As our parents disliked motorbikes, he waited until he was 21 and could sign the papers without parental permission… I then did the same, buying my first bike, a Honda XL185 in 1980. Got married in 1983 and my husband and myself have had motorbikes
on and off for our 40 years of marriage, in fact spent out 40th anniversary year doing a motorbike adventure trip around South Africa, just returned a month ago.. We are the fun, crazy parentsnone of our 5 kids ride bikes or are even remotely interested in them… where did we go wrong??
On Their KTM’s
Being on the back of the BMW R80gs with dad going along back tracks was an early happy memory. The bike was still in the garage and got resurrected when I got my open bike licence over ten years later. His joke was that when you could kick start it, you could ride it. My brother was about 12 when Dad regretted that a little bit.
Dave Cox
Yep, was a picture on the wall of Dad astride a Triumph, was his wheels at UNSW provided by his employer. Plus, he had a colleague visit home sometimes on his big TT600 and I just thought that thing means business!! and looks like a helluva lotta fun!
Colin Campbell
Oiling a chain with my mom at HIte’s Landing campground, Lake Powell Utah 1983. (Below)
John Hax
Factory Red Bull KTM recently announced a 2024 contract extension with Toby Price. This sees Price locked in for the 2024 Dakar Rally. This will be Toby’s tenth Dakar, and his ninth as a Factory KTM rider.
“I am definitely excited to have signed to race another Dakar with Red Bull KTM team,” Toby said. “I’ve been racing for KTM for 15 years now, and for the factory since 2015, so it feels great to be able to race the biggest, toughest rally for them once again. It’s been a long journey with the KTM brand and one that I think is fair to say has bought both sides heaps of success along the way. With this contract extension signed now, I’m really looking forward to focusing on the Dakar early next year and hopefully keeping the KTM up front.”
A two-time winner of the Dakar, Price has also had great success racing at home in Australia winning five Australian off-road titles and representing his country in the 2014 ISDE. Currently, Toby is sitting in second place in the 2023 FIM
Kneeinjury is something a lot of motorcyclists, particularly off-road riders, fear, and with good reason. Imagine not being able to kneel at a prayer bench, imagine the horror of not being able to beg forgiveness for your unrighteous acts…OK, fine. You don’t actually care about that,
the 2024 Dakar rally to be held in Saudi Arabia from January 5 to 19.
but knee injury is a serious thing, often involving surgery as well as a long and painful recovery time, and quite often long-lasting damage, so investing in knee braces is a wise choice if you’re serious about your off-road riding.
In off-road situations you are subject to forces that easily damage knees, from hyperextension, to rotational forces and lateral movements, so the Mobius X8 is a very unique and impressive brace offering full patella protection. It also has what Mobius call the “continuous cable-routing system” (CCRS) which is a cable actuating an adjustable ratchet that tightens behind the knee, thus giving great protection to the cruciate ligaments. When force is applied, the CCRS tightens and pulls the brace hard against the tibia and femur, which protects against hyperextension and rotation. It also comes with varying sizes of foam pads so you can customise your fit. Check them out at MXstore.com.au
BMW has identified a fault with the R1250 GS, the R1250 GS Adventure, and the R1250 RT-P. A total of 3887 bikes have been affected and bikes built between 2017-2023 have been recalled. Abrupt and major speed differences between the engine and final drive can result in overloading and failure of the transmission input shaft. It’s possible this failure will cause the rear wheel to lock and the rider to lose control of the motorcycle. BMW customers should contact their nearest dealer and have the recall work performed as soon as possible.
Contact BMW Customer Interaction Centre on 1800 813 299 or go to the website www.recall-bmw-motorrad.com.au
TeamYamaha riders, Jess Gardiner and Danielle McDonald, dominated Rounds 9 and 10 of the AORC at Kyogle. On Saturday, Gardiner had a clean sweep of test wins in the sprint format and backed it all up on Sunday to win the whole event. “It was good to get the win on both days, but it felt like hard work on the Sunday, I just couldn’t seem to get going”, said Gardiner. “The girls were definitely keeping me honest”. Danielle McDonald is having a stellar season taking wins in the Junior Girls Division and is the clear
favourite to take out the title, but it’s her results against the boys that are really grabbing attention. In every event this year, 16-year-old Danielle has finished inside the top five of all junior riders entered, edging her closer to the outright win in the junior categories.
Alpinestars new Halo black leather adventure gloves are just the thing if you ever decide you wanna take up piano or guitar.
It’s kind of hard to do that with messed up paws, and let’s face it, protecting nature’s cutlery is a rather important and basic part of motorcycle protective wear.
These new mittens from Alpinestars are made from premium goat leather and textiles, offering high-level abrasion-resistance, with perforated panels on the fingers for maximum air flow. There’s a rubber grip palm and they have a short-cuff design with full wrist closure for a slim profile, as well as knuckle protection. They kinda tick all the boxes for a proper adventure glove.
“My goal this year is to win the junior girls, but winning and beating all the boys would also be pretty cool, and is something I’m working towards. I’m not there yet but I think I can make it happen, but I have only two rounds to go so I will be all out at Dungog”, said McDonald.
Honda has just announced its new E-clutch. It says it is the world’s first automatic clutch-control system, and claims the electronic system offers a more fine-tuned clutch for optimum performance in different situations, enabling smooth starts, gear-shifts, and stopping without the need for the rider to operate the clutch lever. Theres not a whole lot of information about the new
system, but Honda says it can be fitted to most models without the need for any major changes.
Check them out at MXstore.com.au
The electronic mechanism itself appears to be an electronic actuator that sits near the clutch plates. Unlike Honda’s DCT models, you still have a clutch leaver the rider can use at any time to take manual control of the clutch. Honda says it plans to have it fitted to their entire range of motorcycles over time.
Australia finishes second in the Motocross of Nations
The 2023 MXON was held in Ernée, France from the 6th to the 8th of October.
Australia had a solid team this year, with both Jett and Hunter Lawrence, along with newly-crowned Aussie champion, Dean Ferris.
The MXON is regarded as the Olympics of Motocross. Each participating country selects three riders to form a team. The scoring works almost reverse to what we are normally used to, ie. one point is awarded for first place, two points for second place, and so on. There are three races, and the worst score out of three races for each team is dropped, and then the final two scores added together and the lowest combined score wins.
Three riders compete in three classes, MXGP, MX2, and the Open class.
Jett finished second in the MXGP
qualifying race, Hunter finished third in the MX2 qualifier, and Dean Ferris was riding well in the open qualifying race, when an unfortunate mishap on a triple jump saw him land slightly short, getting crossed up, and going down in what looked like a nasty crash. Thankfully, Dean got up with no
injuries, rejoined the race with a bent set of handlebars and sadly finished nine laps down. Still, a huge effort to rejoin after such a fall.
Race One was won by Frenchman Romain Febre, with Spain’s Jorge Prado second, and Ken Roczen for Germany in third.
Jett Lawrence had an unfortunate fall in Turn Two on the first lap and had to rejoin the race to carve his way through the field.
France took another win in Race Two, with Maxime Renaux in first, second was Tom Vialle from France, and in third was Liam Everts from Belgium. Hunter Lawrence unfortunately went down in Race Two, but came home in fifth place; a respectable effort.
Race Three winner was Jett Lawrence, Germany’s Ken Roczen was second, and third place was grabbed by Maxime Renaux from France.
The overall results went as follows, 1st France, 2nd Australia, 3rd Italy, so the host nation won the Chamberlin trophy and was crowned world champion.
Words: Susan Plunkett
As we head into summer, and one currently predicted to be hot and intense, in seems a good time to review heat issues for riders and ways to keep safe and healthy while on the road in the coming season.
1. Hot weather increases pollution levels that can affect respiration (one reason to enable motorcyclists to lane filter).
2. Dehydration can impair your ability to think clearly and logically.
3. Over-heating can adversely affect muscle and thought responses.
4. Sweltering and sweating in hot clothing
is uncomfortable and distracting to road safety considerations. Obviously prolonged sweating can |lead to skin issues.
5. Sunburn. Even riders who are wellcovered can leave sections of skin such as back of the neck uncovered.
6. Hot road surface temperatures can cause the air inside tyres to expand. This can increase the risk of tyre blowouts particularly if tyres are damaged, worn, or under-inflated.
7. Watch out for melted tar/asphalt on roads in extreme heat conditions. Tar is often used to repair road cracks so look out for these.
1. Equip yourself with the right gear for weather conditions. For example, use a tinted visor, open air holes on your helmet (or purchase a helmet with this option when you next decide to upgrade), or wear gloves with mesh sections.
2. Equip yourself with hot-weather friendly clothing. For example, a cooling vest, or a jacket with ventilation zippers. Some riders find specially designed compression garments helpful as they can help prevent lactic acid build-up and muscle vibration.
3. Apply sunscreen.
4. Use hydration packs (further information on this below).
5. Know your body and your mind. If you start to feel overly sweaty, a little dizzy or nauseous, pull over and get the helmet off and cool down.
6. Organise your rides where possible to rest during the hottest part of the day.
7. If riding in very hot weather, a lighter breakfast is best. Heavier breakfasts take much more from the body to break down and demand more fluid to do so.
8. If you sweat a lot, on top of the hydration pack, slip some electrolyte sachets into your bag as a supplement. When you sweat, your body loses sodium and other electrolytes which need to be restored during the hydration process. Sometimes water just doesn’t seem enough.
9. Know the general route you intend to ride so that you are aware where there are suitable stops to replenish water.
10. A motorcycle’s oil can overheat in hot weather. Check your engine regularly. Installing fan assisted cooling is vital for some models.
11. Don’t be tempted to wear less that optimal protection clothing. Bare skin leads you to dehydrate quicker.
12. Avoid over-indulging in alcohol as this will require greater hydration the following day.
13. In terms of textile jackets, consider Dyneema material vs Kevlar. Kevlar is strong but heavy. Dyneema has the same strength but is much lighter.
14. Ice pack! (See photo) Yes, this set up can feel amazing; poke holes in the bag so that your face is flicked with droplets of cold water as you ride.
15. A cleaner bike is a cooler bike. Keeping your radiator, oil cleaner, cooling fins, and fluids maintained will allow you to minimize heat buildup.
16. Temperatures over 45C means it’s time to pull over and find shade; for both you and your bike.
Motorcycle hydration packs or kits are specialised backpacks that hold water and allow the rider to take water as they like via a tube and small mouthpiece. These packs come in different sizes and a smaller 1-1.5 litre reservoir is generally adequate for shorter rides or cross urban use.
We have found, via discussion with adventure riders, that most here will take a 3-litre pack (plus a few spare bottles) which is sensible given rides are typically away from urban areas and riders can adventure alone. In addition, given the ride context, the physical demands may be relatively high.
Enduro riders can purchase slim-line packs that don’t cramp their style and the market does have a good range of choices.
Back in 1996, when the Rally Paris Dakar was likely the only international premium rally event back in Europe, it was drawing in participants from all over the world. For Asians however, it was too far to consider sending crew and cars, trucks or motorcycles around the world.
In those days, the Asia Cross Country Rally was intended to be a real crosscountry rally, which tested both the participants rally skills like reading road books etc. and the potential off road driving skills with considerable higher speed. Not to forget stamina, lots of energy and physical strength.
Since then, the Asia Cross Country Rally has been hosted in its entirety or
partially by various South East Asian countries. Thailand however has been always the starting point, except back in 1996, and countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, China and even Singapore have been hosts over the years.
This year, the 28th edition of the Asia Cross Country Rally, the starting point was again Pattaya, yes, the Pattaya almost two hours southeast of Bangkok, known for its beaches and for its notorious nightlife. From the “Walking Street” of Pattaya with its bars and discos, to laid back Pakse in the South of Laos, a journey of more than 2.000 kilometers.
Riders from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia made their way to Pattaya on the 11th
of August 2023. They went through the various briefings, scrutinizing sessions and last-minute preparations of the bikes. Packed, unpacked and finally prepared again differently, to suit the purpose.
And even though most of the participants come and join every year, the preparation procedure is always different, bikes are different and so is the terrain. So, the question always remains, what goes in my little backpack and what tools should I bring and pack – and pack where on my bike?
On Sunday evening the 13th of August 2023, a ceremonial start of all participants, their vehicles, and their entire teams of mechanics, officials and media teams turned the “Walking Street” upside down. Brand new rubber tires instead of high heeled boots, the music outside louder than inside the many discos and a crowd far beyond the usual walking street streamers.
So beside rally prepared bikes, also a large number of rally pick-ups and cars lined up with their crews, some supported by the manufacturers and principles from Japan, some on their own as single fighters for the entire week to come.
A total of 384 kilometers, including a special stage (SS1) for all the participants of 207 kilometers through Thailand’s countryside, along rice paddies and plantations, as this is mostly flat farmland.
A warmup stage for people to adjust to their teams, if any, their bikes and the environment. Actually, a straightforward stage, it didn’t rain nor was their any major river crossing or anything remarkable of a problem to navigate. Whoever was not familiar with the road book provided by officials, this was obviously an opportunity to learn something new with tracks not that far off the ‘beaten track’.
A distance of approximately 463 kilometers, including a special stage (SS2) with 207 kilometers. For participants that meant 207 kilometers off-road along rice paddies and plantations u
again and another 256 kilometers on the road. This is double stress, tiring and challenging at the same time, especially for the motorcycle riders, who have to control their bike and the traffic when on and off the road, read the road book and pay attention to everything around them. The blazing heat of 35 °C dried out all the remaining water on the tracks and made them dusty and unforgiving, but also difficult to navigate as one was not able to see the tyre marks on the tracks of the bike in front.
The last stage of the Asia Cross Country Rally 2023 in Thailand this year and the final stage before moving into Laos the next day. The landscape slightly changes over time, kilometer by kilometer. It is recognizably more rural in form of tracks and track conditions, especially with a 179
kilometers special off-road stage on this day. The 312 kilometers one has to ride on the road on top of it not included. So, in total, almost 500 kilometers on two wheels with only one service point halfway to quench your thirst and allow for minor repairs if necessary. Anything else has to be done without any roadside assistance. The rider cum navigator cum mechanic kind of play and it is fair to say, that stamina prevails. No energy, no concentration, failures of any kind are pre-programmed into the psyche.
With a very easy, straight forward and
well-prepared border crossing by the organising team, lengthy queues were able to be by-passed and eventually it was likely the easiest border crossing with various kind of vehicles from different countries, support vans and trucks, all the teams and a carnet process to follow. But still, border crossings with foreign registered vehicles are always exhausting, as chassis and engine numbers have to be identified, verified with the carnet and eventually for all vehicles of the rallyconvoy. The reward was a staggering 168 kilometers of Laos’ finest off-road terrain literally just across the border, stage 4. As soon as one crosses the border the world changes, more off-road country roads
than paved roads; a heaven for people who want to experience something different and beyond motocross.
167 kilometers of finest off-road terrain around Pakse, this loop was long anticipated, not much in transit time, but instead, straight into action a few hundred meters from the hotel. It all started with a river crossing, not much of a big deal when motorcycle drivers take the small self-made bamboo bridge, but one didn’t and one couldn’t. The URAL with its sidecar was forced to test its
Our Adventure riding guided tours are all about experiencing Tasmania and combining it with the simple joy of motorcycling. We will have you winding through endless corners, up and over hills and mountains in the morning and then cruising wide-open sweepers beside the ocean in the afternoon. But simply having great motorcycling roads doesn’t make a memorable tour. We combine riding with the fantastic local foods and premium accommodation Tasmania is so famous for.
floating capability, and one motorcycle driver, for whatever reason, took the wrong turn. For no particular reason, not even the height of the bamboo bridge, the driver tested the waters and failed miserably. Laos is fun, the people are
extremely welcoming and hospitable, the tracks are literary dirt tracks with lots of water filled potholes and Laotian culture in the South is a good mix, that makes such rally adventures very enjoyable. Unless you are not so much into really u
spicy food along the roadside or anything else beyond beef, chicken and pork, Laos is a motorcycle destination to explore more.
Saturday the 19th of August 2023 – Pakse
By now all the twenty-three riders, plus the sidecar riders, have eaten plenty of red dust, the back, arms and legs hurt, the motorcycles are beginning to fail more and more. The last day should test the participants the last time with a short 55 kilometers special stage, ending at the Vat Phou Khmer Hindu temple in Champasak. This is where all Asia Cross Country Rally participants met again. Here is where people started to reflect on the previous six days of hard and long riding, the experienced adventures and the challenges
they faced. Here is also where international friendships were established and contact details were exchanged.
Jakkrit Chawtale from Thailand and his KTM, with a total riding time of 13:24:46 h for the six special stages, won the trophy this year, followed by Hironori Nishimura from Japan and his Husqvarna with a total time of 14:35:37 h in second. Third was participant Koun Phandara from Cambodia with his KTM, who took 14:58:02 h. So basically, there is almost an hour and a half of time difference between the first and third winner, because here all are winners somehow, and all are amateurs who do this for fun and not for glory, well a bit, or any international championship points.
Last but not least, all 25 motorcycle participants reached the finish line, some
faster than others, some by motorcycle, some by their support car. But most importantly all are in good health, beside a few bruises and sprains. More than 2.000 kilometers on and off the road are obviously taking its toll to riders and machines.
The spirit for next years Asia Cross Country Rally is high, even though nobody knows yet, where it will be held. Myanmar is currently impossible, Laos was the host this year, Cambodia was the host the year before. Vietnam or Malaysia come to mind, but let’s see.
No matter where, it would be even more fun to get more participants from other countries interested to join, test your limits, test your stamina, enjoy rally riding in Southeast Asia, join AXCR 2024! www.asiacrosscountryrally.com
Yamaha’ s 2023 Ténéré 700 World Raid reviewed – properly.
orrie rode off a cliff.”
“What? Like a real cliff cliff?”
“Yep.”
“Is he dead?”
“No.”
“Is he maimed?”
“No.”
“Is the bike destroyed?”
“The mirror is broken.”
“So it can still be photographed?”
“For sure. Not like the one whatsisname wrecked when he put his head through the screen this morning.”
“You’re sure it was a cliff he rode off?”
“Yep. It was pretty much where we thought he’d die if he was planning on dying.”
“He wasn’t being a dickhead?”
“He doesn’t have the skills to try being a dickhead.”
“So he’s not dead, he’s not maimed, and the bike is not wrecked. Must be a pretty shitty cliff.”
“Oh the cliff is serious. He’s just the luckiest bastard in the whole world.”
“That’s got to be the last of his lives.”
“You’d think so…but who knows?”
This was not a conversation I was privy to when it took place, but I do know it took place. But it took place maybe ten kilometres from where Crash, Lincoln, and myself were using ropes to haul the afflicted World Raid back onto the track I had thrown it off.
My cliff-jumping happened directly in front of Crash, RideADv’s intriguinglynicknamed sweep rider. RideADV had been contracted by Yamaha to run the Australian press launch, and Crash had drawn the short-straw to be the last rider, also known as the “Sweep”. So, he was my witness in later discussions.
The long-straw for lead rider went to the man who looked like he fought bears. According to his T-shirt, Ride ADV’s Greg
Far left: Right in front of the front wheel, the drop is sheer.
Top left: The face of acceptance.
Bottom left: I’m thinking Yager could pass for Thor. Easily.
Right & bottom right: This is the RideADV lair the night before we rode off. Hell of a man-cave.
Yager was the Trailboss, a fact I found hugely comforting, given Greg outweighs me by at least 30kg and looks like a Viking war-leader. The men one follows into battle need to look just like that.
Lincoln, whom I knew from back when I did a story on Yamaha’s finest factory mechanics – and who now works for Chris Watson Yamaha in Newcastle – was the actual trailblazer. He rode ahead of Greg and the rest of us, presumably to attract any errant wildlife, falling trees, or sudden cracks in the earth’s crust. It was Lincoln who came back to see what had happened – and it was good he did, because Crash and I simply lacked the strength to haul the World Raid back on the track.
That’s the thing with cliffs. You can’t stand under the bike to push. There’s nowhere to stand. The only way we were going to haul it out was with ropes and an extra bloke. The two of us were simply insufficient to the task.
The cliff-event was all my fault. I will own it. I was proceeding downhill, and I
Left: Note how the twin-tanks sit much lower in relation to the headstock.
Left middle: Look at that lovely coating.
Bottom left: How lovely is this display? And note the bar above the display is very stable for hanging your iPhone on.
Right: This was not sick air.
was aiming to traverse a deep rut, but a large rock – perhaps the size of an enemy’s head – was in the place where I subsequently put my front wheel…and up and over we went. Yes, I should not have traversed the rut at that time. Yes, I knew better. Yes, I did it anyway. Can we move on now?
As the World Raid bounced into the air and off the track, it became one of those: “Shit, this is it for me…” moments. I understood I had just ridden off a cliff. I had been riding next to the bastard for a while, so I knew it was there. And it seemed obvious this was the end of all things for me. Luck is all that saved me.
Then the front wheel hit a big rock, and the bike stopped. I somersaulted over the handlebars, and whomped into a tree, and then I stopped. Everything was in stasis. But I was not dead. The bike had not crushed me. So, it and I just lay there for a few seconds. I was assessing my injuries. It was silently condemning me for riding like a worthless arsehole. Both were important things for different reasons.
Everything seemed to still work as far as my bones and organs were concerned, so I slowly clambered up the cliff, like a fat Goretex-clad spider, and emerged on the track, where Crash had stopped, doubtlessly in awe, right after I’d trowelled it in front of him.
“ Yes, I should not have traversed the rut at that time. Yes, I knew better. Yes, I did it anyway. Can we move on now? ”
“You, OK?” he asked very calmly, which is exactly the right way to ask such important questions.
“Yep.” I nodded. My knee hurt a bit, but not enough for me to whine about.
“Have a rest,” he said, and when I went and sat on another rock (there were lots of them around), he got out his sat-phone and made a call.
After a few minutes, I felt we should attempt to haul the bike back onto the track. We tried. Very hard. I was convinced it was a write-off, but we could not leave it there. We grunted, we heaved, we tied ropes to it and grunted and heaved some more, but it would barely budge.
Which is when we heard Lincoln coming back. He was just the ticket. The three of us managed to haul the World Raid onto the track, and checked it over. The mirror-glass was shattered, and there was a small scuff on the tank, but that was it. I pressed the starter button and it instantly whirred into life. Seemed like my ride was not over.
“Bloody Yamaha,” I muttered. Later that day, Greg and I were chuckling over the event – because this shit is always funny if no-one dies – and he observed that riders of Euro machinery on the tours he runs are forever pressing their starter buttons at strange times to see “if it will start”. Yamaha riders do not do this. The blue bastards will always start. It’s how they’re made. When the world ends, only
cockroaches, fridges, and Yamahas will remain.
So, I rode on, viciously berating myself for what happened, because I hate being “that guy”.
Anyway, up until that point, Aaron and I were engaged in something no-one else on the press launch had even considered. We were swapping between a normal Ténéré, and the World Raid version, because that seemed like the valid thing
to do in order to provide a proper assessment of the differences.
Let’s first understand why Yamaha’s Ténéré is the biggest-selling mid-sized Adventure bike in Australia. It’s brilliant. That’s why. It’s more dirt-biased than many Adventure bikes, but gives nothing away to any of them when you put it on the bitumen.
But rather than rest on its laurels, Yamaha went to the next level and
created the World Raid. It is the Ténéré, but with hairier dirt-balls, thanks to some changes that make it even more viable as a serious off-roader. And not one iota of its sealed-road ability has been compromised.
The differences are significant, and most obvious when you look at the hell-sexy 23-litre twin-tank set-up. You will get at least 450km of range. Some have said there’s 500km there if you take it easy. The tanks sit lower on the frame, thus lowering the bike’s centre of gravity, and thanks to some electronic solenoid voodoo, the amount of petrol in either tank is always equal. Yes, you have to fill them both independently, but that’s kinda cool if girls or other Adventure riders are looking.
Then there’s the suspension. Kashimacoated suspension. Yes, I am glad you asked what that is. You only ever see Kashima coatings on Factory race bikes, and it’s a hard-anodising treatment for fork-legs and shock bodies, which reduces friction, corrosion, and scratching. The World Raid also has 20mm more suspension travel front and rear, boasts a new bash-plate, an Öhlins steering damper with 18 settings, and a few other bits and bobs Aaron was far more interested in than I was.
I’m sure you’re keen to know how this all translates to the actual ride, and how it compares to the normal Ténéré. Aaron and I rode both, turn and turn-about. But I will let him tell his own story.
As far as I was concerned, the Ténéré is precisely what I would be looking for in a true Adventure bike. And a true Adventure bike has always been what the Ténéré was – and now it had hairier cags.
So, the Ténéré is utterly true to its calling – and has been from the beginning. A big part of that purity is it’s not electronically complex in terms of rider aids or modes –you can turn ABS off on the normal Ténéré with the push of a button, or decide if you want to leave the front ABS on if you’re riding the World Raid. When you turn off the bike, it defaults back to ABS on, but that is a legal requirement in Australia, and the way around it is just to stall the bike and not turn off the ignition if you’re only pausing briefly.
Top: This is about an hour after I crashed. No, not listing cornering and loving bitumen. Left: That bash-plate is a work of art.
Right: They look strange when they’re clean… Below: That seat is much more comfy than it looks. Though you really will never use the front foot of it. Bottom right: Yamaha has fitted some very clever crash-guards to protect the lowered tanks.
Both versions have this insane ability to just chug seamlessly along if the going is really technical or rough, and that makes them very easy to ride, even if you’re a dirt-muppet like me. That MT-07 engine is a true marvel and one of the best donks ever wedged inside any motorcycle.
I found the seat on the World Raid a touch more luscious than the normal Ténéré’s saddle, but I only noticed this when I was already tired and emotional. Both seats are good for long hours, and interestingly, the World Raid’s weight distribution made it easier to ride the dirt sitting down than the normal Ténéré. Not that you should do that, and I normally don’t, but like I said, I was tired and emotional by the end of the first day after my cliff experience.
We rode all kinds of roads – including bitumen – and dirt tracks that varied from, “This is cool! I can do 120 on here!” to “I am going to murder Yager if I ever make it off this damned hill!”. Both Ténéré’s cake-walked everything the whole time. Nothing seemed to stress them out.
I was the only one stressed out when I was called upon to complete the final descent into the Hunter Valley at the end of the day. What had been a perfectly reasonable fire trail, had morphed into two blasted and deeply vicious ruts, overgrown with weeds, which made it very hard to see any specific dying spot. But my tired and overheated brain knew there were many such spots. The taste
of dust had long been established in my mouth – it was a very hot and dusty ride – my knee ached, and I had just given the last of my water to the bloke who’d put his head through the screen earlier that day. I am not usually given to mercy, but he was unable to stand on his feet each time we stopped and kept begging for water. But no-one cared overly much. Our bear-killing leader had assessed his needs were not life-threatening, and his girl-like keening was to no avail.
But I was much gladder than he was to finally reach our evening’s accommodation. I was not injured, per se. But I was very sore. And bound to get sorer as the evening wore on.
That’s the nature of these things.
I bailed on Day Two’s events, which involved taking all the 220kg Ténérés to a Motocross track and throwing them into the air. As I had been a little brutalised in my off, and when all that stuff had had
time to cool down and seize up, I found I could not stand on the pegs to ride. And if I can’t stand on the pegs to ride dirt, I can’t ride dirt. Of course, I am every bit as competent as Aaron and the other dirtbeasts when it comes to throwing bikes off jumps and hard-cornering on berms. I just utterly fail at being able to land those jumps or exit the corners, which is a personal failing. But I’m good with that –I have always been a man who is aware of his own limitations…especially when I am confronted with them.
The bike? It’s everything I expected it to be, and wanted it to be. You go fitting twin petrol tanks to an Adventure bike, and coating its suspension in exotic Factory unguents, then you’d better be sure the bike can back its bullshit up.
And the World Raid certainly can –even while it’s also backing up yours with ease. And you can ride it off cliffs. It is adventure incarnate.
WORDS BY AARON CLIFTON
IMAGES BY GREG SMITH/iKAPTURE
This was my first ever press launch. Borrie told me the only reason I was even there was so he could eat me if we got stranded in the bush.
I felt I might be good for two days. Borrie can eat a lot.
So I resolved that stranding would not happen.
The launch of the new Yamaha Ténéré World Raid was not the hill I was going to die on. Or be eaten on.
I’m not new to riding. I’ve been doing that for 30 years, but in the quite distinct disciplines of motocross and road-riding. I’ve also done the odd bit of enduro, and I never really found it that appealing, but this adventure thing wasn’t anything I’d done before. And just like a virgin I was very excited to see what it was all about.
I was really hoping it wasn’t about Borrie turning me into bacon.
The new Yamaha Ténéré World Raid has seen some significant changes compared to the normal Ténéré model,
which is still being sold. The world Raid comes with upgraded suspension complete with Kashima coating for reduced internal resistance and durability, the forks and rear shock are fully adjustable including preload on the forks, and both front and rear suspension boast 20mm more travel. There’s also an adjustable Öhlins steering damper, a new five-inch TFT colour screen with Bluetooth connectivity, a new bash plate and and bigger foot pegs. But the most notable difference is the new 23-litre dual fuel tanks, which according to Yamaha and whispers around the Adventure riders, now give you a range of 450km.
The ride was set to go from Ourimbah on the NSW central coast over the mountains and bound for the Hunter Valley. It would consist of fire trails and tighter single-trail terrain, with surfaces ranging from everything from hard-packed clay, to gravel and sandy tracks.
I immediately felt at home on the
Far left: The air got increasingly sicker. Bottom left: Aaron considers his life choices. Above: If this was me, the next shot would be me with the bike on top of me.
Ténéré and it was fair to say I was playing it conservatively. There was no way, hell or high water, I was crashing this thing. I just didn’t want to be “that guy” -- especially on my first press launch.
It didn’t take long before we were out of the suburban areas of Ourimbah and making our way off-road up the mountain. It’s worth noting the Ténéré was fitted with full off-road tyres, and the bike was still perfectly at home on the bitumen, so much so that it felt odd to be taking it offroad and for the first few hundred metres on the dirt I had a feeling saying “It can’t be right to take a road-bike off-road…”
I had to remind myself it was not a road bike or even a real dirt bike. It was an Adventure bike. And the Adventure thing perplexed me. I always imagined it was a mix of both road and dirt, and those two things being so opposed to each other you would sacrifice the best of both of those worlds to end up with an adventure article. But this is NOT the case at all.
I found this out only a few hundred meters off the tar when I encountered our first hill that consisted of water washouts, ruts and rocks about the size of a lunch box.
I can’t take this bike up that, I thought, and still kept riding because everyone else was.
I was wrong. You can indeed take the
u
World Raid up that stuff, and you can do it with great ease. The more time I spent on the World Raid, the more I warmed to this adventure thing, and it boggled my mind.
The World Raid not only exceeded my expectations, but it blew them away completely. A 700cc parallel twin with a wet weight of 220kgs and an off-road front tyre should not handle so well either on or off road, but it does; it so bloody well does! A very compliant motorcycle not reacting harshly or unexpectedly to otherwise unforgiving terrain and yet responding well to rider inputs.
Most of the time I just drew on my motocross experience, i.e., standing in the correct position and allowing the bike to do its thing underneath me, and not once did the World Raid give me a moment that tightened my sphincter. And all this on stock suspension. I couldn’t help but wonder how good this thing could be with a tailored suspension set up.
I had the chance of riding the Ténéré and the Ténéré World Raid back-toback on this ride and it was a privilege, because I had the ability to compare the changes in real time.
The standard Ténéré is a great bike in its own right. It is narrower than the World Raid and so it gave the impression it was also lighter and would handle better, but I found this wasn’t the case. It’s not that the Ténéré handles
poorly. It doesn’t. But the World Raid gave a more confident or sure-footed feeling from the front-end even though it’s carrying the extra weight of the dual fuel tanks.
When a manufacturer talks of changes like adding weight but not sacrificing handling ability because, “We kept the weight down low”, I get cynical. They’ve made an effort, but adding weight is adding weight no matter where you carry it. I was wrong-again. It actually works on the World raid. And I don’t believe it’s only due to the fact the fuel load is carried low. I believe it’s the sumtotal of many things; the improved suspension, the added steering
damper, and the improved seat-andrider triangle. All these things together make for a heavier bike that seems to handle better than a lighter one, and I think in the case of the World Raid it actually almost hides the extra lard it carries. This bike, in my opinion, does not feel like it weighs 220kg wet.
Still don’t believe me? I had this thing on a motocross track. Sure, I didn’t “send it” like I would my 450 motocrosser, because it’s not designed for that, but I did jump it, hit berms, rollers, and deep sand sections with deep ruts, and the Ténéré World Raid did it all, and took it in its stride.
And maybe what also helps hide the weight is this nifty little solenoid valve set-up Yamaha uses to equalise the fuel load in each tank to avoid you having more fuel on one side.
Even when belting through sandy corners, the bike never once felt unbalanced. Keep in mind though, that when you fuel up, you do have to fill both tanks separately. But when the starter switch is turned on and the side-stand is up, it equalises within a few minutes and the fuel gauge adjusts to suit.
The Ténéré is obviously not a motocross or an enduro bike. Nor is it a pure-bred road-bike. But it is by the truest definition an Adventure bike, and if the Ténéré World Raid is any indication of what adventure riding is, sign me up.
want or need sideways ankle flex. Your ankle is happiest moving in one plane – and while it can move laterally, this is not a good thing for it to do if you don’t want it broken. Sadly, this is what happens on motorcycles –and especially when you’re banging about through the scrub.
It is an actual issue, and many Adventure tour companies will not permit such boots, insisting you wear full-on motocross jobbies instead.
But it’s hard to dance in those clomping bastards. And let’s face it, after a great day navigating some skatey gravel roads, you might wanna dance some later that night to celebrate being alive. Or if you have to walk out of a place, leaving your wrecked bike to the vultures, you’ll be more comfortable doing that in these boots rather than motocross boots.
For most people and most Adventure applications, these will be fine. I’m thinking if you crash bad enough that these won’t help, then you’ll have bigger problems than a broken ankle.
The good people at Falco very generously sent me a pair of the new Avantour 2 to essay on this journey.
I am no stranger to Falco boots – they are top-quality Italian boots and come in all sorts of styles, including Adventure, and I already owned a pair of Falco Adventure boots from a few years back. They were my go-to boots for Adventure riding – comfortable, waterproof,
easy to get on and off after a day of crippling yourself – and rest assured, on more than one occasion I have laid on my side on a floor, and clicked the fasteners open by dragging them along a door jamb because I was no longer able to bend at the waist. Great days… Anyway, these new ones were even more robust – and that’s important, especially around the ankle, where you really don’t
Two aluminium buckles close the boot, along with a large Velcro patch at the top. Your ankle sits in a reinforced cup which limits sideways flexion, and your shin is extremely well-protected with a large shin-guard.
They now come with a loop at the back of the boot-rim to help you pull them on, the sole is high-grip textured rubber, and the entire product exudes quality – which is typical Falco. You won’t be replacing them very often, if at all.
You’re also protected by D304 – a material which feels pliable, but hardens upon impact, and dissipates any shock.
They come in both men’s and women’s fit (finally) and are pretty much at the top of the shelf when it comes to Adventure boots.
Boots
Wind is air that is moving in a certain direction.
Sometimes, that moving air is pleasing and refreshing, and we close our eyes in pleasure.
And sometimes it blows your house, the surrounding trees, your pets, your crops, your possessions, and your entire family, into the next state. And we weep and cry and wail, and demand money from the government to assuage the arbitrary cruelty of nature.
And then there are other times when the wind can be all sorts of things, pleasant and unpleasant, gusty or steady, packed with fangs of ice, or feeling like the mouth of a blast furnace.
As a motorcyclist, there are only two kinds of wind as far as you’re concerned –wind that is yours to control and wind that is not yours to control because you’re not Thor.
There is the wind your forward motion generates. And this can vary from a pleasing sirocco of 20km/h, to a skinpeeling 280km/h hurricane – possibly with blue lights and sirens in attendance. This is the wind that you make and you control.
And then there is the wind I mentioned at the beginning of this article, and all its variations. That is wind you do not control.
And here is where the issues line themselves up for motorcyclists.
Car drivers have it easy. The wind does not concern them much at all. It would take them driving into a tornado and getting their car scooped up and thrown into the sea for there to be an issue.
But that ain’t you, is it? You’re sitting on an engine and holding onto handlebars. You’re heaps different.
So, you have to understand a few things about the two types of wind that directly concern you. You need to be aware of what happens when the wind you control meets the wind you don’t control.
Of course, there are non-wind windaffected variables in all of this.
The most important will be the kind of bike you ride.
On your fully-loaded, panniered, and top-boxed Adventure bike you doubtlessly feel if the end of the world came, you could ride through it and triumph. And that might be the case if there was not a sudden savage crosswind, and you discover you’re not actually on a bike, but rather on a spinnaker, and the
control you thought you were in was just a joke and now you’re in the path of an oncoming semi.
The silhouette of your bike does very much act like a sail in crosswinds (winds that are moving across your direction of travel), and some bikes are much worse than others.
Take Harley-Davidson’s iconic Fat Boy. You remember the first iteration with the solid alloy wheels? I sure do. Any kind of crosswind would turn the silver bastard into a 400kg kite, and send it lurching and pitching all over the road. Subsequent iterations had holes drilled into the wheels. I hear it helped some, but I was so traumatised I was not ever going to own another one.
The taller Adventure bikes like the KTM and the GS, fully loaded with hard luggage, are also windsocks. Crosswinds play havoc with them, but they handle much better than Harleys and you have some chance of levering them into compliance.
Lighter bikes do get blown around more, but they are easier to wrangle back into line. And don’t think just because your bike, you, your pillion, and your luggage tip the scales north of 700kgs, the wind doesn’t have much hope shifting you off your path. It so does, and it’s so much harder for you to unshift away from whatever disaster you’re headed for.
And also remember that strong wind gusts can very often deliver exciting presents into your path or into your face. Sand, grit, and dust aren’t much of a problem – but tree branches offer up all sorts of exciting hospital opportunities.
As I’ve said, gusty crosswinds are the worst thing for motorcyclists. They are unpredictable, and it’s not like you can prepare for them. You can just deal with them and try to stay on the road as best you can. If it’s a steady and very strong crosswind, like the one I encountered some years ago on my way to Phillip Island, you end up riding at a bit of an angle to the vertical, which is very funny to see, but takes a bit of concentration. If the wind suddenly drops, you will veer off the road or into oncoming traffic. And try not to spend too much time looking at the trees bending crazily ahead of you. Sure, look at them to see if branches are coming off, but don’t stare at them like a mesmerised vole.
If it’s all too much and all too hard, and you’ve soiled yourself a little bit, and are
wondering why you even took up riding stupid motorcycles in the first place, pull over and wait it out. Preferably not under a tree.
Headwinds are nowhere near as annoying as crosswinds, and if you’ve got a fairing, you can mitigate much of their effect on you. Your petrol economy will suffer because your bike is encountering resistance – and if you’re on an adventure bike or a cruiser, you’re already not the most streamlined thing in the world.
Tailwinds are the absolute best. They are the proverbial wind beneath your wings. Your fuel economy gets better, your top speed increases, and you police fines will be more dramatic.
The wind, as you know, tends to blow in one direction for an indeterminate and entirely arbitrary length of time. Then it will either stop, or find a new direction to blow in.
The road, on the other hand, tends to change direction. Unless you’re on one of our endless straight slabs of bitumen. If that’s the case, just ride on and wait for the wind to change or stop.
If you’re doing twisties, just be aware that since bends normally occur in hilled areas, there’s a good chance the wind will be intermittent. In some places there will be none, and then just as you start powering out of a beaut corner, a gust will hit you and scare seven shades of shit out of you.
The only other type of wind you might encounter is that blast of air from an oncoming truck. That is very easy to counter. You need to be going faster than the oncoming truck for its blast-wave not to bother you. It’s a physics thing. If you’re getting tossed around by oncoming semis, you’re riding too slowly.
Also understand that cold wind is better than hot wind. You can always put more clothing on if its cold. All you can do when you’re riding into a blast furnace is stay hydrated. I always wear a neck sock, and soak it in water every chance I get – hell, I have been known to pour an entire litre of cold water into my jacket, then zip up the jacket to stop it evaporating too fast, and carry on because the motel I booked has a pool.
And I think that’s what you should take away from all of this.
Always book a motel that has a pool –and don’t ride too slow.
Name: Nelson Elgueta
Adventure on Store
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Bike(s): KTM 790 Adventure R & KTM 500exc-f
Your stand-out motorcycling memory: The first time going to Karijini National Park. The engines roared as we cruised through the rugged terrain up to Karijini National Park on our adventure motorcycles. The stunning landscapes surrounding us, we felt truly alive. From the majestic gorges to the picturesque waterfalls, every twist and turn of our
journey was nothing short of epic. We shared incredible moments, swam in crystal-clear pools, and camped under the star-studded sky. This trip was an unforgettable experience, one that filled us with adrenaline and appreciation for the beauty of Australia’s outback. Your funniest motorcycling related experience:
There is always funny moments on every ride when you are with good mates. The spirit is up and everyone is a great mood. Definitely, the funniest moment was when my good mate Josh, who is quite clever with electronics, converted a garage door remote into a kill switch and connected it to a motorcycle. This
can stop any “show off” rider, guaranteed. The top 5 things you now know about motorcycle riding that you didn’t know when you first started:
How to de-water a bike (don’t ask me how I learnt this) How to change tyres. What not to bring on the bike. Plan routes and transform them to a GPX magical experience. Steer with the rear. Swiss army knife or first-aid kit: Both.
Is there any ride you’ve not done that you want to:
Mongolia on ADV bikes. What would be your top 3 Aussie riding experiences, and why:
Put me anywhere in the Outback with my bike and good mates and I’ll be all smiles. Is there a motorcycling riding rule you would like to see enforced: Carry your own Emergency PLB device, especially if you are going to ride solo. This should be mandatory. I’ve seen enough.
Do you listen to music on rides: Absolutely. All day, every day. The world would be sad without music. Is there any one motorbike you consider to be the most iconic of the 20th century and why:
The most iconic adventure motorbike of the 20th century could be argued to be
the BMW GS. It was the bike that Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman rode in their “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down” TV series, which brought adventure biking into the mainstream. The R80GS was also the first bike to complete the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1981, solidifying its reputation as a capable and durable adventure bike. I never owned one but I will, one day. Six words that sum up what riding means to you:
Mates, freedom, peace, nature, fun and adrenaline
Anything else you’d like to add: Ride more, work less. Always!
Words: Bob Wozga
Images: Bob Wozga and Spring cart Farm
There are many places to discover in New South Wales off the tourist tracks that highlight our history. Places to really unwind from the hectic life of the city and not only find peacefulness, but places to breathe. Some find peacefulness watching waves rolling onto a secluded beach, some watching sand drifting over dunes in the desert, while others find it in the hills and mountains with the sound of a breeze through eucalypts and the sight of grass
rolling like waves on hillsides while an eagle gracefully glides overhead looking for prey.
Adventure riders have the advantage of discovering and experiencing these places more than the tourist. Fortunately, more farms are offering their hospitality to weary riders as a stopover, as well as destinations to explore trails, following creeks and traversing mountains, and following ridge lines that few have seen.
One such place I have recently
discovered is Spring cart Farm near Weabonga. Where is the village of Weabonga you ask? It is on a track between Tamworth and Gloucester in northern NSW on one of the most scenic back roads you could ever travel. About 30 kilometres from Limbi (Everyone knows where Limbri is). You’ve opened Google maps now haven’t you.
Riding the road between Kootingal and Weabonga in the late afternoon, the sun begins to settle and through a dusty pair of goggles, you feel like you are riding in a giant Namatjira artwork. It can be hard to keep your eyes on the road and not on the scenery. The road is in good condition with several cattle grids and the obligatory potholes. A few ruts can be found on bends and be aware of oncoming 4x4’s. If you ride with someone that likes to take photos, don’t be surprised if they often stop to pull out the camera. As with any country road, there are always oddities to be found. You may need to let them do their thing and meet
them at the next pre-determined meeting point i.e., Spring cart Farm.
Set on 1600 acres and steeped in history, the farm was originally settled by James Blaxland (the grandson of the famous explorer), then passed to his son Greg – named after his great grandfather - who ran a sheep station. The original farmhouse, stables, and schoolhouse, believed to be built by James in the late 1800’s, still stand on an adjoining farm that was once part of a larger holding. Still a working farm, Spring cart Farm owners, Paul and Sara Rumble are catering for farm stay holidays, retreats and of course, stopovers for adventure riders. They have converted the original shearing shed into accommodation with toilets and showers. There are also five campsites situated around the property. Being off-grid, amenities are basic but ideal for an overnight stay or a few days camping and used as a base to explore other back roads and villages in the area. Inside the shearing shed, relics of mechanical
shearing machines are still in place as are the pens. It’s easy to picture Henry Lawson’s “Shearers’ Song” while walking through the shed imagining shearers milling around having tea, damper and a smoke waiting for the foreman to call start of day, and bets placed to see who can out shear the gun. There are plans to collect more relics and have them displayed in the shed.
On a winter’s morning, the frost crackles underfoot while a layer of mist shrouds the dam stocked with trout and perch. Ducks circle around the dam before braving the freezing water as they land creating a wake on the glassy surface. In the warmer months, you can paddle a kayak in the 3-acre dam or catch a fish to cook over the coals wrapped in bacon with a side of roasted sweet potato and pumpkin. The greens can stay on the side, especially the kale……especially the kale. Four-wheel drive tracks lead to campsites overlooking the river as it flows, carving its way between hills creating
beaches of pebbles and gravel leaving swimming holes to explore. Turtles swim in the crystal waters as magpies sing in the surrounding trees. After a day riding in the saddle, it’s an excellent place to pull up for the night. Fire pits are provided and kicking back, watching the bush TV, embers rise into the star lit night creating the perfect setting for banter about the days ride. Any rider will know…… It’s the main reason we travel to these places. The tracks vary from easy to challenging, with some just following tire tracks in the grass, giving a feeling of being the first to discover this place. Getting to the top of a ridge and listening to the wind not only gives a sense of achievement, but a sense of appreciation of the country we live in. You also get an admiration for the people that settled here and built fences and gates out of the raw materials at hand.
For those who enjoy our history, enjoy roads less travelled, experience fantastic destinations and accommodation, put Spring cart Farm on your bucket list.
Spring cart Farm (Swamp Oak Creek) is located along the Limbri-Weabonga Road, Weabonga NSW.
Main: Nazario tearing down an empty highway in North Sulawesi, the highlight of the trip.
Right: An Indonesian toy salesmen and his toy shop that hangs off the back of his bike.
It is an adventure rider’s worst nightmare.
As far as the eye can see – a kilometre or more into the distance – every inch of asphalt in the bustling port city of Makassar on the island of Sulawesi is crowded with mopeds, cars, buses, minibuses, and lumbering trucks spewing diesel fumes into the air.
“I hope all of Sulawesi isn’t like this,” says my riding buddy Nazario who flew all the way from Spain to join me on a month-long trip through this little-visited, far-flung part of Indonesia – a trip that consumed around the same amount of time to arrange.
In more touristic parts of Indonesia, you can just fly in and rent a motorcycle. But that’s just not an option in Sulawesi. So I cooked up an alternative plan: freighting my new KTM 250 Adventure – along with a Kawasakia Versys 250 Tourer I hired for Nazario in Bali where I live –on a cargo ship to Makassar. Closing the deal for the Versys, getting my hands on an up-todate shipping schedule, finding a company to pack the bikes in wooden crates and booking flights to meet the ship before it arrived required three trips to Benoa Harbour in Bali’s far south plus hundreds of emails, phone calls and text messages.
But the guy who delivered the Versys to the harbour the day before the ship’s departure didn’t bring the bike’s ownership papers –even though I’d reminded him to do so only two hours beforehand, and the harbour master refused to put the Versys onboard.
With no time to spare, I rushed home and grabbed my older bike, a Kawasaki W175 café racer I customised into a small but very capable adventure machine, and raced back to the harbour. And while both bikes arrived on schedule and undamaged in Makassar two days later on, the little Kwaka was in urgent need of a service. The rear tire was near the end of its life, the rear drum brake made a horrible screeching sound and the clutch was
slipping like a fat kid on ice. But at least now the show was on the road.
Two hours after leaving Makassar we pull into the village of Rammang-rammang. We’ve come here to see one of the world’s newest UNESCO Global Geoparks, a cluster of soaring limestone karsts that contain the oldest cave paintings in the world, said to be 45,000 years old.
The ride has been unpleasant, we’re filthy and tired. But the warm reception and hot meal we receive at Nazrul’s House, a cheap but cheerful homestay on the outskirts of the park, takes our worries away. We also learn why the traffic had been so bad. “The population of Makassar is 1.5 million,” But another half a million people from the provinces commute to the city for work, and the road you were on was the one most of them use to get home. Don’t worry,” Nazrul says. “The traffic isn’t like that everywhere in Sulawesi.”
After checking out the cave paintings in the morning, we continue north along the coast on our 1,850km journey to Manado on the northeast tip of Sulawesi, from where we aim to ship our bikes back to Bali.
The traffic thins out and altogether disappears as we zip up the coastal mountains on a winding country road. But less than an hour later we come to a dead stop in front of a large wedding tent that has consumed the entire road. A group of locals dressed to the nines explain there’s no other flat land in the village to pitch the tent and the road will remain closed for the next three days. But when we try to reverse course they won’t have a bar of it, insisting we partake in the festivities. The scene inside the tent is like Lawrence of Arabia meets the Yellow Submarine. A band pumps out trippy Sulawesi folk music at ear-splitting volume while women of
different ages in veils and long flowing gowns dance trance-like in front of a stage. Holding court on a larger stage, the bride and groom look like extras in a steampunk horror movie with thick thick makeup, henna tattoos, gothic costumes, reams of jewellery, elaborate headpieces and crowns.
After paying our respects to the bridal party and breaking out a few killer moves on the dancefloor that nearly cause the tent to collapse with fits of laughter, we’re offered seats on the main table and fed delicious grilled buffalo meat, tropical fruits and chocolate cake. Our feeling upon leaving is one of tremendous good fortune, as though fate had interceded to bring us here today.
After returning to the coast we continue north to the small city of
Parepare. But as we climb a particularly steep hill on the city’s outskirts, Nazario slows to a crawl. When I circle back to see what the problem is he tells me the clutch must be dead; the little Kwaka can barely accelerate uphill. So we cruise back downhill and stop at the first roadside mechanic we pass, of which there are legions in Indonesia.
After taking it for a test ride, the boss tells us it’s not the clutch that’s the issue but the clutch cable and cable tube, and with the help of two assistants, fixes it quick-smart. They then disassemble the rear drum brake and discover the case is shot. But it’s a generic part used by many scooters in Indonesia and they have a replacement in stock. They also replace the spark plug, change the oil, realigned the chain, and check and grease every
moving part of the machine. They are typical of the army of roadside mechanics in Indonesia who are mostly self-trained and earn very little money but put their heart and soul into a noble profession that keeps this country of 275 million people on the road.
When the work is complete, we find a hotel on a hilltop with a swimming pool and panoramic views of the city and coast. Outside of Bali, alcohol is hard to come by in Indonesia, which is a Muslim-majority nation. But I’d smuggled two bottles of the good stuff in my panniers. As we soak in the pool, sipping our cocktails and watching the sun, a burning planet, melt into an orange and pink sea, Nazario and I look at each other and nod: life doesn’t get any better than this.
An hour north of Parepare we detour onto an undulating country road that follows a wide caramel-coloured river into the highlands of South Sulawesi. Higher and higher the road goes, switchback after switchback, pothole after pothole until we hit the top of a range where we stop for lunch at a restaurant balanced on a ridge with mind-blowing mountain views.
After wolfing down some fried chicken and rice, we slalom into a valley and cross the border into Toraja Regency, home to one of the most ancient and mysterious cultures in Indonesia. Instead of burying their dead, people in certain parts of Toraja mummify them with formaldehyde and keep them in coffins in their homes. Every year after harvest they dress them in their Sunday best and parade them in the village square in what is one of the most bizarre post-mortem rituals on the planet. I’d wanted to see the spectacle for years and had planned this trip accordingly.
The landscape in Toraja is also out of this world, similar to Bali’s with emerald-green rice fields though on a much grander scale, punctuated with limestone karst and encircled by blue-grey mountains. Toraja is also famous for its architecture. The houses have oversized boat-shaped saddleback roofs. The outer walls are covered with intricate wooden carvings and statues of buffalo heads with actual buffalo horns loom above the front doors.
The following morning, we learn from the receptionist at our hotel that with changing weather patterns and global warming, the harvest has come late in Toraja and the bring-out-your-dead
festival has been pushed forward a few weeks. Unfortunately, we’ll miss it.
But we do see something just as bizarre at a karst mountain called Buntu Londa where the most important members of society are placed in coffins after they die, which are then plugged into crevices on the face of a cliff. A spectator box also hangs off the cliff wall, where wooden mannequins of the departed peer down
at us with curious expressions. We are then led by a guide into a cave that contains the skulls and bones of criminals and miscreants, including an incestuous couple who chose to hang themselves rather than live apart.
After two nights in Toraja we get back on the road, zipping through cloud forests, crossing long meccano bridges and copping wide-eyed looks from locals.
“Hello Mister!” the locals say. “Where are you from? Where do you go?” When Nazario and I rode through Romania last year, we crossed paths with thousands of riders doing the same thing. But in Sulawesi we are unique and treated like rock stars whenever we go.
Two days later we reach Lake Poso, which is so vast we cannot see across to the other side. Our destination is Siuri
Beach, a resort town on the lake’s west bank that lies only 50km from our current position. But the navigation apps on our phones tell us it will take three hours to get there. We soon learn why.
With heavily potholed roads and traffic-choked population centres, our average speed in Sulawesi is only 37km per hour. But the road around Lake Poso was washed away by heavy rains many years ago and all that remains is broken bits of asphalt interspersed with stones and muddy ruts. It’s nothing our bikes can’t handle but by the time we reach Siuri Beach it’s dark and we’re beyond exhausted. After checking into a hotel, we take a few sips of warm whiskey from the bottle and murder a packet of chips. Within moments we’re asleep.
In the morning we go for a swim in the lake. The water is crystal clear and refreshing. After breakfast I call the shipping office
Manado and enquire about shipping our bikes back home. The guy on the other end tells me there are no ships to Bali this month. He recommends we sail to Surabaya instead, a port city on the main Indonesian island of Java that’s 400km from my front door.
But the ship is filling up fast and before he can book us a couple of spots, we need to obtain a travel permit from the police, who are generally not easy to deal with in Indonesia. “Things will go easier if you slip them some cash,” he advises.
As luck would have it, our hotelier Ivan tells us his cousin works at a police station an hour down the road and offers to take us there. And as it happens to be Thanksgiving, he also invites us to stop at a mate’s house for a feast.
I imagine a big fat turkey, maybe a pig on a spit, but instead our hosts have cooked up dog satay, bat kebabs and a chicken curry that’s mostly feet, beaks and bones – every ingredient for Covid bar
Left: Some gnarly trails in Toraja.
Below: Staring into the distance in the vast mountain ranges of Central Sulawesi.
Right: A local on a customised scooter in Central Sulawesi.
Far right: The ferry crew offload Ian’s KTM Adventure 250 at the Togean Islands.
pangolin. We accept the chicken and carefully pick through the bones. When we arrive at the police station, we hit a new snag. The power is out and Ivan’s mate can’t knock out travel permits on the computer. He suggests we travel to Ampana, a port city on the coast of the Gulf of Tomini, an equatorial bay that separates the provinces of Central Sulawesi and Northern Sulawesi. The detour will add 200km to our trip and set us back two days, but there’s no way around it. We also learn there’s a major project up the road – that the pass is only open from 11 AM to 1 PM and we must time our journey accordingly to pass. When we reach the roadblock the following day there’s a kilometres-long line of vehicles waiting to pass. We channel our way to the front of the queue where we get talking to a group of bikers on hotted-up scooters with repositioned engines, 3-litre petrol under their seats, car horns, disco lights and aftermarket pipes that make a hell of a noise. Boys and their toys: it’s the same thing all over the world.
After passing the roadblock we hit a highland plain with long empty stretches of road and fewer potholes than usual where we are able to reach speeds of up to 80km per hour.
But buyer beware.
As Nazario rides out front, a moron in a pick-up merges from a side road without looking back, as is normal in Indonesia, nearly taking him out. When I catch up with Nazario a few moments later, his face has turned white. We progress more slowly from that point on, arriving safely at the police station in Ampana at dusk.
The copper on duty is Balinese and comes from a village not from my home, and in no time we’re like old friends. Fifteen minutes later our travel permits are in our hands, and when I offer the copper a tenner for his trouble, he tells me to put it away. I snap photos of the passes and send them to the shipping agent, who confirms our passage to Java.
The next day we take a good look at the map and see that with the detour to Ampana, we still have 1,250km to go. We also see a group of islands called the Togeans in the Gulf of Tomini and learn there’s a ferry that can take us there along with our bikes – along with a second ferry that connects the Togeans to the city of Gorontalo in North Sulawesi. The shortcut will slash our remaining riding time in half and leave us a couple of days to chill out on the Togeans, said to have some of the best diving on the planet.
As luck would have it, there’s a ferry leaving for the Togean Islands the very next day. But when we arrive at the port,
we see it’s not a vehicle ferry as we’d imagine but a regular passenger boat. A bunch of dock workers are wheeling scooters onto its deck along a narrow wooden plank, and after handing them a fiver, they do the same with the little Kwaka. But my KTM is bigger and heavier than anything they’ve dealt with before, and requires 10 men to get it onboard. I
clench my teeth as they swear and yell at one another while wheeling it onto the boat.
The four-hour cruise is serene, and we are intercepted at the halfway mark by a pod of dolphins that swim along the bow and perform aerial flips in our wake. After arriving at Wakai, a small town on the main island of Batudaka, we store u
our bikes with a shopkeeper and charter a small motorboat to take us to a resort on Kadidiri, one of 50-odd smaller islands in the Togeans. There we spend two days dozing on hammocks, paddling around in kayaks and diving over coral reefs more colourful and vibrant than exploding supernovas and home to millions of tropical fish.
After returning to Wakai, we catch a ride on a large vehicle ferry to the city of Gorantalo in North Sulawesi. There are hundreds of people aboard and all the bunk have been pre-booked. We spend the night on the deck, sharing drinks and snacks with locals and snatching a few hours of sleep on the hot metal floor.
Gorantalo is unlike any other city I have seen in Indonesia before: clean as a whistle with wide Parisian boulevards and beautifully restored Georgian mansions, relics, no doubt, from the Dutch colonial period. We spend a day relaxing in the city, eating pasta and ice cream at a café called Angelato, and stay in a 5-star hotel called the Grand Q that costs only $50 a night.
Gorantalo is also famous in Sulawesi for whale sharks that are drawn to the protected bays east of the city early in the morning to scoop up plankton and crabs that escape from fishing nets. Whale sharks are literally the biggest fish in the
sea and can grow up to 19m in length. The one we swim with is only 4 meters from nose to tail but still impressive as all hell. It doesn’t have any teeth but could break every bone in our bodies with a simple swoosh of its tail. Yet whale sharks are gentle giants, and being in the water with one is an awesome experience.
At noon we head east along a coastal road that ebbs and flows along long empty beaches lined with palm trees, hidden coves and rocky headlands surrounded by exposed reefs. At times it swings inland, zigzagging through pristine rainforests where waterfalls kiss the side of the road.
Things continue in the same way for another three days: mountains, beaches, jungle, villages, fresh seafood that cost peanuts, near empty roads, rustic little guesthouses and friendly people wherever we go. We take breaks at the top of mountain passes to stare at the view, sometimes speechless and always grateful for the rare opportunity to see
Left: Cruising past waterlogged rice paddy fields around Lake Post.
Below left: A group selfie of Ian and a 4m long whale shark.
Below: Nearly there! Ian and Nazario strike a pose on a bridge in North Sulawesi.
this ridiculously beautiful yet almost untravelled part of the world. We also get go white-water rafting for a day after being invited to join a bunch of high-school kids we meet outside a convenience store. In the West, the site of a couple of bikers in their fifties striking up a conversation with a bunch of teenagers in a car park would probably attract the attention of the cops or concerned citizens. But in Indonesia people still assume the best of strangers. It’s just one of many reasons I love this country and refuse to go home.
It’s with great satisfaction and some sadness that we park our bikes at Bitang Port on the outskirts of the city of Manado where dock workers pack our bikes in wooden crates for shipping. We still have four days in at sea and two more days on the road ahead of us to get home , but it’s the end of the road as far as Sulawesi goes.
This year marks my 20th anniversary as an adventure rider, during which I’ve done close to 100 trips. I don’t remember the specifics of them all, but when asked to name the best of the best I usually mention Mustang Province in Nepal, Chile’s Patagonia and Andalucia in the south of Spain. But the next time I’m asked the same question, I will say Sulawesi tops them all.
It is an adventure rider’s greatest dream.
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Aweek of being stuck at home with a bad case of the flu had developed into a nasty cabin fever that a ride in deep sand would fix nicely. Unfortunately, deep sand wasn’t ticking any boxes for others, so it was only Troy who was keen.
The weather forecast had changed from sunshine to a full day of rain, but there was still a 5% chance of fine weather so no need to cancel. I’m an optimist.
I was therefore excited to find the day overcast but dry, which lasted almost two kilometres before it started bucketing down.
I found Troy huddled inside the servo where we had agreed to meet and, despite everything, we were still keen. The rain on the
radar was localised so we dived headfirst into the mire before we came to our senses.
The next hour was miserable, the rain got heavier and the water seeped past the Gortex, so we were both wet before we cleared the downpour. Despite being cold and wet, the coarse welldrained trails were superb as we carved through the bush to sunshine and blue sky by the time we cleared Collombatti.
A sneaky route through to Telegraph Point had seen little use and was covered in leaf litter and shrunk to an overgrown twin-track that the DR’s lapped up. As I was patting myself on the back for
such glorious trails and river crossings, a washed-out bridge ground the ride to a halt. Enduro bikes had been dropping down a steep bank and there were a few options to climb back out but none looked inviting so I sent Troy first and then seeing how difficult his choice was, used another, and after some puffing and panting, we were on the other side safe.
“ I was therefore excited to find the day overcast but dry, which lasted almost two kilometres before it started bucketing down. ”
The overgrown trails continued until we got closer to civilization before turning back into flowing dirt, popping out a few kilometres from Port.
We had been hoping for a counter lunch and a chance to dry off in the sun, but menacing clouds were forming and Troy had no sand experience, so we hopped on the first ferry across the Hastings and headed for home.
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The sand which was substituted for lunch was chewed out and messy, and after a few kilometres of watching Troy struggle, the guilt was getting too much so we abandoned the Point Plummer Road and enjoyed a blissful blast down the beach at low tide, bypassing the worst sections as there was plenty more to come.
An uneventful run into Crescent Heads for a splash of fuel and a chocolate bar revitalised our spirts so before Troy could get his bearings, we jumped into a demanding track nestled
in behind the dunes.
A twin track with lots of undulations with deep loose sand was an absolute blast, and heavy use of the throttle in 2nd and third was just so much fun. Watching Troy struggle paddling in first, saw guilt take some of my enjoyment away and probably most of Troy’s fun as well.
As we stopped to let the colour drain from Troy’s face, I tried to encourage him to ignore the front wheel constantly trying to tuck in the loose white sand and use more throttle. The track deteriorated in the middle section and I began to struggle, but Troy soldered on with no complaints
although he did mention he didn’t really like this sand.
Eventually we hit firm ground and a short tar section to get back west of the highway was full of deep puddles from a recent downpour. As the sky was black and menacing, the camera was bagged and stored.
The bush was soaked red clay and super slippery as we slivered our way back towards home before the sky opened back up in a torrential downpour that lasted all the way to our front doors.
Hopefully Troy doesn’t find someone nice and sane to ride with and, if he does, I am sure he will miss the adventure. Maybe.
Vince Cicciari immigrated to Melbourne Australia in 1962 at the age of 10 with his family. After leaving school he decided to travel and after living in London for a few years chose to return to Australia to be closer to the family he was missing. It looked like a good idea to fly to Perth for a look around before returning to Melbourne. This was a decision that would have more impact on his life that he could ever imagine. Only days after landing in Perth, Vince met a young Novocastrian lass visiting the city and was swept off his feet. Today, Carmel and Vince are retired and loving family and life.
While in Perth Vince scored a job in the mines at Mount Newman 1200 kms north. This is when the Honda CB175 came into his life. Carmels girlfriend had one for sale and Vince needed transport. $800, instructions on where the clutch brake and gearshift were, and the 1972 Honda wobbled and weaved its way on Hwy 95 towards the Pilgara. Having never ridden a motorcycle, and making the 1200kms in one piece, Vince thought it would be a good idea to get a licence. After a figure of 8 in the local police yard with the local constable saying, “That was pretty shithouse”, the paper work was filled out and all was legal.
1973, and Vince had finished up in Mt. Newman and was on his way to Melbourne to meet up with his family and Carmel. The Nullarbor was unsealed in those days, and being May, he had to stop often to tighten his load and light a fire to warm up. He even hit an emu which the little Honda took in its stride. After Melbourne the bike was parked in Dad’s garage while the other romance continued. 1984 and Vince saved the CB from the roadside tip as dad had had enough of it being in the shed and in the road. Once again registered it was used as a run around in their new town of Cabargo
NSW where Vince and Carmel had settled. Not long after Vince had the fright of his life while riding home from the local hospital where his daughter Malina had just been born, a blow out and a huge tank slapper was enough and the Honda was parked once again.
As the years passed, David was born, family grew and addresses changed while the bike followed always under a sheet in the corner of each garage. Then while in Sawtell NSW covid hit. This gave Vince the chance to reunite with the dream of one day riding the Nullarbor again.
In early February 2023 Vince had the CB175 purring again after rebuilding the carbs, fitting chain, sockets and new tyres . Then came the accessories, a mobile phone mount and bicycle computer graced the handlebars while a USB cable hung from under the seat. Some occy straps and a Moto Dry pack on the back with a long-range fuel tank which consisted of a 2 ltr drum strapped to the taillight bracket.
Then the riding outfit was sorted, a new full-face helmet was needed as a screen was unavailable for his original 1970’s Bell, a nice leather coat was found on Gumtree, some automotive gloves, comfortable shoes, wet weather plastics and all was set.
On the 13th of February, a loaded Vince dipped his toes in the Pacific Ocean at Sawtell N.S.W headland, said goodbye to Carmel, and wobbled and weaved his way out of town, destination Perth.
Settling into the twisties in the first 100kms up Waterfall Way all felt good until at Ebor the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped. The plastics came off as the weather had cleared by Armidale and that was the last rain Vince would see for the rest of the trip. Day 1 over (564km done) at Gilgandra. After leaving town the next morning, the Honda had a cough and spluttered to a halt. Some wire wriggling, enough to get going and find a shady tree to park under, and out came the tools. A faulty wire to the condenser was found and repaired. The next few days blurred as Vince and the little Honda blazed across the landscape in over 40 dg heat. The only thing
to slow him were the onlookers when stopping for fuel and food, then drama at Port Augusta stopped again, but it was Vince who had succumbed to dehydration and needed a rest.
Ceduna, Norseman, Merriden came and went as the long-range tank was used between stops. Scarborough and nine days later Vince waded in the Indian ocean. Being very proud of his achievement of planning his trip, and making it to Scarborough, the realisation of getting back home had not really been thought of. After investigating road shipping the bike home, which required a crate and insurance etc, and then there was getting to an airport and booking the flights back home, nah! Vince decided to ride back home. Out came the tools again, and the CB175 was being freshened up, valve clearances checked, oil change, new rear tyre, upgrade to a 5-litre fuel container.
Headed back east on the Nullarbor, the memories from 50 years back of the cold and gravel on this very bike came flooding back and it was a welcome stop at the Nullarbor Road House.
The original has been bypassed but Vince was able to ride out to the old site, get a few snaps, and reminisce. Refuelling at Ceduna, a fellow enthusiast with an old Kawasaki in the back of his ute spotted the 175 and asked Vince where he was going, “Sawtell NSW “. Where have you been? “Perth”
After a pause to take this in, old mate slapped Vince on the back and called him a F ing legend.
With a spring in his step Vince kicked
the little Honda over and roared off down the road. For the next 5 days, 500 to 600kms per day were covered, Kimba to Broken Hill, Cobar and Gilgandra, with a few nights spent under the stars in the K mart tent and sleeping bag living the dream.
Home to a nice home cooked meal after 17 days and 8370kms, with a cruising speed of 80 to 90kph, fuel range from the standard tank of 200kms, no heated grips, no screen, no airhawk or similar, no long range tank other than a plastic container, no special tyres, no backup other than Carmel checking his progress, no ear plugs bluetooth etc, just the enthusiasm of a 21 year old in a 71 year old body.
Each time I throw a leg over my well kitted adventure bike on a trip, I can only think how it will shrink in comparison to what Vince has achieved.
You’re a real F ing Legend Vince.
Name: Jeremy Holmen (USA)
@flatlandmoto
Bikes: Current- 2002 BMW R1150GS, 2006 R1200RT
Previous: 2011 KTM 990 Adventure, 2015 BMW R1200GSA, 2018 BMW R1200GSA, 1977 BMW R100/7, 1979 BMW R65
Best ride ever and why:
Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (IDBDR) - The IDBDR was my best ride so far because of the incredible scenery and the feeling of truly being in the backcountry. . .far from civilization. It was the best get-away one could hope for. Although, I think I still have dust in places it shouldn’t be!
How would you define “adventure riding”:
To me, adventure riding is the preparation before the ride and enjoying the anticipation; taking everything I need such as food, shelter, repair, and sustenance. Then embarking on a journey to discover areas I’ve never seen before while being exposed to the wind,
weather and temperatures during travel and camp. It feeds the soul in a way that can’t be matched.
Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding: Last year in the Big Horn mountains a large bull moose walked right into our camp and grazed. He literally didn’t care about our campfire or conversation. At dark he bedded down near our tents. What a fun memory!!
The most interesting person you have met on a ride:
Met a fellow ADV rider in the backcountry of Colorado after COVID lockdowns. He was in the process of delivering his riding buddy’s ashes to a location near where
we met. Our conversation gave me a lot to think about when it came to life, friendship, service to others, and kindness.
My favourite piece of gear: I have a pair of Aerostich Darien pants that have been with me on every adventure trip. I bought them used. They have tens of thousands of miles and years of use but still are waterproof and always seem to fit my needs. Top quality kit! If these ever wear out, I’ll get another.
Hatchet or Saw:
Saw! Although I’ve never used it!
Your most embarrassing Adventure moment: Tipping over in a crowded McDonald’s when I forgot to put my kickstand down.
What have I learned about myself through ADV riding: Momentary discomfort and struggle make the best memories while ADV riding. I’m always amazed at the difficulties that can be overcome with teamwork and determination. As long as no one gets hurt, it makes for great fun!
What is the top of your bucket list: Someday I want to spend a month riding to, around, and back from Alaska. I want to dip my toes in the Arctic Ocean.
Words & images: Bob Wozga
Often a spoken story of a motorcycle ride does not give an accurate description of what was seen or experienced. If told by a mediocre storyteller, the ride becomes a mediocre experience, and you are glad you missed that ride. Other times exaggerated stories become inflated to the point of being unbelievable, and again you are glad to have missed the ride. One of the best ways to remember and document a motorcycle ride is through the lens of a camera. Through the lens,
people can see not only what you saw but what the rest of the riders have experienced. I’m not one for taking selfies so spend most of my time documenting everyone else and showcasing what is around me.
Cameras have come a long way over the years, especially in the last ten years. Gone are the days of having to carry the bulk of an SLR or two with multiple lenses, multiple roles of film, both colour and black and white, then waiting to return home to have them developed or
processing yourself. Gone are the days of carrying a video camera with their paraphernalia to take moving pictures of the ride. I still carry an Olympus OMD 5ii for its size, weight, and functionality. Technology has evolved to the point where the mobile phone can take very impressive photos and videos. Not only are the camera functions good but editing can be done on the device and be sent to social media or stored to be printed. Bear in mind, if you want the stills to be printed and enlarged, ensure the stills are over
3Meg in file size. (Keep a cheap and nasty camera with you, in case you come across a UFO/ UAP, yowie, black panther, Min Min lights or any other anomaly because no one will believe you if you have a clear picture).
The use of drones is another piece of equipment that has evolved, become user friendly and an ideal device to carry on an adventure ride. There are plenty of places I
have rode through and thought “Wouldn’t it be brilliant to get an aerial view of this valley, lake or dirt road.” Without the expense of hiring an aircraft to photograph a canyon while riders navigate the track or more so, being on demand when you need it, drones are a godsend.
There are numerous drones on the market with varying prices and capabilities. They also come under drone laws and
need to be adhered to. The planned introduction of registering recreational drones weighing over 250g to be introduced on 1st July 2023 has been postponed. All drones used for commercial use are still required to be registered. For example, my DJI Mini 2 does not require registration if I’m flying it recreationally. If I’m using it for commercial purposes such as using it for Real Estate photography, then yes, I do need to register it with CASA.
If you need to register your Drone, you must:
A. Be over 16 years old.
B. Have proof of identity.
C. Have a myCASA account.
D. Have an aviation reference number (ARN)
E. Know the make, model, serial number, weight and type of drone.
F. Download and print your certificate of registration from CASA.
Basic rules – common sense of flying.
A. An altitude limit of 120m above the ground.
B. Maintain a minimum of 30m from people.
C. Only fly one drone at a time.
D. Always maintain a visual line of sight on your Drone.
E. Don’t fly over populated areas such as parks and beaches.
F. Kep a minimum of 5.5km from airfields.
G. Be careful of photographing people or property without their consent.
H. Don’t fly over hazardous areas such as fires, accident scenes.
I. Only fly during daylight hours. All information regarding Drones can be found on CASA’s websites: www.casa.gov.au/ knowyourdrone/drone-rules
There are numerous makes and models of Drones available in Australia ranging in price from less than $500 to $7000 catering for beginners to professionals. I use a DJI Mini 2 which is more than adequate for my uses. It is light, compact, easy to fly, does not require registration due to its weight, being less than 250g and does not take up much space in my kit when travelling. The best drones for 2023 have been listed as DJI Mini 3 Pro in the compact class, DJI Air2S for best all-rounder and DJI Mavic3 Pro as best premium and can be purchased at various retail outlets.
The Drones do take a little time in the initial set up, however once that is done, it is reasonably quick to take out of the
panniers and take off to begin filming.
Take the time to train yourself in flying the drone in a safe environment to gain the skills and learn to maneuver the drone and manipulate the controls. Fly forward and back, side to side, practice climbs and descents and circular movements around an object to get a smooth motion. Also, practice moving the gimble to prevent jiggered movements when filming. Differing heights give different perspectives of what you are filming, enhancing shadows or showing different speeds of moving objects. Play around with differing heights to see what gives the best result you are looking for. Sometimes, being low to the ground gives a better result than being far too high where you are just a dot on the landscape.
Some Drones have the “follow me” option that allows the drone to follow the person carrying the controller that can
enhance the footage of you riding down a track or back road. I don’t have the “follow me” function, so when on my own, I’ll set the Drone to a nominated height and film myself riding underneath it that still gives reasonable results.
Take note of differing weather and lighting conditions. Obviously, don’t fly in rain or very windy areas. The wet screen on your phone will tell you if it’s too wet to fly and the Drone will warn you if it’s too windy. An oncoming storm looks far better at a higher altitude than low to the ground, as do long shadows in late afternoon when the gimble is pointing vertically down. Filming low can give a better perspective of size. It also enhances reflections on water if you are filming beside a lake or river. Before filming, take a few still shots from differing heights and different angles to see what gives the best result and use that as guide before flying over in video mode. Remember that it is still a camera so don’t forget to use the Rule of Thirds when taking stills and videos. This is a guideline that an image is evenly divided into thirds by using two horizontal and two vertical lives. By placing elements of interest in intersecting lines, it creates a more effective photograph.
It is worth taking the time to familiarize the functions and settings of the Drone before setting out, so time isn’t wasted
Above: Sunset.
Left: Towrang Stockade.
Top right: Wallabies in the back paddock.
looking to adjust the camera’s shutter speed and ISO settings catering for differing light conditions for both stills and video. The DJI Mini 2 has a set aperture of f2.8 which basically means the camera’s iris is set to its widest setting letting in the maximum amount of light. You can use auto or PRO mode. PRO mode gives you the advantage of adjusting the ISO setting and shutter speed to get the desired balance in brightness and contrast, also choose JPEG + RAW as the file format. The RAW is a larger file and has more information when editing giving more scope for adjustments.
Film at 4K at 60 frames per second for greater resolution, however shooting at
1080p is adequate for most applications. Depending on your needs or preference, change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. As a standard, the 4:3 aspect ratio is better for photos as it has more space vertically while 16:9 best for video as it has more space horizontally.
Once you have saved your stills and video, they can be edited using the editing software that comes with the drone and edited on your phone while you are in pub having a drink at the end of the day or use any of the multitude of Drone editing software that can be downloaded to your PC or MAC. The editing does take time to complete but the result is worth it.
Is it worth having a Drone in your kit when heading out on long rides? Depending on where you are going, if you want to show a different perspective of where you have been and where you have come out of? Then yeah, it’s not a bad piece of equipment to bring along. It won’t get used on every ride, but you might wish you had it when you ride into the sunset with a trail of dust rising behind you.
To see Bob’s video, use this QR code.
Words and Photos: Medha Rai
In 2020 we wanted to start a road trip with one motorbike from Germany to India. My then boyfriend and now husband bought a BMW F800 GS Adventure and I was going to ride pillion. Thankfully, our trip was canceled due to COVID 19 lockdowns, and that gave me the chance to learn riding myself, get my license, and buy my own bike. Before starting our tour, I didn’t have much riding experience.
After a short summer biking vacation of 2 weeks in 2021, which in itself was the greatest learning curve, we transported the bikes on a train from Hamburg to Innsbruck Austria and voila! I was suddenly riding in the Alps – the highest mountains in Europe. Riding through the steepest serpentine curves was a mighty challenge and the vacation didn’t really have quite a relaxing effect from all the stress (positive stress nonetheless) of riding in the mountains.
A few more day trips once back to the plains of Hamburg and then we decided to realise our dream which was put on hold in 2020. We quit our jobs, our apartment and sold our furniture and set up our home on two wheels! We rode from one home in Germany to another in India.
Throughout this journey, I personally came across many surprises (mostly positive) that were simultaneously heart
breaking. In remote areas of Turkey, women and girls could sometimes hardly believe their eyes when I took off my helmet. Seeing another woman ride a big bike alongside a man was out of their realms of reality.
In conservative Iran, many men and
Left: Military escort at the Pakistani border.
Above: Crossing into India from Pakistan which is not possible for any Indian passport holder (I am honored because despite Indian heritage, I hold German citizenship which enabled me to enter Pakistan and then into India).
Below: With a lady in Iran who also dreamed of riding a motorcycle when she was younger.
women were impressed and surprised to see me ride. They would offer us sweets and fruits and we got countless thumbs-ups on the way from moving traffic. In Turkey, I remember being the center of attraction for half the village and many girls and women came over to take pictures of me and my bike which I gladly accepted! After arriving in India, there were many interested people who wanted to know all about the journey and very often the questions started with, ‘Being a woman how could you drive so far?’ ‘It must have been challenging for you, riding this big bike’, ‘Biking is for men‘. I find it saddening that even in this age and day people considering motorbiking as a men’s activity when in fact the skill could be learnt by anyone as all it needs is perseverance which is gender unspecific. I take pride in being a part of the revolution where more and more women are taking interest in the sport and even circumnavigating the world on their bikes! I am grateful for the privilege of traveling and as we knew from the start, we were not done traveling in India, but we continued the journey of our lifetime to Nepal and shipped the bikes over to Australia making it the 3rd continent and the 22nd country of our tour. Hopefully, I will be able ride through more countries before I return home to Europe.
The long service leave trip of a lifetime – Bucket list stuff, tick. USA- Canada – 3 months
It was a trip that I’d been planning for 9.5 years as a long service leave project and reward for my 10 years of work. A solo adventure like no other. 3 months on my bike crossing the USA and into parts of Canada. My big old highly customised Indian Chief Vintage that has become a bit of a profile in the bike riding community and, as some would say, a tad over cooked.
It was one of those bucket list things I was determined to do. Then about 8 years into the planning, along comes a bloke with the same aspirations and an Indian Rider. Well one thing led to another, and we became a team who jointly planned a trip of a lifetime.
He rides an Indian Challenger JD special edition. With only 107 of these made in the world, between the two of us we cut a presence through every town we went to. While he is more modern, streamlined and has the being of a performance bike and rider, I chugged along like an old junkyard comfy lounge chair. It’s old school and new school, Oscar and Felix. A precision Scandinavian architect with me like a Racoon on meth. It worked and worked well and 3 months went by so quickly.
The Americans and Canadians love
Australians, so they were fascinated by the fact we shipped the bikes over, intrigued to hear how we could get 3 months off work. They tried to work out how this all came about so, I’ll tell you what I told them.
When you are on a 3-month riding holiday, shipping the bike was the most economical way. Hiring would have cost well over $20K (AUS). Shipping return for each bike came to approx. $11K each. On way over to Seattle from Sydney we shared a 20ft Shipping container with a mate who had his Harley and a trailer. So, the costs were divided by 4. There was a bit of paperwork to navigate but Steve from Elite Products has done this many
times before and he took charge of all negotiations: and let me tell you there is plenty of that going on. We even had to remind U.S officials about their own rules. Under 90 days in USA ,you don’t need to register a vehicle for road use. So, with insurances in hand, paperwork done, freight companies sorted, the bikes were on the water for 5 weeks. Landing in Seattle on time, we arrived a few days later and were met with the week of the 4th July - a few port strikes and union panic day!! Plus U.S customs who decided that the contents needed more checking (we were listed as personal contents). The holdup amounted to a few days at a huge cost of an extra $4K in storage fees etc. We were expecting extra fees on the
US end but probably went over by a few hundred. We still managed to get away as planned but we just missed out on some local rides we may have done in the area.
The return home was managed by a Melbourne based company who look after everything, and while it cost a fraction more, there was no stress or concern. They will even deal with Australian Customs who are renowned for being a LOT fussier. At time of writing, the bikes are yet to leave LA and are due first week of November.
The other option of course is to buy a bike over there. ride it and then sell it on return or store it with any mates you might have. This wasn’t an option for us, mainly because 1) we wanted to ride our
Left: Monument Valley.
Below left: Idaho.
Right: Mt Rushmore needles.
own bikes and 2) my bike was booked to do some shows etc. She was the star of the show!! Even if I do say so myself!
We planned and captured all the signature rides e.g., Going to the Sun Road, Tail of Dragon, Million Dollar Hwy, Pikes Peak, and many more. We did as many National Parks as we could. We changed plans about 3 weeks in, to avoid the heat wave going through Monument Valley area so we headed north into Idaho to the Sawtooth Ranges. Not on our original plans but so glad we did, it was amazing. This diversion changed a few things and also meant we had a lot more to fit in the last month as we made our way back to the west coast in September.
Part of our plans was to attend the Sturgis Rally. Now, getting into The Black Hills 5 days before the event was good luck for us. We rode all the signature rides before the crowds. Needles HWY, Mt Rushmore, Wild Life Loop, Devils Tower, Big Norn National Park, Spearfish Canyon! It’s an amazing place. As far as Sturgis goes, I had the bike entered into 3 competitions. I came away with a gold medal in each one, with The People’s Choice award. To me this is the best award to receive as it is truly measurable by the people and community, and for me the most important part. Would I do Sturgis again?? Well, not for so long. My advice would be to get into South Dakota a week BEFORE the rally starts, do all the rides, and check the area out, it’s amazing. Do maybe 2 days at Sturgis and move on. What you see on one day is all that you see for the entire 2-week Rally, and there are things you can’t unsee too!!
After Sturgis, we started to make our way to the East coast and back into Canada. (We had been into Calgary for the Calgary Stampede at the beginning of the adventure)…. There are some very long stretches of nothing and while in most cases we avoided the interstate. sometimes you just had to put your head down and be bored shitless for 3 hrs to make up the miles.
We crossed the country into Ontario then made our way south down the East side capturing Blue Ridge Parkway, Smokey Mountains and eventually into Nashville. From there we decided to
squeeze in the Ozarks and head northwest into Kansas, and then Oklahoma into Colorado. This is where we now cram in the places we had to leave due to the heatwave. We packed a lot in a short time. One day we rode from Dodge City to Colorado Springs, about 7 hours and checked into a hotel, jumped back on bikes and went to the entrance of Pikes Peak with 15 minutes to spare before the park closed. This added a very exciting and slightly challenging 3 hours to an already long days ride.
With so much in between, we crossed back across the country and did The Million Dollar Hwy, into Utah for Monument Valley, and down into Arizona for the Grand Canyon. Some terrific places and rides around there. Over to Vegas where I had a Barbering Biker appearance at a Bike night.
After this we made our way north west into Nevada to capture some Old Ghost towns, Area 51, Death Valley, then Lake Tahoe.. across the most amazing mountain Ranges over towards the Californian Coast, part of the Big Sur (it was close halfway due to landslides) and eventually found our way to San Diego for a Barbering Biker appearance at Indian Motorcycles of San Diago.
Of course, there is so much I haven’t mentioned. I did document/film the entire trip of which there is 70 episodes. Apart from 3 that are public, the rest will be made public in 2024. They were sent as private videos to those who supported me with a tank of fuel. With the US dollar being so low, the trip budget blew out and I figured if I could raise a little and also give back, it would be a good deal and a win-win for everyone.
You can see the 3 episodes that are public on my YouTube Channel @barberingbiker…They are public as I was sponsored by companies, and it was part of the deal that they go public immediately. The final episode 70 does the entire wrap up. So please check that out, but here are some stats from the trip. u
7 2 new tyres.
7 New battery.
7 Brake pads (front and rear).
7 One full service halfway through trip.
7 Got a Lloyds Dyno tune done in Sturgis.
7 Rode 14,000 miles - $22,000K’s (that’s nearly twice around Australia).
7 25 States and British Columbia and Ontario in Canada.
7 Dropped the bike twice on driveways! (lost my footing on a slope and couldn’t hold her).
7 Spent $2,000 (AUS) on fuel.
7 Spent $20,000 (AUS) on accommodation shared 50/50 so $10k each.
7 Spent $7,000 (AUS) on food and drink.
7 Spent $11,000 (AUS) each on shipping of bikes return inc insurance etc.
Left: Sawtooth ranges.
Below left: Million dollar highway.
Below: Award winner, peoples choice.
Right right: Fully packed.
7 So, a total round up of $30K (AUS) to $35K if you are a shopper and drink cocktails etc.
Most memorable bit? We rode 3 hours to avoid road closures in Colorado. And we still ended up at them. Diverted onto 8 miles of chalky, large rock gravel road up a mountain with switch backs. This is not the type of riding I do nor do these bikes. It was way off road and very difficult, especially the switch back turns on a steep incline. I cried! but managed to do it. Funny how we remember the bad bits!! OH! not to forget losing my back brakes on the way down from Pikes Peak!
In all honesty there are so many amazing roads and rides there, and such cute towns…. almost like movie sets. The people are amazing, generous, and helpful. We need to go back and do the southern states we missed! I’ll be watching all my episodes to remind myself of where we have been. Some places and rides were unplanned and simply stunning.
Would I do it again: YES. Did I want more time: YES. Did we want to kill each other being together 24/7 NO. Even though the main thing that worried me about the trip was having to share a bathroom!! (It’s a girl thing).
It all went so well; bikes didn’t miss a beat. We had terrific weather the whole time, only having rain on 3 days for about 2 hours. Hardly worth putting on rain gear.
What would we do differently next time? We would not hang around Sturgis for so long, and make our way to capture even more places. That’s really the only thing we would change. Oh! and adding another month!! Now that would have been awesome, and we would have then just about done all states and added a few days in Hawaii at the end to recharge. I now need a holiday!
I could probably write a whole book on the adventure, so will leave it here for now. If you want to know more about where we have been as mentioned Episode 70 - the Wrap up - is public on my YouTube channel and the entire trip (of all other episodes) will go public in 2024 as mentioned. Hit the reminder bell to get notifications of them being released. It’s FREE to subscribe.
Where to next: Well, I want to do a series of Australian towns starting at A and finishing at Z. The people, the points of interest, maybe a makeover, and of course the roads to get there. That will all be public and free on my YouTube channel. As soon as my Bike gets home!!!
And as far as overseas goes, I’m considering hiring BMW’s in Europe for 2024. Stay tuned for that!
Barberingbiker.com.. plus all social platforms.
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Best bike ever:
There are so many expensive and cool bikes in the world. The distribution of information is easy and fast, so new bike news is available every day.
I know there are bikes out there that are better than the bike I am riding now. But between waiting for factory delivery, and the cost, I am confident that the bike I am riding now is the best bike for me.
How would you define ‘adventure riding’: During my stays in Australia, I rode a bike for about 40,000 kilometers.
Australia is a really good country to ride a bike with clean air, dry weather, and driving habits and traffic rules similar to those in most developed countries.
In South Korea, on the other hand, riding a bike on the road is an adventure in itself. The road is a jungle where predators lurk due to the phenomenon of honking frequently and boasting of not complying with traffic rules.
I witnessed a forest fire in Australia and passed the scene of the flood the following year. Also, in November 2019, I rode a bike to Cameron Corner and the Oodnadatta Track alone.
For me, the biggest adventure in my life is that I’ve been to the Australian Red Centre alone.
The temperature was 48 degrees during the Oodnadatta track, and the two hours and forty minutes from William Creek to Pinkhouse in particular was the hardest time for me. I think the dangerous moment passed safely thanks to my mother’s prayer.
I have had many varied experiences. I have witnessed the road in front of my house become a valley due to climate change. I also saw a beautiful forest become a fire pit in hell.
Living in the present is an adventure. Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike:
I’m the only one around me who rides an adventure bike among my schoolmates and colleagues. The first time I rode a bike was in 1987, and the people around me dissuaded people from riding then and they still do.
The same may be true in Australia, but in Korea, motorcycles are also known as
u
widow makers. In Korea, the use of motorcycles on motorways and highways is prohibited by law. This issue is also a political one; influenced by the low awareness of politicians rather than riders being a problem.
For them, riding a bike is both an object of envy and a fantasy. When people ask me about a bike, I talk about the downside first. I tell stories about scary things that happened while riding a bike and sometimes what I saw around me. I explain in relative detail what people should be careful of while riding a bike and the dangerous moments I have experienced. I recommend a small bike to start. If you adjust a small bike skillfully, it will guide you to ride a large bike more skillfully at the beginning.
Korea’s driver’s license system is problematic. Cars and motorcycles can go on the road right away if you get a license, regardless of the amount of exhaust [power]. In some cases, a novice driver bought a large motorcycle at a dealer shop and died when he hit a car parked due to inexperience in throttle operation on his way home. I think this point stems from Korea’s poor driver’s license system.
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride:
I am a civil engineer in a construction company. The initial task was to open roads through plains and mountainous areas. More than half of the construction sites were mountainous, and the road to and from the road site itself are also an extreme adventure. There were bulldozers, excavators, and dynamite blasting from time to time.
One day, a strange sound was heard between the engines of various
construction heavy equipment. Sometimes I heard the sound, so I was looking at the mountainous area, and I saw a motorcycle riding.
As soon as I saw the scene, I sensed that it was dangerous, but I was staring blankly because it was an unfamiliar scene. The same was true of the workers who were in the area.
The motorcycle that passed in front of me with a roar ran like a shot down a
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gravel road with a roadbed that led to the plain. After that, I stood and watched until a stream of dust, which seemed to be rising smoke, disappeared.
It was in 1987, and I remember it like a scene from a movie.
Your favourite piece of gear and why: The importance of equipment in motorcycles cannot be overemphasized. Style and safety can go together.
The equipment I wear when I ride a bike is a helmet, scarf, protected top and pants, boots and ear plugs.
Compared to on-road riders, it is common for off-road riders to invest a little more in lower body protection. Same here.
I only wore helmets, gloves, and hiking boots in the early days of off-road. On several mountain roads, foot pegs and calf bones collided and fractured. After that, I made sure to wear off-road boots in the form of long boots.
This outfit, which looks like the
Avengers from the eyes of the general public, protects me from danger and also looks cool. A few years ago, I left it to a dealer shop in Wollongong C.B.D. to repair it and walked around the city in this outfit. I entered the department store and got a lot of attention. Some of them shouted “Cowboy” at me.
I was ashamed of the view that I was different from others, but I was proud of myself like this. I think the beauty of offroad equipment lies in the boots.
Thermal top or thermal pants:
The weather in Korea is clearly divided into four seasons. In winter, it falls to minus 25 degrees Celsius, and in summer, the temperature on the road may exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
In winter, the ice sheet is formed depending on the place, and it snows a lot. I run a bike to charge my battery every week even in winter. In this case, I must wear warm innerwear.
Korean thermal underwear has good
Left:
Below: Elliot Lookout , Wyangala NSW
functionality and excellent thermal endurance and is of export quality.
In summer, humidity is high, so functional underwear that helps sweat discharge for adventure riders are worn as a must.
Your standout adventure ride moments: There will be numerous anecdotes for on-road riders, but how many dangerous things and anecdotes there will be for Adventure riders. Most riders, including myself, wish for safety every time they tour, but there is an expectation for dangerous outcomes.
There is a slight difference from the premise that it is not an adventure if it is not dangerous, but I will talk about my anecdote.
I found out through Google Maps and the Facebook Australian Adventure community that I had to go outback to get information about Australia’s Red Center, and to see the true face of Australia.
I decided to travel alone through Cameron Corner, Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks for the 15th, and headed to Outback with camping gear in a 2016 BMW 800Gs.
On the first day I slept in a caravan in Hay, and on the second day I made plans to stay at Broken Hill and headed from Ivanhoe to Menindee. It was the first time I ran off the pavement and on the sand in Australia.
What I hate the most is sand and mud, and there is no desert in Korea.
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You know the feeling... Crawl out of the tent trying to convince yourself that a night sleeping on the ground after a hard day of riding was going to rejuvenate those aching bones. Dream on sunshine!
But I know that all will be right in the world again once I’ve had that first coffee.... I need that coffee to be no fuss, no mess and no leftover rubbish to deal with. Now the coffee gods have finally heard me.
I’m a black coffee drinker... No sugar or milk, just pure coffee, so it has to be good. No... it has to be excellent!
When I received the Australian made Grounded Drops drop filter bags in the mail, I thought they’d be like the coffee bags I get from the supermarket... Nope, I was so wrong! This is quality stuff. The taste and aroma is next level. It’s the bold strong and full-bodied fresh coffee I need first thing in the morning. The coffee bags are in a compact zip lock bag perfect for motorcycle travel and stays fresh. The filter fits over every cup I tried easily and there’s no plastic rubbish , which satisfies my sense of responsibility to our much loved environment.
I’m a happy convert and look forward to sampling some of their other coffee styles now.
Mim Chook
When I thought, “This is what running on soft sand is like,” I thought the bike was out of my control. The speed at this time is 60-70 km/hr. Driving conditions that have never been experienced before.
The moment I wondered whether to use the brake or shift down, the sand floor came into view in front of my eyes. When I woke up, the left pannier case was smashed.
Fortunately, I didn’t hurt.
It went back to Ivanhoe. I camped in the caravan there, drank beer in the pub, and thought. I decided to send the broken pannier case and camping equipment by courier and start again.
If you give up now, the opportunity may not come again.
This is the first issue I had - on the second day of the 15-day trip to the outback.
The second break-down was when I went to Cameron’s Corner and had lunch in Broken Hill, and I lost my wallet in a restaurant.
The wallet contained a cash card, cash, driver’s license and ID card. I went into the hotel and asked the person in charge, but there was no wallet.
Twice I combed the way I travelled. I went back to the restaurant I stopped
by to have lunch thinking it was my last hope. The employee there looked for me and returned my wallet.
I put my wallet on the counter table of the restaurant and gave thanks. I gave high-quality soap to the employee who found me.
In the third incident, the temperature was 48 degrees Celsius when running on the Oodnatta track. The temperature in the morning after sleeping in the
airconditioned room was 44 degrees Celsius with the thermometer on the bike’s instrument panel. The smartphone was not working. It wouldn’t turn off and stopped on the main screen.
I have to talk to my mother in Korea every day on my smartphone, and say hello to my friend in Australia, let her know my current location on SNS, look at the map on Google Maps, and communicate with Google Translator,
but I couldn’t do anything. There was no way to fix it, neither in Coober Pedy nor in Port Augusta. I couldn’t even use Google Maps, and I just saw the milestones passing and came back safely from the Oodnadatta Pinkhouse to Kiaraville, Wollongong. What is top of your bucket list?
I traveled around South Korea in 1999 and traveled to a remote village under a huge mountain range called Baekdudaegan. I even serialized the story in a motor magazine for three years. I went to numerous courses where adventure competitions were held in South Korea 25 years ago. I have been to the Australian desert, and whenever I have a chance, I travel by bike through rural villages in Australia. I am currently 60 years old. I don’t know how many more years I’ll be experiencing the adventure rider life. I’ve also ridden a cafe racer or cruze bike, but it’s only for a short time, and my body and
mind always wants adventure.
I have a plan to travel around Australia (around the entire coast) and dream of crossing Eurasia, departing from Korea and traveling to Europe via Russia. Anything you would like to add?
I have a friend in Australia, so I have a bike in the house. Except for the COVID19 period, I stayed in Wollongong for 6 months last year alone and participated in
the Dubbo Rally, Walcha Motorcycle Rally. I am grateful to the Australian Rider for welcoming me there. I’m also always grateful to the riders I meet on weekends at Bald Hill, Kangaroo Valley and Robertson Pie Shop around Wollongong.
I’m currently in South Korea, but I always drive through countless fire and gravel roads in Australia in my heart.
Below: Manali some 6700ft above sea level, with its lush rainforest and tropical heat, changed significantly in the few days after our visit. It has become unrecognizable after torrential monsoonal rain with the Beas River losing its temper and destroying everything in its path. We missed the death and destruction in Himachal Pradesh by less than a week, having made it to safely to Ladakh. Having spent the night in a tent along a tributary of the Sutlej River, 150 kms from Manali in wet conditions, I was keen to get going. Putting on cold wet gear really sucks, but we had to go. We had approximately 170kms to cover today, doesn’t sound like much, but winding our way up the Sutlej River along Indian roads it’s a decent ride. The river provides life and a lot electricity to the area. It’s grey/brown colour is due to the snow melt and matches the colours from the mountains around it. All the way along the river there are hydro-electricity plants. There are also landslides, a lot of single lane riding, which was a bit exciting when a truck or bus came in the opposite direction. There was no other option than to go bush.
Right: Signs are prevalent at the checkpoints for the higher passes, warning about the effects of altitude, and signs and symptoms of altitude sickness.
Arriving in Delhi was like a hot wet towel slapped you over and over, especially after leaving behind the Victorian Alpine winter. It was hot and humid. It was loud and crowded. The roads were congested. This was the very exciting beginning to the trip of a lifetime! Seeing the typical Delhi sights took up a few days. This included a visit to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, a palace built for a princess, a day trip to Rishakesh and Hadiwar to cross off the spiritual component of the trip. Of course, hours on end were spent in Old Delhi learning about the people and the cultures. But this is not why I came to India. I came to India to do something so far out of my comfort zone, that I was bursting at the seams with excitement to get on the bus for the overnight trip to Manali.
I was here to Ride the Himalayas! In hindsight it was a really stupid idea as I had only been riding a dirt bike for less than 12 months, but it was equally the best idea I had ever had! I convinced a mate to come along for the 14 day ‘Adventure of a Lifetime!’
Social media is a wonderful tool for researching motorcycle related activities. There are so many motorbike groups, clubs and pages related to travel. It did not take too long to find a couple of companies who operate in India, and after careful consideration … no that’s a lie. I booked with the first place I saw! ‘Ride the Himalayas tour companies’ itinerary sounded great. It said it would get me up to Ladakh to ride the highest motorable pass in the world. So that was that - I was on my way to India!
I wasn’t at all surprised to learn I was the only female on the tour with 16 others. They were mostly Aussie fellas, the others being from Ireland, Denmark and Spain. I also wasn’t surprised that I was the one with the least experience. I have done a little bit of overseas travel, including one trip to Vietnam on a bike and to be honest I wasn’t scared. I had no ‘oh f@#k’ moments - not a single one. Though, that is not to say I didn’t eff a few things up!
The overnight bus trip to Manali on the first night was not very comfortable. How comfortable can you make a bus trip in
India anyway, it’s not as if the buses are Greyhound, right? Arriving in Manali we were welcomed with some traditional garments as gifts.
We soon learned who were the piss heads in the group. I stayed sensible for the entire journey. Alcohol is relatively cheap; however, I wasn’t there to drinkI was there to ride!
“ I was here to Ride the Himalayas! In hindsight it was a really stupid idea as I had only been riding a dirt bike for less than 12 months, but it was equally the best idea I had ever had! ”
Day one on the bikes started off fantastic People in the group were finding their place, getting used to their bikes and keen to get some elevation! Riding the 2.2kms through the Chandigrah tunnel in the dust and darkness, and passing trucks to survive, was an experience. Elated to be leaving Manali and heading to the first camp site, we were all buzzing with excitement until lunchtime when the heavens opened. Our first pass, Jalori pass (10,800ft), was not majestic, it was down-
right dangerous. It poured rain, so hard that at 30kms/hr with my visor open it felt like nails drilling into my cheeks. We were all fogged up - we had all been caught out in one of the first monsoonal rains of the season, which caused Manali to make the news in 2023.
We got stuck in a “real” Indian traffic jam; it was chaos in the centre square of Ani. The police were directing traffic, which was moving less than an inch at a time! Came close to taking off a mirror or two!! By this point I’d found my groove. I like to sit up front for the pace, it’s exhilarating. We had the opportunity to stop whenever we wanted to take photos. I made the mistake of stopping after I had passed a filthy live chicken truck, which smelt putrid. Unfortunately, I ended up passing it twice….<vomit>
The roads are notoriously shit, then they go from shit to really shit, but they are so much fun up on the pegs. We had an opportunity after lunch to have a bit of a squirt through the twisties up to Karchham Dam where we waited for the others to rejoin the group. With 40kms to go, we put on the wet weather gear as there was a chance of rain higher up, and after yesterday’s monsoon rains some of us were not taking a chance, but it turned out to be unnecessary and most of us melted!!
Arriving at out Swiss tent accommodation, it was time to try dry all our stuff out, and we were looking forward to a hot shower. Our shower was a bucket inside a bucket. Some had hot water, some had cold. The Himalayan sleeping arrangements are different.
Portable device with high grade alloy construction and piercing alarm make KNX-6 a markedly effective way to protect your bike. Simple pushdown locking system comes in five stylish finishes.
ALARMED CHAIN
10mm hexagon hardened steel chain with protectice sleeve.150cm in length. Suitable for the Kovix Ground Anchor.
ALARMED BRADED CABLE
Kovix Alarmed Braded Steel Cable 110cm. 24mm strong thick plastic coated steel cable.
Brake lever lock with Zinc alloy protected alarm module (with alarm light).
Twin means two per bed, and the blokey blokes are having to share ... at the end of the day, it’s no biggie, it’s just different.
The average start to the day was first light for me, which gave me heaps of time to take a walk and have a look around. Most mornings we gathered at nine o’clock for the briefing before hitting the road. Day three saw us riding around 150kms, through some of the most incredible country I have ever seen! We went back down to Karchham Dam the same way we came up the day before. Coming down the mountain from Rakcham we had traffic of a different kind ... donkeys and a shepherd with about 150 long-haired mountain goats. It was so cool to have them surround us as we rolled slowly through the flock. Upon reaching the Dam we turned east and had fun on some good roads up to Reckong Peo where we obtained a permit to travel further toward the Chinese border. Some of these roads were incredible. Roadworks dotted the way, with most labour done by hand with a chisel and hammer! Later we figured out the better roads were the ones used by the military, evidenced by
the army barracks we kept passing. After lunch, with another permit obtained, we went further north east towards China. Crossing the Sutlej River back and forth, following it up stream, we had a break near Akpa where I learned that we were getting closer to the Spiti Valley. I came to India to see this - I came to see how the people live so high in the mountains, and to admire the beauty of the rock peaks that are millions of years old. We passed through police checks, no big deal if you’re carrying your licence. We kept riding toward our home stay in Nako. These roads are every bikers’ wet dream, switching back on themselves as we climbed to an altitude of 13000ft surrounded by a landscape so arid, it felt like descriptions of the moon you get in story books!
Apparently, Nako produces the best apples in the world, and their terraced gardens supply the village. Unlike other countries I have been to, these people have found a way to grow food by generating their own topsoil in the arid high-altitude desert. We explored the town and saw the monastery, high atop
Left: Buddha Statute in Langza, one of the most famous images of the Spiti Valley. The ride up to here is incredible!
Right: Komic Village, 15027ft in the Spiti Valley, the highest village in the world connected by a motorable road.
the hill with its prayer wheel spinning madly in the wind. Getting up there definitely increased the heart rate!
While I am on the topic: take the bloody altitude tablets prophylactically; Diamox (Acetazolamide). So many people ask, ‘is it necessary?’ Well yes, it’s necessary. Those who didn’t take them became unwell, resulting in some having to ride in the car for some of the trip. There have been past occasions where people have been sent home. If altitude sickness is left untreated, it can result in Pulmonary Oedema, brain swelling and comas.
Leaving Nako on Day 4 we travelled 170kms along some unreal roads … and some very ordinary roads!! We headed to Gue to see Lama Sangha Tenzin, a Buddhist monk who was caught in an earthquake in the 1500s and was rediscovered in 1975. Poor bloke gets to spend the rest of his days in a glass box, with hundreds of people a day taking his photo.
Next stop was Tabo, and boy it was hot. Who knew the Himalayas would be so hot?! We went to Tabo Monastery which was built by Buddhist monks in the 900s AD. It’s the oldest Monastery known in India. We had a run around the prayer bells before heading into the comfort of the cool stone buildings for some lunch.
After lunch we headed for our camp-site along some very interesting and difficult roads, with fast flowing water. It was very difficult to gauge the depth. Some learned the hard way, others cruised through it, and I hung on for dear life determined not to stop in the ballast-sized rock we were riding through. I later learned that we had to track back that way in the morning, and I was hoping to choose my line differently and not get caught by traffic stopped in the middle of the road. Having said that, after months of riding back home in the Wombat State Forest in the mud for practice, I did it. I dropped my bike in the softest, muddiest wheel track after watching everyone else take it easy. I pulled up my pants, got up some speed, and in slow motion found myself looking up at the sky flat on my back! Uninjured,
and pleased that my first wasn’t too bad, I was surprised to find I had bent my handlebars so badly that they needed to be replaced!!
Winding our way towards Kaza, following the Spiti River, I was in awe of the size and geology of the rock formations. Truly incredible to see, especially the Monk houses high up in the cliff face which a few of us decided to hike to. By geezers it was a difficult hike through the shaley rock that slips under your feet. It was steep, treacherous, but so worth going up. We were told by a local farmer that the monks would spend up to three years in solitude up there. That seemed total madness to me, especially during the Himalayan winters! We were promised a surprise at the beginning of the trip and we got it tonight … pizza!! It was soooo good, and welcomed by all.
Day five came so fast and was the shortest in distance, only 70ish kms. Leaving our camp-site on the Spiti River, we headed back toward Kaza to refuel. We got some serious altitude after travelling through Kaza up to Lanza to see the Buddha on the mountain. After seeing Buddha we kept on going, twisting through the Tibet Plains to Komic, the highest motorable village in the world at 15,049 ft above sea level. Here we had lunch and checked our oxygen saturation and heart rate. Most were sitting on SpO2 of 80ish and HR 100. After lunch we headed down a rough gravel road to Hikkim, the highest post office in the world at 14,566ft above sea level!
The best part about this day was riding at the rear of the group, and come the dirt roads, I loved to overtake up on the pegs to get to the front. Everyone’s riding ability differs, but for me being on the gravel was so much fun!!
We arrived back in Kaza around 1400hrs to a nice hotel room, with two pillows on the bed, hot water in the shower… and actual shower, not a bucket … and had plenty of time to wander the town. For 6 months of the year most people who live here move to a lower elevation, as temperatures drop to -10°c to -30°c and the village is cut off. It was nice to have a few hours off the bike to hand-wash some clothes and clean the dust out of our teeth!
I can’t remember how many kms we did on day six and it doesn’t really matter how far we went, as it was one if the best days on the trip. We had a mix of gravel
and sealed roads, with water crossings as the snow melt caused streams to cross the roads. We left our suave accommodation and headed with clear skies, northwest to a village called Kee, to drop supplies to the old folk’s home.
We were welcomed inside for chai tea and the lady I was sitting next too, was deaf as a post, but so beautiful. At 94 years, she counted her beads and prayed. Leaving the old folk’s home, we headed to the Kee Monastery. Built in the 11th Century, it sits some 13,668ft above sea level. A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, it is still in use today. It was incredible to listen to a monk chant and beat his drum as he prayed. After Kee, we continued to follow the Spiti River to Losar for lunch, before the climb to Kunzum La Pass and Stupas. Here the weather changed, at high altitude (14,603ft) it became frigid, with glaciers within arm’s reach and slowly melting. This meant we’d have more water crossings to make...
Descending the pass, one switch back at a time, in the mid-afternoon we hit the gravel once again to get to our Swiss tent accommodation, near Chandra Taal or Moon Lake. We couldn’t ride all the way to Moon Lake - we had to hike in and out,
which certainly opened the airways. At 13,943ft, it’s easy to get puffed out quickly. The lake is stunning, with the backdrop of the snow-capped mountains and shepherd with his sheep. It felt like something you only read about in books.
Day 7 was a short day in kms, and was meant to be the most technical day with the roads … more on that in a sec. We left Moon Lake in amazing sunshine, following the Spiti River, with the odd water crossing. We unfortunately lost our lead rider … well, we didn’t lose him, we knew where he was. He was having some car time after high-siding it on the gravel. We later learned that he had broken a bone in his foot. So, without a lead rider, we journeyed on following the river, stopping for a bit, waiting for the others to catch up. Crossing a few more water crossings, each getting deeper and longer, the day then turned into poo with rain. Needless to say, today was not about sight-seeing, it was about survival!! Coupled with having to retrace our steps back some 15kms to re-join the group, we rode the same stretch of road twice.
I had no ‘oh shit’ moments where I thought I might die, however I did have the thoughts ‘why the f@%k am I doing u
this ‘ as it didn’t stop raining and the road conditions on descent worsened. We arrived early afternoon in Sissu wet and cold, and were expecting to face more of the same weather in the morning.
Leaving Sissu (10,269ft) on day 8 with clear skies and a full tank of fuel, we started to climb to the highest pass so far on the ride. This was Baralachala Pass at 15,912 ft. Oh, we have many more passes to cross in the coming days but to get to this one was an achievement. Crossing these passes with the glaciers so close, where you could almost lick them, is a phenomenal experience. It cemented in my brain that I was actually riding a motorbike through the Himalayas!!!
Back on main roads the traffic increased, and so too the presence of the Indian Army. We rode through many Army villages with warnings about no photography. One of the riders had been
cautioned about his drone earlier on. Drones and satellite devices are not permitted in India - even Tik Tok is banned!
A stop for lunch at a road side Dahba, we then hit the bitumen, rock, gravel and water to make our way to Swiss Camp number 3 at Dorje which I think was at 14,000ft. It was cold here with no hot water. Getting to sleep in the cold was difficult, but once asleep it was ok. Thankfully we stayed pretty dry, the greatest difficulty we faced was drying our boots overnight if they became wet due to the water crossings. Thankfully plastic bags are banned up here, which I hope does make a difference to the environment, but that one time you want plastic bags for your feet, you can’t find them!!
Day 9 was the longest - around 260kms. We left our Swiss camp prepared for the weather to change, which it never did. Most of us had to strip off our wet gear
Left: The tour ‘Ride the Himalayas’ supports the old folk’s home in Kee, each month ensuring the 60 residents have what they need. Warren Hannam, Rob Belfield, Stephen Morris and Murray Block help to unload the staple foods for the elderly residents. Below: Chandra Taal, 14,100ft in the Spiti Valley. Right: Dorje Camps, Sarchu.
and winter gloves to adjust to the conditions we were riding in. The colours of the scenery was spectacular. It changed so frequently and riding through the iron ore mountains (magnetic hills) on the way down to Leh was just incredible!!
We crossed provinces from Himachel Pradesh into Ladakh, and with the necessary paperwork checks we rode two more passes, Lachalung La 16,600ft and Taglang La at 17,480ft. When we arrived it was snowing, a different snow to what we have at home, it was hail-like, but light like snow!!
One of the cool things we saw today as we rode up the Gata Loops (21 hairpin bends) was the old Silk Road. Standing there on the opposite side of the valley, it’s really hard to imagine how bloody tough life was back in the day. It blows my mind that this was the trade route from China to Africa from the 2nd to mid-15th Century!!
That’s not the only exciting thing to happen on Day 9 … I had a whoopsie! In hindsight, I could have avoided it, but it happened, and I was ok. Someone commented that I should have zigged instead of zagged.
That afternoon we descended about 1800m, making our ears pop! Arriving into the outskirts of Leh with 20kms to go, I really couldn’t wait to get off the bike. The traffic increased and I had no f@%king clue what went on at roundabouts. I stayed bunched up with the boys - if we were gonna go down, at least it would be together!!
Our accommodation in Leh is very luxurious compared to the Swiss tents. One thing we were told on day one is the higher the altitude, the lower the expectations should be. Quite right, as I had 2 min noodles for lunch today, a snickers bar and a coke!
Geeze we were all happy to have a shower and wash the dirt off when we got to Leh. We met for a walk through the streets to try to find a cold beer, and we did, about $2.20 AU and it didn’t taste too bad either! The central part of
Leh looked pretty posh, only pedestrian access, but still so busy. A big crowd had formed to watch a live performance in the square. We listened in as they played an instrumental version of Thriller by Michael Jackson!! We Returned to the hotel for
a late dinner. I ate and ran, so tired from such a big day and looking forward to the following day, being a rest day.
The rest day in Leh consisted of rain for most of the day, those that needed to found a pub at lunchtime, and by the time I got there, most had difficulty articulating sentences!
Leh - located in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir - is known for its stunning scenery, Buddhist temples and pristine environment. Due to the u
strong influence of Tibetan Buddhism, Leh is also called Little Tibet, or the Land of Lamas. The barren, arid mountains with painted monasteries, fluttering prayer flags, rocky ridges, tiny settlements and the Indus River add to the magnificence in this region of the Himalayas.
Mind the street dogs, bulls, cows and cow shit, the central area of Leh is a little metropolis high up in the mountains. Most of the shops in the central mall area are designated for tourists, selling trinkets and pashminas. Sellers are not pushy - most are polite with a “no pressure” approach. Beggars are common on the street corners, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
Due to the heavy rain and snow, there was the possibility of road closures. Uncertain if we would reach Khardung La Pass 18,379ft the highest motorable pass in the world, we waited for three days. We
began to hear the report of the rains on Manali, and other regions. Most of us were absolutely shocked to hear about the loss of life, loss of infrastructure and the intensity of the landslides causing areas we had in the days before ridden through to be cut off.
Thankfully by Day 12 there was a break in the weather and some of us were given permission to take the bikes for a short ride. We made it up to the foothills of Hemis National Park, but found road closures due to the recent bad weather. There were rocks all over the road, so we concentrated hard. We crossed the Indus River which was a murky red colour. I assume it’s all the runoff from the previous couple of days of rain.
To make up for the unprecedented weather and the interruption to the itinerary, the organisers planned one last ride out to Lamayuru. We were unable to
go to Khardung La Pass and Pangong Tso, the highest saltwater lake in the world. Access to these areas was still restricted due to snow and landslides. Lamayuru was approximately 250km round trip to see the oldest Monastery in Ladakah. The roads were awesome, the scenery awesome, and I found my groove through the twisties! I love the hairpin bends, and I love the sweeping corners. I did get the little Royal Enfield up to 130km/hr that day … so much fun!!
Lamayuru Monastery was built in the 10th century and is still home to some 100 monks. It’s incredible inside: the architecture, the artwork, and the feel. Listening to the monks’ chant gave me goosebumps and makes me wonder if they could ever survive in “our” world. It’s incredible to witness an ancient religion that is still practiced so very strongly today. The village was poorly, the housing built into caves in the mountains. The Lamayuru area has the name of “moonscape”, as the rocky mountains give way to sandy mounds in the landscape.
Thinking that this was our last ride together as a group, we returned to the hotel for drinks. It was good to celebrate with the other Aussie’s as well as our new international friends. We had together
Above: Gata Loops, 21 of the most incredible switchbacks gaining altitude you will ever ride!
Left: Lamayuru Monastery, the oldest and largest in Ladakh region.
Top right: Khardang La, the highest motorable pass in the world!
achieved something so very remarkable, that some friendships created on this trip will last a long time.
On the last day before we were due to fly home, something incredible happened! We were given the opportunity to go up Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world!
Before I continue, let’s get the Umling La debate done. Umling La is the true highest motorable pass in the world, but access is forbidden for tourists. Those that have travelled to Umling La did so at risk. You cannot obtain a permit, and the army has been known to arrest those that try to get up there. I had been informed that visas had been cancelled and people kicked out of the country for not adhering to the rules regarding this pass. It is not a tourist attraction; it is close to the Chinese border and it is patrolled. At the end of the day, do your own research!
Back to Khardung La, I came this far and was not going to let this opportunity pass me by!! After multiple check points, up we went! It was incredible… incredibly busy, incredibly beautiful and incredibly slippery on the icy, snowy roads. At 17,582ft
above sea level, it was noticeably harder to breathe. The views are stunning, with snow-covered peaks all around the valley, simply amazing, the true definition of breathtaking!
Riding in India on this trip I ticked off a lot of ‘the highest things’: highest motorable pass, highest village, highest fuel station and highest restaurant. I am so grateful to everyone on this trip who
took care of each other. I feel very lucky to have had such a memorable experience with the ‘Ride the Himalayas’ team. We did it hard on a couple of the days, with wet clothing and camping, but I would not change a thing. The whole trip was monumental and will be etched in my memories for a very long time! If you ever thought about it, just do it!! www.ridethehimalayas.com
question around the campfire and you’ll still be there in the morning searching for the sage answer.
My old man used to say, “if you do your own mechanical work, you have a fool for a customer’. In many ways he was right, until we’ve done a job few times, chances are we are gonna stuff it up. Costing us swear words, knuckle claret, money and face. There’s a peculiar embarrassment trailering a bike to the local mechanic (Two Wheeled Automotive Technician) and sheepishly explaining just how much of a mug we are.
However, unless you’re made of money and have a place to easily access the sort of expertise required to keep your steed in good fettle, most of us need to swing a spanner or two from time to time. Adventure bikes are maintenance greedy beasts, the environment we ride them in and the hijinks we call fun puts far more stress and strain on the bikes than roadies. Dust is a killer of engines, bearings and drive trains. The rigours of rough roads regularly shake bits loose. Suspension gets a beating and wiring looms get more aggravation than a bindii in yer undies.
This means we need to get to know our bikes a fair bit more intimately than road riders. That’s not only so that we know the blerrie thing doesn’t chew its own arm off out there, but if we do need to remedy something in the bush, we know where to start.
Luckily the interweb is loaded with instructional videos, and a bit of culling out of knobs who are entertained by the sound of their own voice will get us much of the info we need to get comfortable taking off fuel tanks, wheels and accessing air filters.
Chain driven bikes represent a whole other world when the road gets grubby. Outback grinding paste, that wonderful mix of dust and lubricant, caking chain and sprockets radically shortens service life. It also demands we pay attention to them dirt bits that go ‘round and ‘round.
To oil or not to oil… That is the question. Whether it is smarter to squirt sticky shit all over the drive train…Or leave yon chain and sprockets to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous abuse. Ask that
I’m going on advice I got from ADV Yoda… we’ll call him Robin Box. He reckons a couple of prominent desert race teams have done the comparison and reckon, on balance, it’s best to lube.
Adjustment does my head in. I’ve been looking after my own chain and sprockets for most of my life and I always seem to stuff up chain tension… no matter which side of my mouth I poke my tongue.
Yeah, settle down you shaft driven bikers. They might be relatively maintenance free, but they are heavy, lose power and cost drug money if they do let go. An after-market shaft drive for Dr Z is not going to happen.
I’m not going to get into tyre repair other than to say that I reckon there will be a sign over the Gates of Hell with crossed tyres levers over knuckles dripping blood! Fettling big bike adventure tyres is not for the faint hearted.
Air intake needs love and attention, sometimes daily. Changing filters, prefilters or skins to prevent a ‘dusted’ motor and maintaining the grin, doesn’t require a 4-year apprenticeship.
Apart from anything else, working on your bike is ‘Me’ time. Sure, it can be frustrating, dirty and time consuming in a busy life, but it’s part of the Zen of life on a motorcycle. Working on a bike is so much nicer than grovelling around under a tin top. That’s definitely best left to those with a hoist, cast iron knuckles and patience.
We may be fools to do our own mechanical work, but over the last decade or so, however, it seems to me that modern bikes are only unreliable within two weeks of a service… as a result of some T.W.A.T. stuffing up!
LLiving in the southwest of WA we are pretty lucky with the diverse rides close to home. But Easter and a 4-day weekend give the opportunity to explore a little further afield. Murphy’s Law meant that the weather was less than ideal on Good Friday, so we used that time to load the bike, ready for an earlier getaway on Saturday morning.
We had a vague plan of which way we would travel, however being a long weekend, it was nice to get off the main road early on and start tracking southeast along various dirt roads. Our first detour took us through to the back of Glen Mervyn Dam, a popular camping site with locals. Water levels were quite low this early in the year which meant it was a bit quieter than we expected. From here we headed further east with a plan to get into the Wilga State Forest.
We came across the town site of Noggerup, which hosts an annual Two Up competition in August and from here ventured onto some roads we have not
Left: Camp Setup, Lake Poorrarecup.
Below: Cooking Hot Lunch, Bluff Knoll Lower Car park.
Words and Images: Regan Rides
explored. It didn’t take long for us to come across the first hurdle. After finding a section of road following an old logging rail line and dealing with a couple of sandy sections of track, we found ourselves at a dead end with a gate and signs claiming the section of road as private property. We tried several side trails but could not get our way around it so back tracked to find an alternate route to Boyup Brook for lunch.
This led us across the top of the Blackwood River and a random Gregory Tree, marked with initials by Augustus Gregory in 1845 while conducting a survey mission. The jarrah tree is long dead, but the stump has been preserved. We also discovered that the rodeo was on at the Harvey Dickson Country Music Centre, meaning that Boyup Brook was a hive of activity. Regan found a park right outside our favourite cafe and we were able to get a toasted sandwich and hot coffee before getting back on the road. From Boyup Brook we started tracking
south towards the Muir Highway, with a vague idea of where we might find a camp site. We ended up tracking through the edge of farmland and gradually found our way through to Frankland River. A search of WikiCamps showed a possible camp at Lake Poorrarecup and Leigh got her hopes up that the General store might be an opportunity to stock up on liquid refreshments for the evening. Unfortunately, this was not to be: 3.15pm on a long weekend Saturday meant nothing was open in the small country town.
We skirted the lake and found ourselves at a great camp spot, although popular we found a small patch of grass to set up the tent and take in the views. This was a great free camp with basic facilities including showers, camp tables and a sandy beach by the lake. In peak periods there is a fee of $10 per vehicle to stay which would be worth paying for the facilities and location.
We woke to the sound of jet skis and
boats on the lake, enjoyed coffee and a relaxed pack up before heading to Cranbrook, gateway to the Stirling Ranges for a refuel. We also topped up water and got a coffee at Nanna Vick’s Cafe. 24km of sealed road found us turning off and the ranges opened up around us as we followed the main drive west to east through the range. There are plenty of walk trails and viewpoints through the park, as normal we played drive by tourist and thoroughly enjoyed the view from the bike. The roadside is abundant with native WA vegetation, plenty of kangaroo paws and flowering shrubs. My favourite
Left: Parked at the base of Bluff Knoll, Stirling Ranges. Right: Nanna Vicks Cafe & General Store Cranbrook. Below: Sunset Lake Poorrarecup.
view though is the white gums which are so smooth and stark against the red dirt. We reached Bluff Knoll, which is the most well-known landmark of the Ranges, 1095m high and one of the only places in WA where it can actually snow. We thought that there was an event on, traffic was queued at the start of the 11km road to the car park. This was solely due to the car park being full and after chatting to the warden we were told it was a 30 min wait to get access. This gave the perfect chance to stop for a hot lunch in the car park while some of the traffic cleared. After finishing lunch, we headed up the road for a quick stop and photo opportunity at the base of the Knoll, then began heading northwest to find camp for the night.
More research on WikiCamps found a lake only 30km out of the town of Katanning, another free camp on the edge of a local ski lake. There was only one other group camped here at Lake Coyrecup. The road in had a couple of mud holes, but nothing too complicated to navigate. The evening was perfectly still and after 2 days on the bike we knew that sleep would come easily once the sun set.
Monday morning found the pillion looking for coffee and the draw card of Dome Katanning got us up and moving. While packing up the tent we discovered
that we had been a drawcard for dragonfly nymphs in the night and there were numerous empty shells clinging to the internal wall which needed to be removed. We captured some footage as this was something we hadn’t seen before.
After breakfast and coffee at the Premier Mill Hotel it was a windy trip back up the highway to Collie for another coffee. The sky was turning ominous, so we took the time to put on wet weather gear and this was a solid decision as 25 minutes from home, the skies opened, and we got absolutely drenched. To see more of this trip, head on over to Regan Rides on YouTube for the 2-part video we put together:
