kiwis - Rodger White ride

Michelle · Aug 17, 2002

Any Kiwis peak into this forum? Anyone going to the ride at the end of September?
Apparently there's about 120k of trails (still being made) and is meant to be a fantastic area to ride in (I'd never heard of it, but have been told by someone).

Also, who's going to desert Storm in October?
Michelle

Pokie · Aug 17, 2002

Desert Storm?.... happened 10 years ago in Kuwait! .. is this a military action in Kiwiland?

Michelle · Aug 17, 2002

Lol Pokie ;)
Not sure why it's called Desert Storm, but yes, Kuwait was what I first thought of when I heard about it the other year.

It's run in an army training area, with the army doing the cooking, first aid & riding sweep. It's one of our ski areas (north island) but down the bottom of the mountains in a pretty bleak area. The main road there is Desert Road, so I guess that's part of the name. Should be a fun ride, with lots of sandy breaks (fast) and I have no idea what else - it's the first year we're managing to do it (all going well). If you're looking on a map, look for the centre of the North Island, Mt Ruapehu (yes, the one that kept erupting a few years back). Last year there were about 7-900 riders, as it's doable from all parts of the North Island & probably some from the South Island too.
It's being run by epic adventures - www.epicevents.co.nz.
Michelle

KiwiBird · Aug 19, 2002

Roger White is an awesome ride, but can be very dusty if it's dry. Desert Storm is as good and you get to go on the tank tracks which are sooooo cool!

Pokie · Aug 19, 2002

Michelle.... so the military is invoved, servicing the dirtbike crowd. Certainly not a freebie?................you doing some of these desert rides? sounds awesome.... it's educational and fun to read about "sore bums" and this "shafty mongrel....leeching onto the event"(ww.epicevents.com) One gets the drift without a dictionary..... the guy is a "deadbeat" or a crafty and resourceful but penniless dirtbiker....

Michelle · Aug 23, 2002

Pokie, we're definitely doing the Rodger White ride and have booked Desert Storm into our calendar. Both rides will mean about 4-5 hours drive and have yet to organise who we're meeting up with down there. I'll be packing a camera in the back of the KDX, so maybe will have some pix to show you afterwards.

I just hope the temperatures warm up a bit before camping out in the tent (i.e. I'm not sleeping in the tent if the ground's frozen or snowed on and will figure out a nearby motel).

We're off to Rotorua soon to go riding tomorrow (Rotoehu forest), but unfortunately Henk's riding partner has got the flu so he's not coming (that way he saves himself for the race next week). I've been told I'm not allowed to crash again (new headlight & waiting for the new peak for my helmet - no I didn't hit my head, just landed on the peak gently - they don't make 'em like they used to lol).
Anyway, better go. Have a great weekend.
Michelle

Pokie · Aug 23, 2002

have fun and be safe! not even landing "gently"; how do you land gently? would like to learn that...
Pokie

YZ-Red · Aug 23, 2002

Hi Michelle,

I did a number of Roger White rides ten or so years ago and they are very good, a fair bit of tight between the trees as well as open stuff - clay based from memory so gets much tuffer in the wet.

I did Desert storm two years ago and it was awesome, lots of different trails
(4 or more different loops), lots of people and lots of fun.

A great place to stay is Oakune (I think thats how you spell it) being a skiing resort it is virtually abandoned at this time of year so you can get rooms for tuppence. Last time we got a large unit with three bedrooms and our own pool table for about twenty dollars each per night.

Good luck

Red

Pokie · Aug 24, 2002

Oakune.... isn't that the place that (Dame) Kiri Te Kanawa is from?????

Michelle · Aug 26, 2002

Cheers for that Red. I take it you're not going this year (to Desert Storm?). Jerome Gare's running the Rodger White ride & he's still cutting trails but expects to have 120k worth. He'd better pray for sunshine if it's clay-based otherwise a lot of people going won't be happy & won't go again. So long as I don't have to pick up my bike every two minutes, I don't mind (every 10 minutes is much better lol). Guess I'd better pack some carboshots in case I need the energy boost.

I'm also getting confused as to which ride's on when & keep forgetting about the weeks in between (we've got an event the week before so have to start cutting trails for that).

Pokie, I have no idea where Kiri's from, but know that they grow carrots in Ohakune (think that's right, but don't quote me on the spelling lol). Also, as for crashing gently, don't do it. It means you stuffed up while going slow (I put the front brake on when I should've hit the throttle harder or just rolled the bike over the obstacle, but should not have hit the front brake) and you just look like a prize idiot (hey, I'm used to it), but at least I learnt from it & stopped doing it but my bike looks way cooler with the new headlight hehehe

Evilevo · Aug 26, 2002

Well OMG I thought I was the only NZer in here. But then I only been here a short time. I doupt Im up to those rides as I am recovering from 2 broken ribs. (Where did I put that chest protector hmmmm) But as I recently have only just returned to the sport after a long break. You couldnt do me a favour and point me the the right direction of where some riding areas are, plzzzzzz. Im based in Auck, but open to any sugestions Thanks, and nice to see some Kiwis in here.
:yeehaw:

Michelle · Aug 27, 2002

Evil, there are plenty (okay, quite a few) Kiwis who visit DRN. (welcome onboard btw).
For rides around Auckland, you've got the choice of Waitemata Motorcycle Club and Power Adventures. I'm biased toward the club and enjoy the events put on (which means those run by us or Riverhead rides or races). My husband and I are part of the team who put on Family Days (plug: next event September 22, email me zeeven@xtra.co.nz if you want more details). There's a race on this Sunday by forestry headquarters. Sign-on starts at 8.30. The race is 4 hours and is two-man, two or one bike, but you need an MNZ licence to race. You are also welcome to trail ride it. Cost is $30pp for racers & $25 for trail riders.
If you're into MX, there's Ardmore, Harrisville, the Rodney club, Maungatoroto club, Whangarei club (how far do you want to travel), and any number of clubs down south, too (Huntly, Cambridge etc etc).
If you're into trailriding/harescrambles/enduros (the enduro season is finished for the year), there's trailrides north & south to go to. Rotorua club runs trail rides every two weeks, but finishes next month. In two weeks is Kaingaroa and then a fortnight after that is Rotoehu (both well worth going down for).
Check www.silver-bullet.co.nz for event listings for around the country.
Riverhead will be opening again in a couple of months I guess, once it's dried out a bit & they've had a chance to have a look at all the trees down (remember "the bomb"? Pokie, it was a weather bomb, we're not at war lol).
Hope that helps some and hope you don't get more trouble with your ribs.
Michelle

Michelle · Oct 2, 2002

Sorry Pokie, I didn't take any pix on the trails - took some in the campsite though (but have yet to finish the film). Some of the views were awesome & I thought about stopping to take pix, but if you'd been there, you'd have realised why I didn't.
I was the last bike out of the forest on Saturday and on a trailer :( The ride was okay, but I don't know that I'd bother going again, it just was too "quad" friendly i.e. wide open trails. I just couldn't get into it & rode like ****. One bike I was with broke down, so the rider & I sat around for some time. I also had to wait for her numerous times due to her being unable to start her bike (a couple of quad riders were great & helped her out a few times). When she was riding okay, I didn't feel like stopping to take pix. My bike had to be towed out, due to a stick/log being jammed between the frame & radiator hose (holing the hose) and I wasn't keen to ride it for it to seize on me, so I just waited for someone to pick me up.
Sunday was better, I was riding on my own, it was raining and the trails were more fun, but I was hesitant in case the shortened hose started leaking bad, so called it a weekend & hit the beers.
I'm hoping Desert Storm will be better & that I'll get pix ;)

Kiwi MX · Oct 21, 2002

Desert Storm went off going by the numbers of bikes up here!! And where else can you ride around on the set of Lord Of The Rings?

I still cant ride yet - blown knee and punctured lung - but just seeing all the bikes has got me on the pipe again to go riding!! Just a couple of weeks to go

Last time I rode an MX bike was as an "emeny" for an Army exercise last month. The movies are all lies damnit!! lol . Its immpossible to reload a Steyr Carbine while riding offroad! no one fired back at me till I was halfway thro their convoy and almost out of rounds, they were too stunned seeing a YZ 125 jump over the side embankment of the road and into their midst in the middle of the Waiouru desert at 6am!!!! As far as the Laser gear is concerned I survived..yeaa

Don't forget about the Labour Weekend Taupo MX this weekend and on the weekend of 9 Nov its back to Taupo for the next round of the Nationals.

The freestyle scene is exploding over here aswell with steel ramps appearing all over the country and even some female riders come thro.There is a display on at the 4 and Rotary Nats and also an extreme games event at the Westpac Trust Stadium in the Capital.

If anyone is aware Niki Urwin had a nasty accident in Australia - spinal injuries. Steven Montgomery,17yr old Honda prodigy from Shell Waiouru and racing for Blue Wing Honda/Sly Designs had a bad fall while racing in the Pro 125 class at the Hastings Nat champs rd, breaking his back in three places. Has since started to regain the use of his legs and a full recovery isn't out of the question. Good Luck Stevie!
Also for those that care we have a no. of awesome MX tracks popping un in Ruapehu and a 3 km course planned for Waiouru (with Nikki D's help I hope).Contact me if you want details of places to ride here while skiing.

Simon Farmer
Slydesigns
Race Signs

Kiwi MX · Oct 21, 2002

Oh yeah, I forgot to add... Its called Desert Storm because to the Army the Training area IS a desert. And you all get the chance to go storming across it.
The Drag racing and MX events we hold up here are called Desert Wars...

But if you lived here then you could go blazing up to Turkino Skifield in summer and play in the dunes when ever you wanted too...but snow isnt as much fun as you would imagine to ride in. :|
Towing snowboarders into jumps is tho ;)

Michelle · Oct 21, 2002

Hey Simon. Welcome to DRN.
I read on Nick's site that 250 riders per day went to D.S. So that's about half of last year's. We decided not to go as neither of us could handle the 5+ hour drive after work on Friday, but maybe next year we'll plan our ride calendar better - basically we're both exhausted.
Good luck to Steve - hadn't heard about him. Been a pretty rough year for injuries - add to that the young boy killed at Cambridge on the MX track, the guy killed riding at a trailride earlier this year. MNZ are tightening up some rules again.
So you live down Waiouru? Heard it was bloody cold the other day -5degC. That helped put me off coming down, I have to admit. Call me soft but sleeping in a tent doesn't appeal that much - I remember as a kid caravaning down there & having to help dig some tenters out of the snow lol. I thought they were mad then & 20-30 years later, can't see it being me.
Michelle
(if you know of pix, any chance of links/postings so I can see what I missed?)

Kiwi MX · Oct 21, 2002

Oh yeah, I forgot to add... Its called Desert Storm because to the Army the Training area IS a desert. And you all get the chance to go storming across it.
The Drag racing and MX events we hold up here are called Desert Wars...

But if you lived here then you could go blazing up to Turkino Skifield in summer and play in the dunes when ever you wanted too...but snow isnt as much fun as you would imagine to ride in. :|
Towing snowboarders into jumps is tho ;)

Kiwi MX · Oct 21, 2002

u think -5 is cold then check this out -I'm sure our dirt loving brothers and sisters in D17 can sympathise.
My back yard a few months ago... tired to ride in it all over the base till we got told off by the MP's. We were carving straight throw to the grass and tearing it up. when its melted it was quite a mess... :silly: opps.

I got to ride to work out at the Ammo dump down a road called the mad mile(rally style rd) way cool!! My bike ws one of the few vehicles still going apart from the Mogs and APC's. The clubs riders had to ride around delivering stuff to the stranded. ;)

See, they do need us after all... :worship:

nzfred · Oct 22, 2002

Desert storm is always a good ride, could'nt go this year but I did go last year. Sly- Im a mate of Stevies, see big Mont is now looking at buying his old bike cause he had such a fun time riding it in desert storm, Ry even said he was hauling :O
There should just be a kiwi forum, then U could give me some tips on how to paint my helmet ;) lol

Kiwi MX · Oct 23, 2002

DUDE....U may be on to something there.........hmmmmmmm
Perhaps the DRN team could give us a section on doing your own graphics, both piant and vinyl. Dressing up your number boards, bikes armour, helmets, trailers, haulers, cats, dogs, even making your own pit boards...
After all half the war for the young guys and girls is looking the part to attract sponsors.
I'm more than happy to help in any way I can. It's how I got started.

As for Brent going racing again... unfortunately he's got me thinking too. I broke out one of the 01 YZ 125's in my garage, overhauled it then put on a flat land freestyle show for the local kids this evening after work! End result being one stripped gear shifter (again!!) and one hooked ex racer. So if you know of any 02/03 YZ 125's for sale or swap for one of 2 95 Honda Accord Import Racers hook me up.

After Stevies back injury and the run of fatalities over here my wife Kym needs convincing to get both her and our daughter Nikita on bikes too.

Stay in touch and I'll see you in Taupo for Labour Weekend - Look for the Slydesigns Accords with the tall skinny guy all in Yamaha Gears and possibly with blue hair hahaha..

kiwis - Rodger White ride

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