Pre-running Factory Rider

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  • #103835

    Leo.C
    Member

    I’m not sure how well public the routes and locations of the ride are so I’ll try not to give too much away.

    Back Ground:
    For anyone who missed the “Who want to be a factory rider?” post, TrailBoss, last Monday had run out of pre-run partners for the 3rd and final pre-run of the high country ride in Victoria on 2, 3, 4 May and so posted the question. It was just luck that I answered first, not thinking I was about to be elevated to the lofty heights of a factory rider TB PMed me saying I had the gig. I said from the get go that I was nowhere near a factory gun-rider but TB said “its only adventure riding, mate, you’ll be fine”. So three days later I was in Sydney boarding the team truck getting ready to sample some of Victoria’s finest lattes. :laugh:

    The Bikes:
    I wont say much about the bikes because that has already been covered in detail. What I will say is WOW :woohoo: . I had been told by TB that the WR250R, with the work that had been done on it by Nick from Teknik Motorsport, was by far the best suspended motorbike he’d ridden. I thought that might have been a bit of a gee-up but after first ill placed pothole I soon had the same opinion. The suspension on those two bikes was incredible. Potholes, goolies, erosion mounds slippery logs muddy tire tracks the little 250 soaked it all up and kept on going. Corrugations were almost fun to ride over, the bikes just seemed to hook-up and drive out of em :). The attention the Yamahas generated when ever we pulled up was always funny, people pouring over them and asking a few thousand questions without fail. But to be fair they look the goods so its to be expected ;). All in all they’re quick enough, they’re comfortable, they’re rock steady at speed and nimble when they need to be. Big thumbs up from a novice point of view.

    The Ride
    It was raining in Sydney when we left and it was raining in Jindabyne when we arrived, that pretty much set the tone of how the weather was going to play out for the ENTIRE ride :pinch: . On Friday morning I noticed the rain had stopped and said it might be ok…. TB looked at me with a stern face and said when you’re on an adventure ride you can look at the weather, you can research the weather, you can even curse the weather but you can never comment on the weather! :angry: And so it started raining again and all was back to normal :blush:.

    We headed out of Jindabyne and hit the dirt, visibility closed down to about the distance of the front guard and the 5 or 6 million Kangaroos in the alpine region all decided it would be a nice day to visit where we were going. But we tried hard and managed to outrun most of em.

    I’ll probably say this a couple of times but… If you have ever wanted to see, or have been even mildly curious about alpine NSW or the high country this is the time to do it, sign up for the ride and come along. If you’re politically opposed to the idea of “adventure riding” you can use the term XR Pilot and I came up with, Expedition Riding. Call it what you like this one should be on your bucket list and this is the perfect time to cross it off!

    The views were not great thanks to the low cloud base but some times there was a break in the weather and this was behind it.
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    The road you can see in the middleground leads down to the next photo

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    The Snowy

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    Close to 36 hours later after 65 mm or more of rain and the river had risen quite a bit.

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    Down the road a way, crossing into Mexico 😆

    After this stretch we got onto some awesome tracks/ roads and came to this
    20140411_110714.jpg

    Then this
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    Then this
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    And finally this
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    This was all awesome country to see for the first time, the weather makes it look a pretty average in the photos but in good weather it would be hard to beat. So if you have the time sign up and get into it.

    After lunch at the Day 1 finishing line we headed back into the hills. This is where it started to really turn it on! rain, rain and more rain! We left the bush and came across a hill top stop to thaw out
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    Looks cold huh?

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    This building was about 40 metres away but almost hidden.

    We kept going, the weather stayed the same… the whole way to Dargo! Here we met about 20 blokes on another ride and like most were curiously interested in the two Trick-looking WR250Rs. We also met Captain Ktm who kept everyone in the pub amused with his extensive knowledge of EVERYTHING until he left in a blaze of glory chasing down his ride-mates who quietly and quickly left without him :laugh:
    TB kindly donated another thong to the ADV Gods, but he was lucky. Dargo General store apart from a huge range of KTM parts stocks an extensive range of quality footwear.

    Next morning the rider of the bike in the background was ready and roaring to go, the rider of the bike still parked and unpacked was not :whistle:
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    Note the quality footwear waiting to be sacrificed for a second time (the ADV Gods must have been happy with the previous days sacrifice as the weather was looking good B) Mostly ).

    We stopped in to visit the hosts of the rides’ second night, they weren’t open when we arrived but were quick to offer breakfast and coffee and a fireplace to dry out from the 1/2 dozen rain storms we’d ridden through between 730 and 1030 :sick: It’s a great place which will really come alive when ride ADV pulls in in May. Big thanks to Tracey and Matt for their hospitality. About 15 km down the road TB pulled up and said “I’ll wait here while you scoot back to the Pub and get your Camelbak” But I intentionally left it there should I need an excuse for the Minister for War and Finance to go on the ride and collect it :whistle:

    The rest of the trip was dry :woohoo: and way too quickly with some awesome tracks hear and there. Almost back in Jindabyne the views were awesome!
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    Apart from the odd stag (deer) on the road the rest of the run back to Jindy went smoothly. The WR’s had a chance to stretch their legs and they did it really well.

    This ride is going to be an absolute cracker! Bearing in mind I’ve only see part of the planned route I’d still say move heaven and earth to get along to it!

    Big thanks to TB for the gig
    Adventure Moto (and Lefty :P )for the loan of the bike
    Teknik Motorsport for the set up

    B.W.

    #255725

    usi
    Member

    Cheers for the report B.W, Cant wait for this to kick off !!

    #255724

    Michael
    Member

    Great pre run report there BW

    Love the photos have you got the ADV bug mate :)

    Glad you enjoy it

    Cheers

    Strucky

    #255722

    Michael
    Member

    Great pre run report there BW

    Love the photos have you got the ADV bug mate :)

    How did you find the 24hr RIDE ADV call centre were they helpfully :unsure:

    Glad you enjoy it

    Cheers

    Strucky

    #255723

    Greg
    Member

    Great read and report Bull, thanks for leaving the pictures of the good stuff and not disclosing any of the track locations (More single than Nundle we rode ;) ) The weather was shocking but any bike time is good time B)

    Thanks for your help Leo, it was a pleasure prerunning with you.

    Has the bug bitten you asked Strucky? Well he is coming on the ride now :laugh:

    TB

    #255721

    Dwayne O
    Member

    Great little pre run report BW B)

    Another rider joins the masses of ADVers having a ball hey, even in the pissing down rain ??
    Good onya mate, just don`t tell Boony what he is missing out on :laugh:

    Spewin` to be missing this ride myself again (I`ll be missing a few more yet this year though unfortunately) :(

    Cheers

    #255727

    Mick D
    Member

    Great RR Leo, what a great gig to get! Pity the weather wasn’t so kind. Don’t feel bad about not being ready when TB was, dunno how many times that has happened to me!! He gets over it.

    #255730

    Greg
    Member
    micknmeld wrote:
    Great RR Leo, what a great gig to get! Pity the weather wasn’t so kind. Don’t feel bad about not being ready when TB was, dunno how many times that has happened to me!! He gets over it.

    Youre confused I think, he was ready, I wasnt :blush:

    TB

    #255726

    Dwayne O
    Member

    Mick confused ????

    Nah, that`d Never Happen :silly: :laugh:

    TB not ready to ride ???
    Now that “IS” a rare event :cheer:

    #255747

    jim cady
    Member

    Thanks for the RR BW, fantastic scenery and riding to be enjoyed judging by your pictures. ;)

    Awesome opportunity to have had, great stuff :woohoo:

    Cheers James

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