Mighty Murray River

Not all bad. Alex and I camped by the Murray river last night and had a BBQ & JD.

Lead acid iPhone charger

Alexandra

I would just like to mention how much I appreciate the help Alexandra his given me this weekend. She is a tower of strength. Really! Always on the job. Never stops.

Pit bunny extraordinaire

Internal Combustion Coffee Maker

No roughing it at Camp Coatesy. Here is my 2 Kva Coffee machine.

Disaster strikes

You won’t beleive it. The engine failed again on the MGS01 during practice for the first round of the National Bears. Same problem as last time. Case hardening failure on a Cam follower. I’m devastated. We travelled 1300kms to get here.

On the road for South Australia

Alexandra & Mikey & Vale are headed to the races in Mount Gambia SA.

Off to SA this weekend

We are headed to Mount Gambier this weekend for the first round of the National Bears Series. Lets hope we can kick some Ducati Arse. Ill try to updte the racing blog reguarly this year.

Greg breaks his leg in NZ Day 6

When greg twisted his leg late on day 6 of the ride we all pretty much just laughted it off. He had fallen off so much we pretty much thought he was indestructible. It turns out he is not. Greg wrote:

"Turns out my "ankle sprain"  is in fact a broken leg (fibula near knee) and a ripped apart ankle (Maisonneuve fracture), from my boot hitting at speed, the bastard grass hidden rock adjacent to the rut I was in, late on the last day,

Love those NZ ruts and rocks.

Rolled up to the hospital this morning, now have a plaster cast and crutches and going back for a multiple titanium screw insertion operation tomorrow.

Woooh Hooo.

Looking forward to 8 weeks on crutches-not.

But at least I got the auxiliary bandaged lambie, though it's not as cool as the real, trail worn, one eyed, roll-in-the-grass lambie."

NZ Ride - The Riders in Focus

Robbie ( Cricket) , Always busy working. Rides like someone stuck a bunger up his arse and he's trying to blow it out by riding fast. Sometimes the results are pretty spectacular. Always serious unless he has told a joke at which time he proceeds to crack himself up. He is the only point rider that I have ever seen who appears to be trying to lose the rest of the group. It was a bit like greyhound racing where robbie was the rabbit.

In all seriousness, he ran an incredibly well organised ride. He has an amazing sense of direction. I suspect he may have a GPS hardwired to his brain.

Steve ( Sweep ), Never falls off. Always ready to help out. Loves a bit of a race with the back markers. Clearly likes a bit of young lamb on the side.

Dave (ADD), Camera man extraordinaire. Rides like the music is about to stop and he hasn't found a chair yet. Saves himself from near disaster more often than Bear Grills. If enthusiasm was the only thing you need to ride a bike then Dave would be a world champion. His constant high energy state can encourage any rider to have a race with him, not that any of us had much of a chance of keeping up with the slippery prick. 

Says he put on 8 kilo's on his last trip and cant understand why. Incidentally in every photo I have of him he was eating something.

Fred (Jerry can ), the support vehicle driver. Knows much more about Australia than the Australians. A fountain of knowledge on any subject. Always ready to help out everyone. One of the worlds true gentlemen.

Stuart ( tony's other half), At 6'3" made his poxy hire bike look like a child's toy. He could get it going though, and was always in the mix if there was a race on. Deserves a medal for sleeping with Tony the snore miller for 6 nights.

Tony ( the snore miller ), Snores so loud you would swear he was making furniture in his room. Says he has been married 43 years. His wife obviously lives in another house. At 63 years old the crusty old bugger rides like he is 20. He never seems to run out of puff and is always up for a bit of a race. He has a penchant for speech making and he is pretty good at it too. I think he might be the CEO of KTM. He was very interested in Rob's KTM underwear?

Steve ( racer boy ), Spent the whole trip riding around egging on anyone and everyone for a race. It was a 6 day special test for steve. His specialty was buzzing around Robbie's back wheel until he made hime fall off. He pulled it off many times each day. Ridiculously fast on open fire trail. His pox bucket hire bike will never be the same again. If I were robbie I would move it on real quick.

Steve ( BIG Steve ), A gentle giant who for my money was the most talented rider on the trip. He rode the big XR like he was sitting in an arm chair. He made everything look easy and effortless. He was seen sitting on top of one mountain pass watching a youtube movie of the very ride he was on while waiting for everyone to catch up with him.

Clearly needs bluetooth hands free fitted to his bike so he can take care of business while he is riding

Grant ( BIG unit ), larger then life, this man kept us all entertained through the trip. Has an amazing ability to use endless combinations of "F" and "C" bombs in a sentence but still sound eloquent and intelligent. The Aussies all wanted to take him home with them to run as the next prime minister. He could peddle his KTM 520 to devastating effect, although he only had narrow windows of speed before he needed to take a break and sit down for a rest. 

He had the best crash of the trip. It probably would have put a mere mortal in hospital, but Grant just brushed himself off and kept riding. And holy shit he can ride.

Rob (pretty boy), He rides like he dresses. Very neat and tidy. 

Has every item of kit the KTM makes worldwide and carries or wears it all when riding. Right down to the KTM underwear which Tony says you cant buy in Australiasia. Tony was caught taking photos of his arse crack. Im not sure what that was about. 
Rob could have copped a lot of criticism for pulling out of the ride with an unconfirmed injury, however when he kept following us in his magnificent Toyota LX40, all was forgiven. This guy is a gear freak, and has very good toys. Its fair to say we all want his life.

Clive ( Fastest farmer in NZ ), this guy was a constant barrel of laughs. Never stopped smiling and smacking the closest person on the back. Always in the mix on the KTM 350. Every item of clothing was scavenged from his kids cast offs.  
We were all horrified when his bike wouldn't start late on the 6th day. It looked like his ride was over with Robbie on the phone calling in the tow truck. Im pretty sure we all would have stayed with him in protest. Luckily a couple of the boys got the KTM going again. It just wouldn't have been right to finish without him. What a funny bastard and a top bloke.

Greg ( crash test dummy), how the hell did he survive the trip. The obstinate bugger just kept on getting up again and again and again. It was the gutsiest ride I have ever seen. What he clearly lacked in talent or ability, he more than made up for in true grit.

Not satisfied with being the slowest rider, he made sure he was the slowest at everything he did. In fact that was his real skill. Incredibly capable at fucking around constantly. The funny thing was, you couldn't actually get cranky with him. It was a great laugh.

I nearly ran him over twice. I fairly sure I would have torn his head off once if he hadn't been wearing a neck brace. I would like to make it clear that I didn't do it on purpose.

On day 6 when Robbie invited a bunch of cockheads to ride with us for the day, everyone was pissed off except greg. He was finally faster then someone.

Mike ( Lamb Hunter ), as a dirt bike rider I make a good Dairy farmer. 5 flat tyres and numerous crashes ( nearly all on flat ground ). Hated the hire bike with a passion but I didnt let it spoil the ride for me. I was pretty shocked at how technically difficult and relentless the riding was. If I hadnt spent the last 3 months riding my berg I would have been up shit creek.

What I enjoyed the most was the great company. You could not ask for a better bunch of blokes to spend a week with. They made the trip. I would definitely come and do it all again. Next time I would bring my own bike. The Kiwi's were definitely more at home on their own rides. The Aussies gave them a run for their money though.

Photos from Day 6

 Brothers in Arms

 The Famous Cadrona Hotel

 Lake departure ( bye Fred)

 The boys line up

 Fossil Fuels Rule

 Not me this time

 Me this time

 Me again

XR Destruction

NZ Bike trip Wrap up

What can I say, great blokes, great riding, great country. It really was a fantastic trip. If I could change anything it would only be to have brought my own bike. The hire bike really did suck.

Here is a photo of the boys at the end of the ride. I think you can see how trashed we are.

There is something about off road bike riding that attracts a certain type of person. I like them

Nz Bike Trip Day 6

256kms, 6 Hrs riding

Wow what a ridiculously hard day. The afternoon was a bit like a death from 1000 cuts. We didnt get back to Alex intil after 7pm. The day started at Cadrona and headed over the crown range. We made out way to Queenstown where we loaded the bikes on a barge and crossed the lake. We then embarked on a loop ride that was like something out of a horror movie. Unfortunately we had 5 extra riders that robbie had invited along to help defray the cost of the barge. After 6 days of close riding together its fair to say that the group didnt take very kindly to the intrusion. We all know each other so well that we can pass each other with confidence that we know what the other guy is going to do. With the new boys that all went out the window. It mad the last day, when we were very tired, pretty unmanageable.

Anyway we got it done. Lots of steep climbs, deep river crossings and tricky rocks.

With then ride finally over we washed our gear and headed to the motel for a final meal together and a debreif. Tony was awarded the Lamb for the final day on account of his spectacular crashes. I was given the honourary Lamb for the amount of punctures I got (5). And greg got a lamb for his effort over the ride.

What a great bunch of guys. We really have turned into a very tight group over the 6 days.

Regards,

Mike

Mike Coates
mikecoatesy@gmail.com
+61418650318

Trip Photos

Tony Gets the Lamb on Day 3

Steve discusses the finer points of riding KTM 520's with grant

Mike Hits a rock and wrecks the rear wheel

The Damaged Wheel

The man made lake at St Bathans. Gold Mining damage

THe boys relaxing after a hard day

NZ Trip Photos

Steve and his weapon

Mike in the room of mirrors taking a long hard look at himself after his second crash for the morning


Highest point on the ride so far at 1960 metres

Regards,

Mike

Mike Coates
mikecoatesy@gmail.com
+61418650318

NZ Bike trip Day 5

Day 5, 201kms, 5 Hours riding time

We had a huge day. Definitely the biggest day so far. The organiser said it was going to be the best day on the trip but we all think day 4 has been the highlight. Probably the two high points of the day would be a fantastic lunch at a 30,000 acre sheep farm, and a close second was the 2000m climb up Mt Pinot. At the top the lanscape was lunar and there were pockets of snow around. The view was absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately we were all so tired from the hard days riding that it was hard to fully appreciate it.

The day finished with a decent of the famous Alpine road the Possum Borne was killed on a few years ago. Steve turned it into a flat track event and smoked everyone.

We are staying the night at the famous Cadrona Hotel. We have had a fantastic feed and are now tucking up into bed.

Tomorrow we will head to Queenstown for the penultimate days riding before finishing back in Alexandra. Tomorrow is supposed to be the biggest day. We are all wondering if we have the energy to finish.

I forgot to mention that I was awarded the Lamb for the worst days rider after falling off twice today on flat ground in front of many witnesses. I had it coming anyway after no less than 3 puncture on the ride so far.

NZ Bike Ride Day 4

176kms, 4 hrs riding time

Day 4 was the highlight of our trip so far. A combination of spectacular scenery and very challenging and fun riding.

I had some dramas early in the when I hit a huge rock and ruined my rear Rim and tyre. We managed to patch it up well enough to get to lunch where we stole the rear wheel out of the spare bike.

In the afternoon we went down a river valley and crossed the river 30 something times. It turned into a bit of a race between all of us and a lot of fun was had. Fortunately no bikes got drowned, but we were all wet from head to toe.

We stayed the night in the lovely town of St Bathans, an old gold mining town that had a very quaint pub. We stayed in a little house beside the pub. Great food and atmosphere.

The boys all get on like a house on fire.

Ill put some photos up.

Mike Coates
mikecoatesy@gmail.com
+61418650318

Regards,

Mike

Mike Coates
mikecoatesy@gmail.com
+61418650318

Roadside tyre repair 101 with Sweeper Steve

Steve, our sweep as a dab hand at fixing punctures