Saturday 14 April 2012

07th April Te Hana/TaPora and a visit to Dragon's Rest

Today our organised club ride would see us travelling well over 200kms of gravel and very dusty roads before we reach our designated luncheon stop at Dragon's Nest, 10kms out of Te Hana. 
Meeting at our early mng destination it was excellent to see such a broad cross section of bikes attending our rides now.  We have many that attend our rides of varying skill levels along with those that have been hardened enduro vets over the years and even those that simply become addicted to riding their ADV bikes to explore those more 'Out Of The Way' destinations and wishing to do it also 'Out Of Sealed' roading areas and the heavy traffic that goes with.
These gravel back country roads we ride now are home to many lifestyle block owners and our routes have now become 'The Routes well-travelled' also for many horse trucks etc that float their animals to events etc.  Being a gravel and off-road motorcyclist sees our band of adv riders competing for road space with the likes of many 4 x 4 vehicles who consider it their right of passage to bear down on these often very dusty trailways also.  A Saturday gravel ride can also see you contend with the odd one or two logging trucks as the many loose surface areas are often alongside the boundaries and bordering forestry areas also.  What makes this so enticing????   Stop, park it up and look to those ridgelines and take it all in.  The surreal quality of these almost painted landscapes the answer to this question. When two-wheeling it alongside these local forestry areas and the hundreds of km's of vast forever seemlessly green farmlands,  magic indeed and I never tire of riding the same route and taking in such magic settings.  This really is one big draw card.  (Self confessional)
After travelling thru our first section of very dusty roads we take a brief spell to organise our next stage journey.  This will now see us head thru more scenic landscapes and enter out via Makarau Junction and then into TePora.  If you have not visited this small peninsula just off the famed ROADIES circuit, you owe it yourself.  This is magic trapped into a timeless and very small area  of peninsula where time has seemed to stand still.
Yes, to dispel rumours, us girls also ride the looser stuff, and for some of us arriving at any form of  destination will not see us taking those busy and sealed highways and byways.  We will always look to find those roads Less Travelled that will ultimately lead us to our final destination.  This will often be a maze of inland areas and provide for excitement on the way to......
New members to our gravel adventure rides are on the increase with the many new and varied activities that we are looking to host for this brand new and very exciting adventure riders club based here in Auckland.  This club welcomes all makes and models of bikes.  WE also welcome all skill and age levels.  We do look as a new club to have gravel and basic off road skill sessions also available to assist any of our newer people or for those simply wishing to top-up that 'skill-bag' that we all carry along with us.  WE are very fortunate to have amongst us several members of this new club that come to us with a wealth of skills and experience not only on the looser stuff but also very skilled on the Roading Scene also.  Combination = perfect.  R-I-C John, seen her ensuring ALL numbers of our riders are in attendance before we head off again to travel on our next stage of our journey. Leaving that last small section of seal and preparing to travel onto our next gravel road area.
 Travelling 'back country' where once all of our routes would have been from the 'DUSTIER' variety, now with the development of life-style type farming blocks, sadly these more 'Out Of The Way' areas are slowly becoming SEALED.  Today, the many huge farming blocks and forestry areas of old  now becoming sold off as the land in today's world is so very valuable. Our riders seen here parked up and heading into another gravel road area that leads the group into the back country areas of Te Hana and our destination of nearly 200km's of DUST and more .........Dragon's Rest.

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