Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 19:39
G'day Robin
Yes - a lot of orginization and a lot of gear to carry !! We usually had 2 traytops ( 1 Landcruiser and 1 Patrol plus 2 wagons sometimes 3 ) - normally 18 people with ten bikes so that meant - 18 swags, 18 clothes bags, 18 chairs, 4 fridges, 2
camp ovens, bbq, gas bottles, quick shades, lights, lots of food, water, firewood for
camp ovens - and that's before the bike stuff ! Three 44's of petrol for the bikes, two 44's of diesel for the cars, plus handle bars, chains, tyres, oil, tools etc etc etc !
Bugger me - don't know how we did it really - especially with 18 different personalities and ten different levels of rider abillity ! But we did it without too much drama.
Agree - some motorbike riders / groups shouldn't be out there, we have also helped out a few but having said that we have also helped some 4wdrivers that were ill prepared and gone out of our way to get them on the road again !
"You guys are tougher than me" Tougher ? More stupid ? Or just crazy ? Not sure which one suits best but of all the bikes I have ridden across the desert I found the XR 650 the easiest to ride - I seemed to be forever changing gears on the smaller capacity bikes. ( could just be my larger frame lol )
Some of the younger blokes who came on my trips asked me what the best training / preparation is for all the sand and the sand hills. That's easy I said - buy 5 tonne of play pit sand and spread it 300mm thick on the corner of your house, go inside and get all your riding gear on, boots, nylons, armour / jacket, gloves, helmut and goggles. Then, using a ladder, climb on the roof, go to the corner where the sand is and jump off - repeat this several times jumping backwards, sideways and with a couple forward rolls thrown in plus the occasional belly flopper / face plant ! Do this twice a week for a month and you are now prepared for the desert !!!
Why is it now I have the urge to ride the desert again ??? lol
All the best
Gazz
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