Road bike Sam goes dirt
As a valued customer of Chris Watson Motorcycles, Sam discussed adventure riding with resident chief technician – and part time RideADV sweep rider – Lincoln Brien. One ride on a demo Ténéré World Raid was enough to persuade Sam to buy the big twin. And with thousands of ADV kms under his wheels, Lincoln was the right man to prep the bike for Sam. To sweeten the deal and to thank Sam for the 10 or so models he has purchased from Chris Watson over the years, the dealer paid for him to attend RideADV’s Introduction to Adventure Riding weekend on 17-18 August.
Based out of the RideADV HQ at Mangrove Mountain, the two-day intro event is aimed at people like Sam who are eager to learn off-road riding techniques. On the first day, tour leader Mick Strong takes the 30-odd rider group to an area where slow speed figure eight manouevres can be practised.
Body position – especially while standing – is something that road riders need to learn to become competent when the tar road ends. Sam is an eager student and learns plenty by following Abbey the mid-pack sweep. Abbey is proof that you don’t need to be tall or strong to ride a big twin.
The ride starts off easy and builds to more technical trails and the group are soon looking down a rutted section of Red Hill Road in Ourimbah State Forest. Recent rain has filled up the potholes making line selection even more of a focus – but no dramas for the intro riders.
There is a wide range of skills and abilities and an even wider range of machinery on the ride, which is open to owners of all brands. A trio from the Central Coast has turned up on three Hondas – one a CT125 postie bike and another a 40-year-old CT200 farm bike – fair play to them. As RideADV states – it’s your ride and your adventure.
Sam admitted to be ‘bricking it’ before the weekend, but he needn’t have worried. The crew at RideADV take always take the group and conditions into consideration and tweak the route accordingly. Plus this wasn’t his very first rodeo as he had already been out riding with his mate and fellow Ténéré owner Leon Cutts.
Back at Mangrove Mountain there are camping spots available and around the camp-fire that evening Mick demonstrates tyre changing as Abbey and Liz fire up the BBQ.
The next morning sees a run up Watagan Creek Road that is muddy in sections and really focuses concentration. Then the group heads through the Watagans to Heaton lookout, lunch at Freemans Waterhole and back through the state forest to Mangrove Mountain. On the way we stop to chat about all things adventure – bike setup, GPS, suspension, essential tools and more.
Armed with the confidence of a solid weekend on dirt roads, Sam has booked in for an upcoming RideADV five-day ride to Canberra via Mudgee and Forbes – the Police Wall-to-Wall Remembrance event. On this ride Sam’s looking forward to collecting even more style tips from dirt bike legend Stephen Gall – the man who wrote the book on dirt bike training.