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Capital Quad ATV Club Ride reports.

Karapoti

Sunday 17th April 2011

This ride started as a “C-Grade” ride, but because of those bikes that did turn up, it became more of a “B-Grade” ride.

The Weather wasn’t the best, with rain falling as we unloaded the quads. Once everyone was ready we set off up the Karapoti Gorge, about 1km in we meet up with a Mountain Biker (MTB) who told us of his mate having hit a rock & needed an ambulance. He headed out to raise the alarm & we headed in to help his mate. We managed to get the MTB on to one of the quads & his bike & gear onto another quad. We got him to the car park about 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived in pouring rain. We have since heard that he is still in hospital with a punched lung & bad bruising, but will be OK in time.

We set off again & our ride leader showed us a few tracks that most of us hadn’t ridden before, these included Neil’s track, Ron’s track, top ridge track & the Rock Garden. Most of the tracks were really rutted, with short steep climbs, mud holes, creek crossings & all required 4X4. It was a full on day of quad riding with a couple of us running low on fuel, & that wasn’t just the quads! Nobody had their camera either, so we missed out on some awesome photos – next time!

This is a ride that we hope to repeat in the near future for those that didn’t have enough notice. We now have the website sorted, so hopefully this will give riders a bit more time to plan for a club ride with us.

By Vic Pratt

Maungakotuktuku Ride - C Grade

Sunday 08 May 2011

The day started out wet and overcast in the Hutt, we headed up to Paraparaumu and the sun came out. The riding conditions were perfect, wet under foot, no dust.

Eleven riders turned up and we headed off into the Maungatuks. We were riding for about an hour and ended up in the pines where big D found a hill just begging to be climbed. Well half way up that hill and 15 pounds of air in those tires wasn’t going to cut it. A little tip - when the bikes are heading uphill and you get stuck, never get off and stand behind your bike.

After that we had 2 men down, and 9 headed towards the summit looking for something that was going to raise the blood pressure. We stopped for lunch at the top entrance to Neils track. All refreshed we headed down the track, within minutes we had a 2011 Raptor 700 on its back, with a panadol needed for the rider, unfortunately S.K has used them all up. After dusting off the Raptor we carried on.

For the next 2 hours the Raptor had its ass dragged through every bog and a number of other sportsters needed a helping hand from time to time. I must say, Max’s LZ 250 sportster handled the bogs better than most, with a little bit of skill and that little bit of extra ground clearance really worked for him.

We made it out to the bottom of Neils track, washed off at the river and headed back to the carpark, rounding up the day at about quarter to 4, still with no rain, sun shining and no wind to speak of. The forecast was completely wrong for the whole day.

Thanks to Allen for leading the ride.

By Gavin Burgess

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