KIWI RIDER 01 2019 VOL.2 | Page 73

All the farm boys and girls out there are used to this but here at Kiwi Rider we’re stuck behind keyboards most of the week t all started with a text message. I’d been complaining that I needed to get out on the bike more often, so the next day a message came through from our esteemed publisher, Vege, “Sean Clarke’s got a trail ride on at the weekend, give him a shout and go help mark out the ride”. Seemed easy enough. On the Friday night I loaded our long term KTM 300EXC TPI onto the trailer and drove the scenic down to Tokoroa. I don’t know about you, but I reckon most of us just pay our money and turn up to ride. You know, just hand over the cash, go thrash around with a bunch of other hoons for a few hours and then head home for a jetwash and cold beer. This trail ride was going to be different, it was time to be a, err, giver rather than a taker... as it were. Up early on the Saturday morning I was glad to be functioning with a clear head having only had a couple of beers the night before – it could have been a terrible start to the day. Looking like rain was on the way, it was only a 30 minute drive down to the forest at Ohakuri – heading past what is possibly the cheapest fuel in NZ at the Gull on SH1 next door to the Beez Neez, just south of Kinleith. It was something like $1.86 per litre – can’t go wrong at that price.