The perfect recipe for a great time ... motorcycles , cheap tents , a field in winter at Ruapehu and beer climbs look easy aboard his screaming GSX- R600-powered dirt bike , then with a pillion , then another and even sat on the bars , it wasn ’ t going to take much needling from Doug until I gave in . I went and got the GS and trickled down to the hillclimb start and signed up , letting the old girl warm up before the action . The first attempt barely got me through the start gate , the back wheel just spinning - barely able to get 230kg of bike moving on the soft , damp grass . I spun around and went back through the gate with a run-up , which got me about halfway up before we came to a halt . An awkward stop and turn could have gone wrong if Doug hadn ’ t run over and steadied the bike . Back to the bottom and a re-think . Unwilling to admit defeat , I let most of the air out of the back tyre - if this didn ’ t work nothing would . Another run-up … and with the old air-cooled motor singing , it found grip and sailed through the earlier failure point . We were going to make it ! A bit of spinning near the top and pumping the suspension for grip and we made it over the top . I was pumped ! And bloody glad I ’ d not broken anything for the ride home - time to put it away . I was stoked to get the prize for the best road-legal bike hillclimb at the evening prize-giving . So , we celebrated with some more bourbon and cokes before heading back to the tents . Around midnight the wind started blowing . Really blowing . Blowing hard enough that we helped people tie their tents down to their bikes . One father and son slept in their riding gear and helmets because their tent was letting
The burnout competition had an enthusiastic crowd waiting for the ‘ pop ’
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