had no idea what to expect from this ride. I’ d travelled down to Havelock in my little truck with my‘ new to me’ Montesa 4Ride trials-based bike in the back and wanted to kick start my adventure holiday with a nice easy organised event to gently get into my groove. How hilarious that expectation was. This was the first event of the year for the Marlborough Motorcycle Club( MMC) and the first club ride ever held on this farm. So, instead of having to negotiate different expectations and rules using multiple farms and crossing boundaries, this was entirely on one property. What an awesome property it is too. From almost the very start, we were climbing big, really big, steep hills up into the lower Queen Charlotte Sounds. I shot off with the first group of about ten riders knowing that, riding a trials-based bike, I was going to get swallowed up by all the MX and XC bikes as soon as the trail opened up.

Pretty soon I came across the first fail. A rider had overcooked things a bit and gone off the edge. The hills were so steep, he and his bike had tumbled down about 20 metres and, without help, his day was over( he was OK). I was going to stop but four other bikes beat me to it, so I rode on. He wasn’ t going to be the last bike rolling down the hillsides that day. After a few more ridge climbs and descents, we rode through a nice cool forest and soon after that, the real descent began. This was a wrist breaker, a brake fluid boiler and, yes, another opportunity to go off the edge. My super low first gear helped keep my speed down and I just kept dabbing the front brake to prevent it overheating. Stopping at one corner to pick up a fallen direction flag, I waited for a while as other riders swept past; many missed that corner and a few dumped their bikes. A quad overshot but with 4WD and a reverse gear, was able to rejoin the

KIWI RIDER 59