Words: Edd Shepherd / Photos: wilkinsonphotography.com.au
Taking on KTM’s Adventure Rallye
two-up is a challenge but Edd
Shepherd and Karen Grover proved
it can be done.
K
aren and I watched the full length
video of the 2016 North Island
KTM Rallye and were blown away
by the varied challenges the riders
faced and, in particular, by one
couple on a 950 Super Enduro –
not to mention the camaraderie
of all the participants. Karen asked
me, “Do you reckon we could do
this?” “Yes,” I replied, “We just need a KTM!”
We had just come back from South Africa
where we rode in group from Capetown to
Johannesburg. One of the guys on that trip, Gary
Donaldson, was on a KTM 1190R, and he had
taken part in the 2016 Rallye. Gary had decided
to sell that bike, and I needed one if I was to
enter the 2017 event, so a deal was struck.
I have been adventure riding for eight years
and have already experienced a lot of Central
Otago; so I tried to guess where the route might
go – I knew that if we did Black Forest, Broken
Hut, the Nevis and the Pylon Track, I could ride it
two up. I really wanted Karen to experience for
herself what I had been enjoying so much about
adventure riding, and about Central Otago.
As well as during our trip in South Africa, we
had ridden locally two-up on gravel roads and
the odd time on forestry tracks, but this would
be Karen’s first real off road experience. To be
fair I didn’t know how we would go, especially
if it was going to rain. When I told my mate,
Heath Botica, that we had entered two up, he
said “Why not?” And decided to enter along
with his wife too, who is also called Karen.
On the Saturday prior to the event we headed
off with the other Nelson KTM Rallye riders
I could sense the restrained
excitement of over 100 riders
and a few others, on the journey to Mt Cook.
Eleven bikes went through the Rainbow track
as far as Hanmer Springs for lunch. Then we
rode through McDonnel Downs farm and on to
Oxford for the night. What a great way to start!
It was at this point that I realised I was going
to be riding on an adventure rally for five days
while sitting down... something I wasn’t used to,
as I tend to stand on the pegs on gravel roads.
KIWI RIDER 23