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.
Karen 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