riding post bikes down the beach
Words by: Swells
A Saturday shake down beach run.
The idea was to test the theory that we could ride our post bikes with surfboards alongside on an overnight camp trip scoring sweet waves at Rainbow beach. Our goals, test each bikes' modifications and find out how well a Honda CT110 – post bike, gets through the soft sand along the beach stretch. The idea being that if we could achieve this then an adventure bike ride to the other side of the world would be completely doable aboard the Honda CT110.
Forgetting that we had made plans for the shake down run while at the pub two days before I was woken by a text from Luke saying we were meeting at Dan's in half an hour. It was in my rush to get ready I realised that as the groups' nominated photo maker - I was a little unprepared. Not only was I lacking in photo and film making knowledge; but also lacking in any sort of redeeming qualities such as riding skills and preparedness.
Deciding to make up for this with a rad amount of enthusiasm I grabbed my flat battery GoPro and Nikon DSLR and left. Also at this point a mention of my negotiation skills with my lady friend, who was finding out now I was leaving for most likely the whole of the Saturday, is deserving of the McDonalds happy meal merit award.
At Dan's house last minute bike prep was going down- Luke and Dan removed a Link from Luke's chain while I attached the GoPro pole and Dan's half charged GoPro to the back of Luke’s bike. This is about the time my next postie bike upgrade became radically obvious - some sort of on-board charger for the camera, phone and GPS.
Hitting the road in formation, with me repeatedly signing the choruses of "High way to the danger zone" and "Thunderstruck" within the privacy of my helmet, we cruised up the high way. Exaggerating each gear change with 180` elbow movement and slip streaming each other on the 100km/hr section of highway probably did not increase our speed at all - but definitely increased my inner feelings of excitement and stoke.
Dan's bike having had a 150cc motor transplant at this point proved itself as a capable highway cruiser (or as close to that as a post bike will ever get). Sitting in full upright position flying along at 100km/hr Dan's side mirrors were empty of the envious onlookers that Luke and I collected.
Before we got to the serious stuff, gravel and sand,we had a quick break at the Boreen point pub wher we talked shop.
Having the least amount of riding experience, I struggled to keep up once we hit the gravel roads. Losing control of the bike momentarily while negotiating a sandy rut in an upward bend, I narrowly avoided what felt like a 50 ft. drop into the forest below and a spectacularly fiery death. At this point I was faced with the question I dared not ask myself while planning our trip to Ireland - was I a capable enough of a rider to make the 37,000 km distance? The answer - "Don't think about that now.....Highway to the danger zone....Danger Zone..."
We left the Rainbow beach surf club just after lunch and hit the beach with the tide running in, not ideal but gave us enough time to make the roughly 70 km trip. Riding a postie up the beach was a challenge that admittedly I was not prepared for, lucky for me both Luke and Dan shared some advice over lunch, and once on the beach demonstrated their skills by showing me just how far out in front they could get. Dan actually did laps up and down the beach, flying off into the distance, throttle held wide open, seemingly floating over all the soft sand with its endless 4WD ruts- then turning around coming back to offer revs of encouragement.
The first part of the beach leg for my money - was the hardest. The soft sand bogged the bike down and for the most part I had both feet in the sand pushing. The bike was in first gear revving out - using the complete 7 horses of power going nowhere. After some advice and practice I slowly got more confident at building speed on the harder stuff then holding the power down through the soft stuff.
We emerged from the cutting to find an overcast sky, storm clouds hung over head threatening rain, with the tide rising and a 50 km stretch of sand laying ahead we were heads down with throttles open - No matter how much salt water we rode through, or how many wash outs we jumped, or how soft the sand was - The mighty Honda CT 110's powered on.
Luke - perhaps from being a little more adventurous - suffered from suspected water into the air intake. But even this was unable to stop the postie for too long.
While my post bike took the punishment in its stride - I was not doing so well. My upper body ached from over-reacting to each and every rut during the first leg and I was soaked through (on several occasion I felt as though I was riding a jet ski out at sea). My boots were heavy with water and had an impossible amount of sand inside them. The bitumen road after the last cutting was a welcome sight.
In spite of this, the beach leg was by far my favorite.
When I first started riding a year and a half ago I was immediately hooked on the feeling of speed - accelerating at full throttle reaching 60 km/hr then removing my feet from the pegs holding them straight out in front and coasting down a hill smiling my face off. My next best stunt - standing up on the pegs - which I expertly pulled off every time I did a cruise by surf check at the hill at Alex. Now, cruising down the beach with ocean swells on one side and dunes on the other is by far my most favourite rad biscuits moment in my bike riding life.
After missing the official ride debrief the following day, I can only state here my trip conclusions:
Firstly for a camp trip to score sweet waves - completely doable, although I'll probably fall off and break my board in the sand - it's worth a shot.
Secondly for the ultimate goal of riding across the world to Ireland - the test 150cc motor that Dan and Ian have installed has held up to the punishment of hard riding (so far). It definitely out preformed the Honda motor in terms of speed and power (no flow?) but will it prove itself as an equally reliable work horse?
- A host of other small mods and gadgets, such as power for charging batteries, secure tool boxes with appropriate tool selection and blue-tooth headsets.
- Personally - I need a few more hours on board riding experience. I made the purchase of a proper riding jacket with stack pads from the local cash converters, and I am confident that with the stench of a million hard rides i will mystically inherit some of the previous owners riding ability.
A Saturday shake down beach run.
The idea was to test the theory that we could ride our post bikes with surfboards alongside on an overnight camp trip scoring sweet waves at Rainbow beach. Our goals, test each bikes' modifications and find out how well a Honda CT110 – post bike, gets through the soft sand along the beach stretch. The idea being that if we could achieve this then an adventure bike ride to the other side of the world would be completely doable aboard the Honda CT110.
Forgetting that we had made plans for the shake down run while at the pub two days before I was woken by a text from Luke saying we were meeting at Dan's in half an hour. It was in my rush to get ready I realised that as the groups' nominated photo maker - I was a little unprepared. Not only was I lacking in photo and film making knowledge; but also lacking in any sort of redeeming qualities such as riding skills and preparedness.
Deciding to make up for this with a rad amount of enthusiasm I grabbed my flat battery GoPro and Nikon DSLR and left. Also at this point a mention of my negotiation skills with my lady friend, who was finding out now I was leaving for most likely the whole of the Saturday, is deserving of the McDonalds happy meal merit award.
At Dan's house last minute bike prep was going down- Luke and Dan removed a Link from Luke's chain while I attached the GoPro pole and Dan's half charged GoPro to the back of Luke’s bike. This is about the time my next postie bike upgrade became radically obvious - some sort of on-board charger for the camera, phone and GPS.
Hitting the road in formation, with me repeatedly signing the choruses of "High way to the danger zone" and "Thunderstruck" within the privacy of my helmet, we cruised up the high way. Exaggerating each gear change with 180` elbow movement and slip streaming each other on the 100km/hr section of highway probably did not increase our speed at all - but definitely increased my inner feelings of excitement and stoke.
Dan's bike having had a 150cc motor transplant at this point proved itself as a capable highway cruiser (or as close to that as a post bike will ever get). Sitting in full upright position flying along at 100km/hr Dan's side mirrors were empty of the envious onlookers that Luke and I collected.
Before we got to the serious stuff, gravel and sand,we had a quick break at the Boreen point pub wher we talked shop.
Having the least amount of riding experience, I struggled to keep up once we hit the gravel roads. Losing control of the bike momentarily while negotiating a sandy rut in an upward bend, I narrowly avoided what felt like a 50 ft. drop into the forest below and a spectacularly fiery death. At this point I was faced with the question I dared not ask myself while planning our trip to Ireland - was I a capable enough of a rider to make the 37,000 km distance? The answer - "Don't think about that now.....Highway to the danger zone....Danger Zone..."
We left the Rainbow beach surf club just after lunch and hit the beach with the tide running in, not ideal but gave us enough time to make the roughly 70 km trip. Riding a postie up the beach was a challenge that admittedly I was not prepared for, lucky for me both Luke and Dan shared some advice over lunch, and once on the beach demonstrated their skills by showing me just how far out in front they could get. Dan actually did laps up and down the beach, flying off into the distance, throttle held wide open, seemingly floating over all the soft sand with its endless 4WD ruts- then turning around coming back to offer revs of encouragement.
The first part of the beach leg for my money - was the hardest. The soft sand bogged the bike down and for the most part I had both feet in the sand pushing. The bike was in first gear revving out - using the complete 7 horses of power going nowhere. After some advice and practice I slowly got more confident at building speed on the harder stuff then holding the power down through the soft stuff.
We emerged from the cutting to find an overcast sky, storm clouds hung over head threatening rain, with the tide rising and a 50 km stretch of sand laying ahead we were heads down with throttles open - No matter how much salt water we rode through, or how many wash outs we jumped, or how soft the sand was - The mighty Honda CT 110's powered on.
Luke - perhaps from being a little more adventurous - suffered from suspected water into the air intake. But even this was unable to stop the postie for too long.
While my post bike took the punishment in its stride - I was not doing so well. My upper body ached from over-reacting to each and every rut during the first leg and I was soaked through (on several occasion I felt as though I was riding a jet ski out at sea). My boots were heavy with water and had an impossible amount of sand inside them. The bitumen road after the last cutting was a welcome sight.
In spite of this, the beach leg was by far my favorite.
When I first started riding a year and a half ago I was immediately hooked on the feeling of speed - accelerating at full throttle reaching 60 km/hr then removing my feet from the pegs holding them straight out in front and coasting down a hill smiling my face off. My next best stunt - standing up on the pegs - which I expertly pulled off every time I did a cruise by surf check at the hill at Alex. Now, cruising down the beach with ocean swells on one side and dunes on the other is by far my most favourite rad biscuits moment in my bike riding life.
After missing the official ride debrief the following day, I can only state here my trip conclusions:
Firstly for a camp trip to score sweet waves - completely doable, although I'll probably fall off and break my board in the sand - it's worth a shot.
Secondly for the ultimate goal of riding across the world to Ireland - the test 150cc motor that Dan and Ian have installed has held up to the punishment of hard riding (so far). It definitely out preformed the Honda motor in terms of speed and power (no flow?) but will it prove itself as an equally reliable work horse?
- A host of other small mods and gadgets, such as power for charging batteries, secure tool boxes with appropriate tool selection and blue-tooth headsets.
- Personally - I need a few more hours on board riding experience. I made the purchase of a proper riding jacket with stack pads from the local cash converters, and I am confident that with the stench of a million hard rides i will mystically inherit some of the previous owners riding ability.
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