The Barkbusters 1 Day Southcoast Blitz kicked off on Saturday morning from City Coast Motorcycles in Wollongong with 10 riders eager to hit the trails.
We had some local riders and others traveled from Sydney in the north and Berry in the south to take part in the navigation event.
The NAVIG8 route used for this event was a great mix of tar twisties, country roads, gravel and dirt that was put together to cater for a diverse range of bikes and riders.
And that's exactly what we had, a mix of bikes and riders from an ex enduro rider to newcomers to adventure riding, standard bikes on factory tyres to well set up machines and experienced riders with a few rallies under their belt.
Stage 1: 171 kms.
Wollongong to Taralga.
After parking the 1190 at the finish and asked how his day was, David was heard to quietly mutter something like,
WOW BIG DAY!
Like a few of the riders, Jean travelled a couple of hours from Sydney to attend the ride, he arrived with a phone for navigation
At the 1st stop, we downloaded and installed an app and the route files for him, a quick run through of switching between the days tracks, waypoints and checkpoints, within 15minutes, he was off with everything he needed. . The next time we seen him and his Transalp, he was taking detours to the lookouts and floating along the trails without missing a turn for the next 300kms, he welcomed us with a smile at the finish, being one of the 1st to arrive.
After a great run for the first half of the day, we pulled into the Taralga checkpoint and lunch at The Ploughman Cafe. It was pretty clear there was a rider chasing the Wings Award, Riaan and his 1190R had been and gone, half an hour before the next rider.
An hour and 15 minute gap between the first and last rider check in times.
The rest of the riders enjoyed lunch together before heading off for stage 2.
Stage 2: 200kms.
Taralga to Shellharbour.
The first part of stage 2 wasn't unlike stage 1, clear skies and great trails, as the day progressed the clouds started looming and not long before the last forest run, the rain started.
Pictured above: (L to R) Elton, Michael and Anthony.
Although not a race, there's always some great prizes and awards using our points system on the navigation rides.
Outright.
Rider: Elton
Bike: Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sport
Nav: ZUMO
Prize: Entry into the 7 day Rally
Over 650.
Rider: Michael
Bike: 2018 Honda Africa Twin
Nav: ZUMO
Prize: BMW Raffle ticket
250-650.
DNF
Under 250.
Rider: Anthony
Bike: Honda Grom
Nav: ZUMO
Prize: Barkbuster BBZ Handguards
Wooden Spoons. (that we know of)
Anthony: 3
Elton: 2
Tu-tu's.
Richard: 1
Pink Whistle.
Dave: 1
Unfortunately for Mako the afternoon didn't go to plan, he cross rutted and spun around on one of the trails, a visit to hospital revealed he'd broken his leg just below the knee and is laid up for 6 weeks.
Currently leading the Kilometre Kruncher and Ironman challenges, he's a very experienced rider, it just wasn't his afternoon.
We also raised another $50 towards the RideToStopSuicide with a Rocky Creek Designs raffle.
Anthony won a Cable Lock and Elton won a Motopressor Tyre Guage.
We'd like to thank the riders that came along, Barkbusters and our supporting sponsors, sweep riders and 4WD support for another great event.
And thanks to the staff at Ploughman Cafe, Taralga and The Ocean Breeze Hotel, Shellharbour for looking after our checkpoints and providing great service once again.
It's only a few weeks until the next South Coast 2 day event, same popular format, with a mix of old and new trails.
Check the events blog for updates over the coming days.
See you out there!
The next BLITZ Navigation ride
