After a great morning ride out at Eteza with Jerome and Trivina, I kept the bikes on the trailer, made my way to Richards Bay and hooked up with Joffry, who was only too happy to join me on my quest to find the Birdswood Quad Playground.
After confirming GPS co-ordinates with Mitch, and getting some bush orientation from local residents, we made our way through a really nice sandy trail, ending up at the track.
Joffer took to the air on the Hawkeye, and the Trailblazer burnt up the track something vicious - definitely a place to bring the crew.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Anxiety ? What Anxiety ?!!!
Check out Jerome, showing us how it's done....
Making the trip out to Eteza early in the AM, I met up with Jerome and Trivina for a morning of outrides.
Helping Trivina to overcome her fears after her spill with her bike, I encouraged her to ride Heidi's Trailblazer, which allowed her to handle the trail without a hassle....
Jerome and I had a really blazing lap, tearing around corners and up and down obstacles with our only concern being how to avoid the branches of the thorn trees, at top speed !
I ended the morning session with a couple of laps around the track on the Trailblazer, grabbing big air on some of the jumps.
Just before we left, we chatted with a family who brought their teenager there with his Blaster - we only stayed cos we first thought it was a Banshee, but we cut the story short when the truth was revealed....
Trivvi, giving it gas, up an incline on the Eteza outride
Monday, December 25, 2006
Xmas Eve family outride
Finally got the family out to Eteza, on Xmas eve for an outride.
We met up with Jerome and Gary, and were also joined there by Schalk and Daleen.
Much fun was had by all, especially me, and especially while catching some air on Heidi's Trailblazer....
Date : 24 December 2006
Riders: Aroon/Aziz, Heidi/Adam, Jerome, Gary, Schalk/Daleen
Bikes : Polaris Hawkeye, Polaris Trailblazer, Yamaha Raptor 350, Yamaha Big Bear 250
This was Gary's first outing, and he and the Big Bear handled themselves pretty well - the bike is quite light for a utility, and the engine is well-responsive. The transmission is semi-auto with 5 forward gears and reverse.
Other bikes at the venue included a Polaris Scrambler 500 (yummy!), Bombardier DS 250 and a Yamaha Banshee (legend !) - that Banshee sounded intimidating, and was tearing up the trail and the track!
Later on, a couple of racers joined with a Suzuki LTZ 400 and a Honda 400 - it was embarrassing to be on the track at the same time as these guys !
The trail at Eteza has a good variety of terrain, and quite a number of mildly technical sections, with loads of shady picnic spots down near the river - we will definitely be visiting this area more often! According to Jerome's chat with Leon, the owner, there are plans afoot to build a clubhouse near the track during the next year or so....
Gary and I were at the head of the pack, and took a wrong turn mid-trip and ended up taking quite a long detour, returning to the parking area over an hour later....we had fun though, and Gary appears to have been nibbled by the bug.
I am now on a mission to find other trails for us to visit in the near vicinity (+/- 100kay radius) - on the shortlist : Coastal Outdoor Adventures in Ging, River Quad Trails near Ballito, and Mtonjaneni Lodge near Ulundi.
The other mission is to find myself a Scrambler 500 (!!!)
We met up with Jerome and Gary, and were also joined there by Schalk and Daleen.
Much fun was had by all, especially me, and especially while catching some air on Heidi's Trailblazer....
Date : 24 December 2006
Riders: Aroon/Aziz, Heidi/Adam, Jerome, Gary, Schalk/Daleen
Bikes : Polaris Hawkeye, Polaris Trailblazer, Yamaha Raptor 350, Yamaha Big Bear 250
This was Gary's first outing, and he and the Big Bear handled themselves pretty well - the bike is quite light for a utility, and the engine is well-responsive. The transmission is semi-auto with 5 forward gears and reverse.
Other bikes at the venue included a Polaris Scrambler 500 (yummy!), Bombardier DS 250 and a Yamaha Banshee (legend !) - that Banshee sounded intimidating, and was tearing up the trail and the track!
Later on, a couple of racers joined with a Suzuki LTZ 400 and a Honda 400 - it was embarrassing to be on the track at the same time as these guys !
The trail at Eteza has a good variety of terrain, and quite a number of mildly technical sections, with loads of shady picnic spots down near the river - we will definitely be visiting this area more often! According to Jerome's chat with Leon, the owner, there are plans afoot to build a clubhouse near the track during the next year or so....
Gary and I were at the head of the pack, and took a wrong turn mid-trip and ended up taking quite a long detour, returning to the parking area over an hour later....we had fun though, and Gary appears to have been nibbled by the bug.
I am now on a mission to find other trails for us to visit in the near vicinity (+/- 100kay radius) - on the shortlist : Coastal Outdoor Adventures in Ging, River Quad Trails near Ballito, and Mtonjaneni Lodge near Ulundi.
The other mission is to find myself a Scrambler 500 (!!!)
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Outride essential gear - Towrope !
Yip, I actually could have used a towrope today ! To tow Thuko out of a seat-high water hazard !
He was on Aziz's 50cc bike, and we were exploring the outride/enduro trail at Eteza for the first time.
No pictures this time, since I didn't carry my camera (?!) but the entire family thoroughly enjoyed the adventure !!! We packed a picnic basket, which fitted very nicely onto my rear frame, and stopped off at the river for some juices and light snacks....
Heidi's Trailblazer handled the trail with ease, and though there were some steep sections, she was all smiles.
I was also impressed with Aziz's little no name brand 50cc - it handled all the ups and downs without trouble, and only got stuck in the bog because of it's tiny size - it started up almost immediately after being rescued from the water. Aziz's riding confidence is still increasing with each ride, and Thuko is fast warming to the riding culture - he's gonna need his own bike soon....
My Hawkeye continues to impress me as well, with the top notch ride comfort and handling, and the load carrying versatility, it's going to take a long while for me to outgrow this bike.
On the road to Eteza, I hit a bump pretty hard, and dented the rear of my trailer, and I managed to completely destroy both my stabilizer rods - luckily, we know a good panelbeater !
We're off to Eteza again tomorrow morning, for a brunch outing with Jerome and family - I will remember my camera and also pack a towrope this time !
He was on Aziz's 50cc bike, and we were exploring the outride/enduro trail at Eteza for the first time.
No pictures this time, since I didn't carry my camera (?!) but the entire family thoroughly enjoyed the adventure !!! We packed a picnic basket, which fitted very nicely onto my rear frame, and stopped off at the river for some juices and light snacks....
Heidi's Trailblazer handled the trail with ease, and though there were some steep sections, she was all smiles.
I was also impressed with Aziz's little no name brand 50cc - it handled all the ups and downs without trouble, and only got stuck in the bog because of it's tiny size - it started up almost immediately after being rescued from the water. Aziz's riding confidence is still increasing with each ride, and Thuko is fast warming to the riding culture - he's gonna need his own bike soon....
My Hawkeye continues to impress me as well, with the top notch ride comfort and handling, and the load carrying versatility, it's going to take a long while for me to outgrow this bike.
On the road to Eteza, I hit a bump pretty hard, and dented the rear of my trailer, and I managed to completely destroy both my stabilizer rods - luckily, we know a good panelbeater !
We're off to Eteza again tomorrow morning, for a brunch outing with Jerome and family - I will remember my camera and also pack a towrope this time !
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Resource - Quad biking safety tips
Some terrific safety tips can be found at the ATV Safety institute website
Particularly this document which is a pdf download with great sketches and practice tips & drills for beginners
Particularly this document which is a pdf download with great sketches and practice tips & drills for beginners
Give us this day our daily ride !
Yip - that's a hot number ! And, the bike's not bad either!
Heidi and Adam sitting atop the Polaris Trailblazer 250, waiting for Zi's bike to be topped up with fuel, just before our 3rd ride this week!
The bike is quite large as can be seen in the pic, and is REALLY comfy, with plenty power under the throttle.
I am pretty happy with the trailer I got, seeing that I managed to load all 3 bikes onto it this evening, and found it rather trouble-free to manuever into position on my own.
(bikes are loaded, in anticipation of a trip out to Eteza tomorrow....watch for report back on this one)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
More pics from Sunday's outride
Thaven, trying to get Ashika jubilant about having crossed the train line - moments later, a train passed that very spot, at top speed ! We wont be doing that again in a hurry !
Thaven, taking the long way around this water feature....
Ashika, leaning back into her seat, after reaching home base at the end of a fun and fulfilling ride
Aziz couldn't wait much longer to get going....
Heidi and Adam didn't get going at all, this being the first and last time the No Limit 150 ATV was to see any rider action....On the Road !
Cheating the weather, though it did rain a little, we had a great outride exploring the forest roads around Kwambonambi, as an introduction to quad biking for Ashika.
We turned back for Heidi and Adam, but her bike didn't work ! Gotta see about that !!!
WW wishes Thaven and Ashika a great trip to India, and we hope that they can handle the long wait until our next ride together....
Date : 10 December
Riders : Aroon + Aziz, Jerome, Thaven, Ashika
Bikes : Polaris 300 Hawkeye, 350 Raptor, 700 Raptor, 200c ATV
Route : General exploring along forest paths in and around Kwambonambi
We turned back for Heidi and Adam, but her bike didn't work ! Gotta see about that !!!
WW wishes Thaven and Ashika a great trip to India, and we hope that they can handle the long wait until our next ride together....
Date : 10 December
Riders : Aroon + Aziz, Jerome, Thaven, Ashika
Bikes : Polaris 300 Hawkeye, 350 Raptor, 700 Raptor, 200c ATV
Route : General exploring along forest paths in and around Kwambonambi
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Launch of Weekend Warriors BLOG
Welcome to Weekend Warriors, the BLOG pages of Team WW, a bunch of fellers (thus far, no chix), in Zululand, South Africa, trying to get to grips with quad biking in the Great Outdoors....
Visit here for updates of our weekend antics, and anticipate the following :
Photos of our trips
GPS co-ordinates of our trails and destinations
Discussions on the bikes we ride
Visit here for updates of our weekend antics, and anticipate the following :
Photos of our trips
GPS co-ordinates of our trails and destinations
Discussions on the bikes we ride
Jolly Rubino
Date : Friday 1st December 2006Riders : Aroon, Thaven, Jerome, Vincent
Bikes : Raptor 350, Raptor 700, Raptor 350, Raptor 700
Conditions : Overcast, but dry
Trail : Kwambonambi to Mapelane, to the wreck of the Jolly Rubino
GPS : eTrex Legend
Camera : CANON digital IXUS
Refreshments : lots of powerade
Bikes : Raptor 350, Raptor 700, Raptor 350, Raptor 700
Conditions : Overcast, but dry
Trail : Kwambonambi to Mapelane, to the wreck of the Jolly Rubino
GPS : eTrex LegendCamera : CANON digital IXUS
Refreshments : lots of powerade
Average speed : 65 kph
Maximum speed : 121 kph (oops!!!)
Duration of trip out : 1.5 hrs
Duration of trip back : 1 hr
Thaven had gotten the co-ordinates for the wreck to load into his GPS, and was very keen to navigate by handheld....
After a delay waiting for Vincent's borrowed bike's key to be brought to Kwambo (left it behind, somehow !) we made off towards the Jolly Rubino, on the Mapelane road. After a couple of detours, following the GPS rather than gut feel, we got back onto the main Mapelane road and gassed it to the beach.
The entire trip took us about 2.5hrs.
Some safety tips :
1. when riding in built-up areas, SLOW DOWN
2. riding on roads (tarred or gravel) - keep to the left, and in single file - the gravel roads were quite dusty, and we tried to keep out of the dust by riding two abreast, but after dodging local traffic, we switched to single file.
3. note that tarred roads with large potholes can be more hazardous than dirt tracks, for quads ! the quads don't handle that well on tar, especially at speed in corners.
PS. Cow droppings are far more difficult to navigate than potholes.
Gadgets to get for next trip : Hydropack - taking off helmets just to take a sip became quite annoying !
Friday, November 24, 2006
Van Heerden's Farm aka Eteza Track
Riders : Aroon,Thaven, Jerome
Bikes : Yamaha Raptor 700, Yamaha Raptor 350
Trail : Eteza motorcross track
GPS : eTrex Legend
added this location as a waypoint
Conditions : Track was nice and dry, even though it had rained a bit that morning. Up above, it was overcast and late afternoon sun was gentle and fading.
After attending the family day the previous weekend at this location, I was keen to bring Thaven out to the track.
Borrowing Craig's trailer, we got two Raptors to the track, with Thaven succeeding in twisting Jeromé's rubber arm to make the trip.
Once we arrived at the track, I tried to drive up to the farmhouse to pay our track fees, but after ending up tangling with the neighbours' boerboels, and almost sticking the wheels of the Colt in some really soft sand, I decided to pay twice next time !
Though I didn't have a bike for the session, we took turns doing a couple of laps each at a time, and swapping riders.
We had a fun time going through the corners, and jumps, and were quite stiff in the chest, arms and back for days afterwards !
Bikes : Yamaha Raptor 700, Yamaha Raptor 350
Trail : Eteza motorcross track
GPS : eTrex Legend
added this location as a waypoint
Conditions : Track was nice and dry, even though it had rained a bit that morning. Up above, it was overcast and late afternoon sun was gentle and fading.
After attending the family day the previous weekend at this location, I was keen to bring Thaven out to the track.
Borrowing Craig's trailer, we got two Raptors to the track, with Thaven succeeding in twisting Jeromé's rubber arm to make the trip.
Once we arrived at the track, I tried to drive up to the farmhouse to pay our track fees, but after ending up tangling with the neighbours' boerboels, and almost sticking the wheels of the Colt in some really soft sand, I decided to pay twice next time !
Though I didn't have a bike for the session, we took turns doing a couple of laps each at a time, and swapping riders.
We had a fun time going through the corners, and jumps, and were quite stiff in the chest, arms and back for days afterwards !
P.S - check out the pilots and their flying machines
Sunday, November 19, 2006
North Coast Kawasaki Family Day
Riders :
Aroon - borrowed Debbie's (Craig Byrne's missus) quad
Aziz - sat in front of Dad
Trail : 10-15 km trail on Van Heerden's farm
GPS : no
Bikes : Kawasaki (?) 80cc semi-automatic
North Coast Kawasaki hosted a motorcross family day at Van Heerden's farm (Eteza track) with some quad bikes on demo.
Amongst the bikes there, was the AEON Crossland 300 which seemed like and interesting bike, but I didn't get to ride it since a young chick hogged it most of the time.
I bumped into Craig and Family (incl. Debbie and Liam) who are FULLY into the quadding scene.
Debbie kindly loaned me her bike, and Zi and I thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic little (10-15kay) outride that had been prepared around the river, hills and bushes.
Due to us not wearing helmets (!), I proceeded VERRY cautiously, and was a but nervy around some of the more technical sections....rightly so, since young Liam did manage to take his new REVO 100 for a short swim in the river - that could SO have been us !
While watching some of the motorcross earlier, we had witnessed an accident, that reminded us of the inherent dangers of the sport we were about to enter - turns out the guy who fell on one of the jumps might end up being paralyzed !
(see this link for more info - Horror crash at motorcross fun day)
Aroon - borrowed Debbie's (Craig Byrne's missus) quad
Aziz - sat in front of Dad
Trail : 10-15 km trail on Van Heerden's farm
GPS : no
Bikes : Kawasaki (?) 80cc semi-automatic
North Coast Kawasaki hosted a motorcross family day at Van Heerden's farm (Eteza track) with some quad bikes on demo.
Amongst the bikes there, was the AEON Crossland 300 which seemed like and interesting bike, but I didn't get to ride it since a young chick hogged it most of the time.
I bumped into Craig and Family (incl. Debbie and Liam) who are FULLY into the quadding scene.
Debbie kindly loaned me her bike, and Zi and I thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic little (10-15kay) outride that had been prepared around the river, hills and bushes.
Due to us not wearing helmets (!), I proceeded VERRY cautiously, and was a but nervy around some of the more technical sections....rightly so, since young Liam did manage to take his new REVO 100 for a short swim in the river - that could SO have been us !
While watching some of the motorcross earlier, we had witnessed an accident, that reminded us of the inherent dangers of the sport we were about to enter - turns out the guy who fell on one of the jumps might end up being paralyzed !
(see this link for more info - Horror crash at motorcross fun day)
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Lake Mzingazi via Kwambonambi Forest
Sijmen van der Merwe - Honda Foreman 500
Aroon Patel - Honda Rincon 680
Thaven Naidoo - Yamaha Raptor 700
We met early on a Sunday morning, after borrowing Sijmen's trailer to cart Thaven's bike up to Kwambo, then followed Sijmen through forest haulage tracks and trails to the Northern tip of Lake Mzingazi.
There's apparently a hippo in these waters, and pretty good fishing too....
Duration : approx 1.5 hrs round trip
Conditions : dry and hot
How do I start this thing ?
Adam on the RÏNCON, just after our outride to the Lake; once he's on, he just can't get off !
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