I was among the brave enough to tackle the elements and endure the 2016 Epic Events Desert Storm back in October, here’s how it went down We departed early Saturday morning to the isolated location near Waiouru off the desert road; we arrived shortly after 10am to find that the weather was not on our side. Through much discussion we found a spot to set up camp for the weekend.
Now the first and most tedious obstacle began, pitching our tent. As many father-son activities go this was open to arguments and frustrations, though Dad and I persevered and came out victorious with a completed tent and gazebo shelter. We set up our bikes and geared up for what was going to be a challenging and very wet weekend ahead, luckily for me, I had a brand new pair of Fox 2017 Instinct 2.0 boots to wear. We straddled our bikes and headed for the track, the start a long rocky dirt track which gave you an excellent chance to open up the bike, hitting speeds in excess of 120 km/h. A left bend in the track led into a very wet and muddy ride showing what was to come. The trails proved difficult, not for the inexperienced. With deep ruts and slippery mud it made for a cautious slow ride, opening up every now and then to a gravel road to stretch the legs and un-fog your goggles. The main trail followed the river. It was neat to ride along the river and duck in to the trails for the tight technical sections through the forest. We reached the mud hole, looked around for a moment and decided on how we were going to get through, the middle was a no go, and didn’t want to get stuck in there. We decided the left side wasn’t looking too bad as there was a section of land I could use for grip to get to the other side. I rode in slowly checking how deep it was – bad idea, as I didn’t have the momentum to get the other side. Jumped off then Dad and I pulled and pushed the trusty CRF out the other side. Now it was time to get Dads bike through, swung my leg over that beautiful TE300, started her up and pinned it, water and mud flying through the air as I emerged out the other side.
Despite my new Instinct boots no longer having that new look they held up well, although my body was soaked my feet were bone dry, not a drop had leaked through the boot and onto my feet. This was excellent; I had dry feet which helped with the lack of warmth being sub 10 degrees most of the day. They fitted well with a firm but comfortable feeling around the shin, ankle and foot. The hinge made for operating the brake and gear levers a breeze, despite the horrendous amount of mud the hinge system never became clogged and operated to perfection through out the weekend.
Despite my new Instinct boots no longer having that new look they held up well, although my body was soaked my feet were bone dry, not a drop had leaked through the boot and onto my feet. This was excellent; I had dry feet which helped with the lack of warmth being sub 10 degrees most of the day. They fitted well with a firm but comfortable feeling around the shin, ankle and foot. The hinge made for operating the brake and gear levers a breeze, despite the horrendous amount of mud the hinge system never became clogged and operated to perfection through out the weekend.
Overall the weekend was hard riding through the undesired conditions. Though we can put the negatives of the weekend down to the torrential rain. The weekend would have only been beaten with same epic event in good weather conditions, as the terrain and tracks were awesome.
I hope you get the chance to try out this ride next year, information on Epic Events rides is as below: http://www.epicevents.co.nz/page/5-home
See you out there!
Written by Matthew Reilly
