art_tas
Getting the hang of it
Tiger Snare!
Well I should have guessed when “Mr Tiger” himself Wayne suggests a Q.L.D (quiet little dirt) 330 km DS ride to run in the new black Tiger. “We’ll go east to the Coast and then to the centre using Oatlands in the middle for a chicane” – sounds like fun!....I’m in….even though this one turns out to be a Tiger Snare!
After collecting Andrew on his near new GS12…. I figured that at least balances out the Euro set a bit …like up from 1 to 2…I get the feeling I’m in a Tiger Snare.
We meet up with Dale (DR 650 - Woody day out) at Sorell and decide who is going to ride the Safeway Aero 250?? Even with the trolley we are out numbered by a colour wave of Tigers – Black (06), Silver (06) and Green (O….shit it’s Dave!)
We regroup and soon zero in on the dirt Wielangta forest with sticky clay and some loose gravel …yep…should sort the group out. This c. 40Km dirt road is a must do if you are a DS fan, exit the Arthur Hwy (Port Arthur rd) at the second Nugent/Kellevie sign (its in the b/ground)
The Tigers (and Dale) have…..vanished…only ruts and the odd compression lock up in the clay the only signs that we are on the same piece of dirt. The road here is challenging and varies from hard rocky sections to slimy clay where heavier vehicles have pushed the clay into sheets. This is a remnant rain forest that gets its only showers from the nearby Tasman Sea only a few kms East and it’s unusually damp in places but that’s great – no dust!
Again we regroup closer to the coast and take the very narrow but nice run along past Rheban beach..
..you may miss this turn off but they both end up at Orford.
Along this road take it easy..the view is awesome over your right shoulder that’s Mercury Passage and the awesome peaks on Maria Is. ( only MTB on that one L)
You can meet 4WDs with boats etc. on this 1 laner. We run close together as we prepare to stop at Orford.
You can get a great coffee or snack here but we decide on a quick run along the Tasman Hwy West to Buckland – this is my favourite set of tar bends - it takes an hour to wipe the smile off after we tuck into hot coffees and snacks at the Buckland roadhouse. Here Andrew departs on the GS12 for some errands and the Tiger entrapped crew head North up to Woodsdale and then Parratah – more dirt calls!
This 60km road is a pearler – DS only … it starts tight, almost single lane and then turns into a log truck/farm road that has some tight sections and then lots of loose gravel – blind corners that you can meet a 4WD or other vehicles so the lead bike has to keep their wits up.
We regroup again to ensure no corner marks are needed – it’s cool..ish about 13 degs but fresh and crisp – no need for heated grips as super concentration keeps you focused. From here the gravel ends and a single laner takes over as we run over Mt Seymour (more a bump than Mt but I see the temp drop to 9 degs and you can feel it…brrrr).
The lean angle on some of the tar corners is mimicked by a local shed..if you tilt the photo it looks fine!
But we are all upright and still fresh for more – on to Oatlands and across the Midlands Hwy …West to more dirt.
We ran straight on past Oatlands and up the end of the Tunbridge Tier toward Lake Sorell– bound for Interlaken and another 28 kms of dirt to cover. This road has it all – hard pack good for 170+, loose stones, ruts, potholes, fine gravel – it’s all there and each corner is different – off camber RH downhill (love those - NOT!) , sweeping LH uphill – now that’s better J Again a regroup at “the stump” and time to swap a few yarns of the progress to here.
Tim (Silver back) is enjoying his first big day on the brown tar and loves his Tiger that much it’s rumored there could be some cubs due soon
)
Wayne stops Tim before he does something nasty and we pack and go… still 43 kms of dirt to go before Bothwell
Three of us get on ahead on the Interlaken/Bothwell bit and it’s so good – hardly much dust and good speed on the hard pack. A few loose bits but if you take care in the tight stuff you can cover this road fast.
We regroup after Bothwell and some fuel for the DR and this time it’s a Triumph tool-fest as they play “name the Triumph tool” a sport us owners of proper bikes do not understand)
Dale is so bored with all this mechanical stuffing about …he puts a video on!
His new DR is fitted with the Samsung GPS that doubles as a VCR – the LCD screen up front is neat and on the RAM mount is visible at speeds up to 200kmh!! That’s fooly sick!!. Only problem is all this shakey dirt has loosened the base plate bracket and he has to stow the head unit in my Top Box – cheap Taiwanese GPS bracket…baaaahh L
I thought we were nuts…and yep…I found a pile of them at Dave’s back wheel to prove it!
But it’s alls well that ends OK..so we saddle up and ..have a nice day.
Back home via New Norfolk and another superb Winter Dirtscapade in Tassie even if it was a Tiger Snare. We will have to round up some more V Stroms next time– any spare over there Poite??
Only job remaining was to clean the beasts and I manage to catch one of the Tigers in a steam snare - it snarled and sneezed a bit!)
ART
Well I should have guessed when “Mr Tiger” himself Wayne suggests a Q.L.D (quiet little dirt) 330 km DS ride to run in the new black Tiger. “We’ll go east to the Coast and then to the centre using Oatlands in the middle for a chicane” – sounds like fun!....I’m in….even though this one turns out to be a Tiger Snare!
After collecting Andrew on his near new GS12…. I figured that at least balances out the Euro set a bit …like up from 1 to 2…I get the feeling I’m in a Tiger Snare.
We meet up with Dale (DR 650 - Woody day out) at Sorell and decide who is going to ride the Safeway Aero 250?? Even with the trolley we are out numbered by a colour wave of Tigers – Black (06), Silver (06) and Green (O….shit it’s Dave!)
We regroup and soon zero in on the dirt Wielangta forest with sticky clay and some loose gravel …yep…should sort the group out. This c. 40Km dirt road is a must do if you are a DS fan, exit the Arthur Hwy (Port Arthur rd) at the second Nugent/Kellevie sign (its in the b/ground)
The Tigers (and Dale) have…..vanished…only ruts and the odd compression lock up in the clay the only signs that we are on the same piece of dirt. The road here is challenging and varies from hard rocky sections to slimy clay where heavier vehicles have pushed the clay into sheets. This is a remnant rain forest that gets its only showers from the nearby Tasman Sea only a few kms East and it’s unusually damp in places but that’s great – no dust!
Again we regroup closer to the coast and take the very narrow but nice run along past Rheban beach..
..you may miss this turn off but they both end up at Orford.
Along this road take it easy..the view is awesome over your right shoulder that’s Mercury Passage and the awesome peaks on Maria Is. ( only MTB on that one L)
You can meet 4WDs with boats etc. on this 1 laner. We run close together as we prepare to stop at Orford.
You can get a great coffee or snack here but we decide on a quick run along the Tasman Hwy West to Buckland – this is my favourite set of tar bends - it takes an hour to wipe the smile off after we tuck into hot coffees and snacks at the Buckland roadhouse. Here Andrew departs on the GS12 for some errands and the Tiger entrapped crew head North up to Woodsdale and then Parratah – more dirt calls!
This 60km road is a pearler – DS only … it starts tight, almost single lane and then turns into a log truck/farm road that has some tight sections and then lots of loose gravel – blind corners that you can meet a 4WD or other vehicles so the lead bike has to keep their wits up.
We regroup again to ensure no corner marks are needed – it’s cool..ish about 13 degs but fresh and crisp – no need for heated grips as super concentration keeps you focused. From here the gravel ends and a single laner takes over as we run over Mt Seymour (more a bump than Mt but I see the temp drop to 9 degs and you can feel it…brrrr).
The lean angle on some of the tar corners is mimicked by a local shed..if you tilt the photo it looks fine!
But we are all upright and still fresh for more – on to Oatlands and across the Midlands Hwy …West to more dirt.
We ran straight on past Oatlands and up the end of the Tunbridge Tier toward Lake Sorell– bound for Interlaken and another 28 kms of dirt to cover. This road has it all – hard pack good for 170+, loose stones, ruts, potholes, fine gravel – it’s all there and each corner is different – off camber RH downhill (love those - NOT!) , sweeping LH uphill – now that’s better J Again a regroup at “the stump” and time to swap a few yarns of the progress to here.
Tim (Silver back) is enjoying his first big day on the brown tar and loves his Tiger that much it’s rumored there could be some cubs due soon
)
Wayne stops Tim before he does something nasty and we pack and go… still 43 kms of dirt to go before Bothwell
Three of us get on ahead on the Interlaken/Bothwell bit and it’s so good – hardly much dust and good speed on the hard pack. A few loose bits but if you take care in the tight stuff you can cover this road fast.
We regroup after Bothwell and some fuel for the DR and this time it’s a Triumph tool-fest as they play “name the Triumph tool” a sport us owners of proper bikes do not understand
)
Dale is so bored with all this mechanical stuffing about …he puts a video on!
His new DR is fitted with the Samsung GPS that doubles as a VCR – the LCD screen up front is neat and on the RAM mount is visible at speeds up to 200kmh!! That’s fooly sick!!. Only problem is all this shakey dirt has loosened the base plate bracket and he has to stow the head unit in my Top Box – cheap Taiwanese GPS bracket…baaaahh L
I thought we were nuts…and yep…I found a pile of them at Dave’s back wheel to prove it!
But it’s alls well that ends OK..so we saddle up and ..have a nice day.
Back home via New Norfolk and another superb Winter Dirtscapade in Tassie even if it was a Tiger Snare. We will have to round up some more V Stroms next time– any spare over there Poite??
Only job remaining was to clean the beasts and I manage to catch one of the Tigers in a steam snare - it snarled and sneezed a bit!
)
ART
