Interesting Stuff

It all started when Kevin said that he was going to do the Alexandra Round of the Sherco South Island champs. Well one thing lead to another and there was 6 Ixion riders (Kevin Tither, Bob and Steve Wade, Jamie Mead, Jake Whittaker and myself), 2 other north island rides (Kevin Pinfold and Luke March) and 3 others in the party (Sue Wade, Siobhan Robson and Pat Whittaker).

We all left on Thursday the 28th March with a total of 11 hours driving in front of us when we hit the south island. The Whittaker's and Luke made the trip in one go getting to Alex (as it is commonly known) at 3am Friday. The rest of us went to Geraldine for the night. As Kevin had not been through the middle of the island via Twizel and Tekepo we played tourists going to see Mt Cook, the canals and the splendor that is central Otago. We got to Alex in time to get food for the weekend and set up our base.

But more importantly I got to take Mr. Tither out for an introduction to the rocks of Alex. So we rode out the camping ground, down the road and over the bridge. This is all within a 5 minute walk of the Alexandra township for those who have not had the pleasure yet of riding down there. The venue we used for practice was the same one that was used in 2001. I had only a hour or so to get Kevin adapted to the rocks, so it was follow me Kev, "yer this is the line that Intermediates do". Then I would get this look of "are you sure? I am sure this is something Dougie Lampkin does in World rounds". In Alex clubmen ride over rocks the shape of vans. So Kev was in need of a few beverages when we got back.

Both days of the trial were at new venues so it was interesting as to what was going to be set out in the Trial. Day one was set out in the snow line up in the hills to the west of Alex. We had rocks and more rocks. In the end Expert B was not that hard with Jake and I dropping less than 5 a lap. I think both Bob and Kev found riding inters with the big rock steps rather daunting, but they both had fun. Steve was all concentration in presidents trying to hold a Christchurch rider on a bike 33yrs older than his out. Jamie had a good ride to end the day on a low score.

Day 2 was still out the west of Alex, but the property had more schist rocks that were more round in shape. The sections consisted of some cliff top falls to your demise if you got it wrong and some rocks on flat paddocks. In expert B and intermediates we had a couple of good sections with some good sized rocks. Points for Jake and I were again low. In the end Jake got first overall, while I got 3rd in Expert B. Kev and Bob sat around 10th overall in intermediate and Steve had a bloody good ride to beat Allen Duthie on a 33 year old Montesa. Jamie was not that far behind in the end as the scores were so tight in Presidents.

The next day most of us went up Skippers cannon for a play. All in all we had a good trip away with lots of laughs.

Back in the 70's (if you were alive then and can remember back that far!) Ixion was divided into two groups- the trials riders and the trail riders , with a few riders riding both, mostly on trials bikes and some of us even competing in enduros on them!

Well it seems that there is a growing number of current Ixion riders getting various other bikes and doing trail and adventure rides and even vintage motocross… Having decided that maybe I'm getting too old to be trying to do the type of windsurfing I'd like to be able to do, maybe I'd better get another enduro bike before I get too old for that too!

Having decided that a small, light weight, zippy 2 stroke would be most sensible bike to get somehow I ended up getting a Yamaha WR400! - not too sure what happened there, think it must be something to do with my old Yamaha enduro bike loyalty. Other than needing a strict kick starting ritual with the use of a manual de-compressor and being bloody heavy to pick up after a trials bike, I was mighty impressed with the power and suspension!!

Anyway on the Friday night, Steve Wade (with his new Husky 510- now that has some grunt!!) and I headed up to Taihape for the "Central Districts Honda- Big back Country bike ride" - 130 k's of hill country farm tracks- yahooo…

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and with the heavy rain the central North Island had received , we should be in for some awesome riding!! Rick and Rory (riding a Beta 250 enduro bike on which he had got a top placing in the recent Wellington enduro) arrived at the sign in just as the first rain showers started coming down….

Shortly after that about 300 bikes and dozen or so quads were lined up ready to rip.. I though from past experience I thought it might be wise to get near the front of the bunch and it wasn't long before that was confirmed- even with only 20-30 bikes in front of me already the farm tracks were getting ripped up and incredibly slippery. Sure enough I come around a corner to the first hill (would have been nothing in the dry) and here is 3 or 4 bikes stuck or pushing or sliding back down… The thought of having to push or even lift up my 4 stroke with an almost full tank of gas up the hill made me think I should have bought a KDX 200 !!! I waited for a bit of a gap and hit the hill in second gear with as much momentum as I could and with plenty of throttle and a few daps made it up with a huge sigh of relief!!

That hill turned out to be the hardest of the day, I'm not sure if all the riders eventually made it up or not. Of course all the Ixion riders with trials experience did! The course was mostly very slippery farm tracks and some tight tracks through a forestry block. Great riding but the rain and getting roosted by the odd bike and 700cc quad made visibility very limited!! Most riders gave up on their goggles, I found that when my safety glasses got mud on both sides of the lenses from the mud washing down from my helmet my visibility was almost zilch. I think a non slotted helmet peak would have helped stop this problem. Most bikes got so plastered in mud that you couldn't recognise them or the riders!

I think we all had a great ride, it would have been awesome if the rain hadn't been so persistent… I'll definitely be back next year!!

Alexander's Twilight 19^th February 2006

Van Crutchens 7^th August 2005