invitation to ‘ride with the pros’ that you have to
step up, even if its wholly against your better judgment.
If I’d had better judgment, I would have walked
up to the step first, like a trials rider does, and
scoped the terrain. But you don’t see that
happen in extreme enduro, the riders accept a
blind run as part of the job. Jonny was offering
me an advantage anyway, pointing to the
optimum line up the rock step and with a sweep
of his arm indicating the best approach.
Jonny shouted first gear was just fine, and
doing my best to keep a positive visualisation
in my head I started my run. First half of the
approach was no drama, but all anticipation.
Only as the yards counted down it started to
dawn on me I was in trouble. The slope before
the step was much steeper than it appeared
from the bottom of the hill and so I was losing
the momentum that I desperately needed.
At this point I should have aborted the attempt,
gone back down and come back up at a better
pace, but I suspect my brain simply can’t process
fast enough to make such instantaneous decisions.
Instead it waited until my front wheel was practically
on the rock before accepting that at this point
nothing less than a big helping of throttle would
get me up the step, regardless of trajectory at
the top. Sure enough the KTM launched itself up
the step, but with the thrust being upwards rather
than forwards it kept going up. Not to Frank’s
near-orbit standards, but a good foot or two more
than comfortable, leaving my right foot waving
in the air desperately trying to find terra firma.
It was then a three-point landing – rear wheel
and two feet – and by some miracle I was able
to hold the KTM perpendicular until the engine
stalled before lowering it. Half a step behind my
heels was the edge of the rock – I’d only just made
it over. In the words of an airline pilot, ‘any landing
you walk away from is a good landing’. So I took
my rock step ascent as a win. And again, rather
than take more goes to perfect the technique, I
figured one out of one equals a 100% success rate.
EXTREME BASICS
Our day riding with the pros ended with a great
hour’s trail ride. It was probably longer than that as,
like most trail riders, we were keen on pace, slack
on the corner-man system of navigation, and so
the group split and got lost repeatedly. However,
KIWI RIDER 61