PRESS RELEASE:Hello, welcome to our adventure. One day over a couple of beers an Aussie (Tony) an African (Hein) and a Kiwi (Morgan) started discussing the idea of crossing 10 Australia deserts, on bikes, in one journey. Anyway, they all thought “it couldn’t be done”, but then the Bok said “lets give it a go”, the Aussie said “where do we stop for beer?” and the Kiwi said “are there many sheep in the outback?”
On a more serious note, we are not sure whether this has been done before but it doesn’t really matter. We are doing this for fun / adventure, and to raise money for Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets Program, not to set any records. The idea is simple, how can we link some of the most remote and adventurous desert treks in Australia into one trip? ...... Our adventure was born, “10 Desert Ride”.
Starting on 27th of June 2010, over a 100 day period we are attempting to cross at least 10 Australian Deserts on adventure/dirt bikes in one journey and along the way raise money for a very worthwhile charity. Plus we plan to explore the Kimberley’s (for its beauty) and the Margaret River (for a refreshment, wine mmmm wine!). The climate in the deserts we are crossing can vary dramatically. It is not uncommon for sub-zero temperatures at night (as low as minus 8 degrees), then up to 48 degrees during the day.
Early on in our planning we realized that on bikes alone it would not be possible carry out our plans due to a bike’s limited ability to carry fuel, water and supplies. Thus to undertake our adventure we have to bring a support vehicle.
So we decided “big is better” by buying and purpose fitting a Ford F250 Duel Cabin 7.2 litre V8 diesel Truck which averages a mighty 3 kms per litre in the sand but is built to carry the supplies necessary for such an adventure. In essence it is a mobile bike repair shop, fuel station (petrol 220L & diesel 450L) kitchen, water hole (280L), camper, bike carrier, supplies and people carrier – she’s a beast!
The next issue we faced was how are we going to drive our support truck whilst we are riding our bikes? In the end this was quite simple, as Hein was wise enough to have children early, so his two eldest sons (Rudi & Andy) were in the process of finishing university at exactly the same time we were planning to embark on our adventure - perfect candidates to drive the truck.
This then raised the next challenge which was how would sell this idea to Rudi & Andy when our trek is basically an inland journey and the boys are ‘big wave surfers’ who spend their time chasing big waves? Anyway, after a little bribery and the reassurance of the ‘promised land’ (an inland sea with big waves), the boys were in!
For the adventure we are taking the following bikes;
- Tony is riding a 2010 KTM690R Enduro
- Hein is riding a 2007 Suzuki DR650SE
- Morgan is riding a 2010 Suzuki DR650SE
- Rudi is riding a 2010 KTM450EXC (When not driving)
- Andy is riding a 2009 KTM400EXC (When not driving)
You may ask why our website is called ‘BigBore.info’? The three main bikes (KTM690R & Suzuki DR650SE) that will be ridden for the entire distance are Big Bore single cylinders bikes. They have been chosen for its weight advantages over larger twin cylinders due to the terrain the bikes will have to tackle. As Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman learnt in Mongolia in “The Long Way Round”, its not fun trying to ride 300+ kilo bikes in sand, let alone trying to pick them up after they have been dropped.
Finally, for the Canning Stock Route a mate (Todd) will be joining us to ride this section. As the distances between fuel stops on this route is go great, it is necessary to carry additional petrol in drums. The only possible way to do this is to use the space allocated for the extra bikes (on the back of the F250) for fuel. Thus we need an extra rider, and as Todd has not stopped harassing us about coming along, he is the man for the job!
+ To keep track of this epic Aussie adventure, check out the www.bigbore.info web site -- and if you check their Blog links right now, you can find out just how much drama they've had with their back-up truck after hitting the Simpson Desert!
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