Transmoto’s Rainbow Beach adventure ride

First let’s set the scene: The Team have been flat out creating and building a magazine, launching the aforementioned magazine and finally wining and dining their corporate partners. With all this happening without a stop we decided it was time to hit the trails and remember why we are in the magazine business. And what better place to do it than Queensland’s Sunshine Coast?

Usual Suspects – Andy Wigan/Managing Editor, Andrew Hobbs/Advertising Manager, Phil Osborn/Advertising Director, Jean-Marc Parodi/Marketing & Circulations Manager, iKapture/Web Editor, Brett Whale/Moto-Retiree-Legend

After a late night of industry shenanigans, the team drove from their Brisbane villa to a Noosaville-based motorcycle hire company and grabbed four DR-Z400 Suzukis for a leisurely ride across the sand to Rainbow Beach. It was just going to be a four-hour ride up and back with a few trail stops along the way and a good old bakery lunch stop. The lunch stop went as planned but the rest of it was a little mixed up…

Here’s how it went down…

06:00AM = iKapture heads to Husqvarna’s head office to borrow a WR250
09:15AM = After morning traffic and a fuel stop, iKapture meets the crew for breaky
09:30AM = Breakfast finished and 12 Krispy Kremes later, we are back on the road
10:15AM = Arrive at Noosaville, run through motorcycle standard operating procedures
10:31AM = iKapture learns that the fuel tank on the Husky may not be big enough to get to Rainbow Beach – trouble!
10:45AM = We ride away heading north to the ferry and meet moto-retiree Brett Whale. He looks very relaxed – damn him!
11:00AM = We hit the beach and a few of the team have forgotten how to ride sand – feet down swapping is going on everywhere
11:01AM = Whaley pops a mono
11:10AM = Whaley is still going but Andy wants a video of him criss-crossing on the clean sandy surface
11:11AM = Whaley looks back and stops the mono and pulls over. We decide to stop with Whaley and wait for the others to arrive
11:15AM = Hobbsy turns up and starts doing stunts only to become victim to the forces of gravity – watch video
11:35AM = A makeshift flat-track seems to be a lot of fun for those involved – taking as much care as when can etc
11:59AM = We stop to talk about how good we all are… etc, etc – you know the drill, you shoulda seen this, you shoulda seen that, blah, blah
12:10PM = We head inland and cross some nice trail along the way till finally making it to our lunch stop
12:45PM = The price of fuel up here is amazing. Well, when in Rome I guess so we filled all the bikes and had lunch

01:15PM = We hit the road and look for the secret trail we have been told about
01:30PM = Find the trail and start our nice easy paced ride along it to get us to the beach for our trip home
01:50PM = Whale and iKapture stop to wait for the crew and when they arrive there is no Wigan?
02:10PM = Still no Wigan – Getting worried as he is “The Boss”
02:12PM = Whaley heads back to find Wigs
03:00PM = Still no sign of Wigs or Whaley so corporate decision is made to head back
03:15PM = Find Whaley and he tells us that Wig’s is okay – bike shat itself and left him stranded!
03:30PM = Get back to Wigs and exchange abuse throughout the group
03:35PM = He has flat battery and no tools – so we make a plan and use Jean-Marc’s KTM toolkit

03:45PM = Swapped batteries across from Wigs’ bike to Hobbsy’s and now have to push-start Hobbsy’s bike
03:55PM = No luck with the push start so it’s now time for a tow out onto the road

04:00PM = Back onto the road and all bikes are running. Whaley says he has a fast way home – follow him
04:30PM = Starting to get worried about fuel in the two-stroke Husky and Whale says we are close to his place – get fuel there
05:00PM = Arrive at Whale’s and steal his whipper-snipper fuel for the run home on the two-smoker
05:30PM = Back at Noosaville and the guys have a 6:30 flight back to SydVegas – just have to dump and run with the hire bikes
06:15PM = Guys all make it through check in and are ready to head
08:30PM = iKapture finally gets home and throws the bike into the garage where it will stay for the next three days until it gets returned to Husky

GoPro HD Hero cameras were used to make this video.

All in all a good day’s riding with enough happenings to have a good bit of fun and still have enough ammo for the next trailride with the guys.

Cheers,
Greg Smith