The day my bike sank
Ever since I got my Himalayan in January, everything has been an exercise in scoping out potential playgrounds.
One day I was heading to the beach to walk the dog when I noticed a 4WD ute taking a track off to the side of the road.
I’d never noticed this before and I was intrigued as to where it went. Then I realised its potential exit point and I thought, that would be an awesome adventure to take the bike on.
For months I scoured the side of the road everytime I passed the spot and then one fateful day I did it. I took the 4WD track.
Coming across a large hole in the ground filled with water and track marks I stopped and pondered whether or not I could make it through. My brain analysed the surrounding area and decided that if I stuck to the middle I’d make it pretty easily.
What my brain had not analysed was what would happen if the bike slipped into the wheel ruts. Guess what happened within a second of me aiming for the center of the wheel ruts?
Well, guess no more.
During this 2 hours I was pretty much operating the definition of stupidity:
Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome
Admittedly I did try numerous things. I tried digging the wheels out to get to harder clay. This was too time consuming and didn’t really matter anyway due to there being too much water.
I did find a cut out oil container which I did manage to bail a whole lot of water out with. Unfortunately I would have been there all day had I carried on doing that.
I managed to find a tonne of stuff left over by other people including bits of wood but most of those had nails in them.
In the end what saved me was an old tow rope that I found in one of the wheel tracks. Once my wife and son arrived I had them hold tension on the rope and then I just rode the bike out.
Once I got home I went onto Ali Express to look up winches.
There were a few takeaways from this incident.
First, my gear is awesome. I get it through work and my Sidi boots never filled with water despite the fact I was submerged up to my thighs in some spots. In fact, the only water that got in was when I knelt down in the water and it seeped in through the vents on my Motodry pants. Otherwise I would have been completely drenched.
The second takeaway is the level of support it seems the 4WD community gives to each other. Obviously others had been in similar situations and so they left a hell of a lot of stuff that could help others. Well, it was either them or really lazy campers. Probably both.
Incidentally I did find a much safer area just further along to practice my offroad riding skills.