Generation Next

Dualsport Australia’s Marty HC purchased a new DR650. That meant he had two, and that meant an opportunity to introduce his son Tom and a couple of his mates to adventure riding.

- Marty Blake

It’s been a dream to go adventure riding with my son.

Although introduced to dirt bikes at an early age, at 26 he’s still in the enduro-bike stage that doesn’t suit long rides. His mates, George, who has to do it all on a DRZ, and Jordan, who somehow talked his father into parting with his beloved 1200GS, joined in.

It was a perfect chance to convert a few more youngsters to the pleasures of adventure riding.

Easy as

My favorite loop is a three-day jaunt that starts from our base near Coffs Harbour and runs to Walcha, Nundle, the Hunter Valley and back home. The loop runs through a huge variety of terrain from rainforest to tablelands. It also includes a fair bit of family history, and that seemed fitting for our first father-son adventure ride.

Planning was easy because the route is a combination of tracks from the first three Dualsport Australia discs, and my son, as an IT wizard, had been conned into spending a lot of time making those discs work.

GPX files, fuel distances, accommodation and other info where easily sorted, with only a short distance from Armidale to Walcha that wasn’t covered. As I’d ridden the section before, barely any time was spent on planning.

With a big tank and a 15-tooth front sprocket slipped on to George’s DRZ, and the trusty, older DR already set up and ready to go, and the BMW, we were looking good. The new DR came with Suzuki’s adventure kit and had just had its first service, so it was left completely stock with a fuel bladder strapped on just in case.

Milkshake maker

The boys showed up early and were keen to go, and it was refreshingly cool as we headed for the hills behind Bellingen, dropping into the valleys behind Bowraville to our first refuel at the interesting Willawarrin store – very interesting if you knew where to look.