Australian_Trailrider_2016_02_03

Here you also learn about the other

battle you will most likely face for the

entire week — the battle between red

wine and good times vs sleep and a

clear head for the next day’s riding

a good system that keeps a large group

generally on the same page. We made

a plan to hit the road a little earlier the

next day and managed to pack up shop

at a reasonable hour.

The second day and my last for the

2015 GS Safari kicked off at Mittagong

and fi nished at the south coast town

of Batemans Bay. It was a 293km

day with some pretty cool spots to hit

along the way. Not long into the ride

we pulled up at Bellmore Falls, which

was a pretty sweet view and a great

spot for a quick coffee via our portable

little pod machine. Yep, we have coffee

available on the go. People laugh at us

then come and beg for one.

We hung with Adam Riemann and

watched him in action fl ying his drone

and gathering footage for the event

DVD, which is pretty cool to see. The

drone is piloted back, gets packed up

and thrown on his one-off special-

edition “Filming Beast” F 800 GS

Adventure. From there the day sampled

just about everything you could possibly

want to ride on an adventure bike,

from tight back-road bitumen to open

gravel roads and then into tighter, more

technical forestry.

It was honestly one of the best days

of adventure riding I’ve experienced,

topped off with a great photo by the

beach with the group of guys we rode

with. It was a little more challenging

than the previous day and although the

overall distance wasn’t that huge, the

off-road riding meant speeds were down

as riders worked their way along the

route. You know it’s been a great day of

riding when you get to the luggage truck

and people are totally exhausted yet

they have a smile from ear to ear. That’s

what you saw at the end of day two.

That’s where the GS Safari ended

for me this year, but it was enough of

a refresher to have me waiting on the

dates for 2016.