Well this was my first offroad experience and I loved it. The excitement and the trill of getting stuck and crawling along the trail ., even tho the vehicle we went with wasn't the best but was hella fun.
One thing I really admired was how friendly the guys was. Everyone was cool and very helpful. Alway explaining different concepts as they showed up. I can definitely say the next vehicle I'm getting is a 4x4.
My first run with Side B... Love it.. But gonna be much more prepared next time with sum small mods... Really a cool crew, droppa boy soon u gonna work yuh magic on the l200... Until next time..
yeah, its the same tractor road that we went tru with dwanye on the night run, but the rains that recently fell, and fell while we were there made it sweet, this section was just good enough........
Right folks, another successful Side B run!! We visited one of our favourite sites in the southland, Granville/Cedros yesterday on Sun 14th July 2013.
Day started off as any regular side b run.... nice looking weather early in the morning, clear skies with a few wisps of clouds. The meetup point was KFC gulf view carpark, our favourite meeting point in south. A few early birds came and set up under the shade of the trees and waited for the guys to file in one-by-one. After the last few stragglers came in (myself included, I was last to arrive because I had to rescue a stranded Jimny crew on the way up.... ) we had a short safety briefing about the trail and what to expect, introduced ourselves to the new guys and set off.
We left KFC gulf view at around 9:20am, and made the long drive down to Granville where we met up with 200sx and his family who were gonna take us through one of the tractor roads, which led to cedros beach. An unexpected but minor problem came up with Droppa's patrol, which was quickly rectified on the spot thanks to master mechani, Wabeen. He swiftly dealt with the issue and we soon set off again, but not before getting doused with a brief but heavy shower (this was to make things interesting later on).
From there we entered the trail. At first it was all fine and dandy, grade-1 stuff on the trail. 200sx, Amrit and myself took point through the trail, and I had a 4x2 low rider Frontier in front of me as well. It was good going until we reached the grassy hill area.... which I figured would have been easy pickings since it was still relatively dry - the 4x2 frontier (I believe was nervewrecker??) would have had some trouble but might have been fun.
Unfortunately, 200sx got stuck on the crest of the long hill, having underestimated the depth of a couple of ruts that were filled with water. He got cross-axled and had to be rescued by Amrit in a mitsubishi sportero 3.2 equipped with front & rear ARB lockers. However, the previous dousing of rain had now made the trail slippery, and we were still all located on the uphill ascent. This made for a lot of slip and slide action, and Amrit despite his best efforts was unable to snatch-pull 200sx out.
In the meantime I had hooked up my tow strap to the 4x2 frontier and dragged him up the hill to the point where 200sx was stuck, and from there things went downhill, so to speak. We got anothe dousing of rain, this time a lot heavier and longer - which turned the seemingly innocent trail into a sapatay mudfest. Only the guys with beefy mud terrain tires were able to gain any traction at all, and even so it was slippery.
Eventually we got 200sx out, where droppa was able to snatch-recover him using a trusty ARB snatch strap and loads of PATROL POWER..... however by this time the trail had become quite unmanageable for the guys on All-terrains as well as 4x2 trucks (we had all aired-down our tires, using the hard packed banks, etc. etc.). That hill was just too slippery for the lesser-equipped guys, while mud terrain tires were able to make it with lots of sliding around and though it was a short trail, we had only just entered it and not gotten very far before getting stuck. It just goes to show what a difference it can make between all-terrain/highway terrain and mud-terrain tires!!
So, a decision was made by the seniors of the club to have the all-terrain guys and 4x2 guys turn around, get back onto the main road and meet the rest of the crew at the end of the trail. It wasn't made lightly - we considered that everyone had come to see some action and have fun - however we had already spent almost 2 hours in the trail and daylight was burning, time had already reached to 1:15pm. We reasoned that it wouldnt be fair to the other guys to hold the group back, nor would it be fair to the lower-equipped guys in their daily driver rigs to risk damaging their vehicles by dragging/winching/pulling them through all that action. Even getting out was a task for the newbies - I ended up having to pull the frontier back up the hill on the opposite side - but it was good fun still.
So the group split up and we all rendezvous-ed back at the end of the trail. Reports from the veterans in the group said that the trail had turned into sapatay and they made it through with some effort, a couple soft/mushy spots that would have definitely been trouble for the lower vehicles. After a short break for drinks and to clean mud off the tires (the sticky clay was causing vibrations in some of the vehicles), we headed down to Columbus bay to spend the rest of the evening relaxing, eating a late lunch and bathing in the southern waters. Eventually we left a little after 5pm, making the long trek back up to the southlands and then onto home.
So, all in all, a nice easy run, a little bit of action, long drive, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Side B never leaves anyone behind and we always thinks of safety first. Who came for mud got lots of action, and who came to lime had a great time with our little family. It was great to see the new guys coming out... we hope you guys enjoyed it, had lots of fun and hope also to see alyuh on the next run!!
Till next time, keep on truckin' !!!!
*** EDIT - i accidentally broke all the links to the pics when I was organizing my online pic account earlier.... so instead I will post a video with a slideshow and some pics very soon!!
Sorry about that guys!
......... ok here is the video of the run.... look out for some action at 2:50 !!!
Last edited by lighthammer on July 15th, 2013, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
a very special thanks to all the regulars who made it yesterday and a alos to all the new guys, Nate (common good), Stefon (Chin man) and crew, Richard (froggyrvr) and family, Nervewrecker and Soundboy 64, and also to the granville locals bonnie and percings, them fellas was real instrumental.....
you all are part of the Side-B family now, whenever u all see arun posted and wanna come tru, feel free to add ur names to the list, nerve and sound boy, we does always have vans with space, so u all can always ask and link up to take a ride along, sorry the fronteir didnt make it tru man......
@rotted, yeah man thanks to u guys for passing in, is a cool scene man......
@smash, link up anytime you want man, side b is a cool crew, just add your name to a roll call, even if u dont have a 4x4 or cant afford to buy one, buy a boots and walk with clothes, always need riggers and pushers, or even picturetakeouters......
how far the Frontier reach? what kind of tyres nerve have on there?
4X2 frontier reach halfway up the hill but it was too slippery. Couldn't even pull him up, both amrit and I tried... Maybe if I had a bigger nissan..... Lol. Then the rain fell and salary followed, it was slip and slide the whole way. He had on Highway commercial ties I believe - but De fella had real fun too, could've seen the mad look of pure excitement in his eyes, just like other 4x2 drivers in the past who got into the offroading thing (speedy bai!)
3stagevtec wrote:Damn, I get worried for the red L200 there yes!
What was it that cause the sportero to try and climb that bank in that manner? From my recollection of that trail there were no big deep ruts to cause that kind of offroad driving even if rain fell...Especially for a vehicle with lockers front and back...Just wondering....
how far the Frontier reach? what kind of tyres nerve have on there?
4X2 frontier reach halfway up the hill but it was too slippery. Couldn't even pull him up, both amrit and I tried... Maybe if I had a bigger nissan..... Lol. Then the rain fell and salary followed, it was slip and slide the whole way. He had on Highway commercial ties I believe - but De fella had real fun too, could've seen the mad look of pure excitement in his eyes, just like other 4x2 drivers in the past who got into the offroading thing (speedy bai!)
lighthammer wrote:4X2 frontier reach halfway up the hill but it was too slippery. Couldn't even pull him up, both amrit and I tried... Maybe if I had a bigger nissan..... Lol. Then the rain fell and salary followed, it was slip and slide the whole way. He had on Highway commercial ties I believe - but De fella had real fun too, could've seen the mad look of pure excitement in his eyes, just like other 4x2 drivers in the past who got into the offroading thing (speedy bai!)
Also like the brand new 4x2 Hilux in Morne Diablo when it was pressure!!!! Like yuh forget meh....
sound boy 64 wrote:^ the previous hilux with the stacks. got stuck till his axels and droppa had to pull him out.
Droppa spinned around his van on the trail and got him out. The sportero didn't want to stick so he decided to ride the bank.
Risking his vehicle in the process and posing risk to himself and any passengers on board?? You gotta be careful and decide if the risk is really all that necessary.. I'd hate to see people getting injured out there, especially people I know..
) we had a short safety briefing about the trail and what to expect, introduced ourselves to the new guys and set off.
