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AUGUST 2016 | David Claridge

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DELORAINE MOTORBIKE enthusiast Jeremy Ford and his sons have had an extraordinary trip on the mainland, riding their bikes across the Simpson Desert.

Mr Ford said that the group rode their motorbikes 6000 kilometres to go and watch the Finke Desert Race in the Northern Territory.  He was joined by his sons, Harry, 18, Danny, 17 and their cousin Dylan, 21.

“It was something we wanted to do while the boys were still young,” he said.

“I wanted to show them how big Australia is. It was amazing to travel through so many States in so little time.

“I wanted an adventure for the boys, to test our endurance.

The trip was planned six months in advance and totalled three weeks where they rode their bikes from Melbourne.

The group had a support vehicle to carry some fuel. Other than that, they were carrying their swags, clothes and food with them. All rode old XR Honda’s, air cooled single cylinder motorbikes ranging from 1993 to 2001 models.

“Before that, the most we have ever ridden would have been 200 kilometres,” Mr Ford said.

“The biggest day we did was from just out of Maree.  We slept in a railway carriage out the back of a pub, from there we rode all the way to Adelaide which was about 700 kilometres. It was on the edge of the Flinders Ranges that torrential rain came through. We couldn’t stop or we would have been flooded in.”

Highlights of their trip included riding through the biggest cattle station in the world and meeting Toby Price, the only Australian person to ever win any class of the Dakar Rally.

The Finke Desert Race is a two-day race held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend every year. People come from all over the country to compete in and watch the race.

[udesign_icon_font name="fa fa-camera" color="#000000"] Jeremy Ford