Sunday, May 20, 2012

Akitio or Bust!

Today was the monthly Back Road Riders ride and the weather gods played ball for us with nice sunny day albeit with a frosty start - especially for Neil making his way down from National Park...

We met up in town and once all had arrived made for the Pahiatua track.  We had a nice run up over the hill but definitely had to take it a bit easier in the shady spots where the road was pretty wet and greasy.

At the bottom of the hill was a little surprise - a bit of gravel in the shape of Tararua Road.  I kinda new the road was there as I'd been past many times before but had always thought it was a no exit road to some farm or other.  It turned out to be a great little gravel warm up and took us back onto Gorge Road and eventually on into Pahiatua where we met up with one more of the merry men.

From Pahiatua we headed out on the familiar Kaitawa Road but quickly turned off to make our way onto the Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road.  Just before the turn-off onto Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road we had a wee pause after Neil's GPS tried to send us up someone's driveway but soon got it sorted and were on our way.

After a short squirt on the tar we turned off onto Pori Road which after a while starts to turn into a nice gravel track.  This was the first time I'd ridden Pori Road in this direction and as you drop back down the hill the views are fantastic.

Pori Road
After a quick photo stop we carried on down Pori Road.  In places the DL was floating around a bit as there was some reasonably deep gravel on top of some mushy stuff - not too nice on a big bike.  Check out the video to see me struggling and Barry dusting me on his DR...


Turning left out of Pori Road we had another blast up Route 52 until once again turning Eastwards on Waihoki Valley Road.  The first bit of this was outstanding and I had a blast chasing after Neil.


Now things started getting a bit more interesting, in the shady sections we started encountering a bit of mushy stuff.  This made things a bit more exciting for me as my rear tyre is really past it's best by date so I had to pussy-foot it around quite a bit.


Huia Road and Spur Road offered more of the same but I managed to slither my way through without needing to change my underwear.



Eventually as we took in Marainanga Road the road got a lot better and I could use a few more gears.  At the end of Marainanga Road we turned right onto Coast Road (which I rode last year on the Coast to Coast).  This is a fabulous gravel road in great condition so there was plenty more opportunity to let a couple of ponies loose.


Coast road eventually comes to an end at Akitio where we stopped for a quick bite and a drink (and also to say hi to a dog the size of a horse) before turning for Danniverke.  Neil had one more great bit of gravel lined up for us and it was on Glenora and Esdaile Roads.  Once again the gravel was in good nick and everyone got stuck in and enjoyed the higher pace that we were able to manage - a real blast!

Akitio
Eventually we were spat out onto tar seal again which was actually the fantastic Weber Road so we weren't too disappointed to have finished our gravel riding for the day.  In Danniverke we met up with Graeme for a late lunch before he led us on a round-about route back to Palmy via plenty of sealed back roads and the Saddle.  Another awesome day out with the guys!  Now to find some tyres...

11 comments:

  1. Well that sure looks like a fun day. Beautiful scenery too.

    I can imagine the pucker factor of riding the DL through the mushy parts. Good job on making it look easy.

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    1. I could do without the pucker moments but they do sharpen up your wits though...

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  2. I couldn't pay too much attention to your riding skills as I had to admire the scenery ;-)

    What a gorgeous landscape. How do you even manage to keep your eyes on the road? Thanks for the multiple vids, I have enjoyed them all.

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    1. There was some nice scenery all right - Pori Road in particular gives some great views. It does pay to keep an eye on the road though - at least I haven't ridden off a bank while gawking yet!

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  3. Cool Andrew, and after seeing the pic of your rear wheel you did well in those conditions.

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    1. I'm glad it was a fine day - I wasn't going to go if wet as I was a bit worried about that tyre. It actually did damn well - I had to be really careful in the muddy stuff, it didn't take much to have it spinning up...

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  4. hello

    i loved it, i thoroughly enjoyed the vid clips also and your write was very funny

    Jim and I can't wait to catch up with YOU lot, sometime sooon expect us......

    Thanks for the share
    Regards
    Sue

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    1. Rog is thinking about a trip down...

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  5. hi Andrew
    I loved your take On Neil's GPS - when you mention this to Neil he will understand my good humour on this, asssss one of our rides exploring Pureora, hmmm Sue had just had here new Garmin put onto my bike, the co ordinates plugged in and husband Jim says, right you will be fine. But running late on our ride and waiting to meet up with new people from Taupo that had come to join in, Sharon and I decided to head off earlier to meet them on time at the lunch stop??? hmmm on that one, the group were wondering Where On Earth Was Sue, Sharon and I both keyed in the co-ordinates, buttt we did not enter the location of the cafe correctly. Rush rush and press the wrong button and it sent us kilometres in the wrong direction. Oh dear.
    Sue

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    1. Everyone's got a GPS story. This one time...

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    2. hi Andrew yes they say it is with moments like these, but I do remember MY GPS moment and Sharon now swears that she will NOT bother with a GPS now ha ha looking back on it now, it was funny, the little XT was running out of gas and we were worried about being in the middle of someplace with NO fuel.
      We would have been down to do the Akitio ride with you guys, but we had our club ride that our farmers had made for us on the same day. It was an excellent ride and they have some excellent gravel roads running thru their neighbouhood.
      But timing will be right and Jim and I will get to catch up soon. We will overnight at Taupo and then come down from there, maybe even catch up with Neil enroute also. Neil and Jim will ride together well as they are both excellent riders. Me, well I have the GPS and can meet the lads enroute - maybe I leave earlier and catch up. ha ha I have now had a tutorial On How To with my GPS. This will be good. I am loving my new bike on the gravel. It is great.
      Regards
      Sue

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