We started with a quick squirt over the track, then through some mucky road works (I seem to always be hitting mucky roads on the Connie lately) before turning off to take Nikau Road through to Mangamire.
The road wasn't in too bad a condition but as you can see from the video we had to dodge some cattle being moved along the road. There was also another section of roadworks although in this case it was just new seal and no problem.
Turning South on SH2 we rode about another about another 5 or 6km before turning off on Hamua Rongomai Road.
This is neat little bit of road although at this time of the year there can be some really slippery bits and there is always crap across the road in the odd corner. If you check out the video at 3:50 you'll see a sheep that also gave me a bit of scare for a second - dozy animals!
Turning left out of Hamua Rongomai Road took us onto Mangaone Valley Road which eventually makes it's way into the back of Pahiatua.
This is another neat bit of road but also has the normal back road hazards and there are several places where cattle are walked across the road and leave their mess for you to avoid.
In Pahiatua we stopped for a spot of lunch and to see how Lloyd was going on the VTR. He was having a ball and wanted more so instead of heading back home I led the guys through to Oringi and then out Top Grass Road and Pinfold roads before finally taking on the Saddle and cruising back into town. A nice little ride of about 170km and only a few spits of rain which failed to put a damper on the day.
