Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sneaking a quick one in

We've had some fairly average weather lately and when it's been fine it seems that the DL has been getting all the love while the poor old Connie waits patiently in the shed.  Well, I'd been hoping to fix that for quite a while and today I just managed to get in a quick (well actually quite slow) ride around the Apiti Loop.

Leaving home it was warm and fine and it was fantastic to be out on Mr Smooth again - it takes very little time in the saddle to remind me why the Connie is such a great ride.  The roads remained dry until just the other side of Cheltenham where they became a bit damp but the rain stayed away.

Dropping down onto Apiti Road there were warning signs telling me to be careful of the grit that had been laid down on the road to help cars in icy weather so from here on I settled into a slow cruise taking it carefully in any of these sections or where the road looked slick.

Just the other side of Apiti I finally ran into some light rain.  This was more a pain than anything as I was very warm and the only issue was a dirty visor that wasn't letting the water off as well as I'd have liked - nobody to blame for that except me though.  I ended up being in and out of the rain for pretty much the rest of the loop until it finally fined up just out of Ashhurst.

Anyway it was really great to finally be able to give the Connie some exercise (although she is dirtier than the DL now) and I got home well before the rain caught up to me.  Perhaps I'll light the fire and lax out on the couch...ahhhhh...

10 comments:

  1. Hey, there are no sheep racing you in that one. Must be because you're on the connie.

    I like the camera angle. We can see the road ahead and the road behind you too in the mirror.

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    1. Yeah, I had the special Kawasaki sheep scaring device set on maximum. Forgot to switch on the rain avoidance unit...

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  2. Pity about the rain otherwise making it a good ride. Do you even get wet on the connie when it rains?

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    1. Been known to get wet on occasion - see above comment!

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  3. "Fairly average weather" is far too kind, Andrew! Glad to see the Connie got a good spin though.

    Thinking of Apiti, we were at a friend's BBQ near Te Puke recently and we met a rider who lives at Apiti. He works for the ambulance service in Palmy. Can't remember his name unfortunately.

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    1. I wasn't the only one out Geoff, saw at least three other bikes out and about on the loop.

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  4. Looks cold and wet - would like a rain avoidance unit myself ...

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    1. It may have been wet but it wasn't cold at all. I still had all my liners in my gear but should perhaps have just worn a T-shirt underneath. I got quite warm in the slow bits and had to lower my screen right down to get some air!

      The worst bit was the slippery roads - the roads out there are not the best and farmers tend to drag all sorts of crap over the roads.

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  5. Andrew:

    that looks like a nice road with little traffic. Unfortunately we don't have anything like that anywhere near me

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    1. Say it ain't so Bob! Surely if you had some good tyres on your Wee you'd be able to find some neat tracks...

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