Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Happy New Year!

Yep, a new year eh?  Better get started on some riding then...

Today it was the Connie's turn and I was dead keen for a decent little pootle.  So much so that I never even took any photos...you'll have to make do with videos...

I left home just before 10am and it was already fairly warm so before I left I opened up all the vents in my gear and man, they are good!

My ride started with a quick fang over the track and into Pahiatua for fuel.  Then it was time for some fun on Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road.  It was a great and possibly getting close to what Geoff would call a "spirited ride".

Here's a snippet of the climb up out of Makuri - lots of great corners but also a lot of crap on the road in places...


Did you spot my little bit of excitement?  Well, here it is again:



Ok, so not too bad but it did give me a bit of a wake-up and probably felt worse than it actually was.  As you can see in the first video, there was plenty of crap on the road in places - it pays to keep awake eh?

Further on up the road there was another more mobile hazard (or hazards) but I was good enough to push them down the road a bit for the farmer...


Not a lot was happening in Pongaroa when I got there (just some campers parked up emptying out their black water tanks - eeewww!) so I carried on.  There was more interesting hazards along the way: unmarked new seal and my favourite hot, slippery tar...

At the Weber Road I turned left to ride back towards Dannevirke and had a sweet ride except for some more slithering on hot tar - damn, our roads really are crap in places!

A short bit of SH2 got me South to Oringi where I turned off again to ride more nice back roads to Mangatainoka.


Still enjoying the ride I decided to spice it up the ride back over the track by first riding through to Ballance and following the hill along until I hit the track again.  Another quick squirt over the hill and then I had to settle down for the cruise home.

Home just after half twelve and even though those vents in my gear had worked well, it was good to get my gear off and hook into a cold drink.  By now it was around 27-28 degrees and sun was fair blazing down.

Anyway, a very nice way to start off the New Year!  I hope everyone else has had a great New Years and perhaps got it off to a good start with a ride :)

9 comments:

  1. Happy New Year. All those road hazards make me realize why gravel ridding is usually more fun.....you know most of your road hazards..... the road is a hazard

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    1. All good fun Brandy. You can't learn out how to deal with hazards without a little exposure to them eh?

      Happy New Year and gravel rocks!

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  2. Happy New Year Andrew! A modest rear end step-out feels massive, especially on a big bike eh? At least you've got roads which are a wee bit off the normal tourist routes! There are so many ferals on the Peninsula at present that my bike isn't coming out of the shed for at least a week.....

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    1. Not going to join the squids on a GP eh? Don't blame you at all!

      Happy New Year to you and the missus!

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  3. Thanks Dom, same to you and yours! Looking forward to more great pics from you this year...no pressure!

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  4. Happy New Year Andrew! You almost got the crashing out of the way very early on! Good to see another man of action.....;)
    By the way, what is your riding gear that has such good vents? I am finding it difficult to find an “adventure” suit that has adequate ventilation (for the sub tropics) that I don’t have to sell a child for. Cheers.

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    1. Thanks Dave, same to you and the family.

      Crashing not in my plans actually...

      My gear is by RST and has other words like Adventure and Pro series all over it...I know a few guys with it and haven't heard any bad things. Mine's getting pretty old and faded now and definitely not very waterproof - I've got overtrou and jacket that goes over the top when the weather is crappy.

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  5. Happy new year mate. At least you kept it upright and in one piece.

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