On Sunday, Colin and Andy got up early and were at my place just before 8am. I was even ready for them too...
After coffee it was time to make tracks with the initial plan (based on our usual detailed planning session) being to head for Turakina Valley. But first I had to show off and demonstrate that I was only 5 minutes from gravel - ok, so it was only a short bit of gravel on Watershed Road, but it got us over towards Colyton, Feilding and then Halcombe and Marton.
North of Marton we got back onto gravel on Galpins Road and dropped down Taurimu Road onto Turakina Valley Road. The drop down Taurimu is particularly nice as there are some good views at the top and then a cool dive into the valley of Peacocks.
Did I mention peacocks? Oh yeah, this time around they were out to get me. I didn't see the damn thing until I was nearly on top of it but luckily it went for a near vertical take-off next to me rather than head butting me. Damn, they are pretty big when they're taking to the air - even Andy mentioned it after watching it all from behind me. Oh, and there was another one just up the road a bit too...
Once North of the peacocks, the gravel was good, but we had to deal with quite an unusually large number of vehicles along with plenty of sheep to keep us on our toes. Still totally worth it 😉
The last bit of gravel (North of the above pics) was its usual sublime self. Plenty of pace could be applied and Andy sat just behind me eating my dust as I slithered around a fair bit. Great fun!
In 'kune we stopped for an early lunch and fuel before crossing over to Raetihi and turning South for a bit, aiming for the gravel of Oruakukuru Road.
This was another cracker with the gravel being more fun than the seal at the start of the road. Once again there were a heap of sheep all over the place and even one taking a permanent break in the middle of the road courtesy of something bigger than a bike (I hope).
Not far from the resting mutton I had my next run in of the feathered variety. Coming out of a right-hander, I disturbed a snacking hawk, and it was blimin close - I reckon I could have given his nails (big ones at that) a trim for him. I dunno what he was doing there when the feast of a lifetime was just down the road - probably a bit much for a hawk to takeaway...
After the last stretch of fast but very corrugated gravel we hit Whangaehu Valley road and enjoyed its tight and twisty corners before it turned to gravel and took us up over Burma Hill. This time around we had to deal with cattle as well as sheep, but the big chooks left us alone.
At lunch and because we had plenty of daylight left, I floated the idea of adding in a trip through the Badlands, North of Whanganui. The two others both thought this was a reasonable idea so we decided to use Te Rimu Road as a short-cut to get over that way. It's always fun and though the bulls were hiding today (I'm not complaining), there was the odd bit of silt from flooding around the (dry) fords that behaved a lot like the dreaded sand, and everyone hates sand...
Not being able to ford the Whanganui River (might have got run over by the paddle steamer) and not being naughty enough to sneak across the pedestrian bridge, we had to briefly dip into Whanganui to cross and then make our way back up the other side of the river before the great run through the Badlands.
What a blast it was! This is a really neat little track that gets narrower the further you head in and you really feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. This is why we have adventure bikes. Oh, and once again, there was plenty of slithering around.
Andy ready for a breather
Colin makin' dust
Luckily, the end of Kauarapaoa Road doesn't mean the end of the gravel. The ride out on Rangitatau East Road is on 20+km of wider, faster gravel and it was good!
Expensive!
Rangitatau East was the last of the gravel for the day and after a cool drink just out of Whanganui it was time to slab it back on the seal and wave off the guys at Sanson before parking the trusty T7 up. About 510km for me and 700ish for the Southern contingent. Great ride! Oh, and I need a new rear...
My boss has just bought himself a little Jimny. Yeah, not a bike, but quite a fun little vehicle and he's dead keen to go out exploring in it. And he wants to find mud...
So, I suggested a wee excursion up Hall Block Road, through the windmill farm with me on the WR (still on knobblies from a visit to the farm) and him following me. This way he could get his feet wet, and I had a little backup if things got snotty.
We met up in Ballance and were soon off up the hill.
At the top of the hill, I paused to await the Jimny.
No sign of a little Jimny
A-ha!
You may or may not be able to tell from the above video, but damn it was windy up on the hill. You can normally blast across the tops, but I was getting blown silly. It was also a pain in the corners as I never knew which way I was going to go when coming out of a more sheltered spot and then getting slammed by the wind.
Eventually we got to the end of the gravel and the start of the dirt track/bog hole section. I stopped again for Colin (yep, another Colin!) and then with him watching tackled the first decent puddle and stalled in the middle...
Seeing how deep it was made Colin a bit nervous as the standard Jimny doesn't have a very good wading capability, (he's looking at adding snorkel and some diff breathers) so he wasn't keen to follow me. Instead, we had a bit of a wander around before I decided to go on a little bit further.
As you can see, I was able to make it around a few decent lakes (including the one I had ridden through on the way in) but chickened out on the large one. I didn't really feel like drowning the WR or myself - maybe if I'd had a different Colin with me, we might have given it a shot.
So, mission incomplete, we turned around and made our way back the way we'd come.
What's that in the distance?
And I enjoyed the descent too. Watch for a bunny chase:
BTW: I played with the audio on the videos to attempt to remove the wind noise...
Back at my ute, we ignored it and popped down beside the river so that Colin could sample something with a decent power-to-weight...
Excitement over, the bike went back on the ute and it was time to cross back over the new road and head home. Quick bit of fun, but a shame we couldn't ride the whole road.
One sunny Sunday afternoon I found myself a little bored. Never fear, there were some bikes in the shed and I had a hankering to visit Takapari Road so that meant that the correct tool was the WR.
After topping up the tank, I thrashed my way out the valley towards my target. As I fair motored my way along, I once again couldn't help but grin at how much fun you can have on a little bike with no fairing and less than 30hp - and I hadn't even got offroad yet!
Eventually I was able to turn towards the ranges and start climbing up Takapari Road. The first bit is easy gravel which then (after the first gate) changes to a farm track. The track looked like it had even had a bit of work done on it and the little digger parked slightly off to the side pretty much proved the point.
At the top gate, the track the heads up to the bush and becomes much more challenging. There currently is a gate that prevents larger vehicles from continuing any further, but this is no barrier for a Mighty Mouse. We easily rode around it and through a deep puddle before hitting some pretty rough stuff.
I was really out of practice and I really fouled up the first snotty bit and of course, stalled. I'd like to think that I would normally have flown up it (particularly on the now departed 450 😢) but not today. I'd ended up in a bit of a yucky position and simply restarting the bike and having another bash was probably just going to result in going nowhere (picture jammed up against a big step) so I decided to turn the bike around (much heaving and sweating) and chicken out on the whole idea...what a wuss!
Back at the gate, it was time to enjoy the scenery:
Back on the seal again, I decided that I hadn't had enough of the Mouse yet so turned right and rode up the valley a bit more before turning onto Makoura Road and then Pohangina Road.
The short bit of Makoura Road (gravel) I did is great on the WR as you can take it darn nearly flat out and while Pohangina is a little slower there's some great views and great corners. There was also a surprise...
My favourite bit of Pohangina Road was closed! And I thought that I was going to have to ride all the way back and around the valley again - a couple of years ago Cyclone Gabrielle took out the bridge that crosses the river to Totara Park got washed away:
But to my surprise, someone had been busy! I had to take several photos!
So, my route home wasn't going to be quite as long and I got to cross the new bridge before buzzing my way home on the seal. I nice little ride on my favourite 250.
It's spring here. That means it's wet. We've had decent rain most days for at least 3 weeks and even some hail just before I wrote this. That means that it's been a bit of a lottery on whether (ha, ha) I manage to get in a decent ride in the weekend without drowning. On Sunday I was riding regardless.
It was the T7's turn even though the Tiger needed a new tyre to be scrubbed in before this weekend (yeah, I'm definitely riding this weekend too). Reason? All that rain maketh the gravel good!
I left home in sunshine and made my way over the track and then onto the usual gravel superhighway to Eketahuna. Yes, the gravel was good but the weather not so much. Along the way I managed to get caught in several reasonable showers and had to put up with a wet and fogging visor (I'd thrown out the old, worn-out Pinlock and not replaced it) which mad some of the gravel a little more interesting.
In Eke, I stopped for fuel and an early lunch before pointing the bike East on the always enjoyable Mangaoranga Road. At the next turn, I went right instead of left and took Mangamahoe Central Road through to the Mauriceville Road. We don't go this way very often, but Mangamahoe was great with the only issue being loose ewes and their lambs all over the road.
Next up was plenty of seal up of over Dreyers Rock Road, one minute in bright sunshine, the next in rain, before cruising South on Route 52 and then on towards Bideford. Northeast of Bideford, I got back onto the gravel of Wairiri Road and got an interesting surprise.
Wairiri dropped me down onto Daggs Road and then back onto 52. From here the stunningly good Bartons line (if you watched the video, you'll know that there's no video of it due to camera issues - dammit) where the gravel was amazing - plenty of grip but it was also very easy to get the tail out and enjoy some rear wheel steering. Magic!
Pori Road was more of the same really. I was surprised how dry and "unslippery" it was. The charge up the hill was spectacular and even though there was cold water in my old Formas, my temperature came up with the workout I got. Who says I don't exercise enough?
The ride home took in a little more gravel around Makairo which also was fun and the T7 took its first pootle over the new road before we got back to sunny Ashhurst. Mint ride of somewhere around 300km in less than 4 hours - including stops which means that the gravel was definitely good!
