Off to the beach

Long weekends rock!  A few weeks ago Meanie and Cowboyz decided that it was about time that a decent mob of us got together for a ride and a BBQ to see in the New year.  The plan was to ride to Castle Point on Monday and then follow it up with a get together afterwards for a BBQ.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't the nicest on Monday but fortunately Tuesday was still a holiday so it was easy to simply change the date and hit the road.

View 03-01-12 Castle Point Ride in a larger map

Ten bikes left Ashhurst at around 9:30 and made their way out around Aokautere and over the Pahiatua Trackto Pahiatua where we stopped briefly to regroup before taking to the back roads down to Alfredton.

Alfredton

After another quick break we were back onto the delicious Route 52 to Te Ore Ore just out of Masterton.  Here the bikes with a decent range waited while the nervous riders with smaller tanks nipped into Masterton to top up their tanks.

At the turn-off: left to Castle Point, right to Masterton

Once we were all sorted again it was time to head for the beach.  The road out to Castle Point was in superb condition with all the riders arriving at the beach with big smiles on their faces.  Here's a quick sample of some of the ride:

At the beach it was time for a bit of a break and we probably spent an hour or so there taking it all in, talking bikes and most of us picking up a bit of sunburn.

Castle Point

Once we had had enough of Castle Point it was time to retrace our wheel tracks back to Masterton where once again there were a few smiles present as people insisted on putting more fuel in their bikes (including one doubter on his red Connie).

From Masterton I led us to the turn-off that would take us through some more back roads to Mauriceville and then onto Eketahuna.  I was soon passed by some more enthusiastic riders but really enjoyed the nice cruise that kept us away from the main road and the holiday traffic.

In a continued effort to avoid the main road (and because it's our preferred route) we took the turn-off to Mangamire and headed for home.  It was along here where one of our number (mounted on a poor wee VT250) proved that there is such a thing as too much confidence.  He had been pushing things a little and ended up going into a right hander a little too hot.  He realised this and tried to slow up which took him out wider in the turn where he eventually ran out of room and took a diversion into the drain.  Luckily he had scrubbed off most of his speed and the result was very little damage and no injury - lucky lad.

Anyway, we soon had the bike fished out of the undergrowth and eventually coaxed it back into life.  From here the ride got a little less interesting with no more mishaps as we made our way back over the track and home.  For the record, the silver Connie managed the 340 odd km on about 20L returning 5.9L/100km - pretty good all things considered...

The only thing remaining to do for the day was to partake in a very nice barbie at Meanie & Monies which just put the icing on the cake!  Another great day out on the bikes with a pretty decent bunch of ruffians!