A quick trip to the Bay

This weekend the weather was supposed to pack up with rain expected to set in here today and last with us for a few days.  But my folks have recently moved house in Napier and I hadn't had the chance to go up for a nosey so I decided that I was going regardless of the weather - after all I had some nice new rubber on the Connie that needed to be put to the test.

Leaving home I decided to pass on the Saddle and take the Pahiatua Track and some other back roads through to Oringi and try and get some photos with the GoPro.

Coming down the Pahiatua Truck

It was actually a very nice day when I left and the track was nice and dry so I really enjoyed the quick squirt over the hill but then when scooting along Makomako Road I came across something interesting...

Gravel?

No, not a gravel road but a short section of road works - luckily they were relatively dry.

From Pahiatua I made my way through Magatainoka but then turned off onto Bluff Road and then Jackson Road through to Oringi.  This is a nice ride although as you can see from the slideshow/video the sun was quite low which made guessing which way the road went a bit trickier.  I'll have to do this again sometime because it really is a great little diversion.

Somewhere along here the battery ran out on the GoPro ran out but I only discovered this when I stopped in Danniverke for fuel.  The rest of the ride up SH2 and then SH50 was uneventful but enjoyable and the day got nicer and nicer the further I went.  I was quite glad to pull up at the old's place and take my gear off as I got quite warm with all my liners in on such a nice day.

While in Napier I managed to feed myself and help Dad set up his stereo, DVD and TV.  He'd had a bit of trouble getting the DVD to go but after sorting out the spaghetti factory of wires we soon had the DVD playing "On any Sunday" (it needed testing after all) while we tidied everything up and got down to enjoying lunch.  I also popped the GoPro on charge for the return trip.

 As I was getting ready to leave the weather was definitely changing the nice sunny day had cooled off noticeably and I was pretty sure that I'd run into some cloud moisture on the way home.  I wasn't wrong - the first drops began falling on me just as I was nearing Omahu.  From there on the rain was on and off, sometimes just light but other times a bit heavier.  The road also varied from dry to mildly moist, wet and slippery.

One of my favourite corners on SH50

The weather certainly didn't dampen my spirits, I was really enjoying being back out on the Connie and the new PR2's were behaving perfectly - I love looking behind and seeing the dry line the tyre leaves behind and the water pouring off the back of the bike.

Ah, isn't that nice!

South of Danniverke and nearing Woodville I ran into my second section of road works and this time I was not so lucky in the wet conditions...

Mud!

The surface was not too bad but the spray from other vehicles was the problem - by the time I got out the other side my visor was in a real mess and I could barely see anything.  I crept into Woodville peaking out from under my visor (but trying to keep rain off my glasses) and pulled into the garage to wash my visor.  What a difference it made!

My muddy visor was a lot worse than this!

Leaving Woodville it was time to take the Saddle back into Ashhurst and home.  At the bottom there are some absolutely shocking roadworks with holes big enough to lose an FXR in!  I also hit a lot of traffic all stuck behind a bus and passing was pretty much impossible on the wet and tight road.

Nearly home

Eventually I was past the bus and on the way into Palmy and home.  So in the end I did get a little bit of rain but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought but the roadworks certainly mad a mess of the bike.

Poor baby!

Oh, and the GoPro managed to take about 1,000 pictures on the way home:

Not a bad day splashing around in the rain!

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