BRR Rode of Paper

Sunday was our monthly adventure ride and Neil picked a few tricky routes (Takapari Road & North Range Road) along with some other tasty loops.  I decided to pass on the tough stuff (maybe if it had been drier) but was really keen to visit the Shannon dams again - last time I went up there it was raining and foggy...

And so I met up with Neil and Ted at a gas station in town and then we rode down to Shannon to meet up with the other guys.  While waiting at the cafe the rain hit us but it still didn't put off about 21 adventurous souls who were obviously looking forward to the last BRR rider of the year.

The ride up to the dams was a real cracker, the track is a really neat one with some some cool climbs and a pretty good (if rocky and a little muddy in places) surface.  There's a few tight corners as you climb up and down some of the hills and on the last leg to the final dam there's a couple of faster sections where allow you the bikes to stretch their legs a little.

As mentioned earlier, last time it was raining and foggy when we visited the dams, but on this occasion...well, not quite so rainy and foggy (most of the fog was on our way up to the dams).

Having run out road we were forced to turn around and retrace our steps back down to the power station.

It was here that I hatched a plan with a couple of others to take to some easier gravel roads and meet up with the others after they had splashed their way across North Range Road.  But as we were getting ready to go I noticed a small oil leak (probably the same one I  had a while ago - one of the seals that live under the sprocket cover) on the V-Strom so I decided to get her home and abandoned the team.  Not part of the plan at all but we got home safe and sound and the oil level on the bike didn't appear to have moved since leaving home so nothing too serious.

From all accounts the rest of the ride had it's moments with plenty of rain on North Range Road and the odd incident.  Oh, and someone decided to check out my puddle on North Range Road...

Looking forward to the start of the '15 BRR Adv rides...