BRRBT - Route 52 Romp

Sunday was our monthly Black Top ride and for this month I'd planned a trip down one of my favourite roads - Route 52.  Route 52 is windy, bumpy and narrow in places but it is a lot of fun and it was time to show it off to some of those who hadn't ridden it before.

As per our last ride we met out in Ashhurst and this month we had a decent sized group with I think thirteen of us in the end.  There were a few new riders to the group and also a few new bikes being ridden by some of the regulars.

Yes, that is Terry's new V-Strom

Colin is keen on the new 1290 Adventure

Paul and the Shadow joining us for the first time

Our route over into the Bay took us up over the Saddle again and while there was less gravel on the road, a light rain had turned some of the clay on the road into some pretty slippery mud - a bit of excitement early on in the ride...

Bits of the Saddle Road stuck to the GoPro...

After the short adventure ride we made our way through to Dannevirke where some fuelled up before the trip through Ormonville and Takapau to Waipuk where we stopped for an early lunch.

After lunch we made our way out of Waipuk and onto Route 52.  The ride through to the turn-off at Porangahau was particularly nice with only a few small sections of new seal to slow us down a whisker - otherwise it was just one nice smooth flowing corner after another.

We had a brief stop at Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki- maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu just in case any of the guys hadn't got a picture of their bikes in front of the sign and then carried on South to Wimbledon in search of wombles.

Brian's new to him KTM parked up front

From Wimbledon the road gets a bit rougher but we took things fairly sensibly and eventually rolled into Pongaroa where every ute in the district was parked up with fresh venison piled up in their trays.  Obviously a bit of a hunting competition to celebrate the start of the "roar".

The next leg of the ride took us further South through Alfredton and onto Eketahuna where we stopped to fuel up and farewell some of the Wellington contingent.  This only left a fairly spirited ride through Mangamire and over the track to finish the day off nicely.

The video below is just a few snippets of Route 52 - doesn't it look fun?

One great ride - where to next month?

More pictures here.