What to do when the weather's bad...

Or perhaps when it's like this...

Yes, Sunday was what we like to call - a pearler!  So it just couldn't be wasted!

Neil had already been talking about going for a ride on Sunday so we made plans to meet in Taihape and then go play on some delicious back roads.

After putting the liners in my gear (not really necessary) I fired up the Connie and pointed it Northwards.  Within about 2 seconds of hitting the open road I was grinning and singing away to whatever the Senna was pumping into my helmet - be glad you could not hear me.  The day was truly spectacular and it was fantastic to be out enjoying it on my favourite horse.  I forced myself to stop at the lookout on Vinegar Hill just so I could hopefully capture a bit of a taste of what the conditions were like.

Damn the clouds...

Trying to get mountain and bike in the same picture but someone has put a fence in the way...

Back on the road, the rest of the ride over Vinegar Hill was a hoot but a 40km stretch of SH1 at careful pace (plenty of time to enjoy the day though) to Taihape followed.  In Taihape I parked up next to Neil's Speedy and some other bikes and had a coffee while catching up with Neil.

Coffee's downed we geared up again and I followed Neil South out of town.  We turned off SH1 not far down the road and started on our way to Rangiwahia on Toetoe Road.  I'd only been through here once before and this time around I was going in the opposite direction.  It's a nice little drops down into a pretty valley and onto Potaka Road.

Eventually we were onto the more familiar road through to Rangiwahia and then onto Kimbolton.  This is always a great road with little traffic and plenty of great curves.  Just out of Kimbolton we stopped at what is probably a familiar spot to regular readers of this blog for a few more pictures and to rave about the beautiful day.

Even the Harley boys were out and about...

We spent about ten minutes just sitting in the sun and could have stayed there all day but eventually we had to go.  We crossed over onto SH54 again and made our way over to Halcombe to catch up with Wee Colin.  Here we harassed him for not coming riding while forcing some of his hot homemade soup down (it was terribly good).

Neil and I then parted company as he turned and headed for Ohakune while I scooted home via Feilding.  A truly stunning autumn day and a great way to spend it!

More pics here.