Spring has sprung

Last week Neil received a parcel that he'd been waiting for for quite some time and he was quite keen to put it to the test.  He was keen for a ride on Saturday but I fobbed him off until Sunday and this was a pretty good move - while the weather on Saturday was pretty damn nice, Sunday was a pearler!

We met up in Hunterville and once we'd coffee'd up we headed North and aimed for one of our favourite bits of gravel - Watershed Road.  This was a blast and below you can see Neil's new toy in action as he chases me up the road.

After this little bit of excitement we pulled up to remove layers, down some water and take in the lovely day.

We finished off the gravel and found ourselves on the tarmac of Tiriraukawa Road.  Here I uncharacteristically got away on Neil a bit and when I started not being able to see him in my mirrors I pulled up.  It  turned out that the Triumph needed some loving.  Not a bad spot to stop...

Next up we had to make our way up over North Ridge Road - another great, if a bit tight in places, piece of gravel.  Once again Neil followed to capture some of the excitement...

Okay, so that looked fairly exciting and I guess it was for a moment.  At the top of the hill we stopped again to take in the great views.

Breather over, it was time to drop down the hill into Taihape and feed the worms before the afternoon leg.

After lunch our first section involved a fair bit of tarmac but it was still a lot of fun - the weather was fairly shocking too...

We eventually ended up on another favourite road - Turakina Valley Road - and more gravel.  Unfortunately some useless sods had been spreading more gravel on the road and it was a bit deep in places for my liking - still plenty of fun though.

We then blasted up the hill on Okaka Road before turning right onto Pohonui Road.

Pohonui Road is really nice as it takes you along the side of a nice valley - plenty of nice views to put you off your riding if you're not concentrating.

Mama with new triplets and no brains

Searching for wascally wabits

Beef!

Eventually we were spat out onto Turakina Valley Road again and this is where we split up as Neil headed home (via Turakina Valley Road) and I made my way back to Hunterville and then home via Vinegar Hill.

So yes, it looks like Spring is finally here and we're looking forward to more great riding weather - bring it on!

More pics here.