A quick skid

With a BRR Adv ride coming up soon and not having done much gravel on the Tenere yet, I was keen to get out today to get in some practice.

Before going for the ride I did a little bit of work on the bike.  First I added some 3M protective vinyl to the bikes tank and then I rigged up a camera mount on the crash bars.  I used a GoPro mount that I'd bought for my mountain bike and a little piece of Subaru radiator hose for the job.

Leaving home I crossed town and rode out to Bunnythorpe before turning back towards Ashhurst until I hit Watershed Road.  Watershed Road eventually turns into gravel so I slowed up and started trying to get my head around gravel riding again.

Yes, it was windy!

Leaving the tar

Watershed Road and Zig Zag road had quite a bit of gravel on them and possibly had a grader over it recently and it was a little spooky in places with the heavier bike and fairly average 90/10 tyres it's running.

Finis Road turned out to be in better condition and I enjoyed the ride down into Pohangina.

The next neat bit of gravel I tackled was Pohangia Road which was a real blast (see video).  Rather than carry on up the valley I turned off and rode down to reserve for a nosey.

And then I decided to head home - but which way to go?  Well, the gravel of Pohangina Road was good on the way in, so it'd probably be fun in the other direction too right?  The video below shows both legs of the fun little journey.

The rest of the ride home skipped the gravel but still involved a lot of wind!  It was nice to have had a nice little ride after a week of work and not very bike friendly weather.