It was quite nice when I got underway, still a little overcast and quite a bit cooler than it has been lately. I even zipped up a few vents in my jacket - for a while.
I was a little unsure exactly where I was going to go and for how long but I had all day to mess around if I wanted and wandered my way over to Colyton and then onto Vinegar Hill.
On the Hill there were some traffic lights controlling traffic at some roadworks but otherwise the road was its usual fun self. A commodore driver even waited for me at the one lane bridge.
With a bit of a plan forming (took a while) I puttered on into Hunterville and turned off onto Ongo Road to make my way over to Fordell. The road was a little messy in places where slips were getting cleaned up and I also caught up with some cattle being moved along the road and into their yards.
Not far past the Turakina Valley Road turn-off I ran into a nice set of roadworks. Time to stop for a few pics of the big Adv bike...
As you can see from the video below, the mud didn't last long, turning into some quite rocky stuff instead...
By the time I hit Fordell things had really hotted up so I decided to return home via Marton rather than dropping into Wanganui as I had planned.
There were more roadworks on SH3 but I turned off at Turakina to take some back roads into Marton where I parked up for some lunch. Lunch eaten I took the very boring way home by riding into Bulls (for fuel) and then more of SH3 into Palmy.
So just a short one but good to give the Connie a bit of love before she is ignored for a spell...
Take good care in the heat Andrew. I got a dose of heat stroke on Friday. Thought I'd hydrated just fine but got held up for 20 minutes at some roadworks. Full sun, normal riding gear with vents open and helmet. I cooked! Splitting headache and felt nauseous on the way home. Lost 1 kg in fluids. Might loom at an evaporation vest and mesh jacket for next summer.
ReplyDeleteSounds yucky, I've definitely come close a few times. Camel-bak is the key. It'll get some use of the next week or so ;)
DeleteNot good Geoff, have you considered a camelbak or similar. I have a cheap knock off one and swear by them, great in really hot weather.
DeleteVinegar Hill is a choice bit of road. It was 12 months ago we invaded you guys and NZ will never be the same again.
Etched into the minds of all Kiwis...one day we'll get over it!
DeleteMud? Gravel? That can' that Connie do? All in a good rider I guess.
ReplyDeleteSnowing here this morning, sigh. And hubby is out teaching a class of folks to ride motorcycles. He is way more hard core than I'll ever be.
So how did I get away with it? Nah, she'll go anywhere if you're nice to her.
DeleteSnow? What's that? Actually, we've got another cyclone on the way and I'll be riding into it on Wednesday...
Well, you learn something everyday. From Wikipedia: "Vinegar Hill was named after an incident in early colonial times: a bullock cart carrying barrels of vinegar overturned after the bullocks slipped on the muddy track on the hillside, covering the hillside in vinegar from the broken barrels."
ReplyDeleteMelting weather sucks.