Some prep...

With the Connie recently celebrating her twelfth birthday and the distance riding season about to kick off with a vengeance, it was time for a little maintenance.

With a mere 156,000km on the clock, I decided to first spoil her with some suspension maintenance.  So, one weekend, Dad and I removed the forks and shock and posted them off to Taupo for a service.

I actually cleaned them up before putting them in the envelope...

The PR4's were stuffed to, so off they came and an order placed...Cycletreads to the rescue...

One of the other little jobs we had to do while the rubber was off, was to see if we could get the TPMS sensors working again.  On early Connies like mine, you can relatively easily (some soldering required) replace the batteries whereas in later bikes it's not so easy.

Last time we did this, we got both going but unfortunately water got into the front one (from a tyre change) and then it had been sitting like that corroding away ever since.  Dad managed to clean it up and then soldered some new batteries in (more than once).

Delicate surgery

But, it's probably a good idea to check them before fitting the tyres eh?

Nothing happening...

So, this is how you do it:

As I said, it took a few goes to get them going but before the tyres went on, we were pretty sure that both of them were working.  Unfortunately the front one quit sometime after we tested it and before I test rode the bike.  We'll have another go in 9-10,000km.

Another unfortunate issue was that the rear shock turned out to not be serviceable - the suspension man didn't touch it as he had no way to re-gas it (could not even fit a valve).  So it came back the way it came out of the bike.

At least it was pretty easy to refit both the shock and forks.

Once the suspension was back in Dad left me to put the bikes clothes back on and fit the new rubber.

Trying a 55 profile on for size - yep, it fits under the hugger...

With all that done it was time for a test ride.  But, when I hit the starter I just got a brief whir and then click, click, click...damn!  A month of sitting around and a bit of mucking around with the ignition on (testing the TPMS etc) had flattened the battery.

I hooked up my battery charger and left it for a few hours only to find that my charger was kaput - double damn!  In the end I used a certain 250cc generator to pump in some ergs to get me going - I should really have got a picture or video of that...

Bike running, I discovered that it was low on fuel, so I decided to go and see if there was any available in Woodville.  It'd give me a good chance to charge the battery a bit, scrub in the tyres and get a feel for the fresh rubber and serviced front end.

So how'd it all go?  Well, it was that damn windy that I was blown silly and never really got the chance to "try things out" properly.  It was so windy that I didn't stop at the top of the track for a planned photo - I probably would have been blown over turning in the gravel parking area...

I ended up settling for some pics in the Esplanade.

Pretty girl, with flowers...

Now, it's time for a decent ride...

2019 NI800Countdown

FRDC MC Ride #2

Yesterday was our second FRDC MC ride - just under 2 months since our first one, but somehow I managed to plan even better weather!

We met up in town so that some could indulge in a caffeine fix, yarned a bit, wondered aloud if Ivan's bike would make it around without running out of fuel and Ian even tried to steal a ninja...

The eight musketeers (one hiding behind camera, one even better at hiding)...

Heading out of town we followed the same route through Aokautere to Ashhurst but rode past the Valley Road turn-off and took Pohangina Valley East Road.  After dodging some cars and cyclists we got a bit of clear road in front of us to the first wee "catch-up" stop near Totara Reserve.

That'll be Ian's thumb at it again...

Reviewing the video later it seemed that Ian and Brent had something to say about the first bit of Pohangina Valley East Road.

I think they may have been talking about this bit...

Pressing on there was plenty of fun to be eeked out of the ride.  I do like this bit of tarmac - lots of the windies and also some pretty nice scenery should you decide to take it in...

I was very well behaved too - I ignored a number of turn-offs that lead onto some delicious gravel...

At the turn-off near Apiti it was time for another catch up.

Skipping the delights of Apiti, we carried on around the scenic route to Rangiwahia.  I really enjoy the two drops (and climbs) down into the valleys and crossing the one lane bridges.  Plenty of metal and crap on the road in places but not too much of an issue on the Tenere and everyone else was sensible and riding nicely at their own pace.

Ian

Jasmine

Paul

The old garage was a great spot to get a picture of Ivan on his Harley - he stopped at a garage and it wasn't even broken down!

Even I like the picture...

Next was a dash to Kimbolton for an early lunch.  This was a bit of fun as it's chock full of more great windy stuff.  I had a Buell or two breathing down my neck so we managed to keep the average up through here.

Ian and that Bandit again

Burger time!

Ivan

Paul

Jasmine

Yep, that's a DR hiding in the bunch

After a pretty decent lunch and another yarn session (during which a few even picked up some sunburn) it was time to wrap up the ride with everyone making their way home more or less separately.  I was tempted to join Craig (on the DR) in finding some gravel on the way home but had other things to do so headed home with some Harley powered units following me for some of the way.

Great little ride but I got bored editing video, so gave up (like the Garmin's battery):

Fordell Trail Ride

A few months ago I sniffed out an upcoming Trail Ride and after Colin and I had so much fun on our last one, I set to inviting all and sundry who I knew had a suitable weapon in the shed.  In the end I only had one keen man sign-up in the form of Cookie.

Now that we're in September it is supposed to be spring so the weather should be on the improve.  But, no, there has been some decent rain at times and this is what we got on the way over to Fordell.

Luckily, this was just a shower and when we arrived at the ride the weather was a lot nicer.

The below pics may give a hint at what the riding conditions were going to be like...

Did you work it out?  Hint, both bikes have side-stands fitted...

Bikes and riders ready, we had a quick rider's briefing and then we were off.

The first little stretch was a quite pleasant drop down into the pine forest on reasonably a nice, non-slippery track.  I'm allowed to show the following video as it was the only time I saw Cookie have a whoopsie and he got to see me have more than one...looks like he was just a victim of some sort of brain fart...

Once down the hill the fun really started.  The track got a lot wetter and any grip that had been there well and truly vanished.  Pretty much everyone was in the same boat with bikes slipping and sliding all over the place and plenty of bikes requiring the odd lie down.

I certainly had plenty of drama with my tyres probably not really being up to it (we ended up airing them right down) and the little WR is actually a lot heavier than most of the moto-cross bikes (it's about 20kg heavier than Cookie's 500).  Combine this with my splendid state on unfitness and I was really working for a living.

Pretty soon we caught up to a log-jam of riders attempting to climb up a slippery section.  The delay was quite long and in the end one of the support crew came down and suggested that we turn around and hook up with the track via our first deteour onto an "A" loop.

Now, an A loop is intended for those who happen to be pretty damn good riders and an AA loop is for nutters...

I dunno when we came off the A loop and back onto the main track but there really wasn't much difference in conditions.  It was torturously slippery everywhere!  Somewhere in here I started having the odd off when the bike either went sideways or I got so damn tired that I couldn't hand onto it and keep it on line.  The poor little bike also got a fair workout to with plenty of revs being used in an effort to get moving and clear the rear wheel.

It was here that the idea to bring Cookie along came in handy...He made himself pretty useful by helping me up some tricky bits by pushing and even (I'm ashamed to admit) riding Mighty Mouse while I had a quiet heart-attack on the side of the track.  Here he is giving me a pep-talk...

Here's one section where I waited for Cookie (after he'd helped me up a section).  The video doesn't really show the steepness but it does show the slipperiness.  I hate that guy on the white bike...Cookie had a wee bit of excitement but got the big KTM up the hill no worries.

I think it was after dropping back down off the above hill that we got out on some pasture for a little while.  I managed to get stuck in some grass (avoiding the muddy track) and when I finally caught up to a waiting Cookie gave him a good show by biffing the bike away again and tumbling down a hill - sorry, no video of that one.

Another of the support guys then advised us of a another short-cut (yes, on an "A" section) to get us out of the wallows and back towards home base.  So, after another off in a bog we got back onto the main track and I actually had a neat blast up a reasonably tidy track (2nd gear even) until finally running foul of some goop again.

One last grind through the slop and we got out onto a decent track that took us back to the ride start.  I actually saw third gear a couple of times...

Well, that one (part) lap was pretty much enough for us.  I for one was stuffed and wasn't in a hurry to do it all again, so we grabbed our lunch and then loaded the bikes back up for the trip home.

That plate is supposed to be like that...

Back home, it was time to give Mighty Mouse a bath before my body seized up.

Waterblaster now needs waterblasting...

Anyway, as hard as the ride was (and now three days later, so the body is nearly recovered), it was still a lot of fun.  I'm just hoping the next one might be a little easier...