Yeah, it's been a while

Things have been a wee bit busy...

And not just at work.  After about an 18 month hunt, a little disappointment and stress I've finally bought a new home just outside of Palmy.  And in even more good news, the old place went unconditional just before Christmas so I won't be in debt to the bank forever...

My search for a new place has been hampered somewhat with the ridiculous housing market here and of course my criteria.  I am not really that fussy but one of the things I needed was a decent shed - more poor ute has never been out of the weather and I wanted a decent space for playing around with bikes and what not.  Most modern places seem to be big houses (not a requirement for me) on postage stamp sections with (if you are lucky) a single garage.  And often they do weird stuff like stuffing the laundry in the garage - why?

Anyway, without further ado, here's what the shed looks like 😉

The shed is yet to be completely sorted out, there's still stuff in boxes etc but as you can see the important things are sorted out and there's still oodles of room for the ute (although it's currently parked under the carport) and working on things.  I've also got heaps of other storage out there so all my gear will be able to live there instead of having to find a place for it in the house.

And I've even done the first job out there...

Cable operated clutches suck!

Before I started the job I undertook a training course for it (watched a Youtube video) where the guy just taped the new cable to the old and pulled it through using the old one.  Yeah, nah, that was never going to work.  I had to get a little more serious.

250 powerhouse

Hate those fuel line clips - but they work

It was a finicky little job with not much room to get at some things (particularly the little bottom mount bolts for the cable) and the Chinese did not make the cable 1mm longer than it needed to be.

As it happened to be bucketing down when I did the job, the only way I could test the cable was in the shed...It seemed ok and eventually I managed a little ride around the village and I think it's ok - still need to try a "high speed" run to make sure there's no slip anywhere...

So, apart from riding the Connie (Colin rode the Ten and the little bikes came out on the ute) from old place to new, there's not been much riding going on (I have not blogged aride we did just before I got busy so maybe I'll get to it one day) but now I'm relocated and have some time off...

Herding Hondas

Just prior to the NI800, Brian, one of the Goldwing brigade had been chatting to Colin about wanting to get something else in his stable for exploring back roads.  Fast forward a week or two and we get sent some photos of the new bike and then a request to join us on a gravel excursion somewhere so that Brian could work on his gravel riding skills.

Come Saturday and when Colin and I rocked up to the meet in Pahiatua and were soon joined by not one but two new Hondas.  It turns out the Goldwing guys like to stick together...

Graham and Brian

Brian lives in Pahiatua and knows a lot of the roads in the area but was keen to check out both Pori Road and the Rising Sun.  Who were we to deny him...

After the short stretch of seal to the start of the Makuri Gorge we turned off onto Pori Road.  I decided to go TEC so that I could get both Graham and Brian on camera while Colin led the way.

Of course we had to stop at the usual spot...

Waiting for a couple of Hondas when we got to the end of the road, we were buzzed by a large group of riders heading North on Route 52.  This included a few bods we know including Chevvy and his wife.  They were all off on a bit of a tour over the long weekend.

They disappeared on us but we caught them again at our next turn-off at Waihoki Valley Road.  They were having a regroup and a wee roadside chat so we hauled up to and had a yarn to a few of them.  We then let them go while we had a bit of chat about the ride so far, tyres and techniques and then we were into it again.

This time I led off and onto a road that had a bit more gravel on it than normal.  Good practice riding on marbles for the boys...

Huia Road was more of the same, but once we turned onto Spur Road the marbles gave way to the normal combination of dirt track and good gravel.  Plenty of time today for photo stops and roadside gum flapping.

At the bottom end of Spur Road we even had another stop to get a photo of an interesting sign.

The first bit of Marainanga Road was a little chopped up by logging trucks so there were  afew ruts, potholes and uneven surfaces to negotiate.  At least it wasn't wet and gave the Honda lads a bit of practice at standing on the pegs.  Then the road came right again for a quick blast out to Coast Road and then into Pongaroa for yet another burger.

While at the pub a large group of hoodlums (😉) on ag bikes roared into town in a cloud of two-stroke.  They then bowled on in to check out the pub.  They were all loaded up with gear and out causing mischief with a trip through Makairo Track on their agenda and good bikes for it too.  I bet they had a ball.

After lunch we managed to find some magic gravel (smooth and fast) through to check out Waihi Falls.

Next up was that trip up Towai Road to the Rising Sun.  Another nice day up there with little wind.

Our last bit of gravel was probably the best of the day.  Towai and Coonoor Roads were in great, hard, fast condition and well suited to putting smiles on dials...

A not so sedate pootle then had us back into Pahiatua where we had a bit of a debrief over coffee and perhaps laid some future plans...

Naturally my ride ended with a wee jaunt over the track and nearing the bottom I had a wee bird associated incident.  Pulling out to pass a car as we were coming out of a corner, I got surprised by about 6 ducks wandering into my path.  

They were somewhat startled by the sudden appearance of a shiny blue Tenere and attempted to flee in multiple directions - all without using those big flappy arms of theirs.  But today was their lucky day, somehow I managed to thread my way through the lot of them without disturbing a feather.  They probably all hussled off to get a lotto ticket...

Icecream in Porangahau

 Late last week we knew we were going riding, the question was just where?  Turakina Valley was suggested initially, but then Colin mentioned heading out East again to do that great loop out Waihoki Valley.  But I'd actually had some other Eastern roads tumbling around inside my head...

Saturday was chosen based on the weather forecast and this turned out to be the right call as it ended up being a nice sunny day whereas Sunday became very windy with some rain later in the afternoon.

So, over a coffee before we left, I proposed my cunning plan and surprisingly the KTM rider seemed keen, so off we went.

Naturally the ride began with a sedate skid over the track before taking the usual "gravel entre" of Tararua Road before a short pause in Pahiatua to get gassed up for the day's excursion.

Riding off towards Pongaroa I checked the clock on the bike it seemed that we were a bit early for a lunch stop in Pongaroa so at the summit above Makuri I turned off to lead Colin through Rimu Road.  Well, it wasn't quite as windy as the day Steve got blown off the road, but it was close.  We fair wobbled our way down the hill (getting pushed all over the road) until we were out of the wind and back onto the seal just South of Pongaroa.  Five minutes later we were safely inside the pub ordering burgers.

After lunch we began the next section of our ride with the sublime Coast Road.  Don't tell the roading guys, but this bit of gravel is always in good condition and allows for a nice wee clip.  A few more cars on it than usual this time...

Turning back inland from Akitio we made our way back towards Route 52 (Pongaroa-Weber section), but turned off onto Esdaile Road which offers a gravel shortcut to the Weber-Wimbledon section of Route 52.  It's a neat ride too and I spotted another gravel road heading off it that didn't have a no exit sign on it so this may need investigating at a later date...

Just a bit further up the road was our next turn-off.  Franklin Road is a road that heads off into some pine forest and recently they're been hauling a fair bit of wood out of there.  There were definitely less trees than last and the trucks had created some fairly decent ruts in the softer bits of the road.  We were a little lucky that there hadn't been any rain in the last couple of days.

Franklin Road eventually runs out where it crashes into Birch Road East.  A left here will take you back almost to Weber but the right takes you East and back to Route 52 between Wimbledon and Porangahau.  On this trip the road was a bit more churned up than I've seen it with some reasonable pot holes, puddles and the odd slippery bit.  Gently goes it on the big girl...

We were still up reasonably high and there's some good views to be had if you can be bothered looking...

Arriving in Porangahau, an orange bike rapidly passed me and then laid on the anchors outside the local dairy.  Apparently we needed icecream - and it was good...

Just up the hill (an Old Hill) we had a quick er, photo stop before the great gravel of Old Hill Road got us back onto the seal of Porangahau Road.

I think it was at lunch, or maybe at icecream, I dunno, but, I'd suggested to Colin that after Porangahau why don't we just take the next no exit gravel road and see if it got us home or hopelessly lost.  The next road turned out to be Wallingford Road and I've definitely ridden it before but not for some time.  At least I wasn't lost yet.

Wallingford Road eventually got us onto Ugly Hill Road.

And when we hit Ngahape Road I recognised the school so no, I was definitely not lost!

Eventually we got onto a lot more familiar roads and ended up in Dannevirke after a short bit of Weber Road.  A quick flick down SH2 and then we were off the main drag again through Hopelands and back onto SH2 into Mangatainoka.

In Mangatainoka, I initially missed the turn I wanted but eventually got us onto Ruawhata and then Ridge Road for our last bit of gravel.  After finding some quite deep and slippery stuff we got back out onto the seal for that last squirt back over the track and home.

Great little ride and nice to finally see a bit more spring weather...