Riversdale Loop

 Ok, so this has been a while coming due to laziness...and a wee bit of riding...

About three weeks ago Colin and I joined a led ride down in the wilds of Wairarapa.  Far too early in the morning, I set off over the Track and down through Mangamire towards the ride (well, for me anyway) start at Carterton.

Tooling into Eketahuna, I realised I was around an hour early so took a we detour up Mangaoranga Road before turning left onto Mangamahoe Central Road.  These mint bits of gravel eventually got me back onto seal just North of Mauriceville.

Missing the turn-off to bypass Masterton, I had to find another way to get around the township before the final haul to Carterton.

In Carterton, I gassed up and parked next to a guy on a BMW to ask if he was on the same ride as me.  He initially said yes but then worked out that no, he was on a different ride with some of Geoff's IAM mates.  I didn't want to go riding with that sort of dodgy crowd so pottered on up the road to find the proper meeting point.

It seems like the Manawatu riders get up a bit earlier as there were two other bikes (I'd passed them earlier at the bottom of the track) from around here already parked up.  I had plenty of time to take a layer off as the sun had also managed to get out of bed for once.  Some time later a familiar bloke rocked up on an unfamiliar bike.

Still orange

Shiny new 890

Yeah, a 890 had followed Colin home earlier in the week...

And look at all the other motorbicycles!  Chevvy is even in there somewhere on his DR too.

Getting underway, we made our way East out through Gladstone and towards the coast.  Our first bit of gravel was on Kaiwhata Road.  Through here I tucked in behind Colin and we had a bit of fun on some of the deeper gravel before dropping down through the pines and onto the fast Homewood Road into Riversdale.

Just before arriving at Riversdale, Colin had to do cornerman duty, so I beat him there and managed to beat the masses to the pies 😁

After lunch we were led back away from the coast and then off into some forestry tracks which apparently had only just been reopened for public access.  

These were a real hoot but pine needles plus what was probably a clay surface underneath make for some interesting riding at times.  That 80/20 Shinko broke loose quite a few times when on the gas scrambling up the odd wee rise - I really should have had a camera pointed out the back.

At the end of the gravel, Colin and I said cheerio to the other guys and turned North towards Eketahuna.  Of course, I had to show Colin those roads I'd done in the morning...

In Eketahuna, it was time for afternoon tea so the local cafe got invaded again and some caffeine liberated.

Not quite having had enough of a gravel fix, we needed to take in our favourite route to Managamire and the track.  The gravel was indeed good and we fair flew up there with just the odd gust of wind making things a little exciting.

A quick squirt over the track got us back to Palmy where the orange bike turned South and the blue one pottered home for a wee rest.  A nice day out and a warm hello to spring finally...