Kick-off

Time off must be put to good use.  This means riding!

Prior to Christmas, Colin and I had been kinda planning out which rides we might want to tick off over the break and one that I'd suggested was a trip through the forgotten highway as we hadn't been through there in quite a while.  With it being the holiday break and summer we thought that the road would be busy and running with melting tar - but we went anyway.

The ride started with Colin and then John turning up at my place for a ritual coffee and then we were off around the Manawatu Scenic route for some scenic stuff.  I knew from my scouting trip through there a few weeks back that the road was in good nick nut but did warn the other chaps about the couple of bits of new seal.

Colin (radar'd up) led the way up SH1 and then through to National Park.  Coming through here I for one kinda regretted having all the vents open on my gear as the temperature dropped at Waiouru to between 14 and 15 degrees and stayed there until we stopped at Owhango for lunch.

After lunch the temperature didn't really get any better until after we stopped at Taumarunui for fuel and hit the Forgotten highway proper.  We did also pick up a few spits of rain too...

The ride through to Whanga was a lot of fun with the road actually in reasonable condition.  no melting tar, just the odd slip and a few road debris to contend with.  The gravel section is currently being worked on in preparation for seal but after getting a bit of a feel for the new bike/tyres it was sweet as.  What isn't sweet as is the Harleys that (as everybody knows) can't corner, coming around blind corners on my side of the road - it seems that only a hospital trip or wooden box cures this.  Twats!

Riding through the tunnel was an experience for the other guys.  I got through sweet as but they ended up sliding around on some of the mud at the top end of the tunnel, apparently sunglasses are not ideal when descending into a black hole.

At Whanga we stopped for the obligatory photo (got to get all the bikes outside the pub eh?) and an exorbitantly priced drink before carrying on to Stratford on roads that just seemed to get better.  Love the way the new beast handles!

The rest of the trip was a bit of a quiet cruise as we got stuck behind a cop for a bit and then when we passed him had to be on our best behaviour (cruise control helps) until we caught a helpful tanker 😉.  A quick stop at Sanson where Colin turned for home and then John carried on with me as far as Ashhurst before skedaddling for the 'rapa.

Nice little ride of just over 600km with the bike telling me it would nearly have done the whole trip on one fill (thanks to that slow cruise home).