Womble Burger

Sunday was ride day again and this time around we could only manage two Tigers as Colin decided that the GSA needed an outing as it hadn't been getting a lot of love since he fell for a T-plan Triumph.  Can hardly blame him really...

While it was a slightly cooler start than we've had lately, the day was warming up by the time that Colin and Dayal (whose name I later learned can be spelt in all sorts of exciting ways) arrived for the pre-ride coffee and once this important ritual was complete, we headed East.

A quick scoot over the Saddle and a few back roads got us to Dannevirke where the lads needed fuel and we had to decide where we were going...We ended up thinking of lunch in Pongaroa and then later on I threw that idea out the non-existant window...

North of Dannevirke we turned off the main drag and carried on up to Takapau.  Fresh from my TT trip (just wait Chillertek, write-up will happen) and wanting a couple more pics for an AdvRider thread, I hauled up at the Fire Station for a photo.

Bikes running and everything...

Carrying on East, I took a wrong turn when looking for Blackhead Road (turned too soon) which also can be a factor during a TT, and we had to pull a quick Uie (sp?) and ride past another Fire Station (that we didn't stop at) before finally taking the right turn.  (Far too many brackets in this paragraph, this is a blog not an excel formula).

Blackhead Road seemed to me to be even more lumpy and bumpy, but it still managed to get us into Porangahau where we rejoined Route 52 and headed South.  At the road works, two of us got stuck behind a twat towing a caravan at around 5km/h while a certain Beemer took to the rough stuff which included clambering up a little bank at the end of the dug up road...

By now, it was getting pretty damn hot, and I was fumbling with some of the vents on my riding gear but there's only so many you can reach yourself while riding - even with cruise control.  And I was getting hungry...

At Wimbledon I decided that we needed to pop into Herbertville and see if the pub there was open.  Turns out that it wasn't and it even looked like it might not have been open for quite some time.  Oh well, there was a fire station and an opportunity to open more vents.

Horrendously disappointed at the lack of tucker in Herbertville, we retraced our steps to Wimbledon to try out the pub there - for the first time ever!

The pub staff were a bit run off their feet (and not to be argued with) with some sort of function on but eventually we each had an ok burger in front of us which we each managed to make disappear - it can't have been that bad.  Not sure what the meat was though...

After lunch we cut the ride short a little by taking the road back through Weber and then to Dannevirke again but did chuck in the Oringi-Hopelands "short-cut" to Pahiatua so that we could avoid the Saddle and take in the track.  Good idea eh Colin?

The countdown is on

⬅️ Checkout the timer.

Needed a pie

On Saturday a couple of Tigers turned up at my place for a coffee.  The coffee was ok but what I reckoned they really needed was to visit a bakery.  So another Tiger was fired up and off we went on a short excursion to Marton.

Not Marton, just the old truck near Colyton

On the way to Cheltenham and Vinegar Hill, I decided that sport mode needed to be deployed.  This turned out to be a great idea and I really like how the engine response is sharper and how the suspension behaves.  We weren't travelling at warp speed, but I really enjoyed just how nice it felt and how well it handles.  I think I'll keep it, might even go for a decent ride this weekend...

In Hunterville, two Tigers (the ones above) needed a drink and then we were on our way again, heading towards Fordell.  We got stuck behind a Mitzi for a while, but the driver was really good - they'd seen us behind them and were obviously looking for somewhere to pull over to let us past.  They eventually found a spot and we gave them a wave as we snuck past.

Eventually we hit Turakina Valley Road but as this was a road ride, we went left instead of right but soon hit some new seal just before the turn-off to Marton.

As this was a cruisy ride (and the guys had already put up with me stopping for photos a few times), we stopped just up the road to get a picture of an old woolshed - one that Colin and I had talked about getting a photo of one day.  Today was the day.

After diving into another unmarked section of new seal at about the speed limit, we turned onto what is probably the pick of the roads we rode - and that is saying something!  The secret road is Makuhou Road and I've probably raved about it before...We even got to ride it in the best direction!

Some beautiful windies took us up the hill past the Tutaenui Reservoir with the only some hot tar at the top of the hill being of any concern.  From there it was a quiet pootle into Marton where we stopped at a particularly well stocked bakery for lunch.

From there, Colin and Dayal vamoosed it homeward in one direction and I did the same thing in another direction.  Nice day for a ride and not a bad steak, cheese and bacon.