Friday night ride

Nice to see the weather forecaster's still can't get it right - the weather was supposed to be shocking on Friday night but by 6pm the rain still hadn't come so the ride was on.

Brian and I pootled out to Ashhurst and met up with 4 others for a quick squirt through Vinegar Hill. There was a few spits of rain as we left Ashhurst and once on the hill we discovered plenty of damp corners but otherwise the riding was great.

After the fun of the Hill we pottered down SH1 until turning off for Halcombe. Another nice ride through here except for a short period where we got stuck behind an idiot in a 4WD who thought he could drive - he couldn't, so it was good to get past him and leave him to his bouncing all over the road style.

In Feilding we stopped for a drink, snack and a chin wag before all finding our own way's home.

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Friday night ride

We had an absolutely fantastic Friday night ride last night. With the wind having dropped a bit and it neither too hot or too cold the weather was ideal. Ten riders met up at the Ashhurst pub and after a bit of the usual gossip we decided on our route and mounted our steeds.

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The first good squirt was over the saddle which is in great nick at the moment and the little red bike really enjoyed it. After a very quick regroup we rode through to Ballance and then onto Mangamire. From Mangamire we headed South on SH2 for a few minutes before turning off Hamua to take in some absolutely fantastic back roads to Pahiatua.

Arriving in Pahiatua, our usual stopping point was closed so we carried onto Mangatainoka where we finally got our cold drink and snack. After our break the group split up with most going home via the main road and the gorge. Road King and myself decided otherwise and had an absolute pearler of a ride over a traffic free Pahiatua Track - fantastic!

One more great Friday night ride in the bag...

Keeping ya wits about ya

I took the Honda out for a little ride this afternoon and on my return trip through town witnessed an accident directly in front of me. In fact, but for sheer luck (2 seconds in it) I could have been tangled up in it.

A stupid car driver pulled out of a parking area directly across one lane of traffic and into the car in front of me in the second lane. I managed to stop in plenty of time but it could easily have been me or if I hadn't been paying a bit of attention I could have ridden into it.

The truth of it is that I was only paying attention to what was going on directly in front of me and maybe what was in my mirrors. I wasn't checking out the parking area that carefully - and it was full of other cars and people wandering around. There were a lot of hazards that I wasn't even bothering about and the accident came as a surprise.

Usually I'm pretty good at checking out each side road I pass whether on my left or right and here I was ignoring another source of danger - stupid. The good news as that both car

drivers are ok (although their corollas are a bit 2nd had) and I got a cheap wake-up call.

So keep ya wits about ya eh?

New Years Day ride - the video

A couple of videos from the New Years Day ride:

Leaving Ashhurst

Following Meanie to Ashhurst

New Years Day ride

It seemed like I hadn't ridden the Connie all year so when Cowboyz put up a plan for a New Year's Day ride followed by dinner it could not be ignored so by 12:30 I was geared up and off up the road towards Ashhurst. Riding through town I caught up with Meanie, Monie and Cowboyz who were fueling their bikes (still no gas in Ashhurst) and followed them out to Ashhurst to wait for the others.

It wasn't long before we were joined by the others and when we departed Ashhurst there was fourteen bikes in all pootling towards Feilding. Today I had also mounted my video camera so I managed to shoot my first bit of video as we crossed over Colyton Road. I'll post up some of the video later when I get around to editing it.

From Feilding we all had a ball on the Halcombe road before stopping briefly at the main road to tell each other about how great the ride was. Next was a short ride up SH1 to Hunterville where we turned off to tackle Vinegar Hill.

Vinegar Hill was a lot of fun as usual although a fair bit of traffic on it spoiled it a little. Arriving in Cheltenham it was time for another regroup before continuing on to Kimbolton.

I had a great ride from Kimbolton through to Apiti following Meanie closely with the video running the whole way - mint!

From Apiti I followed Martin on his 'Busa around the Pohangina valley and back to Ashhurst. Parking up after our great ride we settled down with cold drinks followed by dinner at the Apiti pub. A great way to finish off a good day out on the bikes.

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