Yesterday was the 7th running (and my sixth) of the Capital 1000km Cruise and what a great wee ride it was!
As per usual for us Palmy lot it started early with 5 riders meeting for a 5am departure to the Upper Hutt official start (we get to start and finish in Palmy).
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| Early |
We left in some very light (shouldn't even mention it really) drizzle and the further South we got the lighter the day got. Out first bit of fun was the Paekakariki hill which was in great condition and put smiles on quite a few dials. It was just a short squirt over Haywards and up the motorway a bit to the official starting point where we signed on and caught up with some of the regulars.
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| Neutron Silver is the fastest colour! |
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| Someone else with taste... |
We got away again at about 6:45 and followed a few bikes on up the Rimutakas. Steve and James somehow got ahead of us just as we hit quite wet roads. I just tacked on behind Yod for a careful ride over the hill.
From the bottom of the hill we followed SH2 up through Featherston, Greytown, Carterton, Masterton (taking the bypass) and Eketahuna. North of Eke we turned off to take in the familiar roads through Mangamire and up and over the Track to our first compulsory photo stop at Aokautere.
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| No time to check out the swings in the playground |
From Aokautere Meanie led us into Ashhurst (just in case Yod or I got lost) where it was time to fill our tanks for our longest planned run - Yod a little concerned about the 330km range that he was going to ask from his 'bird.
Still on home turf we cruised on out to the next photo stop in Kimbolton.
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| Familiar pic? |
Then it was time to get stuck into the great road to Rangiwahia. By now it was getting fairly sunny and warm and at Pemberton I had to stop to remove a layer and change to my tinted visor (yay!).
Popping out onto SH1 at Mangaweka I noticed we'd picked up a new tail-end Charlie in the form of our ride organiser KoroJ. He behaved himself and sat behind us for the quiet run up to Waiouru.
We managed to get through the desert road without a run in with any radar buddies but did go past one of our number who had managed to upset them somehow - bummer!
We finally got off SH1 at Taupo when we took the option to take in Broadlands Road through to Reporoa. The road through here is pretty straight and boring but at least there is some pretty nice scenery to look at while you pootle along. Apparently a certain 'bird's fuel light came on just after Reporoa so I guess the sweating probably started about then until we finally found a gas station in Rotorua.
Rotorua was also a photo stop and after we'd nabbed our pics we decided it was time to feed the inner man and started looking for an eatery of some description.
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| No time for luge rides today :( |
Unfortunately by the time we'd got to the photo stop we'd gone past all the cafe's and fast food outlets so we just had to carry on and see what we could find up the road.
SH5 (the Thermal Explorer highway) ended up being quite lovely and we found some more nice corners just before we plunged into a beautiful bush shrouded bit of road.
In the middle of this lovely spot we managed to find a
cafe where the three of us quickly placed our orders before a couple of other riders from Wanganui could get in ahead of us ;)
Bellies sorted and about half the run completed we remounted and made our way to Putararu where we slotted in behind a mufti cop. Luckily he wasn't heading in our direction but it was his loss as Arapuni and Pearsons Roads were just spectacular - the views were gorgeous and the roads simply magic.
At the intersection with Old Taupo Road we stopped again for some more photographic evidence before getting to sample more fabulous roads.
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| As Yod pointed out: he and Meanie are unable to park straight... |
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| Yes, do ride this road! |
I'd ridden Old Taupo Road (or bits of it) before and it is an absolute cracker - just a superb piece of motorcycling road. Beautiful curves up and over small hills surrounded by more great scenery - dammit, we were suffering I tell ya...
Eventually we ended up on SH32 which took us quickly through to Whakamaru and then through to Kuratau Junction where we were forced to take in yet another great road (SH41) to Tokaanu.
From Tokaanu we took SH47 across to National Park. Along the way we caught up to a couple of the other riders and tacked on behind them for the tow all the way through to Raetihi and our last fuel and photo stop.
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| Not a bad day |
Being in Raetihi and needing to get home meant that we were unfortunately forced to take the Parapara's down to Wanganui - oh drat it all...
Yes, I am kidding, if you've read this blog before you'll know that me and the Para's are best buddies (it's only been a couple of weeks since I last had the pleasure). It turns out that Yod, Meanie and the whole C1KC field also get the warm fuzzies when the Para's are mentioned...And yes, it was a great ride!
Naturally we also took the detour through Okoia and then Yod led us over through Marton and Halcombe to Fielding where we stopped to say our goodbyes before heading our separate ways home. The consensus among the troops was that it had been a perfect day out with 1,077km fabulous km logged and left three tired riders with big grins but sore butts!
More pics
here.
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| The spoils |
