One Wednesday

Man Grips

So Saturday's ride was a bit chilly at times and my poor old hot grips were given the workout of their (long) life.  I've talked before of my undying love of heated grips and that they're cheaper than a pair of gloves etc, etc.  They are the bees knees.

And the Connie's Oxford grips have certainly done well.  They've been on the bike for nearly 148,000km and apart from a plug popping out have never missed a beat.  I've also bought quite a few pairs of gloves in this time...

But, for a while now they (or at least the LHS side grip) have been showing their age:

So, last week I found the best local deal and finally ordered a replacement set.  They arrived on Thursday and I didn't get a chance to fit them before the weekend and with Saturday being the better day, the ride took priority.

But come Sunday, it was time for some shed time.

Checkout that cool bike - bottom right...

Shiny!

Replacing the grips is a pretty easy job, only the right grip was hard to remove (in the end I had to sacrifice the old one) and I didn't even need the wiring to the battery (although I think it is hooked to some accessory leads that the Connie came with), I simply plugged the old wire into the new controller.

Not that bad a spaghetti factory...

A quick test before gluing the grips down

Once again the right grip was the trickiest to get on - and you need to be quick with the glue going off pretty quick...And then hey presto, all done!

The new controller is better than the old one

Now, the next job is to get the ones on the Tenere to work every time...I am onto the source of its issues, just so long as I get it sorted before summer...

Chilly Mountain ride

Saturday was a fantastic day in Palmy and with Sunday supposed to be bringing a change in the weather then I needed to use Saturday for my important battery charging - the poor old Connie hadn't even been fired up in ages...

But, naturally, she fired up straight away and we were off.  This time around I had a bit of a plan - I wanted to ride the Paraparas but decided that I wanted to ride them North-South.  This meant that I had to find some other way up to Raetihi.

So, my route talk me across Vinegar Hill and then onto the dreaded SH1.  Vinegar Hill was fun and even the traffic lights on them played ball for me (but not the half a dozen cars waiting at the other end) as I enjoyed reasonably dry roads and plenty of nice corners.

For my SH1 leg I settled down a little and just enjoyed the cruise in the sunshine.  Naturally as I neared Taihape and Waiouru the temperature dropped but hey, I had the heated grips on.  Then, North of Waiouru, the temperature dropped even more and the skies started looking a little unfriendly.  I then had my first brain wave of the day - why not stop and put my warm/waterproof gloves on?  So I did.

Unfriendly skies

Big hill playing hide and seek

Immediately upon stopping and removing my summer gloves I couldn't help but notice that it was absolutely freezing cold.  My brain was ok though as I had another great idea - wet weather gear!

Wow, two good ideas in a row.  By the time I finally got my warm gloves on and got back on the bike my hands were blocks of ice.  The grips were turned onto 100% (probably for the first time in 147,000km) and I hunkered down as I headed off into some light rain.

That'll be the fuzz checking that nobody is having any fun

Dampness

Damper, colder...

A great shot of NZ's #1 road...

So, the pictures do not do it justice.  It was freezing - it took 15 minutes before I could even feel any warmth from the grips and the tips of my fingers were frozen.  The inside of my visor was fogging at the edges even with the pinlock and breath guard fitted and the chin vent open.  I haven't ridden in weather this cold in a number of years (and that's including my snow rides on the Vee & Tenere) and I don't know why it wasn't snowing.

Anyway, once I stopped worrying about my hands I started enjoying the ride.  Bits of the desert road can be fun and the tyres were being their usual grippy selves so I just got down to business.  And then I met this person...

Slow vehicle lane #1

Slow vehicle lane #2

This person should not be allowed to have a car or perhaps even oxygen.  On slow vehicle lane #1 they simply pulled out as if to pass the slower traffic in front and forgot to pass it.  They did not appear to know what the thing under their right foot was and got nowhere fast.  They also had the pleasure of holding me up.

Then we hit the next slow vehicle lane.  Rinse and repeat...This time around though, they noticed that there was a big truck in front and that perhaps it was worth a crack having a go at passing it.  Unfortunately it had taken them so long to work this out that when they started their passing manoeuvre they had already passed the sign saying that the lane was about to end.  Yes, the truck pulled out into the main lane, yes there was oncoming traffic and yes, the idiot had to hit the brakes and find a piece of unoccupied road...

Having just managed not to have got caught up in someone else's accident I was glad that I made it to slow vehicle lane #3 where horsepower was applied.

The truckee was doing a great job of trying to let idiots past

Leaving a moron in their Honda behind it was nice to finally get into some waremr weather as I dropped down towards Turangi.  But rather than visit Turangi, I turned off at Rangipo and headed for the other side of the hill.

Sayonara SH1! 

For the first stretch across Sh46 I pretty much had the road to myself and the weather just kept on getting better.

The road's even trying to dry out!

Joining onto SH47 though I found the traffic - and most of it was going the same place as me.

SH47

What's that blue stuff?

Where everyone was going was "up the mountain".

There be the mountain

It being winter and all I'd decided to see how far up I could get before they made me put on chains.  But, unfortunately they'd shut the road, so chains or no chains I wasn't getting any further than the Chateau.

Surrounded by a crash of rental vehicles...

I 'spose I could have used the good camera and zoomed in but it was in my topbox...

That's where all the snow is

Quick snaps taken I remounted and dropped back down the mountain road and pointed towards Raetihi for a late lunch.

I see the light!

Lunch (and dinner) eaten I filled up the bike and made for the Paras.  And boy was it good.  Even though it was winter and I needed to tread carefully in some corners, the ride was just a ball.  Rumour has it that there is video of the ride but I don't think you'll find it on Youtube.  I did however, manage to get a few pictures along the way - perhaps they can tell the story?

35, yes, of course.

Sunshine!

Blue

Ok, a couple of clouds is alright.

Who left that there?

By the time I got to Upo I'd managed to warm up quite a bit and the screen was even down a tad for some fresh air - grips were still on 75% though...

The trip home through Okoia, Fordell, Turakina etc was a chance to ease up a little and I ended up home in time for a cuppa before finally lighting the fire.  A superb day out even if it was very cold in that middle part...

Surveying...

Once again there has been a bit of rain falling around the place and though we weren't hit as bad as the East Coast and some other places we did have a few local roads closed and the rivers came up a lot requiring flood gates to be opened and that sort of thing.  But with Saturday morning not looking too bad I decided to make my own recce of the Pohangina Valley and in the process check out a road I hadn't ridden in a while - my version of public service eh...

After pumping up a fairly flat rear tyre (I'd better keep an eye on that), I puttered out to Ashhurst and then up to Pohangina on wet roads.  All around me the sky was fairly dark and I was pretty sure that at some stage I might trip over some wet weather.  My first bit of gravel was on Pohangina Road and the first section through to the Totara Reserve turn-off was just as fun as usual, even if there were a few muddy bits.

The Road (Churchill Road) to the reserve was closed but I discovered that a Tenere could sneak through the gap in the cones and puttered down to check out what the damage was.  I don't know if it was just what you see in the pictures of the bridge below as I decided not to cross the bridge just in case.

A lot of wreckage pushing on the bridge

Water level a lot lower than it would have been just days ago

Perhaps some new slip damage?

The old bridge has definitely been leaned on - the gap is easily big enough to stick your hand in

Back on Pohangina Road I made my way towards Utuwai.  But not far from the corner there was sign saying that the road was going to be closed for a period of time for maintenance.  The dates were right for it to be closed but I decided to carry on and check it out - I had all day...

My next stop was at at a spot where I often take photos.  This time around I was able to stay on my bike for the pictures as my camera can fit in my new tank bag.  Unfortunately if you do drop a glove in the dirt, you have to get off to pick it up...

The next bit of road to Utuwai was a bit interesting in places as it was muddy and a bit sloppy so I tended to tip-toe through there a bit.  Turning left, the road through to Apiti was fine but I was still disappointed by the (good) progress the roading guys had made in sealing the road.

From Apiti it was wet tar up the hill towards Kimbolton, the front end letting me know that an E-07 with nearly 17,000km on it is perhaps not the ideal tyre for the conditions.

Rather than take the boring seal ride back towards Cheltenham I turned right and carried on towards Rangiwahia before turning off onto McBeth Road.

A little Tenere waits...

I hadn't been through here in a long time and when I got to the first intersection I turned again onto Junction Road to see where it would take me - perhaps to a Junction?  As it turned out Junction Road became more like a farm track and after the second gate (both open) I decided that I'd better turn around in case I ended up annoying a farmer - the road looked like it was going to get rougher too so not a crazy idea...

Note: some idiot made an error at the start of the video.  It is actually McBeth Road at the start, later on I turn-off onto Junction and then back onto McBeth to finish.  Must get a better video editor...

Back on McBeth Road and there was more gravel goodness before the road finally turned to seal and then ended at Perry Line.

Grass, clouds...

Kiwitea thataway!

Perry Lane took me through to Kiwitea where I turned for home and lunch.  A nice little morning's ride of around 150km.