KoroJ's Blog

What a dry patch! My last blog and therefore my last ride was the TT2000 at the end of Feb.

Not to say that the bike has been sitting in the garage all that time as there has been a bit of round-town stuff and of course there was the Capital Coast Conehead sessions on Wednesday nights through to Daylight savings. That was great fun, especially when Andrew would bring the GN125 along for us to practice for the Grand Ginny Challenge (Gymkhana event aimed to sort the men from the girls by placing us all on the same toothy machine). That was supposed to happen after the Wgtn Free Ambulance charity ride on ANZAC Day, but alas and alack, the weather put paid to that and we are still waiting. (There's a few recordings of our exploits here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/capitalcoastconeheads/ )

Anyway, at the end of the day, I managed to do a whole 1,000Km over March and April!! Between the pressures of work and the need to paint my roof.....and the crap weather, I've had no club rides, no trips, no good fangs.....until yesterday. I was talking to Ken on Friday and mentioned that I was intending to go for a ride when he suggested that I turn up to Palmy at 1000 with my camera because they were presenting the winner of the Ulysses Club annual motorcycle raffle with his chosen prize,...a brand spanking new ST1300.

Well, that was good enough for me, so after coming home from Whitby's restaurant in the James Cook Hotel on Friday night (I might note that I was crammed full of tucker and really just wanted to put my feet up), I checked and pumped the tyres, packed the wets and other bits and bobs, checking the camera and GoPro were charged etc.

The online Rain Forecast for the weekend was generally OK, but that's not what I awoke to at about 0700 and the late rise didn't leave me time for a spin through the Wai'rapa. Not a problem though as that was on the programme for later, so I scrubbed, got on the bike, scooted for fuel in J'ville and finally got on the road at 0759.

Because I was expecting the conditions to improve and because my cordura gear is relatively new and because I'm riding an ST and the drizzly weather wasn't too bad, I didn't bother to put the wets on and that worked out OK, even though the weather didn't clear until Shannon. It was an uneventful ride with just enough traffic to be a nuisance and when the temp persisted to hover around 12° I did employ the heated grips for a bit of cosiness, arriving at City Honda at 0929. That was 1:30:24 from Z J'ville for the 134 Km at an average of 89kph...but who's counting....and it was SH1 riding.

Jim & Colleen were already there and Ken & Shirley turned up soon after, bleating about torrential rain all the way, so I'm not sure which way they came, but after chatting for a bit, we were soon in the business of seeing one very happy chappy receive the keys to his new beasty. I did comment to Jim though that it would really be great to win a new bike worth $26K so he'll only have to spend $4K-$5K to get it right (Top-Box, scuff stuff, and so on and so forth). Nothing like a farkle or three to blow some dosh.

Pix taken and from there it was down to a cafe for more socialising with the Manawatu Branch members until finally getting back on the road for home at 1132.

The weather in Palmy was clear but it didn't look great over the Tararuas and I didn't have a plan apart from Track and Rimutakas. I did need to be a bit selective though because although I've had a new Pilot Road 4 GT sitting in the shop for most of the last month, I'm still eking out the Km's on the squared off Z8 with only 8,000Km on the rear, so I wasn't keen to be scooting over damp roads. That's what I got over the track but once I got off the hill and close to SH2, the roads were drier and the temp started to rise and the plan to do the Mauriceville road and Water Towers was cemented.

As I headed south the weather cleared more and the sun even started to shine through, so my romp over the Mauriceville road was looking better and better and I was soon taking the turn at Kaiparoro....and stepping up to a more 'spirited' pace.

Care was needed though as there were quite a few spots that hadn't seen any sun for a bit, but it was bloody great to be on a smooth, quiet road and I had the GoPro on so hopefully it might have captured some of the autumn colours.

It was a nice and warm 19° around Masterton and the scoot from Te Ore Ore to Wainuioru and around the Water Towers from the northern end was a first for me. Once again, great roads, great weather, great colours and the vistas of green fields, often with stands of poplar trees made for a great environment in which to spend a day frolicing.

Once I got to Featherston, I was back to the dismal gloom and wet roads that I had encountered in the morning, but I still had a good run over the hill and back to Ngaio. There was one prat that drove past 5 or 6 slow bays without pulling over but I guess we get used to that.....then just pass them anyway.

I was back home by 1430 having done 400Km for the day over a mixed bag of roads and weather. It was great to be out and about again but one thing that was annoying was constantly being cautious because of the uncertainty of how the back tyre will perform. This is made worse by the squaring because every now and then the bike would feel like it was dipping into the corner or twitching so first thing tomorrow, I'll be on the phone to book a fitting.

And it definitely won't be two months before my next ride!