Gentle Annie - New Year 2012

[slofox]

Boring ride report follows. You have been warned...



New Year Ride.

Day 1: Tron to Te Kuiti to Taumarunui to Ohakune to Waiouru to Hastings via the “Gentle Annie” highway.

Pretty dry roads most of the way despite bad weather the day before. Only one solitary cop noted – just out of Taumarunui. He was on the downhill side of a hill and was broadcasting his presence with a continuous radar signal which I picked up before coming over the brow of the hill. Oh and of course every motorist coming the other way was flashing the headlights as well, so no problem there. Besides I was keeping to my self-imposed 103km/hr maximum. Well, most of the time anyway I was, dammit I was..!

Some nice riding between Ohakune and Waiouru. Pity about the self imposed speed limit I thought. (See?)

Gentle Annie: Most interesting road. I left SH1 about 20km south of Waiouru. A bit narrow to start with but widens out once you hit the branch that comes from Taihape. Sheep country initially - eventually becomes a little like the desert road – just not so well maintained. And narrower. There is a section once you have climbed a little that winds its way through some lovely pastoral landscape – nice open corners and you can see where you are going well ahead of time so it is there to be enjoyed. However, because of prodigious rain the preceding day, there was a lot of crap on the road. Water had washed gravel onto the road in places – usually in the middle of a corner of course. But generally dry through there and fun.

Once you get to the Kaweka you realise you are way up in the sky because, that day anyway, I ended up with my head in the clouds. Foggy - cold and greasy surface. Combined with the steeper, narrower road, with lots of bits of stone that had washed down off the cliffs from the rains, slow going. The landscape was all Manuka, in flower, so the hills looked snowed upon.

Steep descent into Hawkes Bay’s jurisdiction – there’s a sign up telling you are now in their territory. At the very edge of which is another sign warning you of loose metal due to resealing. Which is well signposted. But NEEDS TO BE SWEPT, dammit!. Scariest part of it all really – maybe 20 km long? Felt like forever anyway.

Eventually landed on the flatter ground and some nice riding there as well. Stopped overnight in a motel.

Day 2: Hastings – Taupo – Whakamaru – Wharepapa South – Owairakau Valley – Te Awamutu and Tron.

Left at 5.50am. Nice cool ride through Napier and onto the main road. GPS wanted to take me another way for some unknown reason. Ignored her (Brit Lady Bitch – BLB for short). Overcast but dry.

Left At Bay View and into the hills. Misty and foggy and a wet greasy looking surface. Not too bad initially but progressively worse the higher we climbed. Cold as well. I was glad I’d put on one extra layer of wool in the morning. Had to turn on the heated grips once my hands started to freeze.

Slow going through here, especially in the steeper, downhill bits. Eventually emerged from the hills into dryer conditions through Kaiangaroa. Still cold. I sat steady on 120 for a bit (yeah yeah I know, self imposed speed limit my arse...). But the engine temp remained at 71C. Normal is 84C. Steadily downhill, no load much to maintain momentum, cold air – lowest temp I’ve ever seen.

Taupo and breakfast and gas up. 1 hour to do so. BLB gave me the runaround getting back onto where I wanted to go. I ended up totally disorientated as to where I was facing and had to obey BLB to find out where I was. I’ll never ask one of them infernal devices anything ever again.

Dry for a bit through to Whakamaru. Nice piece of road that. Then manky again – and narrow as hell and full of SUV’s coming the other way using the entire road as usual. Reassuring...nothing’s changed.

Home about 4.5 hours after leaving Hastings. Bum sore, headache (never poke the foam earplug in so far that it squashes up in your head. It spent all the way from Taupo to home trying to expand the size of my ear canal.

Total elapsed time, 26 hours.

Lots of fun. Pity about the rain.

[Jeremie]

Hi,
I'm planning to do the Gentle Annie road (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...th-Island-tour) but am a bit concerned about the gravel part.
Initially, I had planned to rent a Triumph Tiger but I couldn't find one so I'll be taking a VFR 800. Since you've been there, do you think (weather permitting of course, if it's raining I won't even think about going there) that it's appropriate? There's a large deposit for renting the bike and this trip is already going to cost me an arm so I do intend to get it back

Jérémie

[insomnia01]

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Boring ride report follows. You have been warned...



New Year Ride.

Day 1: Tron to Te Kuiti to Taumarunui to Ohakune to Waiouru to Hastings via the “Gentle Annie” highway.

Pretty dry roads most of the way despite bad weather the day before. Only one solitary cop noted – just out of Taumarunui. He was on the downhill side of a hill and was broadcasting his presence with a continuous radar signal which I picked up before coming over the brow of the hill. Oh and of course every motorist coming the other way was flashing the headlights as well, so no problem there. Besides I was keeping to my self-imposed 103km/hr maximum. Well, most of the time anyway I was, dammit I was..!

Some nice riding between Ohakune and Waiouru. Pity about the self imposed speed limit I thought. (See?)

Gentle Annie: Most interesting road. I left SH1 about 20km south of Waiouru. A bit narrow to start with but widens out once you hit the branch that comes from Taihape. Sheep country initially - eventually becomes a little like the desert road – just not so well maintained. And narrower. There is a section once you have climbed a little that winds its way through some lovely pastoral landscape – nice open corners and you can see where you are going well ahead of time so it is there to be enjoyed. However, because of prodigious rain the preceding day, there was a lot of crap on the road. Water had washed gravel onto the road in places – usually in the middle of a corner of course. But generally dry through there and fun.

Once you get to the Kaweka you realise you are way up in the sky because, that day anyway, I ended up with my head in the clouds. Foggy - cold and greasy surface. Combined with the steeper, narrower road, with lots of bits of stone that had washed down off the cliffs from the rains, slow going. The landscape was all Manuka, in flower, so the hills looked snowed upon.

Steep descent into Hawkes Bay’s jurisdiction – there’s a sign up telling you are now in their territory. At the very edge of which is another sign warning you of loose metal due to resealing. Which is well signposted. But NEEDS TO BE SWEPT, dammit!. Scariest part of it all really – maybe 20 km long? Felt like forever anyway.

Eventually landed on the flatter ground and some nice riding there as well. Stopped overnight in a motel.

Day 2: Hastings – Taupo – Whakamaru – Wharepapa South – Owairakau Valley – Te Awamutu and Tron.

Left at 5.50am. Nice cool ride through Napier and onto the main road. GPS wanted to take me another way for some unknown reason. Ignored her (Brit Lady Bitch – BLB for short). Overcast but dry.

Left At Bay View and into the hills. Misty and foggy and a wet greasy looking surface. Not too bad initially but progressively worse the higher we climbed. Cold as well. I was glad I’d put on one extra layer of wool in the morning. Had to turn on the heated grips once my hands started to freeze.

Slow going through here, especially in the steeper, downhill bits. Eventually emerged from the hills into dryer conditions through Kaiangaroa. Still cold. I sat steady on 120 for a bit (yeah yeah I know, self imposed speed limit my arse...). But the engine temp remained at 71C. Normal is 84C. Steadily downhill, no load much to maintain momentum, cold air – lowest temp I’ve ever seen.

Taupo and breakfast and gas up. 1 hour to do so. BLB gave me the runaround getting back onto where I wanted to go. I ended up totally disorientated as to where I was facing and had to obey BLB to find out where I was. I’ll never ask one of them infernal devices anything ever again.

Dry for a bit through to Whakamaru. Nice piece of road that. Then manky again – and narrow as hell and full of SUV’s coming the other way using the entire road as usual. Reassuring...nothing’s changed.

Home about 4.5 hours after leaving Hastings. Bum sore, headache (never poke the foam earplug in so far that it squashes up in your head. It spent all the way from Taupo to home trying to expand the size of my ear canal.

Total elapsed time, 26 hours.

Lots of fun. Pity about the rain.

Awesome write up looking at going through again over Easter weekend weather permitting

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Hi,
I'm planning to do the Gentle Annie road (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...th-Island-tour) but am a bit concerned about the gravel part.
Initially, I had planned to rent a Triumph Tiger but I couldn't find one so I'll be taking a VFR 800. Since you've been there, do you think (weather permitting of course, if it's raining I won't even think about going there) that it's appropriate? There's a large deposit for renting the bike and this trip is already going to cost me an arm so I do intend to get it back

Jérémie

The road is sealed all the way through apart from some pea gravel which is the remains of resealing, should be gone by the time you arrive Jeremie

[MSTRS:Me]

To remove all doubt...there is no gravel on the Gentle Annie. It is sealed all the way. With the usual top quality chip with bitumen glue.
The seal job was completed almost a year ago, but being of the usual high standard, has needed patch repair and total repair in places. The surface is still of the normal well-stuck chip, so expect to find sections where there is a light scattering of loose chip. It is not really dangerous, but when you don't see it and hear the dreaded pinging on the underside of your bike, it does fuck with your mind. Just ride a car-swept wheeltrack...
I've been through there 3 times in the last year, the most recent just this Saturday gone, and apart from the short sections with a bit of loose, the road is in as good a condition as I can remember.

[Gremlin]

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the most recent just this Saturday gone, and apart from the short sections with a bit of loose, the road is in as good a condition as I can remember.

So it'll be terrible next week

Jeremie, ignore us. We just think most of the road workers should be shot, because they clearly aren't actually doing a good job on sealing the roads...

[MSTRS:Me]

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So it'll be terrible next week

Jeremie, ignore us. We just think most of the road workers should be shot, because they clearly aren't actually doing a good job on sealing the roads...

I don't think it would need to be 'most' of them. I think word would get round after the first couple of dozen...

Leave a message on the bodies along the lines of - "So perish the enemies of good quality road work. Oh, and you people with your fingers on the calculators? You're next."

I'm sure we'd start seeing improvements almost immediately

[oneofsix]

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So it'll be terrible next week

Jeremie, ignore us. We just think most of the road workers should be shot, because they clearly aren't actually doing a good job on sealing the roads...

WTF why you shooting the workers. They are doing the best they can with the materials they are given and for the price they have been allocated. Shoot the tight arses that wont pay for decent roads.