Desert Road NOW

[FROSTY]

A heads up folks. The not so nice in wet or really hot weather bits of Desert road has been dug up for fairly long stretches. It is seriously NOT fun to ride at night.
Long sections of deep gravel drifts and dust clouds makes for intersting times on a sprot bike

[tri boy]

HTFU
10 chars

[Hitcher]

Riding at night is always fun.

This reminds me of my Uncle Max. Barking Mad Uncle Max. The legend was that he'd lost at least one testicle after an ill-fated attempt to defuse a landmine in Burma. He had suffered badly all his life from psychosomatic seizures that we triggered by bells. He would have succeeded in his efforts with the landmine had not a charwallah turned up furiously clanging a bell to signal tiffins. The rest is history. Uncle Max never came to terms with bells. Another tragedy involved ANZAC Day celebrations next to Wellington's war memorial carrillon. Let's just say that Governors General are more forgiving than immediate family and leave it at that.

[thepom]

I,m off to the north island next week and will be traveling back through there on the Friday so hope it will have cleared some....

[FROSTY]

HTFU
10 chars
WTF?? Its just a heads up

[Ratti]

interesting ride home then eh Frost? SHoulda stayed overnight dude..told you there was a bed here for you

[Grubber]

A heads up folks. The not so nice in wet or really hot weather bits of Desert road has been dug up for fairly long stretches. It is seriously NOT fun to ride at night.
Long sections of deep gravel drifts and dust clouds makes for intersting times on a sprot bike

It's always been a shit road. Spent 20 years going back and forth across it in trucks and it's never been much better than what it is today. I tend to go round the park when i head South. Much more fun anyway.

[FROSTY]

interesting ride home then eh Frost? SHoulda stayed overnight dude..told you there was a bed here for you
iT WAS A FUN RIDE HOME Nothing like a bit of excitement to make you feel alive. Mind you leaving wellywood at 6.00 prolly wasn't a GOOD PLAN

[SPman]

Let's just say that Governors General are more forgiving than immediate family and leave it at that. Sounds like the stuff of late evening chortles around a good malt.......

[paturoa]

A heads up folks. The not so nice in wet or really hot weather bits of Desert road has been dug up for fairly long stretches. It is seriously NOT fun to ride at night.
Long sections of deep gravel drifts and dust clouds makes for intersting times on a sprot bike

I believe the official term is sprotS bike.

[Toaster]

I,m off to the north island next week and will be traveling back through there on the Friday so hope it will have cleared some....

There is always National Park on the West side as an alternative.

[quickbuck]

Thanks for the Heads Up Frosty...
Must say though, I'm more for the National Park, Taumaruni - Te Kuiti Route myself.... Then stay on the west of the river....

[gijoe1313]

Ahhh old fond memories that brings back up, ice forming on the knuckle guards on your glubs as the dirt slips and slides, fogging your visor so you have to flip it up and feel your eyebrows and other exposed bits beginning to resemble an ice-popsicle.

Finding paper to stuff down your front because you decided to ride to Wellington on a random whim to eat an ice cream from a servo and on the way up not having the warm gear.

Doing it on an A100 and wringing the max speed out of it to ensure you could "power" up the slopes ... but, I digress ...

I do tend to ride National Park because it is just betterer. My two cents of course!

[davebullet]

Last time I went through the Desert Road was November. Faaark me it's in a bad way. Up the north end, where you have all those 25 / 35k bends, tar bleed central.

I don't know what they are doing, and would hope they had it relaid by now, being our main highway and all.

Still, this is NZ with our road funding system. Keeps you on your toes I suppose.

[Ratti]

LAst time I ws on Desert road wsa in September on my way to AK for the Alice Cooper concert.
Had been snowingCOuld see where cars had slid off onto the side of the road, fortunatly I was on the back of a bike with a very experienced rider so stayed on the road. HAd to stop at the hot pools to warm up. My favourite stretch of road, beautiful.

[=cJ=]

Yup, +1 to attest to the shoddyness of that road at the moment...

Huge amounts of works...

[Mom]

LAst time I ws on Desert road wsa in September on my way to AK for the Alice Cooper concert.
Had been snowingCOuld see where cars had slid off onto the side of the road, fortunatly I was on the back of a bike with a very experienced rider so stayed on the road. HAd to stop at the hot pools to warm up. My favourite stretch of road, beautiful.

Last time I as on that road was just before you I think. We drove it in white out conditions and only just got off as they were shutting the gates at Rangipo. Good times :lol:

[Bald Eagle]

Last time I as on that road was just before you I think. We drove it in white out conditions and only just got off as they were shutting the gates at Rangipo. Good times :lol:

Last time I was through there was middle of the night and pea soup fog in the cage, shittiest road in the country usualy go around the other way.

[Jonathan]

Last time I was through there was middle of the night and pea soup fog in the cage, shittiest road in the country usualy go around the other way.

I did the same last week. 0 visibility with my visor down, visor up was 1 or 2 metres visibility, plus the fog carries the grit and dust directly into your eyes. Out the other side my bike looked like it had been through a cement mixer!