Most memorable ride ever

[Unit]

What is your most memorable ride ever? Im interested to hear as Im sure there are some really good stories out there. Ive never ridden outside of NZ, but I would have to say my vote goes to the South Island. Choosing the most memorable ride Ive ever been on has been difficult to say the least, as there are many I can recall. The one that sits most clearly in my mind was while on tour for a week on the West Coast. I'd never been further north than Greymouth so we headed up to Westport, 8 bikes in all, everything from a Laverda to Motorguzzi, my Norton, a BSA, Triumph, a home made hog and others. A stop over in Westport then we decided on a day trip to Karmara. Now thats some ride, windy roads along the wild west coast and so isolated. I'll never forget it and that was, well, many many moons ago:yes:

[Pathos]

ahhhhh, well I got lost in the pohongina valley and spent two hours riding gravel roads to finally end back where I started.

That sucked but I ain't gonna forget it anytime soon...

[Dafe]

Watching Str8 Jacket take on the bank! and the three cows standing perfectly side by side (like the AB front row) staring at her!

[Hitcher]

I can nearly remember just about every ride I've had.

The ride into and out of Milford Sound from Te Anau has to rank up there. As well as my first-ever rides on each of the three bikes I've ever owned.

[avgas]

Been quite a few, latest one was when i spat the dummy at the misses, jumped on Sapphire and booted her round the piha loop....on bald tyres....in the rain....angry as a feral rat.
End of the ride, the motor allmost sung to me in those corners - it was so peaceful and serene i had lost all my anger, and was at one with the world. Got back with the biggest smile on my face, and some sweets for the misses.

[DEATH_INC.]

Sorry,too many.....
South island,first time down 22,1 hour trip from mates place in aucks to home in whangarei the day after I got my first turbo,1 hour from rotovegas to home in aucks,Nearly getting chucked off my mates TLs at 240kph,doing 300+ on the ZX12 the first time, etc etc.I could go on all night.....:banana:

[Hammer]

Austria - last year I had an 11 day trip in the Tyrol area. Managed to get out every day to different mountain ranges in Italy, Switzerland and Austria. So many good days. Will post a ride report with some pics on one of the days in the next week or so. One mountain had 49 hairpin bends (and a lot more non hairpins) on the way up. Did not count how many there was on the way down.

[Toast]

Gotta be leaving an audit in Rotorua on the 250 in January of this year...with one thing in mind...hit the Coro Peninsula before dark :D After a typically shit week on an audit, nothing else mattered...screaming up the west coast of the peninsula with the throttle sitting on the stop, and the Bridgestones chirping away at me...

sitting watching the sunset for 5 mins before lighting the wick for the return journey :)

I've had some great rides with others (sometimes in competitive spirit, hoho)...but it's the individual rides that I really get in the zone, 'cos I'm spending a single brain cell thinking about, or checking my mirrors for, any other riders...just me, my bike, and I own the bloody road :)

[Waylander]

Mine was my first ride of any real distance. Not long after getting my liscence me and my dad went for a cruise around Dallas. I was only on a 250 at the time and my dad was on the Virago. But that ride is what sticks in mymind everytime I think about.

Need a better job so I can get another bike and me and him can go for a longer ride with both of us on big bikes so I won't be holding him back again.

[Motu]

35 yrs on the road,and you want me to pick one ride? Recently The Lost Weekend was very memorable.

Back in the 70s a mate and I spent a week in the Coromadel on our old BSA singles.We lived off the land and camped out with no tent - on beach's,in boathouses,porches of baches and in caves,we crashed,got stuck,got lost,on the road and in the bush,chased by bulls,and explored every road we could find.I broke a valve spring,over reved and bent a valve....we stripped it down in a tin shed with a sand floor,my mate went back to Auckland and returned with a valve,I fitted it and we were on the road again.Still a memorable ride nearly 30 yrs later....

[Beemer]

Yep, the South Island is pretty amazing to ride around, especially the gravel roads. Did a trip there at Easter 2000, did about 4000kms in a couple of weeks. Travelling through Molesworth Station was pretty memorable, not least because the rescue chopper had to come and collect two of our group (rider and pillion) after they crashed. Black Forest Station was incredible too - that's where I had my one and only accident! The rocks there were quite large and the front wheel caught one on an angle and over I went - low speed but still enough to knock the confidence for a bit. The Hakataramea Pass was lovely, and so was the bit through Springs Junction.

Yes, NZ has some great roads, both gravel and tar seal!

[Waylander]

I know sarge has put on a coupla pounds but sheesh you guys rode around him?
Uh yea.... Long trip that was.:blink:

[Toast]

I know sarge has put on a coupla pounds but sheesh you guys rode around him?

hahaha....

how about you SM? Do you remember what it's like to ride? :dodge:

[Ducman]

My first ride down the old north road. I had been riding to Parakai from the city every day to work for months down SH16 when someone told me about the back way.. I had only had the bike a few months and didn't know anyone else that rode.. anyway, it was a revelation! corners!.. I rode it every day for a year and a half. Felt like my own private race track.. it's still my favorite close to Auckland blast.

[Toast]

Vaugly(sp?).. I have photo's to jog my memory from time to time.

haha...yeah, I should get some of those (being in a similar position to you)...maybe we should form a support group :grouphug: But I'm leaving youz fullas on December the 6th...:D

[Big Dave]

Perth to Rockhampton.
Te Anau to Milford Sound.
Queenstown to Glenorchy
Australian Alps covering the V-rod launch.
Waipoua forest
East Cape
Whangamata to Waihi
Coromandel Peninsula
Kangaroo Valley NSW
Queen Charlotte Drive
Takaka Hill
Wioeka Gorge
The Kaimais
22 to Raglan
Motueka Valley
Arthurs pass

to name a few.

[Divot]

Last year on my 883 Sporty. Auckland, Taihape, Wellington, Picton, thru Queen Charlotte Sound Road to Nelson, Buller to Westport, up to Karamea and back to Westport, down thru Greymouth and Reefton to Hanmer Springs, on to Akaroa for the 2004 HOG rally, on to Tekapo, Cromwell, Te Anau, out to Milford and back, up to Wanaka, Franz Josef, Aurther Pass into Christchurch, Blemhein, Havelock back thru the Queen Charlotte Sound Road to Nelson, Wellington then back to Auckland. 14 days of great riding.

Nothing beats those South Island Roads!

[Str8 Jacket]

Watching Str8 Jacket take on the bank! and the three cows standing perfectly side by side (like the AB front row) staring at her!

lol! And on my damn birthday too! :angry: those cows were definately a crack up! Though im pretty sure that they were giving Matt (BL) the "eye"...

Unfortunately my two most memorable rides both ended in a crash. My most memorable would have been when I wrapped the GN round the pole. I doubt i'll ever forget that, ouch!

[Ninja51]

Summer 2002. My ZX9R (click on image above) in convoy with my ex-mrs on her Thundercat.
Northampton, (UK) to Portsmouth. Cross channel ferry to Le Harvre. First night stop at Blois (Loire Valley). Second night stop at Poitier. Then two weeks enjoying the delights of the southern Dordogne. Next, east to the Auvergne. Then on to the Alps. (Join up with organised tour courtesy of Bike Magazine - day trips, treasure hunts, quizzes, prizes and partying). On to Reims and the Champagne region with forty other like-minded bikers. Overnight R&R then a final blat to Calais (and Dover) and then home to Northampton on the UK's cage infested and roadwork ridden road!. Best fun I've had without taking my clothes off! Total distance: 3500miles in three weeks. But that was then and this is now. Is it any wonder I chose to ship the 9R out here so that I can discover NZ in much the same way?

[DMNTD]

Hell too many to choose from.:blink:
Favourite stretch of road is the Waipoua Forest in Hokianga.
Was MY race track in my backyard until I moved to Whangarei 5 months ago. Still not too far away these days. Learning the coast runs over here at the mo.

[Hailwood]

Have to agree with South Island did the IMOC Tourismo in 2000 Picton, Nelson Creek, Fox, through Haast(via Jackson Bay for fish and chips..an absolute must!!!) to Queenstown, Te Anau, Glen Tanner (on road to Mt Cook), Hanmer Springs, Takaka, Mapua and back to Picton and ferry to Wellington..10 days about 25 bikes..brilliant roads, beautiful scenery, great people...................

[ducatilover]

ummmm i havnt ridden for long but i think last sundy will be one of my most memorable rides......'sigh':wacko: i hope i dont have anymore rides like that....but i had a good ride on the friday before that, coming back from palmy theres a certain corner on the pahiatua track i love, its one of those 35k hairpins that tightens on itself, i entered at the wider end and did the most perfect line i've ever done [not saying much for me] and as it tightened the bike was going the perfect speed, i was doing what some of you told me too in a different thread and was looking at the vanishing point and gripping the outside of the tank with my knee [outside knee ofcourse] whilst having one arse cheek off the seat and nearly kneeing down, my mate following on his gn was quite suprised because i was going a wee bit faster [about 30k atleast lol] and he reckons he saw sparks when my footpeg brushed the gound......and after all that i'm still a imature useless twat of a rider who did 160 on cold tyres, riding a bike i'm not legally ment to ride fell off at the posted 160 passing a cage in a very slight sweeping corner not looking at the vanishing point properly [would have seen the corrugations] hit said corrugations and was inable to controll bike crahsed and miraculously walked away, fuess i'm not a very good rider no matter what i thought as i left that morning....:bye: rant over sorry about that guys:whocares:

[Macktheknife]

35 yrs on the road,and you want me to pick one ride? Recently The Lost Weekend was very memorable.

Back in the 70s a mate and I spent a week in the Coromadel on our old BSA singles.We lived off the land and camped out with no tent - on beach's,in boathouses,porches of baches and in caves,we crashed,got stuck,got lost,on the road and in the bush,chased by bulls,and explored every road we could find.I broke a valve spring,over reved and bent a valve....we stripped it down in a tin shed with a sand floor,my mate went back to Auckland and returned with a valve,I fitted it and we were on the road again.Still a memorable ride nearly 30 yrs later....
Great story!
I know how trips like that go, I had one about 15 years ago. Blew up a clutch in nowhere'sville and had to rebuild it in this guys cowshed, with parts from his tractor. Good times. Hoping this summers trip round South Island will be a cracker too.:rockon:

[Madmax]

riding down to boxing day races on a Kawasaki mach111
ran out of gas twice no bloody garges open,
(in the pissing rain)
then having a spin round the track while they
still puting up the bales.
riding the ZX10R home from the bike shop
(in the pissing rain)
:doh:

[vince25]

mine was just before my last bike got pinched. Was a ride from Bloodstock stables by Bombay (i forget the town) through the city and into the shore. whole motorway was blocked off, just for us bikes. i was alone in the sense that i didnt know anyone there, but i have never felt like such a part if a group as that. i think there was something like 1500 bikes there. it was an amazing feeling.

[Kornholio]

I remember all my crashes vividly :/

[VasalineWarrior]

My first time on the Masterton-Castlepoint run in the wairarapa, chasing down Velox and crazylittleshit and actually keeping up. So many beautiful sweeping corners... (all 55-85km/hr). This road is a Mecca guys and if you havent tried it then you have to give it a go!:doobey:

[Biff]

Chch>Kaikoura>Nelson Bays>Buller>West Coast (Punakakei (Pancake rocks FF))>Arthurs Pass. 2 days, 1 OFC, no tickets.

Please scuse any mispelling of place names.

[T.W.R]

too many good ones over the years, rallies & trips, but the most recent would be coming home from Wanganui at the start of the floods a year back, travelling through the kapiti coast in torrential rain to get to the ferry, the porirua motorway was like a river, the ferry crossing was a beauty ( last one of the day)the old chunder roll was going full noise!, dry ride from picton to seddon then more rain to kaikora arrived in the dark fuelled up, left there, struck 2inches of snow on the hundalees, lost the feeling in my hands ( half hour defrost at scargill at 10pm ) got home at 12.15am the best adventure i have endured on a bike.
even topped the 91 punakaiki rally that got washed out due to the lovely west coast rain ( that took my leather jacket 2wks to dry out) or any of the brass monkey rallies i've done

[takarada]

ran into the side of a car in taranaki street, flew over the car and landed 30 feet away - that was the most memorable event. The flight was quite a cool experience but the landing was rough. made a mess of the bike tho.

Bandung to Jakarta on suzuki 125 - motorbikes are not allowed on motorways in indonesia so it involved a lot of minor roads. about 6 six hours for 160km. That was before the terrorist stuff happened, I wouldn't try it now.

[Dafe]

lol! And on my damn birthday too! :angry: those cows were definately a crack up! Though im pretty sure that they were giving Matt (BL) the "eye"...

Unfortunately my two most memorable rides both ended in a crash. My most memorable would have been when I wrapped the GN round the pole. I doubt i'll ever forget that, ouch!

Yeah, maybe that had it in for Matt!
Seriously though, most memorable ride - Rolling out my first ever bike from the paintshop, A 1990 KR1-S 250. Done in custom colours with racing stickers applied. Looked so good and all done myself. The first ride - That was satisfaction!

[Marmoot]

my first time, in her bedroo........wait, does it have to be about bike?

[Unit]

Well I think today Im about to clock up a new most memorable ride. Got the new TL late Thursday night, and rode it for the first time last night. OMFG!!! What a BEAUTIFUL bike. Today the skies are blue, and we are gathering together with others to ride the east coast head north from Whangarei, turn off to the coast through Oakura then winding all the way up to Russell, across the ferry (stand and pose while pretending to enjoy the boat ride) over to Paihia for lunch then back home. Should use up most of the day and on my new beauty. I so love my new bike but OMG it sure is insanely fast!, now I might have a sporting chance of keeping up with TL Rider:2thumbsup

[Pixie]

Riding over the rimutaka hill in a cyclone at night and finding out at the end the rd was closed to traffic

[sunhuntin]

hmmm, favourite ride would likely be from whangahu village [place that got the big floods start of 04] to levin and back....started out at 6am me on the bike, my man at the time behind me in his cage. sunrise over the foxton strait, 130-odd k at times. that was likely the most memorable ride so far, cos i felt at one with the road and the highway jukebox really kicked in and i got to show my skill. got to levin, stopped at the mickey d's, couldnt feel my fingers to brake, clutch and down shift smoothly...also legs where numb as anything. that ride was also the longest "solo" ride ive done.

[danb]

Yea well... Probably my first ride with Kiwi Bikers down SH22 was the best - leant/felt how good it is to be on a bike and riding as a group etc etc. Even though I came off on that ride and did a bit of damage to the bike I still liked it.
Today was good as well - perfect weather, good group of riders and good comfortable speeds.

[Unit]

Yesterday definately gets added to the top of the pile. TL Rider told me today he wanted my first outing on my new TL to be a truely memorable one, and it was certainly that. The planned day was fantastic, and it got even better when the unplanned bit kicked in and most the others were keen. 12hrs later we finally got home, cold, sore and dog tired but happier than I can remember in a long time, and its a ride I will never forget, etched into the memory till my brain is finally worm fodda. I wish every rider just one day in their life like yesterdays.:yes: :yes: :rockon:

[ducatilover]

I remember all my crashes vividly :/
especially the sound of bike hitting tarmac? that is the most sickening sound hearing my beuatifull black bike get attacked by tarmac [shiver] :bash:

[DMNTD]

Yesterday definately gets added to the top of the pile...

Some pic's from it... http://sucking-bugs.blogspot.com/

[NC]

I have a few, 2 involve me crashing. Most involve Ahem cough ah yeah...

[phantom]

Most memorable at the moment ( at my age,memory is a fleeting thing ) is a couple of weekends ago popping over the hill to Martinborough for a bottle of wine and a bottle of olive oil, sitting in a cafe having a coffee and a piece of carrot cake in the sun and thinking why not go back to Palmie via Wellington? Well got to Featherston and it starts drizzling, just enough to make it impossible to see through the visor. And then onto the mighty 'Taka Hill. I was getting blown all over the road and to make it worse bloody cages were overtaking me. I was pretty pleased to get to the other side and stopped at the ferry terminal for a pie and a coffee. Met a guy there who had flown from Timaru to Auckland, then to Wanganui, bought a Gold Wing and was "driving " it back to Timaru that day. Had an enjoyable and uneventful trip back to Palmie and felt as if I had actually had a decent ride

[strayjuliet]

My most memorable ride would have to be when I went down to Blenham on the back of my ex boyfriends XJ 750 police special no comfy seat for me to sit on, oh no just a pillow which I lost just outside of Huntly, so my butt was very dead and sore by the time we reached Blenham. Coming back to Huntly was not too bad I ditched my boyfriends bike in favor of his fathers Honda Goldwing. We left Blenham to head back to Huntly at 2am after having gone to bed at 1am, I was real tired and thought it's ok I can sleep once I get back home, (yer right) sleep over took me within minutes of getting on the goldwing. We reached the ferry with me still sound asleep on the back so they left me there, while they went upstairs to have a cold drink and some food. When we reached Wellington they came back to find me still sleeping happily. So we continued on our way, we got to Taupo and I woke up and asked "have we got to Picton yet" well the answer I got was "no, not yet"...


I kinda worked it out once we got back to Huntly. lol.

[miSTa]

One my most memorable rides wold be about 22-23 years ago on a cold winters night with a full moon, at about midnight going from Hamilton to Gordonton with the headlight off for most of the way. I would turn the headlights on when there were farm houses around. Wouldn't dream of doing it now but back then and at that time of the night there was never any traffic - I travelled that road 4-5 times a week for a year so it was a good way of relieving the boredom. Actually, the more I think about it the less inclined I am to tell anyone, just too dumb :doh:

More recently the Buller Gorge is a great ride as is the road from Queenstown to Kingston following Lake Wakatipu.

[Waylander]

One my most memorable rides wold be about 22-23 years ago on a cold winters night with a full moon, at about midnight going from Hamilton to Gordonton with the headlight off for most of the way.
Hmm, that's my playground at the moment. Still hardley any traffic there after mdnight till about 4-5am. Havn't tried it without the headlight though but my headlight sucks hardcore at the moment anyway.

Have a new and more recent one to add. Riding with Road Rash on my way up to Auckland to pick up my girl. Me and him decided to take some backroads. Got lost a couple of times but that only brought us to more exciting roads. Need to do more riding like that. No planned route just pick a direction and go.