Awesome "Mystery" Road

[buellbabe]

On Saturday I went riding with a friend who took me on some roads I have never done before. Our destination was Raglan and we didn't touch on State Highway 1 the whole way there. Instead we went along 100km's of fantastic back roads before we even got to Ngaruawahia, actually the back-road I am talking about IS a State Highway but it certainly didn't feel or look like 1. Blissful winding roads with a few straights thrown in... long enuf for my companion to pull a few wheelies! At one point I was riding along thinking " OMG! this is Motorcycling Nirvana", the scenery was beautiful and it seemed as tho we were riding on a neverending stretch of well cambered left-right-left-right corners... definately got into that Zen state where ya just flow. Absolutely fabulous! Those of you who live in Franklin County will probably know what roads I am talking about, I am kinda loathe to spill the beans cos I want to keep this road to myself!! Selfish I know but it was just so fantastic to be riding on a road that basically had no other traffic on it (ok a couple of cars and a tractor but that was about it)! And as for speed camera HA! no worries. Then to top it off we had a great blat from Ngaruawahia to Raglan, lucky there were no coppers cos we definately pulled some speeds well over "licence losing" mark!! Yee-bloody-ha!!! All in all it was an awesome day and I am reminded yet again of how lucky I am to live in this country where we can ride all year round and if you don't mind going off the beaten track and riding the occasional bit of gravel then some truely brilliant roads can be found right on yr backdoor step! :niceone: :banana: :woohoo: :ride:

[JWALKER]

sounds like heaven. glad to hear you found a nice road to ride, always brightens up the day

[buellbabe]

Yeah it was just one of those perfect days ;-)

[Quasievil]

We all call it 22, I think thats the one you mean

[Grahameeboy]

Excellent stuff BB........Cibby Chick, Postie, GraemeNZ and sme other geezer I forget his name and my goodself had a great ride back from the races........I took them back via Hunua and it was awesome........those tail end bends really test you (bloody ribs) but we got out and then stopped for a natter......that is what it is all about......and we saw No 3 Dover ride by.... ignored us.....probably cause he had a bird on the back.......I am pretty certain I saw Number 101 on her back.....he he.....sorry Dover and ???..just me wicked sense of humour again....I now await my sentence...!!

But you are right BB.....just cannot beat NZ for bikes........

[jonbuoy]

Won't be long before a speed camera IS put there if they think theyll get a few decent pings from it!!

[Grahameeboy]

Won't be long before a speed camera IS put there if they think theyll get a few decent pings from it!!

Nite "John Boy"...........:argh:

[buellbabe]

Yeah I can relate to yr "ribs" comment GBoy... I was feeling it in my upper arms... was abit of a workout but a totally enjoyable one!

[Grahameeboy]

Yeah I can relate to yr "ribs" comment GBoy... I was feeling it in my upper arms... was abit of a workout but a totally enjoyable one!

I will keep my London humour in me pocket on that one BB........nah but serious.....I reckon a good ride = knackered.......kind of wierd eh.......::crazy:

[buellbabe]

Those Hunua rds are really nice eh? I live on the border of Manurewa and Alfriston so I have the Kaiaua and Hunua Rds close by and now I'm gonna be doing Franklin County a fair bit too...
:2thumbsup

[Grahameeboy]

Those Hunua rds are really nice eh? I live on the border of Manurewa and Alfriston so I have the Kaiaua and Hunua Rds close by and now I'm gonna be doing Franklin County a fair bit too...
:2thumbsup

Lucky #$%.......person!!!

[Pixie]

Won't be long before a speed camera IS put there if they think theyll get a few decent pings from it!!
If they ever start to put cameras on quiet country roads....
.....won't be long before they look like swiss cheese.

[Pixie]

On the way back from Paeroa,the traffic seemed to be looking for a place to park.
I only used about 10 km of SH 2,all the rest was back roads to bombay.
I saw about a dozen cars on these roads and fewer bikes.
So do most motorcyclists today enjoy riding in traffic?

[buellbabe]

I've got a heap of really detailed AA maps and whenever I'm going for a decent scoot I always look for different routes. They maybe longer in same cases but definately more enjoyable, only thing is you DO need to be on the lookout for stray livestock, dogs, wild turkeys etc!!!

[Pixie]

The AA road Atlas (yellow cover) is the best map book for showing sealed and unsealed roads and is available in A4 and A5 sizes

[Pixie]

They maybe longer in same cases but definately more enjoyable,
I've had people say my backroad routes are longer than the main highway.
I ask them three things:
Don't you like riding your bike?
Do you like cars endangering life?
And do you like contributing to the state coffers via the highway revenue department?

[Grahameeboy]

Yeah, my routes can add 50k to a trip......getting lost is just a state of mind!!

[The_Dover]

and we saw No 3 Dover ride by.... ignored us.....probably cause he had a bird on the back.......I am pretty certain I saw Number 101 on her back.....he he.....sorry Dover and ???..just me wicked sense of humour again....I now await my sentence...!!

But you are right BB.....just cannot beat NZ for bikes........

Sorry mate, I honestly didn't see you guys there. I think I was too busy trying to figure out where the fuck I was cos it was my first blast up thru Hunua and I had no idea where I had ended up!

[buellbabe]

I prefer to take the long way... I actually belong to a wee group of HD riders that call themselves "the Stragglers". We have been known to turn the 130km journey from Akld to Hamilton into a 2 day ride with an overnite Sesh!:2thumbsup :banana:

[Firefight]

didn't touch on State Highway 1 the whole way there. Instead we went along 100km's of fantastic back roads before we even got to Ngaruawahia, actually the back-road I am talking about IS a State Highway but it certainly didn't feel or look like 1. Blissful winding roads.... At one point I was riding along thinking " OMG! this is Motorcycling Nirvana", the scenery was beautiful :ride:


Hey BB, great description of this hidden secret.:yeah:

F/F

[Grahameeboy]

Sorry mate, I honestly didn't see you guys there. I think I was too busy trying to figure out where the fuck I was cos it was my first blast up thru Hunua and I had no idea where I had ended up!

I dunno, ya can't take a bird anywhere without getting lost then.....is that the car equivalent of 'running out of petrol?? He he.......let ya off this time..........actually none of the others had any idea where they were either......cool bit of road eh?......one of my favourite stretches.

[jonbuoy]

Nite "John Boy"...........:argh:


Eh??? No understand...........

[Marmoot]

If they ever start to put cameras on quiet country roads....
.....won't be long before they look like swiss cheese.

I wonder what the picture and the speed indicated would be like if you shoot some pepper gun pellets to them damn cameras.........

[pritch]

Selfish I know but it was Blissful winding roads with a few straights thrown in...

Sounds like SH22 but it's a bit late to keep that a secret....

Then again if SH22 gets too crowded you could try SH43 Taumarunui to Stratford. Brilliant!

[pritch]

I was too busy trying to figure out where the fuck I was cos it was my first blast up thru Hunua and I had no idea where I had ended up!

I stuffed that one up at Christmas. Headed for Clevedon but wound up in an industrial estate at the back of Papakura. Bugga!

Apparently I went straight ahead somewhere I shoulda done a right.

[Quasievil]

Sounds like SH22 but it's a bit late to keep that a secret....

Then again if SH22 gets too crowded you could try SH43 Taumarunui to Stratford. Brilliant!

that was just cruel :laugh: (endless gravel)

[pritch]

that was just cruel :laugh: (endless gravel)


There is a stretch in the middle (about 10k) that is unsealed but it's mostly more like hard dirt than gravel. Even sprotbike riders shouldn't have any difficulty.

I passed some sort of full dresser in a couple of weeks ago, both rider and passenger looked happy enough. The last time I was at the Whangamomona Pub several bikes came through: a BMW tourer, a Yamaha FZ750 sprotbike, and a Harley FXRS or similar.

As another Hornet rider said to me, "Once you've been that way you won't want to go to Taumarunui any other way".
No argument from me.

[buellbabe]

That sounds like a cool ride. I go to both Taranaki and Taumaranui regularly but 10 kms of gravel is a fairly long stretch and I always worry about my belt. Plus although it might be hard dirt now whats the bet it'll be re-graded soon. I used to happily ride out to my mates place out the back of Wainui (on hard dirt) and then 1 day i visited the day after the grader had been. Ye gads it was boulder city with tree branches in the mix! Scary stuff on my Buell ( not being able to put my feet flat on the ground if needed... ), found myself wishing I was back on a HD, they handle that sort of shit no worries!

[Grahameeboy]

UM UM......can see SH16 being visited tonight...stuff the housework...again!!

[DemonWolf]

There is a stretch in the middle (about 10k) that is unsealed but it's mostly more like hard dirt than gravel. Even sprotbike riders shouldn't have any difficulty.

I passed some sort of full dresser in a couple of weeks ago, both rider and passenger looked happy enough. The last time I was at the Whangamomona Pub ..............

As another Hornet rider said to me, "Once you've been that way you won't want to go to Taumarunui any other way".
No argument from me.

Actually haven't done the entire route.. always just to Whangamomona pub and back to stratty.. Very interesting corners on the Lost Highway.. especially with loose pepples on it.. causes some puckering moments!

[buellbabe]

LOL is that loose people or pebbles??? Either 1 can give ya a fright!

[DemonWolf]

well last time I rode it.. it was both (yeah yeah.. can't spell either)... a mate on his Honda Interceptor slid out in front of me.. had to take avoidance measures to miss riding over the top of him and his sliding bike.. and after sorting that out.. catching up to the group coming down through the ranges the corners had loose pebbles on 'em. I was beginning to wonder why I was riding that day!

[buellbabe]

HATE those loose pebbles. I was once in the middle of no-where on a gravel road at dusk heading downhill and suddenly found myself on loose tiny pebbles . It was like being on marbles, I had absolutely no control over the bike cos she was just sliding over the top of them, kept it upright but needed some serious attitude adjustment when I reached my destination! Aaargh!

[DemonWolf]

Yep, know what ya mean. =)

[tracyprier]

Done that run myself. They sure are great roads. Even better is to carry on down the back roads to Raglan, forget Ngaruawahia. There is about 1km of gravel near Raglan and that's it, perfect roads.

That's what's great about biking even up in AKL. Get off the main roads and there's no one around :)



On Saturday I went riding with a friend who took me on some roads I have never done before. Our destination was Raglan and we didn't touch on State Highway 1 the whole way there. Instead we went along 100km's of fantastic back roads before we even got to Ngaruawahia, actually the back-road I am talking about IS a State Highway but it certainly didn't feel or look like 1. Blissful winding roads with a few straights thrown in... long enuf for my companion to pull a few wheelies! At one point I was riding along thinking " OMG! this is Motorcycling Nirvana", the scenery was beautiful and it seemed as tho we were riding on a neverending stretch of well cambered left-right-left-right corners... definately got into that Zen state where ya just flow. Absolutely fabulous! Those of you who live in Franklin County will probably know what roads I am talking about, I am kinda loathe to spill the beans cos I want to keep this road to myself!! Selfish I know but it was just so fantastic to be riding on a road that basically had no other traffic on it (ok a couple of cars and a tractor but that was about it)! And as for speed camera HA! no worries. Then to top it off we had a great blat from Ngaruawahia to Raglan, lucky there were no coppers cos we definately pulled some speeds well over "licence losing" mark!! Yee-bloody-ha!!! All in all it was an awesome day and I am reminded yet again of how lucky I am to live in this country where we can ride all year round and if you don't mind going off the beaten track and riding the occasional bit of gravel then some truely brilliant roads can be found right on yr backdoor step! :niceone: :banana: :woohoo: :ride:

[buellbabe]

might give that ago next time... 1 km I don't mind ;-)

[Motu]

In a couple of weeks it'll only be 500metre - they are very close to sealing the stretch before the one lane bridge.It was a fun road when it was mostly gravel.I went down it at night once on the XLV750 and the seal/gravel changes kept you on your toes.