Morepower
13th May 2006, 00:11
Again written a while back ;
Have you gone mad?
Thursday
1 pm. Think about that track day at Pukekohe that’s on tomorrow.
1.05 pm. E Mail Boss your letter of resignation (another story), in same E Mail ask for Friday off.
3.00 pm. Boss approves day off.
3.05pm. Phone mate in Auckland asking if you can crash at his house a couple of nites.
4.00pm . Explain to Wife you really do need to test that Ventura pack .
4.30pm. On the road.
Heading out of Napier we pass a big old Honda BolDor 900 all loaded up , notice rider has platted hair, she sails past while gassing up at Bay View.
The trip to Taupo proves wet and cold but dries out on the straights. Its no warmer though and my hands are freezing. The $17 thermal undies from the Warehouse are proving a great investment.
We pull in for gas at Taupo and Honda girl is there , She was heading for Mount Maunganui but the Cold has her deciding to stay at Taupo.
I pull out dry warm gloves from my tank bag and head onwards. ( spare gloves must be my best Idea in 10 years ).
My worst Idea in long time sees me turning towards Mangakino as a short cut North. I find that these roads don’t have cats eyes or any other easy to follow markings and every thing looks different in the dark. I am soon disorientated blasting around the central north island in the dark at around 140- 170kmh cruise. With no light in my speedometer I would notice the rpms getting up to 7000 in top on some straights so it would be back down to 5000 (140) until it just drifted up again.
This made for some alarming moments as corners tightened and I would remember just how badly bike headlights work when banked over in a corner. Guessing where the road goes is not a lot of fun.
After getting off about 6 times to read my map by the headlight ( couldn’t figure out how to do this without stopping) the lights of Te Awamutu were very welcome. Fueled up any sensible person would have headed for Hamilton and the main road north.
Not me …no I had a better plan.Blasting around in the dark following my short cut via Whatawhata to Ngaruawhahia. After a couple of headlight map readings and discovering that it’s a favourite road for rednecks in utes and truckies that all have 16 auxillary headlights we make it.
Not being slow to learn we decide the main road is the way to go from here on. Roadworks all the way , fabulous !. Not worried about navigation I notice that its very cold and my engine temp is in the 40’s which confirms the icy nature of the air.
A welcome McDonalds sign at Huntly and I stop for some warm food. This is provides much amusement for some Maori kids who are amazed any one would be stupid enough to ride a motorbike when its so cold.
9.30pm. Arrive in Auckland intact and enjoy a couple of very good coffees at my friends house.
Friday
A fine morning dawns and I head for Pukekohe. Good coffee and Bacon and eggs at a Café then off to the track.
I arrive at the track and a hard case Track Manager takes my $80 then gets me to sign a form, which I guess absolved them from anything and everything that may happen.
The safety check consisted of him putting a green sticker on my bike.
I look around and there is a few race bikes and some some serious road bikes , GSXR1000’s , a new R1 and some 600s along with some more normal road bikes and the odd post classic racer too.
I take some time to look at the track and am soon completely intimidated. It’s a long way around and looked very fast. I get talking to a Guy named Steve who was riding a ZX6R ? Kawasaki , He was very helpful and told me the sections to take care on , where to brake for the hairpin and where you could just go flat out.
Soon it was time to go out and I picked the Moderate group and wobbled my way around for about 20 minutes getting to know the track, which is very fast. Steve lapped me at least twice on the Kwaka.
Back in the pits I admit to backing off on the back straight. Steve gets me to put tape over my speedometer so I wont see how fast I am going and get scared.
The next session sees me going better and Steve goes past and waves me in behind him , so I follow for a couple of laps until some unfortunate sole on a SP1 Honda high sides and cuts the session short.
By the fourth session I get the hang of the track and see Steve behind me ,I make a bit of ground on the back straight but its scary as turbulence over a certain speed shakes my helmet that much over the last ¼ of the straight the braking markers are blurred. But I am not letting off and the new brake pads are proving outstanding as we haul up from what must be around 250ish to what seems like a standstill to get around the hairpin..
Anyway 2 tanks of fuel , 200kms on the track and half of a one week old Diablo later it was time to go.
Saturday
8.00am Leave the big smoke and after getting some air in the tyres ( back to Road pressure) good idea number 6752 cuts in. This idea was from the night before I think and it was to get back to Napier in time for the 2.00pm ride.
8.20ish? Short cut time, so I pull off the main road to be confronted with 30km road works and thick fog all the way to Huntly. From there on though the day was clear, there was little traffic, trusty Bel radar detector on and I was on a mission.
It seemed like every truck I came up behind would flash his indicator for me to pass which is unusual , I wondered if they had radioed each other to look out for this red bike who was in a hurry.
A quick fuel stop at Te Awamutu and then on to Taupo , those roads that were so daunting on Friday night were just awesome in the daytime.
A tank of fuel and Pie at Taupo and it was down to a 120/140kmh cruise. The one Highway Patrol Car I saw ignored me so it was dice with the traffic back to Napier.
11.50 am . I arrive home in Taradale. The bike takes on a precarious lean and I see that the vibration has backed out the sidestand bolts. Out with the jack and axle stand then time for lunch.
1.00pm . Fix sidestand , adjust and lube chain and off to meet the boys for the Saturday ride.
5.30pm. Back home , dinner , hit wall , sleep for 12 hours ……
Sunday
8.30 am. Wake up and feel the pain………………………….
Would I do it again ? ….in an instant .
Have you gone mad?
Thursday
1 pm. Think about that track day at Pukekohe that’s on tomorrow.
1.05 pm. E Mail Boss your letter of resignation (another story), in same E Mail ask for Friday off.
3.00 pm. Boss approves day off.
3.05pm. Phone mate in Auckland asking if you can crash at his house a couple of nites.
4.00pm . Explain to Wife you really do need to test that Ventura pack .
4.30pm. On the road.
Heading out of Napier we pass a big old Honda BolDor 900 all loaded up , notice rider has platted hair, she sails past while gassing up at Bay View.
The trip to Taupo proves wet and cold but dries out on the straights. Its no warmer though and my hands are freezing. The $17 thermal undies from the Warehouse are proving a great investment.
We pull in for gas at Taupo and Honda girl is there , She was heading for Mount Maunganui but the Cold has her deciding to stay at Taupo.
I pull out dry warm gloves from my tank bag and head onwards. ( spare gloves must be my best Idea in 10 years ).
My worst Idea in long time sees me turning towards Mangakino as a short cut North. I find that these roads don’t have cats eyes or any other easy to follow markings and every thing looks different in the dark. I am soon disorientated blasting around the central north island in the dark at around 140- 170kmh cruise. With no light in my speedometer I would notice the rpms getting up to 7000 in top on some straights so it would be back down to 5000 (140) until it just drifted up again.
This made for some alarming moments as corners tightened and I would remember just how badly bike headlights work when banked over in a corner. Guessing where the road goes is not a lot of fun.
After getting off about 6 times to read my map by the headlight ( couldn’t figure out how to do this without stopping) the lights of Te Awamutu were very welcome. Fueled up any sensible person would have headed for Hamilton and the main road north.
Not me …no I had a better plan.Blasting around in the dark following my short cut via Whatawhata to Ngaruawhahia. After a couple of headlight map readings and discovering that it’s a favourite road for rednecks in utes and truckies that all have 16 auxillary headlights we make it.
Not being slow to learn we decide the main road is the way to go from here on. Roadworks all the way , fabulous !. Not worried about navigation I notice that its very cold and my engine temp is in the 40’s which confirms the icy nature of the air.
A welcome McDonalds sign at Huntly and I stop for some warm food. This is provides much amusement for some Maori kids who are amazed any one would be stupid enough to ride a motorbike when its so cold.
9.30pm. Arrive in Auckland intact and enjoy a couple of very good coffees at my friends house.
Friday
A fine morning dawns and I head for Pukekohe. Good coffee and Bacon and eggs at a Café then off to the track.
I arrive at the track and a hard case Track Manager takes my $80 then gets me to sign a form, which I guess absolved them from anything and everything that may happen.
The safety check consisted of him putting a green sticker on my bike.
I look around and there is a few race bikes and some some serious road bikes , GSXR1000’s , a new R1 and some 600s along with some more normal road bikes and the odd post classic racer too.
I take some time to look at the track and am soon completely intimidated. It’s a long way around and looked very fast. I get talking to a Guy named Steve who was riding a ZX6R ? Kawasaki , He was very helpful and told me the sections to take care on , where to brake for the hairpin and where you could just go flat out.
Soon it was time to go out and I picked the Moderate group and wobbled my way around for about 20 minutes getting to know the track, which is very fast. Steve lapped me at least twice on the Kwaka.
Back in the pits I admit to backing off on the back straight. Steve gets me to put tape over my speedometer so I wont see how fast I am going and get scared.
The next session sees me going better and Steve goes past and waves me in behind him , so I follow for a couple of laps until some unfortunate sole on a SP1 Honda high sides and cuts the session short.
By the fourth session I get the hang of the track and see Steve behind me ,I make a bit of ground on the back straight but its scary as turbulence over a certain speed shakes my helmet that much over the last ¼ of the straight the braking markers are blurred. But I am not letting off and the new brake pads are proving outstanding as we haul up from what must be around 250ish to what seems like a standstill to get around the hairpin..
Anyway 2 tanks of fuel , 200kms on the track and half of a one week old Diablo later it was time to go.
Saturday
8.00am Leave the big smoke and after getting some air in the tyres ( back to Road pressure) good idea number 6752 cuts in. This idea was from the night before I think and it was to get back to Napier in time for the 2.00pm ride.
8.20ish? Short cut time, so I pull off the main road to be confronted with 30km road works and thick fog all the way to Huntly. From there on though the day was clear, there was little traffic, trusty Bel radar detector on and I was on a mission.
It seemed like every truck I came up behind would flash his indicator for me to pass which is unusual , I wondered if they had radioed each other to look out for this red bike who was in a hurry.
A quick fuel stop at Te Awamutu and then on to Taupo , those roads that were so daunting on Friday night were just awesome in the daytime.
A tank of fuel and Pie at Taupo and it was down to a 120/140kmh cruise. The one Highway Patrol Car I saw ignored me so it was dice with the traffic back to Napier.
11.50 am . I arrive home in Taradale. The bike takes on a precarious lean and I see that the vibration has backed out the sidestand bolts. Out with the jack and axle stand then time for lunch.
1.00pm . Fix sidestand , adjust and lube chain and off to meet the boys for the Saturday ride.
5.30pm. Back home , dinner , hit wall , sleep for 12 hours ……
Sunday
8.30 am. Wake up and feel the pain………………………….
Would I do it again ? ….in an instant .