LB
7th February 2005, 04:46
The weather forecast looked good on Friday night so I decided Hamish and I would go away for the w/end on the bikes. I would take the 800, as the 1000 is in the garage awaiting it’s 10,000km service next week. Hamish would take his GS1200SS, as his R1100S is in the garage awaiting it’s 80,000km service this week. (both the bikes getting serviced are our mounts for our upcoming 3-week South Island Tour).
We woke to a fine day on Saturday, and booked a motel in Taupo before leaving home around 8.15am. We were a bit later than usual, we would normally leave for a trip like this around 7am but I slept in - probably something to do with the Italian dinner we’d had the previous night with a few friends……! We were going to go to New Plymouth but changed our minds for no particular reason.
We headed up SH1 and turned off before Levin and went through Shannon. We stopped at Palmerton North McDonalds/McCafé in Rangitikei Street. After a couple of flat whites and some food we headed down the road to Phil Turnbull’s to say “hi”. Hamish was quite interested in the new yellow GSXR1000 with the Yoshi can, but I managed to stop him from buying it, reminding him he still hadn’t given me a definite “NO” about the MV1000.
It was starting to heat up a bit by now, so we got on the road and headed to Wanganui. It was still hot even at the speed limit (or thereabouts…..). Up the Paraparas it got even hotter, but it was a great ride. Not one stray sheep to be seen, and the tar hadn’t really started to melt too much. I can ride my 800 faster up a road like the Paraparas than I can my 1000 - the 800 is much more nimble and drops into corners much faster than the thou (smaller tyres on the 800). I really enjoyed the ride. By the time we got to Raetihi it had cooled down slightly but was still warm. The mountain had quite a bit of cloud, but we could see there was still a bit of snow on it.
We stopped at National Park for gas. I had just stopped and turned my bike off when three bikes came out of the Chateau road….I realised it was Blackbird and his two mates (another Blue Blackbird and a Hyabusa). I waved like mad but the only one who really saw me was the Busa, who looked and looked again, waving at me with a “who the hell is that mad guy waving at me” sort of wave. I sent off a text to Blackbird, telling him it was me in case he hadn’t realised.
We gassed up and had a bite to eat and a drink before heading towards Tokaanu. We arrived in Taupo around 2pm. We went to the “Automania” shop next to Brumby’s bread shop in Heu Heu Street, they have quite a good selection of bike models. We had a chat to Chris, the owner, then went next door and bought some bread for lunch. Who should come along and admire my bike but Ducatijim!! Small world eh. (We’d met Ducatijim at the Ducati rally at Tokaanu a couple of weeks earlier.)
Went from there to our motel, where we parked the bikes and relaxed inside the (relatively) cool motel with a drink. I got a text soon from Blackbird - him and his mates were in New Plymouth for the night. We didn’t do much that night other than eat tea (our bike rides always seem to revolve around bike riding and food….) and have an early night. It was hard to get to sleep, as it was so hot.
Woke around 6am and had a leisurely shower and packed. Had brekkie at the McCafé while chatting to a local chap who’d recently sold his TLR and was wanting to get back into bikes. I did my best to persuade him that he should do it sooner rather than later.
We headed south via the Desert Road - we were going to head east at Mangaweka and go south via Rangiwahia/Cheltenhem. However along the Desert Road we had some very light drizzle and wet road, so when we stopped at Taihape to gas up I suggested we go to the Church Café at Sanson and decide the rest of the route from there. A group of eight guys from round Whangarei way pulled in for gas - they were on assorted bikes and were heading for Wellington to cross over for a couple of weeks in the South Island. All sorts of bikes including an 850 Commando, Honda CX 500 or 650, a Bandit, a brand new FJR1300. After some sustenance for us as well as our mounts we headed south again. SH1 is a very boring piece of road, but from Taihape to south of Hunterville it’s very pretty at this time of year with all the trees in their varying shades of green. There was a HEAP of traffic heading north, most likely a lot were going home from the Wellington Sevens. Heaps of cops around Taihape - we saw three within about 30kms. At Sanson we decided to head home straight down SH1, as the weather over the Tararuas looked a bit dodgy, and we’d kind of “found our niche” in all the traffic.
We’d just gotten onto the long Foxton bridge and were behind a small truck. I was going to pass but there was some oncoming traffic in the distance so I thought I’d wait till it had passed. Then suddenly the back of the truck loomed up very very quickly….and I noticed the truck was braking. I braked hard and had to decide quickly what to do so I chopped it down a couple of gears and overtook, Hamish coming with me. It wasn’t too close with the oncoming traffic, but it was so unexpected - the truck must have had a mechanical failure - looking in my mirrors showed that it had stopped on the bridge. Hope it didn’t cause a nose-to-tail with all the traffic that was behind us.
We gassed up again at Otaki and had a bit of a rest and some lunch. There was traffic, traffic, traffic, both directions. We got into the flow again and it was starting to get very warm again. Just north of Waikanae there was a double speed camera trap - two vans within about 500m of each other.
We went over Paekak hill - it was lovely to get out of the traffic and have some real corners for a change.
So we got home just before 2pm. It was a great ride. We’d seen heaps of bikes going the other direction and apart from a couple of times mid-corner when I couldn’t, I’d waved to them all and had waves back from virtually all of them. Over the w/end I’d done 792.9kms on the 800, and still really love riding it - I’d concentrated on riding the 1000 the month previous, to get the kms up on that. I’d wondered if I’d prefer that to the 800, but I love them both, I really do. All in all, another great biking w/end. It’s all part of my “spend my years” wisely plan.
We woke to a fine day on Saturday, and booked a motel in Taupo before leaving home around 8.15am. We were a bit later than usual, we would normally leave for a trip like this around 7am but I slept in - probably something to do with the Italian dinner we’d had the previous night with a few friends……! We were going to go to New Plymouth but changed our minds for no particular reason.
We headed up SH1 and turned off before Levin and went through Shannon. We stopped at Palmerton North McDonalds/McCafé in Rangitikei Street. After a couple of flat whites and some food we headed down the road to Phil Turnbull’s to say “hi”. Hamish was quite interested in the new yellow GSXR1000 with the Yoshi can, but I managed to stop him from buying it, reminding him he still hadn’t given me a definite “NO” about the MV1000.
It was starting to heat up a bit by now, so we got on the road and headed to Wanganui. It was still hot even at the speed limit (or thereabouts…..). Up the Paraparas it got even hotter, but it was a great ride. Not one stray sheep to be seen, and the tar hadn’t really started to melt too much. I can ride my 800 faster up a road like the Paraparas than I can my 1000 - the 800 is much more nimble and drops into corners much faster than the thou (smaller tyres on the 800). I really enjoyed the ride. By the time we got to Raetihi it had cooled down slightly but was still warm. The mountain had quite a bit of cloud, but we could see there was still a bit of snow on it.
We stopped at National Park for gas. I had just stopped and turned my bike off when three bikes came out of the Chateau road….I realised it was Blackbird and his two mates (another Blue Blackbird and a Hyabusa). I waved like mad but the only one who really saw me was the Busa, who looked and looked again, waving at me with a “who the hell is that mad guy waving at me” sort of wave. I sent off a text to Blackbird, telling him it was me in case he hadn’t realised.
We gassed up and had a bite to eat and a drink before heading towards Tokaanu. We arrived in Taupo around 2pm. We went to the “Automania” shop next to Brumby’s bread shop in Heu Heu Street, they have quite a good selection of bike models. We had a chat to Chris, the owner, then went next door and bought some bread for lunch. Who should come along and admire my bike but Ducatijim!! Small world eh. (We’d met Ducatijim at the Ducati rally at Tokaanu a couple of weeks earlier.)
Went from there to our motel, where we parked the bikes and relaxed inside the (relatively) cool motel with a drink. I got a text soon from Blackbird - him and his mates were in New Plymouth for the night. We didn’t do much that night other than eat tea (our bike rides always seem to revolve around bike riding and food….) and have an early night. It was hard to get to sleep, as it was so hot.
Woke around 6am and had a leisurely shower and packed. Had brekkie at the McCafé while chatting to a local chap who’d recently sold his TLR and was wanting to get back into bikes. I did my best to persuade him that he should do it sooner rather than later.
We headed south via the Desert Road - we were going to head east at Mangaweka and go south via Rangiwahia/Cheltenhem. However along the Desert Road we had some very light drizzle and wet road, so when we stopped at Taihape to gas up I suggested we go to the Church Café at Sanson and decide the rest of the route from there. A group of eight guys from round Whangarei way pulled in for gas - they were on assorted bikes and were heading for Wellington to cross over for a couple of weeks in the South Island. All sorts of bikes including an 850 Commando, Honda CX 500 or 650, a Bandit, a brand new FJR1300. After some sustenance for us as well as our mounts we headed south again. SH1 is a very boring piece of road, but from Taihape to south of Hunterville it’s very pretty at this time of year with all the trees in their varying shades of green. There was a HEAP of traffic heading north, most likely a lot were going home from the Wellington Sevens. Heaps of cops around Taihape - we saw three within about 30kms. At Sanson we decided to head home straight down SH1, as the weather over the Tararuas looked a bit dodgy, and we’d kind of “found our niche” in all the traffic.
We’d just gotten onto the long Foxton bridge and were behind a small truck. I was going to pass but there was some oncoming traffic in the distance so I thought I’d wait till it had passed. Then suddenly the back of the truck loomed up very very quickly….and I noticed the truck was braking. I braked hard and had to decide quickly what to do so I chopped it down a couple of gears and overtook, Hamish coming with me. It wasn’t too close with the oncoming traffic, but it was so unexpected - the truck must have had a mechanical failure - looking in my mirrors showed that it had stopped on the bridge. Hope it didn’t cause a nose-to-tail with all the traffic that was behind us.
We gassed up again at Otaki and had a bit of a rest and some lunch. There was traffic, traffic, traffic, both directions. We got into the flow again and it was starting to get very warm again. Just north of Waikanae there was a double speed camera trap - two vans within about 500m of each other.
We went over Paekak hill - it was lovely to get out of the traffic and have some real corners for a change.
So we got home just before 2pm. It was a great ride. We’d seen heaps of bikes going the other direction and apart from a couple of times mid-corner when I couldn’t, I’d waved to them all and had waves back from virtually all of them. Over the w/end I’d done 792.9kms on the 800, and still really love riding it - I’d concentrated on riding the 1000 the month previous, to get the kms up on that. I’d wondered if I’d prefer that to the 800, but I love them both, I really do. All in all, another great biking w/end. It’s all part of my “spend my years” wisely plan.