This weekend marked my 7th MDA (Muscular Dystrophy) Ride, whereby we deliver presents to children in the Central and Lower North Island (excluding Wgtn). Over the past few years I have taken on the responsibility to maintain profiles on the children, as well as planning our route around the visits, but that doesn’t require much effort as it is just a tweek here and there now. I did introduce a couple of new route options this year though. Our numbers almost doubled this year, with ...
I managed to rack up a few Km’s (about 1500Km) this week with a scoot up to Patea and back on Tuesday, then again on Friday, but returning Saturday and today was a coming together of 8 Ulysses Branches at Cheltenham. Tuesday’s ride was to take Ann up to Whanganui to see her folks who had both been in hospital. It was a fleeting visit and we had to battle a gusty westerly crosswind, which was hard work as we’d get buffeted from both sides and on the return, the oncoming trucks were ...
The fifth Capital 1,000Km Cruise is now done and dusted with 36 bikes starting and 36 finishing. (one with a hardy pillion). The route was an easy choice this year as it was rumoured last year that the Gentle Annie (Taihape – Napier Road) was to be sealed, so I prepared a route (along with a reserve) then once I saw from Banditrider’s Blog in July that this had been completed, I was soon on Mapsource to sort the finer details, finally coming up with a wee doozy that took in our new ...
Just had the black and the helmet pinstriped for a bit more presence and vis. I used a reflective tape (in Wellington Colours) and had some scuff stuff added to reduce the damage from stone chips and scuffing where the red is showing wear. Just need to swap the GPS mount over now and she's ready to go.
The GC and Getting Home The decent ride on Friday helped to get a good nights sleep and I was up by 0600 again, scrub-up, breakfast, then prep the gear and go over the fuel stops again. We were surprised how dead it seemed at the Turangi Cabins as usually, the place is littered with bikes and there are heaps of people about, tinkering and chewing the fat, but this year it was very quiet and it turned out, there were only 67 starters for the main event. We had been pre-warned a month ...
Getting There and The Extension Being the 25th GC (Grand Challenge – 1,000miles in 24 hours), the anniversary event was marked with a 900Km extension on the Friday, to make the event up to a 2,500Km Long Weekend. As soon as the event was promoted I registered my interest and must have got in pretty quick as I was surprised a couple of months ago, when I got my registration pack in the mail, to see that I was #1. Also, as per the 20th GC, a video was being made of this event. ...
I picked up the new bike yesterday. It’s a pre-loved 2011 Honda ST1300 with (2700Km) ….3,300Km on it now as I picked it up in Auckland and rode it home. Cam was a champ, delivering the bike to the airport so all I had to do was fly in at 1400, swap the cheques for the keys and change of ownership papers, walk to the carpark and there it was. Pristine! It’s funny how a new-beaut-black-beauty, even with a bit of road grime from getting to the airport, looks pristine and new-beaut…and ...
I know you’re thinking, “Yeah Right!”...but we did,...we did see the Gorgeous Babes!.....Well,... we saw pictures of them. I guess they weren’t in because it was Sunday!? Today was a SH2 Claytons Ride to Mangatainoka. That’s the ride you have up SH2, when you’re not actually riding up SH2! I recovered from last weekend’s trauma with my spewyy blog and thread about Mr Avon and I was looking forward to sampling the new Bridgestone 023’s on a decent ride. It was unfortunate ...