KoroJ's Blog

Another day, another dollar!.....ummm......yeah, nah.......I had the day off and spent nearly three grand!!

There was a time I would have been ecstatic to be riding a $3K bike but we nearly spend that on decent riding gear these days and today I spent that much making improvements that probably won't do anything to the value of the bike.

At the beginning of this year I was chatting with Andrew Templeton at a Capital Coast Conehead session and he mentioned how rapt he ...

Another day in the saddle started just after 0500, a quick scrub, kit-up, the bike and car were already packed and we were on the road to Caltex Rimutaka by 0545 for the start of the 8th Capital 1.000km Cruise. We pulled in to the forecourt a little earlier than usual, at 0610, and there were already more than half a dozen punters eagerly awaiting to check-in and depart, so I gassed up then assisted Ann to get her table and chair set-up, the rider list and strips of yellow and black (Resene) tape ...

Three years between rides is a bit of a stretch, and I might be a bit biased, but God damn it, I enjoyed the shit out of the North Island 1600!!

The last few blogs have outlined the prep' and the weekend before the big event had me in a bit of a panic to fix the stebel horn because I new BrianH was going to be scrutineering the bikes and if he can pick up, that the rear tyre on a Beemer has been fitted back to front, he was sure as hell going to pick up that my horn was neither squeeking ...

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Last week was my last big prep ride for the North Island 1600, but I've had another busy week including a couple more rides.

On Thurday I had a seminar to go to in Palmy, so naturally, I had to go on the bike even though the weather was looking to be marginal....in fact, I needed to go on the bike because the weather was marginal. I hadn't looked at the bike since dragging myself off it on Sunday and although I knew the front tyre was getting down, I was surprised to see how quick ...

I had the bike serviced last week and also now have a pair of Z8's waiting to fit. The Z8 on the front had about 9,000km on it with perhaps 2-3.000km left and the PR4 on the rear only has 3,000km on it. However Having decided to replace both prior to the North Island 1600, I needed to rack-up some km to chew out the front and wear as much as possible on the rear.

Having done 3 conditioning rides of 375, 740 & 490 km, I wanted to do at least one more of about 1,000km,....plus whatever ...

I wasn't planning on a ride today but I ran into Woody yesterday, when I was putting some air in the tyres at BP J'ville and next thing you know, we had a plan. There was a Uly ride today but because it was programmed for the Akatarawa Rd (which I think is a waste of time ride) and because I'm in more need of more kms, we decided to scoot up SH1, nip over the Fordell-Hunterville road and Vinegar Hill, have a spot of lunch in Ashhurst and make our way home.

Since we were embarking ...

In a past life (my 2nd of the current one – or chapter 2 perhaps), I was an Aircraft Electrician in the RNZAF, and eventually they told me I was an Avionic Technician. Big deal, I worked on batteries, power generation, distribution and regulation, all sorts of motors used for all sorts of purposes and lighting systems. I changed bulbs on teeny weeny lights that lit up gauges and instrument panels, on small lights that lit up other bits and bobs in cockpits, on still and flashy flashing Nav Lights, ...

After getting a bit tingly 150km into last week's ride, I had a meeting and decided I needed to Harden The Butt Up and conditioning rides were needed for the upcoming Nth Is 1600 and C1KC.

With the weather forecast for today looking pretty good, I figured a 500-800km ride was on the cards, but nothing north of Hunterville due to all the snow induced road closures this week and a plan formed that included a squirt into the Pohangina Valley, followed by a scoot into the Hawkes Bay. ...