Personal entry

What a great day for a ride, so it’s not surprising that we had 30 bikes turn up for the Uly ride to the Martinborough Wind Farm.

I’d checked the tyres yesterday and put a little in the rear, so this morning I just needed to stow my gear on the bike and leave, pootling to Rimutaka to fill-up before meeting at Brown Owl. The temp did dip to 5º so I pulled the glove liners out when I got to Brown Owl, checked the right ear plug as the sounds didn’t seem to be working too well, took ...

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For some time now, I’ve been keen to have a go at doing a ‘Police Rodeo’, which is a slow handling event requiring balance and control to negotiate a course marked out with cones, as opposed to the Harley Style Rodeos which are more like a ‘Top-Town’ fun day on bikes.

The cops make it look pretty easy on You-Tube, throwing their big Electraglides around what appears to be some sort of maze and some googling revealed rules and courses, so over the last few months, I have checked out ...

Day 4 of riding and I already think I can pass on advice? Hell no. Feel pretty lucky not to have had an off so far though so thought perhaps others could learn from my near screw ups.

Day 1 – New bike is awesome – I own something that revs to 15,000rpm! I’m not sure I can adequately describe the beautiful cry of your first bike howling, or the first time you feel something really pulling at your hands, suffice to say I came back in with a huge grin on my face. Stalling pulling away ...

We had two rides this weekend!

The first was a wee overnighter for Ann & I up to South Taranaki for the opening of the new tino flash Dining and Ablution facilities, at her marae. We departed from work before lunch on Friday, pootled over to Masterton to visit mum, then over the Track for a fill in Palmy, before idling up SH3 to Kai Iwi Marae, where we helped with food prep for Saturday morning. For me, that included peeling kumaras, cutting up fillets for raw fish, slicing up sheep ...

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So I set out this morning with a small lump of cash and a desire to come home with a bike. I already knew that I wanted a naked bike and had a list of 6 potential bikes and an experienced biker whose opinion I trust.

My list contained 3 Hornets and 3 Bandits - 5 private sales and 1 trade sale. All my target bikes were 1994 or newer and apart from one all had less then 40,000kms on the clock. Shouldn't be too hard to find a decent bike from 6 candidates or so I thought...
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Next week is already this week and I’ve been and had my overnighter in Whangamomona. What a primo ride!

Fifteen bikes, four with pillions, made their way via various routes, to the Republic this weekend. Sixdirt-trackers departed from the Plimmerton Weigh Station at 0900 on Saturday to scoot up to Inglewood, where they were joined by another rider from Hamilton, then they meandered to Whangamomona via the Tarata Saddle, two roadies went up the Para’s, across to Taumaranui, then down, ...

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With not much riding over the last couple of weeks and a huge week at work to finish the financial year, it seemed that a ride would be in order and the Apiti Scamper was just what the doctor ordered.

An email out to my riding buddies resulted in five of us leaving from Caltex Rimutaka at 0740 on a pre-dawn morning that was a crystal clear sky and rather fresh 7º. I had put a skivvy and the winter gloves on at home but fortunately I put another layer and the glove liners on because ...

Two rides this weekend and two early starts, firstly carrying a Marshal for the bike leg of the Wellington Triathlon, then the club ride today was a Dawn Ride to Castlepoint.

Oddly enough, I haven’t been inspired to do much riding over the past couple of weeks, since the TT. It even took a week and a half to get around to cleaning the bike and that was only because of the rides this weekend, but it was great to get out.

A group of us have been riding for the Wgtn Tri ...