General Bike Ravings

In early May I leave the mild winter of the Coromandel to spend three months riding my motorbike around Europe.

My route will take me from the UK, through the D Day beaches, down the Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, then Portugal. In mid June I will spend a week or so with friends in Spain, then it is off along the Med Coast to the sights of Italy, ferry to Greece , then through the Dalmatian coast , across to Austria, Czech Republic , Poland then up to the Baltic states . ...

Last Sunday here in Wellington we had the 2nd round of King of Kaitoke. I got a two seconds and a fourth (a bolt in my gear change mechanism broke leaving me stuck in fourth gear).

it was nice to do well but feel a bit bruised and battered from some of the comments people are making about lines and passing. The hard part in all of it is I really have no clue when it comes to the lines one should take. I lost a lot of confidence last year where I was totally out classed by the other ...

Once again, I was marshalling for Paeroa, which means an early start Sunday, so the accommodation is sorted for officials, marshals etc. This year, same as the last, accommodation was Thames. They were happy to have us last year, and presumably having their motel booked out for a night appeals to them.

Ange had asked to have a go on the BMW, so I took her down on Saturday. As is Gremlin’s way, we left late, departing Auckland at only 2pm. Ange needed to be in Thames to give the accommodation ...

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Paeroa was one of the reasons that I started racing. I told my wife that I wanted to do Paeroa (and maybe Wanganui) and that was the justification for doing other race meetings (rules say you have to do at least 3 track events to be eligable for the Streets).

Because of the tight time constraints with a Street Race, sign-in and scrutineering for Paeroa are on the Saturday so that Sunday morning it's straight into the riding as early as possible.

I ...

Counting down the last two weeks to the TT and this week I went on the Uly Ride to Apiti, combining it with my last prep’ ride. My plan was to ride with the group to the Pilgrims Rest , on Pohangina Valley East Rd, but then continue riding instead of stopping for lunch, focusing on maintaining a good average pace, whilst generally riding economically and within the prescribed tolerances, so as not top get pinged.

I did the usual ride prep of tyres, clean (& polish for a change), prepared ...

Racing can be a total bitch sometimes.

Saturday was the practice day so the wife and I headed down to Taupo so I could make certain that the bike was fine and that I was in the right frame of mind.

Pretty much as soon as I got there I caught up with Lewis who was sorting out a pit shed. I was keen go to halves so I parked up beside his vehicle. Sign in and scrutineering were a breeze so I got the bike on the tyre warmers and went for a wander.
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So the previous two weekends had seen me pop up to Cape Reinga to visit the Northern Exposure Tour and then East Cape, to finally see the lighthouse I needed to visit on the Southern Cross in mid-March.

As the West Cape was also on the Southern Cross, it made sense to see that too, as a previous West Cape ride I had cut short, due to leaving a little late in the afternoon (and subsequently exploring the gravel around the Forgotten Highway as well).

Departing Auckland ...

With TT bookings and plans well underway and the drama of last weeks puncture(s) done and dusted with a new Storm 2 Ultra fitted, Steve & I were off on another ‘Multi-purpose’ ride…..for him it was just a conditioning ride for the Southern Cross, but for me it was conditioning for the TT2000, testing/familiarization for the GPS and the wish to put 2000Km on the bike to do the 108,000Km service and change the front tyre prior to the TT.

The various requirements meant that perhaps something ...