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Christmas this year, as it turned out, was a time to ride…and what a great way to finish the year!

The Maori Tennis tournament is held in Hamilton between Christmas and New Year and last year I didn’t go because I needed to paint the house, but this year I needed to do my duty and support Ann by taking her to this event….not because I love Tennis, but, it is in the Waikato.

After a cruisy Christmas morning, we took the opportunity to visit her parents in Moumahaki, ...

What a rush Taupo Road racing Spectacular was this year. Managed to inprove from my 24th finish last year to 17th. Reduced my lap times (in the dry) from 1 min 44 sec laps to 1.33 laps on the first day. The second day was wet so it was wets for those who had them, which for a lot of us was the first time we had raced on them. My second day times went from plus 2 min to 1.49, much to my delight. And what battles were had with the field breaking into groups of 4-6 bikes fighting it out. I'm also starting ...

The slowest NZ traverse ever. [3]

Cape day dawned fine and warm - we headed in to Awanui and fuelled up for the final leg north. Northland was looking more prosperous than our collective memories of 15-20 years ago, and the road improved the closer we got to Cape Reinga. There was about 15km of gravel but it was formed-ready-for-seal gravel and the new-ish top end of SHW1 sweeps over hills and around bends as if designed by a biker. The Cape itself has been truly DoC-imated: large ...

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The slowest NZ traverse ever. [5]

Returning to the correct route without further mishap, we headed up the amazingly wide gravel of Styx-Patearoa road. I wondered ruefully if the heavy rain that drenched this country the day before would have made much of Dunstan Trail II as nastily greasy as 'our' puddle... It turned out OK, I was probably more cautious but rain held off (though we did have a hail shower) and I was pleased to see the Clark valley woolshed and gravel under our wheels ...

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The slowest NZ traverse ever. [4]

On Sunday 12th December we left Westport and rode south, via the coast road, Moana and Arthur's Pass. Our destination was Timaru so Ruth could catch up with a museum exhibition she had assisted with over winter. We cut through Lake Lyndon Road popping out right at Rakaia Gorge Bridge where we had a spell; nearby tourists expressed amazement we had ridden over gravel, I accepted the implied complement to my great skill... In fact the loaded DL was ...

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The slowest NZ traverse ever. [1]

In January, pillion partner Ruth and I set off on the Wee-Strom to get to Cape Reinga, somewhere I had never been which made it a suitable goal for our first decent motorcycle trip. Yesterday we returned from Bluff, completing a New Zealand traverse of sorts. Here are some memories of that ride.

Between Westport and Nelson we encountered what proved to be the wettest weather of the whole northern trip, made more intense being stuck behind ...

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Slowest NZ traverse ever [2]

Next day's destination Devonport, Auckland. We sought out some back roads again, riding via Kawhia with its amazing paua patties, Raglan and Pukekohe, resisting the dreaded AK motorway until Drury, where predictably all forward movement stopped... seriously, how do you Orklind ppl handle this? On second thoughts it's fine, you have nothing to worry about (Thinks: If I dis it too much they'll all want to come south and fill up our wide open spaces...). ...

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I'm locked, I'm loaded and i wish I had had a decent nights sleep. Heading off to Wanganui to play pit bitch for the day then off to Taupo for my break from it all. Yea-ha. Test rode the bucket last night and seems all good. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. in theory each race should last 10-12 minutes so there should be too much trouble. The new clip handlebars made a huge difference in handling, hopefully no more painful wrists. See you on the other side