Phreak

Part two of my ride was on Wednesday, from New Plymouth to Wellington...

The weather in N.P. on Wednesday morning was amazing, almost too good to leave behind! The sun was out in force, not a cloud in the sky... Got on the road at 9am, for a quick stint to see my Step-Mum at the school she works at, in Inglewood. Man it was good to be out on the road again! Seriously guys, we should all be doing this more often. The absolute freedom is the best kind of stress-relief that I can find!

Anyways, got to my Step-Mum's school pretty quickly, she took me through to one of her best friends classes - they were just finishing 'show and tell', so I was asked to bring my bike around to the classroom to show the kids. It was pretty cool, I can tell you! The kids crowded around, asking questions, pointing out what they liked (mostly the Repsol paint scheme) and asking more questions! Put a huge smile on my face! :-)

So got going from there after saying goodbyes to the kids and my Step-Mum, with a warning from her that there were a fair bit of road-works on the main road around Stratford... Well, she wasn't wrong! I must have had to stop at least a dozen times coming down, both before Stratford and afterwards, 30kmh zones galore, the roads being re-surfaced for miles and miles. Not much fun, but when they are finished it'll be well worth it. From memory the roads weren't the nicest last time I used them, nice that Auckland isn't the only place getting their roads upgraded! Lol!

Other than that, the ride was pretty much plain sailing until about 5 minutes out of Waikanae, when the skies opened up and the downpour started! Within about ten minutes, I was pretty soaked, and not enjoying it at all. About the only parts of me that were still dry were my feet (thanks to good quality boots!) and my head (well, the top of my head at least)! I hate to admit, my Ixon gear didn't hold up very well at all, but it dried out pretty quickly in my friend's hot water cylinder cupboard. I should say though, I was still quite warm, despite being pretty thoroughly wet! But, the bike was performing even better than usual, thanks to the cold air temperature, so I kept on!

Again, even though the weather was so crappy, some of the landscape we are privy to in good old New Zealand still take my breath away - and every time I make my way down to Wellington there are two particular scenes that have this effect on me... The first is are the beaches right beside the motorway between Paekakariki and Plimmerton - I dont know what it is about this little section of the road that seems so special, it just is! With the rain-swept visor on my helmet up, the spray from the tires of the car in front of me stinging my eyes, I still had to hear the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks pretty much directly below me. It was pure magic...! :-)

Rocking over the last hills in familiar territory again, on roads I know like the back (and front!) of my hands, I got that warm feeling creeping up my chest the closer I got to Welly, the city I do love so much! I lived here for about 4 years before the move to Auckland, and I still feel that old kinship. The second sight that always gets me is that of Wellington harbour as you come down the Ngauranga gorge, around the sweeping right hand bend at the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately however, today you couldn't see a thing... Except for a whole lot of mist over the water. But, I always look out for it, just one of the little things that makes Wellington so special for me. Maybe next time it'll be more like I remember! :-)

Man, but I must have looked a sight when I finally got into Wellington city, pulling into the Shell service station down the road from the Beehive, to text my friend to find out where she was... Turns out she had already texted me, saying she had finished work early and to meet her at her house - in Petone! Soggy gloves and dripping helmet back on again, the traffic just starting to converge for the afternoon rush home, I braved the rain and wind for the last 15 minutes. Surprisingly, we held a fairly good pace on the motorway to Petone, but once in the township this slowed to a crawl. Had to have a little laugh to myself, the last 5 minutes of the trip seemed like the longest! Typical, huh?

So, arrived in Wellington safe and sound, texted my Step-Mum to let her know as much too (come on, you would too right...?) and now proceeding to dry off and catch up with my friends in this part of the country till Saturday. One thing I do love about the rain - it washes all the bugs off the front of the bike! No need to spend another hour cleaning and polishing this time! Yay!

Next update on Saturday night... Till then, ride safe!

(Oh yeah, thanks for the comments guys!)