PegLeg

The Morning broke fine and clear, a blue glow illuminating faintly through the night sky. Its Saturday morning and the proceeding 3 fine winter days have resulted in a very cold crisp morning…

I'm feeling a little jaded I always sleep a little restlessly before a big riding weekend.

The bike was pretty much packed the night before so its just a matter of getting ready and a cup of coffee or 2 and we are all set to go.

Marggy and I have around 160kms (100 miles) to cover as quickly as we can to meet up with the other 2 bikes on the run and start the trip in earnest.

Did I mention it was cold? We were rugged up with everything we could squeeze under our riding gear, so we were keen to get started.

Backing the bike out of the garage, the heart rate is elevated this is going to be great… its about 6.45am the frost is crunching underfoot on frozen grass….

The Twin-Cam B engine on the Softail turns over and starts immediately with the now familiar metallic slap, the initial fast idle slows…. the Vance and Hines Quiet baffles doing little more than giving the bike a deeper rumbling sound…. all the neighbors well aware of the Harley having been started and it's legendary sound reverberating off all the various structures in my street.

Cruising up the road I took it easy till I got a feel for the weight of the packed bike and the conditions, a crisp clear morning, did I mention it was cold?

Navigating the sleepy suburban streets in 3rd and 4th gear, giving what little traffic that was on the road plenty of space I continued taking it easy till we hit the SH1, and the main road north.

slowly accelerating the big twin up to highway speeds, both rider and pillion settled in for the ride north.

This is where I mention the Rain-Off over gloves, these are awesome…. http://www.rain-off.com/

The Waikato is inclined to get a little foggy through the winter, and there is nothing worse with winter riding than having to endure wet gloves…. (Yeah yeah I know harden the fu&k up)

So with these over gloves on and the warmth of the heated grips, I was blissfully unaware of the trials and tribulations endured by my pillion…. hitting the worst of the fog around the floodplains of lake Waikare between Ohinewai and Te Kauwhata.

Once we were past Mercer, the Waikato River turns left and heads out to Port Waikato and to the sea, taking with it the last of any fog.

The time is now approaching 8am and the Saturday morning traffic is slowly building as we head up and over the Bombay ranges and down onto the Auckland motorway.

As I have said in many trip reports, this is a pretty boring part of the ride, avoiding trucks and various commercial vehicles going about there business with nothing much happening other than the odd "Boy Racer" darting in and out of the traffic in their little booster cars, like want-a-be extras trying out for a part in a "Fast and Furious" movie…

Then its up and over the Auckland Harbor bridge, and the Northern Motorway, the sun is up, cool and crisp, no clouds to be seen… the only thing that reminds me its the middle of winter is the fact the toes of my right foot are a little cold.

Lost in the easy rhythm of the road, I manage to ride right past the Orewa turn off (Yes there is even 2 of them) and wind up having to go down through the tunnels at Puhoi turn around and ride back again…. bugga … there is a toll to pay both ways… what a dumb bastard….

Well its just going 9am…. not too bad, 2 hours in the comfy Harley Signature Series Seat with the riders backrest, rewarding the expense of the purchase with an almost embarrassing level of comfort.

Hooking up with the other 2 riders at the Orewa Service Station, Dave and Kirsty with their 1800cc Honda Goldwing and JJ and Lo on their newly acquired 1700cc Kawasaki Voyager, my Harley looked tiny and out of place parked next to the opulent and highly appointed tourers.



Hugs and hand shakes all around they waited patiently for Margaret and I to briefly recover, have some hot food and a quick coffee. I gassed the bike up, ready for the next leg, a 140kms around 90 miles or so, run to Dargaville for morning tea.



On the road we worked our way out of Orewa and out onto SH1…. awesome to be on the road again…. the Harley singing its melodic and rhythmic song …. man these new Harley's are so cool, the way they develop their torque and power is a lot of fun.

We are quickly riding through Warkworth, the Dome Valley and then Wellsford…. the sun now high, not a cloud in the sky… what a great time of year to ride in New Zealand… its cold, but the weather is much more settled.

Traveling up through Kaiwaka I am reminded of boyhood trips up to Mangawhai from Hamilton on the back of my Fathers RD250 or my brothers RD350 throughout the 1970's. It was all gravel roads back then and falling off the bike was a regular occurrence… my Mother insisted on safety which meant my wearing a helmet so dressing for a fall was a must…. by 1973 they were compulsory in new Zealand anyway.

Continuing on up through Pukrekaroro, JJ and Dave are setting a good pace, the rural nature of the roads meant most traffic was either going the other way or enjoying a slow sleepy start to there Saturday morning…. leaving the roads pretty clear.

Turning left at Brynderwyn taking the Dargaville turn off…. we have been back on the road for an hour now, the comfort, good pace of the ride, the awesome weather and having my partner Margaret on the back of the bike with me ….. hell life is good….

Heading west now toward Ruawai, we can pick the pace up a little more, the lazy rural road blessed with a good surface, few corners and great views… while the 2 limousine like tourers ahead of me were as good as silent, the Softail burbbled away happily heralding all before us of our approach.

I had recently been pricing up the curb and channel sweeping and sumping right through this area for work, it was interesting to experience all the small towns first hand.

Pulling into Ruawahi, I knew Dargaville was getting close, the thought of a hot coffee was on my mind and maybe a hot scone or a muffin… turning north now heading up to Dargaville running along side the Wairoa River we had essentially spent the morning riding around the edge of the Kaipara Harbour it's tentacles reaching from Helensville clear up to Dargaville and in land as far as Kaiwaka…. this massive network of waterways making trade possible amongst the early settlers of the region…. but I digress.

The long straights into Dargaville are just too tempting and the bikes enjoy stretching there legs a little… the two big Japanese tourers easily out accelerating the humble Harley, but once she got into her work the wee Harley hit warp factor and was quickly up to way too fast of a speed…. as I have owned this bike and the engine has bedded in, the top end has just got faster and faster…. don't get me wrong, the FXST will never have the acceleration of the M109R I use to have, but the engine is a strong honest toiler and will pull hard all day long…. I guess the other difference between the 2 bikes is I get to enjoy using fist fulls of the early torque and what power the FXST has to offer, where if I was doing that with the M109R I probably wouldn't survive for very long before the bike or me or both run out of talent or I lost my license.

Rolling into Dargaville with coffee and fuel for the bike upper most in my mind we roll along the sleepy streets to the local service station and gassed up… I used less than half a tank around 7 litters (1.8 gallons) not too shabby.

Its a quick blast down the main drag to get a coffee from the Blah Blah Blah Cafe (Yes thats really its name) on Victoria Street…. man they were busy…. the normal high level of service seemed to be let down by a lack of staff on the day… so we lost a lot of time here just waiting….



Finally back on the road we headed off to see the big Kauri Tree Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) this is New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree. It is thought this tree was discovered and identified in the 1920’s when contracted surveyors surveyed the present road State Highway 12 through the forest. In 1928 Bushmen building the road, identified the big tree as Tane Mahuta.



According to Maori mythology Tane is the son of Ranginui the sky father and Papatuanuku the earth mother. Tane was the child that tore his parent’s parental embrace and once done set about clothing his mother in the forest we have here today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tane’s children.



Measurements
Trunk Girth 13.77 m
Trunk Height 17.68 m
Total Height 51.2 m
Trunk Volume 244.5 m3

Maybe not huge by international standards, but a very impressive tree all the same.

The road through the Waipua forest was still damp, even though it was late in the morning, melted ice and a lack of sun had left the road wet…. so it was good to be off the bike and walking off any tension that had built up riding the greasy looking surface, I took the obligatory pics of Marggy standing in front of the enormous tree, then it was back on the bikes and the machines muscling there way up out of the valley.

This is where the Harley FXST really comes into its own, generating all its torque so quickly, having awesome ground clearance, flicking the narrow wee cruiser effortlessly from side to side winding up out of the forest was a highlight for me, a synchronized ballet of muscle and metal, all working together in harmony all chorused, of course, by the trumpeting intent of the harley's exhaust note.As I held the bike in 3rd gear, winding it up out of the tight corners and then shutting the throttle using the engine braking to wipe off speed for the line into the next corner…. magic