PegLeg

Sunday morning broke fine and clear… the best day for riding (Just my opinion) on the long labour weekend break….

This was the 1st decent ride since the trip up north to the Twin Bridges and out to the Whangarei heads for lunch back on Fathers Day in September.... or the last quick blast around the Coromandel Loop....

Amongst all the other spring cleaning chores carried out on Saturday I had managed to clean the bike…. and check the fluids etc… so we were good to go.

It was such a nice morning that Marggy took the dog for a walk while I backed the Harley out of the garage and placed a small day bag on the rack… the would be no need to pack any extra gear for this trip…. just a short 200kms or so around the Waikato Lakes and dams. (or so I thought)

We were meeting the Auckland riders in Ngaruawahia at 10.15am…. so there was no rush…

Around 8.30am a blanket of fog rolled in over the Waikato, nothing like the pea soupers we use to get when I was a kid…. but enough to be a pain for the guys riding down from Auckland and test their resolve.


On Marggy's return with Sheba (the dog) we had a coffee and some toast, I looked out the window at the blue Softail, the paint and chrome agleam in the morning sun…. (Fog lifting as fast as it had rolled in) I really like the way this bike looks….. especially with out the pannier bags on….

Recent additions to the bike since the last trip were an new Thunderstar 5 spoke front wheel, a new billet headlight and an Arlen Ness 3 inch extension kit for the forward controls…. I was really keen to see how these new additions performed.

9.30am and we were on the road to Ngaruawahia …. the 96 inch Twin Cam engine starting with its now familiar metallic slap…. the fast idle of the fuel injected big twin making it sound as excited as I was to get on the road….

In New Zealand over the Labour Day weekend we kill a lot of ourselves on the road…. something about the last long weekend before Xmas…. or something to do with young people and hormones…. Too many old buggers like me on powerful bikes... maybe…. but its a fact and the police had warned everyone there would be no tolerance for speeding this weekend…. our 100kms speed limit (60mph) would be strictly enforced…

With this in mind we loped quietly up SH1 to Ngaruawahia an uneventful trip… passing 2 or 3 police cruisers parked up on the side of the road…. camouflaged in the dappled shadows of road side trees like sleepy jungle cats waiting for their next victim…. or uncompromising public servants doing their best to keep us all alive…. depending on your perspective.

To my surprise the other riders had the same cunning plan as I did and had arrived early to have a coffee and something quick to eat…. great minds think alike I guess…. I gassed the Harley up and joined the others with a freshly purchased coffee steaming in my grasp, the wee FXST Softail dwarfed by the Goldwing and the Voyager.

Hugs and hand shakes over with we stood around only long enough to consume the coffee's and appoint a front rider…. we already knew this would be JJ, we just needed to convince him. hahahaha

Still uncertain exactly of our route … we set off on the back roads out of Ngaruawahia …. knowing only that eventually we would ride the Karapiro and Arapuni Dams heading down to Atiamuri…. or something like that… before heading north to escort the northerners toward home.

Riding through the easy rolling hills and valleys of my local roads I'm at home…. just the odd 55kms corner to navigate and we are in Whatawhata in the blink of an eye, taking Kakaramea road we are soon in the cruising groove…. with the police blitz on…. the challenge was not about riding fast as much, as it was not slowing down in the corners…

Yes I know I have said it many times in different ways…. but anyone can ride fast…. blasting about at a zillion miles an hour for a thrill…. hell that sums up the 1st 20years or so of my motorcycling experience….

The challenge for me these days is defying physics and trying to navigate my harley through the twisties in a fashion it was never intended for….. thats where you can find a lot out about yourself… on a bike that would never be described as a canyon carver even on its best day….. but hey it's easy when you are riding roads you grew up on…

We blow through Ngahinapouri then Pirongia, where I am surprised when we don't turn off for the back road out to Te Awamutu…. but hey who cares…. JJ has a GPS and I have a full tank of gas and its an awesome spring morning….

Following Ormsby Rd out of Pirongia I am excited…. this piece of road through to Otorohanga is very cool…. a succession of easy loaping corners winding its way through very pretty farm land …. man…. who cares about dams and lakes when you can ride these roads with your mates….

As we rolled in to Otorohanga …. and again to my surprise we turned right onto SH3 and headed toward Te Kuiti…. well any idea I had on our route was well and truly out the window….. this was no longer a little tootle around the local lakes and dams….. this was now a serious excursion….. very cool.

The gentle curves and easy corners continue out of Otorohanga…. and the road surface improves…. being SH3…. and we are in Te Kuiti in what seems the blink of an eye…. we pulled over to quickly compare notes on where and when we should cut back toward Lake Taupo….

After some discussion and the great progress we have made…. we decide on heading further south to Taumaranui…. for lunch…. unbelievable….

Heading out of Te Kuiti on SH3 for about 10 or 15 kms we turn on to SH4 and the road to Taumaranui…. while the road starts off OK it quickly reminds me of conversations I have had with people describing the pot holes on this section of road requiring their own maps to navigate them…. for the 1st time all morning I was getting sharp reminders in the helmet coms that my pillion was thoroughly unimpressed with this piece of road… The section of road between Mapiu and Mangatupoto easily exposing both my own short comings as a rider and the lousy stock suspension on my Softail…. (mental note to self…. stop pissing about and buy the Progressive Rear Suspension units)

Anyway by the time we are riding through Te Koura the road is all sorted out and we are back in the groove…. and in no time at all rolling into Taumaranui… we cruise through the quiet sleepy streets to the Copper Kettle for lunch.

After some food and rehydrating…. some very easy conversation…. it was back on the bikes…. the plan was to gas the bikes up as we were uncertain of the exact route across to Lake Taupo… and I just hate pushing a motorcycle….. that just sucks…

Following SH4 out of Taumarunui for about 5 kms we turned onto SH41 ….. now….. for those who have not had the pleasure the Tongariro Massif made famous in the Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film Trilogy reveals itself off in the distance to our left… the volcanic cones of Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu in all their snow cover glory…. a special moment for my pillion and I…. there is a real connection, we experience with these places…. almost emotional or spiritual….

Carrying on along SH41 the easy corners and improving roads make the miles melt away as we quickly approach the bays around the south western end of Lake Taupo. At Kuratau Junction we turned north onto SH32 a road called Western Bay Road…. If you do nothing else this summer….. RIDE THIS ROAD…. fast easy corners, great coarse seal, majestic scenery…. all the way through to Tokoroa…. punctuated by a trip over the Whakamaru Dam…. I will be riding this road again for sure….

Riding into Tokoroa …. I am well and truly back on familiar roads, we pulled over to compare notes and see where we should have our next break…. we settled on Matamata…. so it was a quick blast up SH1 heading north through Putaruru and Tirau…. we started seeing Police cruisers again…. we were lucky enough to have not had too many concerns in this department thanks to sticking mainly to the rural Waikato back roads…. but we were watching our speed through this section….

Turning onto SH27 in Tirau it was a quick blast through to Matamata…. the straight roads across the Hauraki Plains a stark contrast to all the twisting, winding roads of the rural western Waikato.

After gassing the bikes up, (you have to love these modern bikes with 20 plus liter 4.5 - 5 gallon fuel tanks) it was off for a coffee…. it had been an awesome day…. hundreds of miles of the most magic roads… and amazing weather...

It was good to be off the bikes and having a chat about the trip so far and looking forward to the next one…. we were only off the bikes for half an hour or so …. and it was a poignant part of the trip for Marggy and I at least, our ride was all but over…. with the coffee empty and the food consumed it was back to the bikes….

it was about 4pm most of the heat was gone from the sun, but with daylight saving the Northerners would still hit Auckland and the North Shore in day light…

Back on the road we left Matamata on SH27 driving through Waharoa…. we carried on along SH27 till we got to Ngarua where Marggy and I turned off onto Kereone Road to head back toward Hamilton…. then its left into Kuranui Road… the last opportunity to have a quick blast through some rural twisties …. till we pop out onto SH26 which takes us back into Hamilton.

Chatting to your pillion while you are riding really does add a whole new dimension to these trips…. and all the new additions on the bike proved very worthy…. although I should point out the Arlen Ness extensions to the Forward Controls do push the pegs out sideways about 1/2 an inch on each side…. (the thickness of the mounting plates) which saw my kuryakyn ISO wings scraping on the tighter twisting corners…. small price to pay for the additional comfort the extended 3 inches of length affords.


Here is the final route... about 500kms for Marggy and I ... closer to 800kms for the northerners....

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...338e48e1ac&z=8
Ride Safe