KoroJ's Blog

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, departing Wellington at 1440 for our first 250Km. We encountered moderate traffic along the way arriving at about 1715 and enjoyed a pleasant evening with the whanau.

Having had a reasonably busy time leading up to Christmas, Boxing Day was a blobby day as the fatigue kicked in and the day disappeared in a mixture of naps and TV movies. I did manage to get out though, to pop around the block to pay my respects to my twins who would have turned 31 this year and once I was out, I decided to see what the beaches were like at Waitotara and Waverley, racking up another 50Kms.

Monday the 27th and although Ann wasn’t programmed to be playing, we made an early start up SH3 for Hamilton, getting on the road about 0830. We eased into the pace and were soon past by four sprotties, no doubt making their way home from the Cemetery Circuit races so I upped the tempo to sit behind them but their pace was a little brisk so they stretched away from us, but we caught them in Patea then sat behind them until Mokoia, where we avoided Hawera by going through Ohangai to re-emerge on SH3 via Rotokare Rd, just south of Eltham. From there we pootled along to Stratford for a fill and were ready to leave when the four sprotties arrived (so I guess the long cut really is quicker) but then decided it might be prudent to don the wets before heading on.

From here we settled into a modest pace, almost in keeping with the strict holiday period enforcement policy of 5kph latitude and generally we sat at the same or slightly faster than the traffic so that we shuffled from one shield to the next, making good time up the coast and through the Awakino Gorge. However, the threat of precipitation was long gone and the 16-18º had shot to 24º+ so I was starting to expire, which meant we needed to stop in Piopio for a modest 15% surcharge loaded lunch.

It was great to cool off and by 1315 we had done our 355Kms for the day to get to the Manhattan Lodge motel, we settled in then visited the tennis venue, Ann did play one match to get it out of the way, then we ended up retiring to the motel for a few drinks, and a visit to the KFC across the road just before 10pm resulted in me having to walk through the Drive Through to get a feed. ??? go figure!!

Tuesday was predicted to pour down so I had a slow start to the day, watching a movie in the motel before checking in at the tennis. The drizzle was enough to prevent play on the hard courts but they were still going at it on the astro and since Ann wasn’t due to play for awhile …and it wasn’t really raining…I decided to go for a ride…but I did put my wets on first.

I thought a visit out to Raglan would be good for starters and embarked on SH23 just as it started to rain proper…but I was bored and needed a distraction so I continued anyway. Besides, it’s a good road!? It was quite a pleasant ride but by the time I got to Te Uku it was pissing down and there were a few good gusts of wind thrown in and when I got to Raglan the weather was so closed in that there was nothing to see anyway so a quick ride around Cliff St and I made my way back.

As I left Raglan the visor on my crappy Raid II fogged quite badly so I cracked it open a bit but it didn’t clear, so I cracked it up a bit more. That didn’t work either and it wasn’t until I tilted my head forward to look over the top of my glasses that I realised that the problem was inside the helmet!! My glasses had fogged and cracking the visor had enabled a liberal splashing, to the point that I think I could see clearer without them….a good case to upgrade to the Qwest! I pressed on to Te Uku before stopping to wipe them, which was only a temporary fix because it happened again, but I didn’t stop until getting fuel back in Hamilton.

I checked in at the tennis before heading back to the motel to strip off, finding that even with the wets on, my gloves were ever so slightly damp (probably from putting wet hands back into them) the balaclava & top of my t-shirt was wet (perhaps I hadn’t done the corduras up properly &/or zipped up the over-jacket) and I’m sure I felt a dribble into my boot (that would be an indication my Technic pants have done there dash). Anyway, it all went into the hot water cupboard to dry off for Wednesday.

‘The Ride’
Wednesday and at last I was to have ‘the ride’. Leading up to Christmas I had contacted a couple of Hamilton Ulybods, Jim & David, to let them know I was coming and would be interested in a pootle over some of the Pootle-icious Waikato roads, with suggestions that I would like to experience H22 in daylight and the dry, or perhaps Coromandel, or Kawhia …or whatever. Jim advised that Coromandel wouldn’t be great at this time of year but they would arrange something…and that turned out to be four ST’s and a Harley visiting another Ulybod in Whakatane.

Jim picked me up from the motel at 0745, then we collected David and Bruce on the way out to Cambridge, where Lyn joined us. We were soon turning off at Karapiro, onto new roads for me.

When I first got back onto biking I would go on club rides, following the pack and get home having no idea where I’d been, so I got into the habit of trying to note the road names as we went along, however on this occasion, there were too many over the day and they just blurred into Alzheimer’s tangle of memories. I think we probably took Karapiro Rd – Toataoroa Rd – Totman Rd – Langlands Rd to Okoroire, then Sommerville Rd to SH’s 28 & 5 to Rotorua…..delightful!!

Through Rotorua we stayed on SH5 for a bit until turning onto SH38 for Murupara, where we stopped for morning tea to make a small contribution to their ailing economy. As expected, it wasn’t really worth the stop, but I enjoyed a cool drink as the day warmed and we were soon heading up Galatea Rd. The only time I have done this road was at the end of the 2006 Grand Challenge (when the fatigue was kicking in) and all I remember from that was, following Gordon (Holy Roller) over bloody great long interminably boring straights…so I’ve never felt the urge to revisit it! I was surprised to find that the short section of straights soon had us into rolling country, and it was sweet.

We were soon pulling into Pete’s place in Whakatane, surprised to see the ST out and him geared up for a ride as he his health hasn’t been great lately. He suggested we nip over to Opotiki for lunch….and the there were five!!...(St’s plus one Harley).

That was nice…great food, great company, great weather, …and more great roads to do, so by 1330 we had filled (the Harley needed it so the ST’s were being sociable) and got back to it, this time heading back via Ohope, farewelling Pete and returning via Tauranga and over the Kaimais.

For a main road, I always enjoy rocking over the Kaimais and then it was more new roads for Johnny…so much so that, once again, I’m not really sure where we went but I think it was…The Big Cow in Te Poi for another drink stop, then…Te Poi Rd – Tauranga Rd – through Matamata onto Peria Rd – Morgan Rd – Piakoiti Rd – Morrinsville-Walton Rd – Chepmell Rd – Bell Rd – Scotsman Valley Rd – Tauwhare Rd – Platt Rd to finally get back to Hamilton on SH26. Bloody marvelous!....you didn’t let me down Waikato!...and a big thanks to Jim, David & Co for a great day.

I reported into the Tennis, which was all done & dusted, nipped back to the motel to dump the bike & gear, then assumed the car keys to be the sober driver for the evening.

Thursday the 27th and it was an early start to get on the road for home so we were packed, said our farewlls, went to another motel down the road for more farewells and were heading for Kihikihi by 0820. I opted to return via Waipapa Rd to Whakamaru, down the Western side of the lake, gas in Turangi, then head straight down SH1 to get back asap.

We started sedately and as soon as we were on Arapuni Rd we went to brisk mode, enjoying the rolling farmland and short tight section around the lake, then part way down Tihoi Rd, we were passed by an Evo, so shifted to very brisk mode, letting him get far enough ahead to be the shield, although he was going a bit quick so I eventually eased off and he disappeared. However, he did have a female passenger in the back and we weren’t far along SH41 when we passed him. It looked like he had stopped in a hurry so the rear passenger could make an emergency exit, leaving the door flung wide open as she dove for the ditch…it’s a fine line between making good time and not having to stop for queasy passengers.

We enjoyed about 45minutes in Turangi, gassing the bike and having a pie before the trudge down SH1. Once again, we eased back to protection/economy mode, making best use of shields whilst maintaining the best possible average speed. We passed Evo-man again just North of Taihape, the rear passenger looked chirpy again and I gave him a wave after following him to the next queue. I was surprised at the volume of traffic on the road but managed to maintain an average of just over 100kph until Levin, where as usual, the traffic compressed even more but the traffic was moving well and were most courteous, allowing us to slide through and keep the pace up.

We were back in J’ville by 1415 so did pretty well, doing the 532 Kms and getting back in 6 hours with the stop. We did 1,868.7 Kms over the few days which was a very nice way to finish what has been a bit of a lean year for Kms as I’ve only managed about 22,000Kms on the bike this year. The excursion included some old favorites like the Awakino Gorge & Waipapa Rd and a sampling of some delightful new pootles…albeit a bit out of my normal range. The bike now has 105,326Kms on it and going sweet.

Epilogue

The bike felt odd as we did a U’ee at the top of the street to better line up on the driveway, then felt a bit spongy and scraped as I started the incline, but we were very loaded and I thought no more of it. This morning I couldn’t push the bike out of the garage as the rear couldn’t budge the erection thingy on my pencil gauge…..Bugger. A quick look revealed an empty hole in the base of a tread groove on the right side of the tyre so it is in getting fixed right now. I have no idea of how or when it occurred but it has stolen a bit of life from the tyre. A bit of a nuisance but lucky it got us home.