steelphoenix

So, heading back to Auckland from Tauranga.

Started off about 2:30pm, with the weather looking more promising than yesterday! It'd been lightly showering in the morning, with long periods of sun, so I was hoping it would stay that way - it didn't, more on that later.

I decided that I'd do the straight shot up State Highway 2, then State Highway 1. Nothing to it! says I, everyone will be going at a reasonable speed, I won't get lost, and I get to brave the Karangahake... not to mention the weather forecast is less dubious the coast side of the Kaimais.

That speed thing - no, not really. I spent the entire way from Omokoroa to (nearly) Waihi stuck behind an idiot who was doing 70kph the entire way. And didn't pull over. There were three passing lanes in that stretch, but the line was so long that I didn't manage to pass on any of the official passing lanes. This person was seriously oblivious - during the course of following them, I saw four legal but seriously questionable passes, two dubiously-legal passes (on corners and suchlike), and three illegal passes (one on single yellows, two on double yellows). I held back from such, and performed a perfectly legal and safe pass on a straight coming up to Waihi - expressing my displeasure a la Digitus Impudicus. Didn't get their rego, unfortunately.

Got petrol at Waihi, and ran into some fellow bikers who'd just been on a memorial ride out at Whangamata. One guy was on a 92 CBR250RR (also an MC-22), so we had a bit of a yak about how generally awesome they were! (The other bikers, on such lovely machines as an R6, a BMW, and an FZ6R, just kind of smiled indulgently at the n00bs).

The Karangahake was kind of an anticlimax - nice, long, sweeping curves, which was fun, but not really challenging. The Kaimais were actually more difficult! Ah well.

Paused in Paeroa - my backpack's straps were slipping and I needed to adjust them. Onto the Hauraki Plains!

At this point, the wind was seriously getting up, and even through the liner on my jacket, I was starting to feel a bit of chill. Seeing the clouds starting to thicken and loom, my instincts said "Hey, now would be a great time to put on your rain jacket - and why not swap out the visor while you're at it..." So I paused in some farm's driveway and fiddled around with rain jacket and swapping the visor. Turned out this was a good thing - it started raining about 5 minutes afterwards, and then absolutely pelted down.

This was actually the most challenging part of the ride, between the rain pelting down, and the wind trying to blow me sideways at every opportunity. I was hunkered down behind the fairings as much as I could be, but the bulky backpack gave me quite a large profile. Suddenly, I understood countersteering against the wind...

Once the wind died down a bit (around about Mangatarata) It was actually really lovely riding along the great long straights of the Plains, with the sun going in and out of the clouds and the rain steady. The sheets of rain were beautifully gold and silver, and there were little rainbows in the spray off my wheels.

I was going to have a break at Maramarua, but I was still feeling okay, so I pressed on. There's not much to say after that - the rain eased coming over the Bombays, and I zoomed down the motorway without incident. There was a moment of idiocy by the car I was following - almost changing lane into another car, who dodged beautifully - but that was about it.

Perhaps sticking to the plan might have been better - my backside was complaining a little about the seat when I finally got home, and my shoulders were complaining about the backpack (note to self: get pack rack or better bag for laptop). I was also very tired, and my attention started wandering a bit around Takanini - leading to forced concentration so I made it home. Drove up the drive with nary a wobble.

I was home, very tired, but a lot happy.

Things that went well/Lessons learned:
- Patience, young Padawan.
- Other people's idiocy is no excuse to be an idiot.
- Trust your instincts.
- Wind is a bitch.
- You don't have to stick to the plan - but it can be better if you do.