KoroJ's Blog

Nanny Ann bought a Spa Pool last week which was delivered on Monday. I wasn’t that keen and when I realized I would have paint the house starting at that part, I was even less impressed. (I did buy the paint last October but!......I’ve just had too many K’s to do!) Anyway, the pool was delivered Monday but had to be leveled, which was done Tuesday and I went in for a brief, only to find that to own a spa you need to be a chemist as well as a janitor……wow, and I had the privilege of paying for all this. I filled it Wednesday and embarked on the associated processes but it only got to about 30˚ by that night so the first try-out was a dawn breaker on Thursday.

This thing is designed to accommodate three people, one reclining with a jet system that massages your back and blasts your shoulders, while another gives your feet a Shiatsu. The other two positions are seated with 3 & 4 jet systems. I was expecting this wee investment should invigorate me, breathing new life into my tired back and arthritic hip……yeah right! A few days later and I can feel all the aches and pains that my brain has been carefully masking and ignoring….Bloody Marvelous!......so by the time Sunday came round I really did need to ride.

This week’s ride was to go up through Shannon, over the track and back to Carterton for lunch, departing from the Plimmerton Weigh Station at 0930.

I was up before 0800, greeted by brilliant sunshine, a quick cuppa & toast and on the road by 0840 for a fill at Shell Mana, arriving at Plimmerton just after 0900.

There were already a dozen or so there and we chatted until 0930, had a quick brief, then 22 bikes headed off with me on TEC duty. It was an uneventful ride up SH1 until Paraparaumu when another 3 riders caught-up and joined us, then 1 pulled off at the turn-off prior to Levin. From there we rode through to Shannon where the small tanks could top-up….and hello! ….there was Neil, topping up his ST….again.

After regrouping in Shannon, with my economy at just shy of 19K/Ltr, Ken took over as TEC and I pootled along, marking a turnoff, then riding back through the group, checking briefly at the Aokautere turnoff as well to ensure the following riders wouldn’t miss it. I had a bit of a fang up the hill and over the Track, relieving Steve at the Mangamaire turnoff, until after about 10 minutes and I was still a few short, I decided to go back up the hill to check things out. Apparently one of the riders had had a wee incident, but all was OK and I settled in the front of this group, riding through to SH2. We were over half an hour behind the main bunch by now and most had already headed on to Carterton so we puttered on pausing briefly and enjoying the sun at Mt Bruce, finally getting to the Wild Oats at about 1300, only to find the town was packed because of Daffodil Day.

Some had stayed here but most had carried on to Featherston, because of the crowds, so after a brief chat, I decided to head on as well, enjoying a Ginger beer and a coffee at the Tin Hut. We finally left around 1500 and I had another Fang over the hill finally getting home at about 1350, 340 Kms done for the day at 18.1K/Ltr, in temperatures of 12-15˚ and the bike now has 48,945Kms on it. I’ll take it in this week to get a new set of Storms fitted.