KoroJ's Blog

Today was a Ulysses ride to Owlcatraz in Shannon. I didn’t really want to go as I discovered yesterday that my right front fork is bleeding, but as it wasn’t serious and I was the only one from the rides committee around, I thought I should go.

Watching the weather forecast during the week, it didn’t look like the ride would go ahead but it turned out OK on the day so I got ready and departed about 0910 to fill at Plimmerton and get to the weigh station by 0940. By 1000 there were 7 bikes and 1 car so we had a quick brief before Mike & Sandy led out with me on TEC duty.

As usual on the SH1 rides, it was pretty uneventful and a good opportunity to work on riding economically, so by Otaki I was sitting on 21.4K/Ltr and back to 20.2K/Ltr when we arrived at Shannon. We went into Owlcatraz and had a look around the shop but when it came time to go on a tour, only one couple went through. For the rest of us, two went to visit family in Foxton, one couple stopped for a coffee in Shannon and five of us departed for a return via the Wairarapa over the Pahiatua Track. (we had been joined by a late comer at Owlcatraz).

It was quite a pleasant pootle on predominantly dry roads and after passing through Eketahuna, four of us diverted through Mauriceville, went into Masterton to fill-up (except me as I still had 5/8 of a tank left) then went for a coffee and pie in Kuripuni. When the others left for Wellington, I popped down to visit mum, spending about an hour and a half there before coming home. There was quite a bit of traffic on this last leg but I made quite good time, getting home at 1600, having done 334Kms for the day at 19.8K/Ltr and now have 71,384Kms on the bike.

I’ve booked it to get the fork seal sorted on Tuesday and will need to get the 72K service and a new rear tyre next week.