Newbie Easter Ride - All welcome

[Sparky]

Well that was an interesting day! Got up and it was raining so thought no I won't go. Sat around for a while and the sun came out so quickly threw some gear together and met every one at Westgate.
Cool to see so many 250's. And OHHHHHHH that Guzzi!!!(drool)
Frosty led the way and sat at a nice pace and we all enjoyed the ride, what a great road!!! I'll have to do that one more often. At Wellsford we had El Dopa's bike steaming and Limmy's bike with a busted muffler!! So some repairs with cableties got the muffler sorted (did it make it home Limmy???) and some water for the steamer. El Dopa left us to go home the short way and we all headed of to Mangawhai. Another great road! We even made it through the SCARY corner Frosty warned us about. We all had a great lunch with Live music to boot. So we're all ready to go back to Wellsford for fuel. some would go back along HW16 and some HW1.
My bike doing it ususal trick of taking it's time to start (read me pushing!) so everybody had disappeared, no worries we'll regroup at the refueling stop, glance back at the carpark to see SPMan fiddling with his bike so being the nosey person I am, I stop and park. Help him with the bike and were off( See his reort re battery). By then I'd spoken with Frosty to let him know we were OK (yes I think we need more cellphone numbers, maybe a members list on here somewhere??) Found ElDopa on the side of the road past Wellsford and stopped for a chat. Thought I keep him company whilst we wait for Frosty to come back.
That fellow deserves a medal!! He dropped his kid of at Mangawai Heads, went home, unloaded his van from yesterdays racing, 2 bikes and gear, drove back to Wellsford in horrible traffic with his wife in the car following, found us and gave us the van!!! So we loaded both bikes into the van. He then left with his wife to pick up his boy!!!!
So there we were taking Frosty's van back down HW16 as Frosty told us that HW1 was chockka with traffic. Dropped the busted bike in Westharbour at the mechanics who was expecting us as Frosty had arranged it for Richard. Unloaded bikes Richard went home in the van and I jumped back on my bike and rode home (just in time for my 10 o'clock "L" plate curfew)
Yeah Richard I made it with the fuel just turned on reserve at the Manukau offramp (230km on 2 wheels and ???100Km orso on 4)
And Crashe, I hope you get the bike sorted soon, glad to see you made it home safe.
Well long story ay but apart from all that I had a great day, loved the ride and the company so thanks people see you all next time.
Oh yeah ofcourse a few pic's
More here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/306046413sXKWzD

[FROSTY:Me]

woow --what a day. I got home about an hour ago.
El dopa's bike is in good hands -
Traffic on sh1 was still shite even at 10pm at nite -arggg
we started out with 14 bikes and 15 bikers at westgate shell.
The great thing was other than mechanical failures everything went well.
It was really fantastic to see the improvement in the newbees riding as the day went on. Two I was particularly watching were el dopa and sparkie. Both of you guys are getting a heck of a lot smoother and more relaxed on your bikes.fantastic to see
despite the jabs in the ribs from baby bikie and his shouts of go faster daddy I was happy to doddle along at a slow pace with occasional sqirts on my favorite sections of the road.
thanks to paperatzi for helping me unload the rather full van
It was a case of fantastic day fantastic company,fantastic roads.
Thanks guys for a great day
Thanks limmy for organising it

[FROSTY:Me]

Limmy is the bike ok now?

[DonaldH]

Where you guys up the SH16 around 1:00pm Sunday?

I was out for the first time on that road amazing ride.....

[crashe]

yep that was us..... you should have come along and joined us...
Never be shy to stop and ask if we are KBers...

Sparky has a KB sticker on his bike - front and back...lol.
Think someone else did as well.

[El Dopa]

Well, that was a long day. The morning was great. The afternoon dragged a bit.....

It looks like the headgasket blew just before we got to Wellsford. I tried nursing it back to Auckland after you lot went on to Mangawhai, but I only got a few K down SH1 before my crotch was wreathed in steam and squirting a foul-smelling green liquid (hold yourselves back, ladies).

Anyhow, cutting a long story short, I was sitting on the side of the road for the afternoon waiting for Frosty and his van. I finally got back home about 9.00 last night. My wife was not best amused (the bike wasn't the only thing that blew a head gasket yesterday).

BIG thanks, in no particular order, to:

Frosty, for sorting out the van AND a mechanic.

Sparky, for keeping me company for about three hours at the side of the road.

Crashe, for dropping off supplies and getting info to Frosty and others as needed.

And the nice lady cop who stopped three times to make sure help was on the way.

Nice to meet you all, even if I won't remember your names. I'll see you all next time.

Time to get my full and upgrade to a decent bike, I think.

EDIT: One reason the missus was so pissed off is because she thought we were down in Clevedon, and as she hadn't heard from me for a while (flat phone battery), she assumed the worst. My condolences to all who were involved.

[crashe]

And the nice lady cop who stopped three times to make sure help was on the way.

So the nice lady cop stopped three times aye....
hmmmm things were looking up for you aye...lol.

Hope all is sorted out now with your wife....
and you aint in the dogbox for too long.

[limmy]

hey guys. sorry bout the slow response. busted laptop meant no internet til i got to work this morning.

Thanks to everyone that came. I was stoked that so many people showed up and also that there were so many 250s. And finally a real slow ride for a change.

Sparky, thanks for the cableties. those things are life savers. I'm out to get a bunch when i can. I checked my bike when i got home the can had totally snapped in half. the only thing that was holding it together was the tape and the ties.

Frosty, I'll be trying to find parts for my bike today and will bring that leaver back to you tonight. Didn't have a car yesterday so couldn't drop it by earlier.

Also really glad that the other new riders enjoyed themselves.

Dogdyity...get well soon...and get a bike with better suspension.