Guess Every one was at home today.

[Skyryder]

Went for a ride down to Lake Tekapo today. Down State One to Timaru then through to Fairlie and to Tekapo. Couldn't figure out why I saw no bikes. Then I remembered their was some live (I think) race on Sky. Spotted Traffic team in Tekapo with their blue shirts. Feet up and sipping coffee and dougnuts. Guess they would be short on their quota's today.

Skyryder

[Wolf]

Spotted Traffic team in Tekapo with their blue shirts. Feet up and sipping coffee and dougnuts. Guess they would be short on their quota's today.

Shopuldn't oughta be sippin' doughnuts - they could choke on the sugar and cinnamon frosting....

[vifferman]

And I made the world just a little safer for bikers, by decimating the North Island population of bugs. Yup, they were splattered all over my helmet, boots, jacket and bike.

Bug guts.

Yuck.

I should have really cleaned the bike, as it was also covered in dust. Yup, DUST.

I got lost a few times, and the large-scale map I briefly perused before seting out gave no indication that the first minor road we turned down became an unsealed even more minor road after a kilometre or 12. No problems - we'll backtrack and go down that road we just passed.
Wow! This is even more picturesque and entertaining than the one we were just on.

Uh-oh... gravel. Hmmm... quick consultation with the vifferbabe over the intercom: do we carry on, hope it becomes sealed, or turn back? Seems to be going in the right general direction of 'in front of us'...

I dunno? :spudwhat:

So, we carry on.

And on.

And on and on and on...

Pretty scenery, but my palms were getting itchy from the combination of non-offroad suspension and rutted corners. Eventually, we came back to the sealed surface - for 20m each side of a one-lane bridge. D'Oh!

And even more eventually, we found a Real Road, with tarseal! And two lanes!
And then we got lost again, and had to turn around once more, as we were headed too far north, and I'd forgotten where the hell we were supposed to be headed anyway.

Out new road (the road between Wherever the Hell We Were and Kaipara Flats/ Warkworth was very pretty, had lots of winding bits, but also lots of corrugations and bumps. And .... was unsealed for a few kms in the middle bit. Luckily, by now, we were seasoned gravelled road riders, and laughed at it (Hah! Ha ha !!)

Eventually, we arrived at The BustlingMetropolisOfWarkworth (what the heck is a 'wark', anyway??) and decided to Head Souf. By now, we were pretty much , due to being old(ish), VERY HUNGRY and very jostled about from our inadvertant backroads excursions, so the nextext place we came to (Waiwera) was where we stopped. I tell ya, my ears hurt so much from the intercom headset, I was nearly ready to rip my helmet off, and fling it across the road into the drain.

Had lunch...blah blah blah... road back ... blah... took some backroads.... snobby Guzzi Centauro rider... blah blah.... eventually got home... blah blah ... collapsed in a heap... had a couple of beers.... blah blah... recovered.

I shoulda taken the camera like I was gunna, so I coulda documented our little trip and provided photographic evidence of the alleged roads we travelled, but I didna.
If you like, I can run downstairs and photograph some DUST for ya?

[MSTRS:Me]

Sounds like a very interdusting trip. Done to better appreciate sealed roads?

[Ixion]

..
Wow! This is even more picturesque and entertaining than the one we were just on.Uh-oh... gravel. ..
So, we carry on.
..
Out new road (the road between Wherever the Hell We Were and Kaipara Flats/ Warkworth was very pretty, had lots of winding bits, but also lots of corrugations and bumps. And .... was unsealed for a few kms in the middle bit. ..

Eventually, we arrived at The BustlingMetropolisOfWarkworth (what the heck is a 'wark', anyway??)..

Think I know that bit of country.Went over that a few weeks back - between Leigh and a bit north of Warkworth. Real nice country. The roads are OK (gravel, but nothing tricky), though it's easy to end up going round in circles.

I suspect you skipped the only slightly hairy bit of gravel (turn down Pakiri Beach road - not the road to Pakiri Beach, the one called Pakiri Beach Rd- then turn left at the T at the end of it. Winds up over some very pretty country, but when I was on it the gravel was very deep and badly cut up.Steep unfenced drops on the side of the raod, to introduce a bit of stress

Warkworth is named after the town of the same name in England (with castle, the ancestral seat of the Percies), itself named after the Wark river. Wark was Anglo Saxon for an earthwork defense, "worth" a settlement.

All in all, a very good ride. And for the non gravel likers, some of the sealed stuff is nice, good bends and some fast straights.

[vifferman]

Sounds like a very interdusting trip. Done to better appreciate sealed roads?

Well, no. Done to go and get a coffee/lunch SomewhereElse, via a CircuitousRoute.

While I was negotiating the gravel, the potholes and the ruts, I enquired of the vifferbabe as to whether we should replace the VifFerraRi with an Adventure bike, so we could explore more OutOfTheWayPlaces....?
"No."
But isn't this interesting..?
"Yes. But I don't like the Gravel. It makes me nervous."

The Alleged Porpoise of the Trip was fourfold:

• We hadn't been Out'n'About on the bike for a while.
• It was a nice day, weatherwise, despite the dire predictions of the Weather Doomcasters.
• We needed to test my theories about the source (or sauce) of crackling on the intercom (I thought it might have been due to a roast pork).
• Victuals. Origianlly these were proposed to be "Fish'n'chips on the beach", but we settled for fish'n'chips/bacon burger on the deck of the bistro.

[vifferman]

Think I know that bit of country.Went over that a few weeks back - between Leigh and a bit north of Warkworth. Real nice country. The roads are OK (gravel, but nothing tricky), though it's easy to end up going round in circles.

Nine.
Or nein.

We weren't that far north.
All I had to guide me was some ill-remembered names I needed to look for on signs: Waitoki, Wainui, and then I couldn't remember what was spozed to come next...

So the route (as far as I can tell from looking at Wises maps and guesstimating) was summat like: SH17, Kahikatea Flat Rd, Waitoki Rd, Wainui Rd (before we turned around), Upper Orewa Rd, Weranui Rd(?), Monowai Rd (??) and then somehow we eventually ended up on SH16, then Kaipara Flats road, then Warkworth.

I think....

[Ixion]

..
So the route (as far as I can tell from looking at Wises maps and guesstimating) was summat like: SH17, Kahikatea Flat Rd, Waitoki Rd, Wainui Rd (before we turned around), Upper Orewa Rd, Weranui Rd(?), Monowai Rd (??) and then somehow we eventually ended up on SH16, then Kaipara Flats road, then Warkworth.

I think....

Hm, didn't think there was any gravel left that far south. Must go and have a look. I do rather like stretches of gravel interspersed with decent sealed bits. The gravel makes it interesting , and the seal prevents the gravel getting tiring and tedious

[scumdog]

Went for a ride down to Lake Tekapo today. Down State One to Timaru then through to Fairlie and to Tekapo. Couldn't figure out why I saw no bikes. Then I remembered their was some live (I think) race on Sky. Spotted Traffic team in Tekapo with their blue shirts. Feet up and sipping coffee and dougnuts. Guess they would be short on their quota's today.

Skyryder

Went that way in the Effwonhundred on way back from Westport on Monday and never saw a cop until the Ohau turn-off and he wasn't eating doughnuts - but I bet the guy he had stopped was wishing he was somewhere else and eating them.

[Hitcher]

Wayell, Mrs H and I went over to the Wairarapa on Saturday. Raining at home, but fine from the KGB onwards. Had the place to ourselves pretty much.

Saw a handful of other bikers, most notably Craig at the Fush who had Motorad's ZX10R demonstrator for the weekend. He seemed pretty stoked with it as well, which is high praise, given that it comprehensively fails his "symmetry" test (only one exhaust, not under the seat; only one headlight working on low beam). I even took it for a short strop around Martinborough. I felt like I was riding a minimoto. A minimoto with a squillion horsepower. It wasn't the beast I expected, I found it surprisingly predictable. The display was a bit hard to read, particularly the tach. But there's this cute little light that flashes when it thinks you should change up a gear... Top brakes, nice clutch, good gearbox. If you like riding with your knees up your nostrils, I recommend highly the ZX10R.

Craig rode back to Wellington with us. We took the East-West road around Lake Wairarapa. No wind. Dry, clean roads. Apart from a bit of a "squirt" down to the floodgates, we behaved ourselves very well, Officer. The ST "squirts" quite nicely -- good roll-on from 160kmh -- I think Craig on the ZX10 was a bit surprised.