Nothing beats riding one's motorcycle

[Hitcher]

Nothing beats riding one's motorcycle.

Seriously.

Today Mrs H and I unwrapped and inflated our respective steeds and headed north into a gusty norwester, deciding to brave the interminable drudge that is SH1 north out of Wellington on a holiday weekend.

Surprisingly the traffic wasn't too bad. After some breakfast at Raumati, the wind dropped. The road through Otaki was quite wet, the earlier gloom clearly bringing some much needed rainfall to this area.

The traffic up SH57 through Shannon was happy to bop along, and soon we were stopped at the Mobil at Ashhurst for a top up. The day by now had brightened appreciably, so it was onwards to SH54 via Colyton and on to our date with coffee and cake at the Exchange Cafe in Taihape.

Eventually we tired of basking in the sun and admiring our bikes, and headed south. This time we turned off at Mangaweka and took the back road through Rangiwahia to Kimbolton, Colyton and Ashhurst once more. The Rangiwahia Road has to be one of the best motorcyling roads anywhere. Love it, I does.

We refuelled in Woodville before heading south down SH2 into a magnificent northern Wairarapa autumn afternoon.

For a change we turned right at Newman for a detour through Nireaha and back onto SH2 immediately north of the ANZAC bridge. What a peach of a road that is, clean as a whistle with some lovely sets of tight but predictable corners.

After some dinner at Greytown, we had yet another Rimutaka crossing to savour, something I never tire of. Although we had the hill largely to ourselves tonight, it was blowing a screaming westerly and a fair measure of added concentration was required. The wind continued to puff and bluster all the way home from there, but nothing could take the gloss off a most excellent day's riding.

The Aprilia SL750 Shiver is an amazing bike to ride, and today it again demonstrated its competence on a comprehensive range of riding conditions. Aprilia should sell hundreds of these in New Zealand, but I'm in too good a mood to dwell on why that's not going to happen.

I thought I'd break with my recent practice of not posting ride reports and see if it rekindles interest from Kiwi Biker contributors in discussing the joys of motorcycling, rather than the incessant whingeing that seems to have become the usual form of discourse on this forum. Indeed I've been guilty of it myself.

[Genie]

Thank you kind sir for sharing this story.

Yes, this reflects the true heart of a kiwibiker....out there, riding.

Riding....end of story.

[kevfromcoro]

Good post H....
Yeah sometimes we all put up a few whingeing posts..........iam a bit guilty of that too..
Well i have just bought a Yam TDM....love it......
Have spent a few bob on it....... mainly bags, ventura rack... GPS on the way......
Decent set of tyres.......
Iam setting up to go to asia and do a bit of riding..........
Bikes are cheap to hire over there.. i know.....
Nup there is nothing like your own ride......
The bikes coming too.........

[Ronin]

I for one have always enjoyed your ride reports. They are a joy to read and remind me I need to ride more.

[Maha]

How long has Rangiwahia to Kimbolton been sealed?
It been many years since I have been through that way, it was metal.

[Genie]

Well best you ask the boss for a few days off and go travelling before it gets too cold, you deserve a holday/

[Hitcher]

How long has Rangiwahia to Kimbolton been sealed?
It been many years since I have been through that way, it was metal.

We're you on horseback at the time? It's certainly been sealed for at least 30 years, by my reckoning.

[98tls]

Nice read Hitch,bit off topic but on my way up to the Methven St racing i took the inland route 72 for a bit of scenery etc,at a single lane bridge i got a bit cheeky and bypassed the queue of cars as there was plenty of room at the front,first car waiting to go over was a late model very expensive Jaguar coupe,very nice indeed and upon crossing the bridge he seemed happy to play so away we went,ate up the long boring straights very quickly until at lose your licence speed an oncoming car flashed his headlights warning us of impending doom (remember when everyone did that way back) so the pace abruptly slowed until said copper was passed,got away from him and whilst parked up in a layby 1/2 way across another one lane bridge he went passed with a cheerful (enjoyed that) toot of his horn,nice.The way things used to be.Sorry mate bit off topic just that reading about your ride reminded me of my day.

[Virago]

Yesterday I got the old Virago out. You know it's been too long when there's a cobweb across the ignition switch...

Meeting up with a few other locals (11 of us on a wide range of bikes), we headed off for a gentle pootle to Lawrence.

The day was perfect. No wind, and temperature in the mid-20s.

The group spread out, with the 600cc+ fang-boys setting off in front, and we cruiser-loosers bringing up the rear. It was no race, and we all enjoyed the delights of the Manuka Gorge in our own way.

In the back garden of our favourite cafe at Lawrence, we shared some bowls of chips and wedges, wash down with fine coffee.

The ride back through the Gorge was again a delight. At Waihola we turned off the main highway, and headed over the hill to Taieri Mouth, and wound our way back up the coast to Dunedin.

A good ride. Good company. A great afternoon.

[Maha]

We're you on horseback at the time? It's certainly been sealed for at least 30 years, by my reckoning.

Yeah it snowed in Ashhurst the same year.

[whowhatwhere]

Great read, thanks Hitcher. Can't wait until tomorrow, got a Tag to go and fetch (started a UK game inspired by the ones on here). 280 mile round trip - bring it on!

[AD345]

Seldom has a truer word been written.I've had a shit couple of weeks, our whole club has, after one of us was killed just riding to work. The only riding we've been doing has been following his body hither and yon as we laid him to rest....

Finally got a chance today to get out, just me and a brother, everyone is taking their own route back to being in the saddle and it will be a while before we get a good sized group again...

Anyway, we headed out over the twisty bits of the Bombay hills to old SH2 and then ducked down and through Miranda, the chance to just blast along the straights was relished and all I could hear was the wind, all I could see was the mottled grey of our every changing road surfaces, all I could feel was THRUMMMM and all I could think was lean...push..look...on...off...onn....onnn. Powered through Ngatea and then Awaiti Valley before hooking back across the arrow straight roads to Tahuna.

Pub was shut. 11:45 am obviously being too early.

No worries, the best bit is the next bit, Tahuna to Ohinewai, cruiser heaven.
Torque curve fat? Check
Power rolling? Check
Sweepers..........ahh the sweepers

The drag pipes and the Slash Ness swepts howled a duet for 34 kilometres of thunder

Beyond the vanishing point I could smell napalm and hear Valkyries

Fucking love it

[KoroJ]

Yeah it snowed in Ashhurst the same year.

and I guess they still had pumps in Kimbolton.......or was that before they put them in??

.........For a change we turned right at Newman for a detour through Nireaha and back onto SH2 immediately north of the ANZAC bridge. What a peach of a road that is, clean as a whistle with some lovely sets of tight but predictable corners............

...almost as peachy keen as continuing straight across SH2 and heading around through Mauriceville.

Sounds like a nice wee jaunt Mr H. I should start a thread to whinge about not being invited.

[MaxB]

(snip)
No worries, the best bit is the next bit, Tahuna to Ohinewai, cruiser heaven.
Torque curve fat? Check
Power rolling? Check
Sweepers..........ahh the sweepers

The drag pipes and the Slash Ness swepts howled a duet for 34 kilometres of thunder

Beyond the vanishing point I could smell napalm and hear Valkyries (snip)

Fucking love it

Tahuna-Ohinewai is pretty good fun 'at pace' too, just look out for the law near the Tahuna School. Fair enough too, it goes to a 50k zone there.

[FJRider]

I took a tootle down through Gore to Winton and back to Alex through Queenstown (up the lake road through the Devils staircase) ... Three of the five hours it took in heavy rain. enjoyed every minute of it though ...

Need new boots ...