The goat track

[AD345]

Last year I posted a bit of a rant about SH22 from Tuakau to Waingaro. Especially in the winter its a bit of a goat track with mud, moss, moo-shit, morons and a wildly uneven surface.

I got a bit of a serve about being on the wrong type of bike, expecting the wrong type of ride and it being the wrong time of year and so on and so forth.

Basically, 22 in the middle of winter on a cruiser - stop whining.

So I did it again - today

Glorious day up here today, cold but fine and little wind. Met up with a couple of the boys at Bombay and we decided to go to Waingaro, for no particular reason. Off we go to Tuakau, through a few bits of roadworks on the way and then on to 22.

Out of Tuakau it was a bit foggy being right next to the river and all but no drama's eh? It stays a bit foggy right through to Pukekawa where I had to pull over to clean my glasses cos I couldn't see.

It was actually QUITE foggy.

And it STAYED foggy - for bloody ages and ages. 20 metres or so of visibility, slippery as fuck, morons with no bloody lights on in their cars coming the other way, muddy, STILL uneven. What a bloody mission. I doubt we would have gone much over 80k and yet we still didn't come across any traffic going our way - just random looming shapes hurlting past in the other direction.

Gravel on the apexes, COLD - god it was cold when in the fog. We would zip along through the sporadic clear bits and then plunge back into the murk again. Glasses never really cleared, I could wipe the water off the outside then then claw futiley at the stream on the inside.

the level of grip was complete crap - we all felt the back break away one more than 1 occasion, plus the front would slide out on the (invisible cos of the fog) moss. All in all it took just under an hour to go from Bombay to Waingaro, which is a long time for not very far.

So once again I must say - SH22 is a total fucking goat track


I wonder what it will be like NEXT winter?

[Motu]

Exactly the same I hope.Stay off SH22 - leave it to me,I can handle it.

[AD345]

Exactly the same I hope.Stay off SH22 - leave it to me,I can handle it.

And deny my inner goat?

Nah

[Big Dave]

Goats Head Soup Track.

[Crisis management]

Whatzat saying? Something about repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome, definition of an optimist or an idiot?

For the life of me I can't remember.





Great country tho, the west coast is one of my favourite places with awesome scenerey (ooops, something about fog was it?).

[wysper]

you should have dredged the original thread for shits and giggles.

[Big Dave]

One of the most enjoyable test bike rides I've done up SH22 in the last 5 years was on a KLR 650. Tool for the job, Tim.

When I first rode it - in 2000 - it was in good order. It has been in reasonably steady decline since.