2010 Capital 1000K Cruise

**zahria** · 9th November 2010, 19:31

Woke up at 4-30 to hear the wind and rain. Oh sh!t, the weather gods were not appeased by the two beers I'd sacrificed for them.
We had brekkie (not cheese on toast this morn!) a coffee, and headed to UpperHutt for the start of the ride.

After registration, and refueling the VTR, and filling up and rebungying my 5ltr container onto the rack, we hit the road at 7am.
The weather was wet, and windy. Not overly bad, but a good test for my Jacket, I'd never worn it in the rain.
The Rimutaka's were ok, I wasn't overly confident and had a quiet trip behind a SUV. Nev had a bit more pace than me and gained confidence in his tyres. Nev waited at the base of the Tuka's, and we headed off... for about 200m, when I hit a big bump. I checked the jerrycan, and sure enough, it had come off the rack and was hanging by the bungies. After muttering and retying it, we headed off.
We arrived at Masterton, refueled (remembering the last time we rode route 52 I nearly ran outta gas)
The ride to Pongaroa was interesting, with branches on the road at various points. Made cornering a bit wary, as we didn't know what we'd find. At one stage the road was covered by a tree. We made it to Pongaroa with no incidents, But I wasn't overly enjoying the ride because of the weather. Still wet, and windy.

Took the required photo at Pongaroa, and headed off to Waipukarau.
The rain stopped, the sun came out, the pace got better. I love riding in the sunshine!!

Refueled at Waipuk, and headed out to Waipawa, where we turned off and headed to Patangata. Photo stop at the pub, and off to Wairoa.

From Patangata, we rode middle road to Pakipaki. Nice road, the sun was shining and life was good. Life was almost a lot shorter for us, as we rounded a Left hander, a bloody Galant was halfway across our side of the road. He was very close to Nev (leading) and I reckon that if the worst had happened, he would have had me as well. He got a dose of my horn, and a fist in the air. Wether he noticed...who knows.

Despite a diversion to Flaxmere... (I wasn't leading... But there was no sign at the roadworks to go right...) we got to Napier, and hit the Wairoa road.

This road is made to be ridden. Great time, and I really enjoyed it. The road was in good nick, so attacking it was fine. I lead for a while, at a sedate pace, till Kotemaori, when Nev overtook and headed off. Sppedy was looking good on the road, Nev was riding it well, the combination was very impressive. After my (goodnatured) ribbing about the stripes on Sppedy's tyres, on inspection in Wairoa, they were gone! The 55km corners before Raupunga were fantastic, flowing side to side (boot to boot, Nev) good times.
Coming into Wairoa always feels like coming home, and today was no exception. We stopped at the Shell Wairoa, and refuelled, got a bite to eat, had a quick chat to some fellow bikers (who we'd meet again on Kapiti) and remounted to get back to the onerous task of the day, the Cruise.
Again, much fun was had on the Napier-Wairoa road. Good times.

From Napier, we headed to Highway 50 to get to Woodville. Uneventful ride for me, but the wind was up, and for those riding Naked bikes, it was a touch tougher to hang on... Aye Nev!! Hehe, I did lead a fairly sedate pace through to Takapau. Highway 50 was in good nick as well, and not much traffic. The weather was deteriorating, the wind was up, and we hit showers. By this time I was dreading the Saddle road, and the Manawatu, as I thought the last part of the cruise would be in the rain.

But No!!! We hit the saddle road in reasonable weather, and crested the summit to see the Manawatu bathed in Sunshine!! Yes!

Saddle road was fun, good nick, and good fun was had. Into Ashurst, momentary confusion as to the whereabouts of Colyton Rd, but all roads lead to the ocean, and we were off. Through Colyton, to Cheltenham. Then onto virgin roads to me. Although my excitement was initially dampened by the straight from Chelty to Kimbolton, after that was a brilliant flowing twisty road. This is one I'd love to play on again. Really nice, and the weather was fantastic. Ahh, the mighty Manawatu!
Through Kimbolton, then we had to find the Pemberton historic corner. Now, for some reason, I thought we were looking for a Pemberton Pub... as most of the checkpoints were pubs.,. so we sailed past the historic corner, it had a nice big sign, and the giveaway were some other bikers taking their photo's. So, after a lovely ride to Rangawahia, (only a couple of Km's away) we U turned and took our photo's.
followed and some tourers to Ohingaiti. Took our last photo's and headed to Sanson for the last refuel.

After having our photo's checked, Nev bought the beer. That beer was very bloody nice.

What a day. I was buggered, but very pleased and satisfied to have done the 1000kms.