Ride wednesday 7th

**Slim** · 6th January 2004, 21:10

Change of plans on my part.

I'll be in Te Puke in the morning, so I can arrange to meet you at the Kaimai lookout perhaps? Or the Caltex (?) at the Bethlehem turnoff nearer Tauranga.

Still txt me when you leave the Autobahn though.

**vladi** · 6th January 2004, 22:44

I have to work

.Have a good ride

Vladi

**Firefight** · 7th January 2004, 05:49

Despite the lack of this stuff, its still on, weather is suposed to come right

Bring your wets JIC

firefight

**MikeL** · 7th January 2004, 16:57

Originally Posted by Firefight

Despite the lack of this stuff, its still on, weather is suposed to come right

Bring your wets JIC

firefight

Well, yes, it did come right... for a while. But somehow today things didn't quite go to plan, and the weather was only part of it.
After all the positive interest expressed in the ride there were still only 4 of us waiting at the Autobahn while the forecast "intermittent light drizzle" got the roads nice and greasy for us. Set off in the vague direction of Whakatane but somewhere near Miranda I think (don't ask me - I'm geographically challenged and just follow the leader) at a stop Andrew showed us his sticking thingy and loose whatchamacallit and he and FF headed back to FF's place to do a proper repair job (my suggestion about carrying on to the nearest town and paying someone to fix it was greeted with horrified protests - obviously I've got a lot to learn about acceptable biking protocol here). Anyway that left CK and me to carry on. After a hasty conference we jettisoned FF's carefully planned itinerary and decided to do the Waihi - Whangamata loop instead. Light but steady rain followed us all the way to Waihi, and there was a bit too much traffic to make the Karangahake Gorge really exciting, but on the whole it wasn't a bad bit of road. Lunch was a panini and BLT at a cafe the name of which I instantly forgot but I think has something to do with mining (surprise, surprise). Afterwards the attached photos were taken, but more importantly the rain had stopped, so it was off with the wet-weather gear and a great ride through to Whangamata, CK's radar detector meaning that the only reason to slow down from warp speed was to pass the odd campervan at a 45 kph corner (and in CK's case even that wasn't necessary). From Whangamata to Kopu the sky got progressively darker which was a direct consequence of my arrogance and rashness in putting on the sunglasses at Waihi. Through to Kaiaua and Kawakawa the traffic was fairly light and a goodly speed was maintained but by this time we were really racing the storm clouds. CK and I parted company at Clevedon and by the time I got onto the motorway it was p*ssing down again. So I got wet. But hey that was O.K. because I had a great ride anyway.

Thanks to Richard, Dave and Andrew for their company. BTW Andrew how did the repair job go? Does that complete your second set of 3 mechanical mishaps??

**Andrew** · 7th January 2004, 19:03

Yes after a little waiting around at Autobahn we headed off toward Whakatane. At Kaiaua we stopped to wait for CK to do whatever he had to do. I was playing around with the throttle cable on the bike at that point, the throttle was too sticky to be safe.

FF offered to help me with the throttle cable, so we headed back toward North Waikato (or maybe its South Auckland). The weather wasn't really nice so it didn't make me mad that I was missing out on a ride.

When at FF's we had a lovely lunch provided by his wife - very yummy thanx!. After an english cup of tea it was off to the shed to have a look at the bike. To my horror FF had a lot of tools and turned out to be very practical. I hereby hand back the title 'Physicis boy' for his excellent skills in repairing throttle cables.

When throttle cable was fixed it was time for a burn out to Port Waikato for testing purposes. The throttle cable passed its test by flying colours and so I was happy. We went into the local cafe for hot drink and basket of chips. There was a really pretty waitress serving, was I in with a chance? Her old man was watching her with eagle eyes and obviously kept her on a tight leash, so no score maybe next time.

When leaving the cafe we met a triumph rider in the carpark. He told me to be careful on the way back, as the local drivers all have tendancies to cut corners. He was not wrong. On the way back I was going around a corner making an effort to stick far left as possible. A little hatchback came hooning around from the other direction and took up at least a third of my lane. Had I been in my usual riding position when taking corners I would have been toast.

Anywayz a good day on the whole, thanks to MikeL, CK and FF for company, & special thanks to FF for helping me get the throttle right.

**Kwaka-Kid** · 7th January 2004, 19:14

hey sounds like you guys had fun, wish i could have been there... maybe next time.. seem to have all of january booked out doing crap

anybody keen for a ride february? (advanced booking hey) and andrew mate, whats ya celly number dude? so on the offchance i get a day off oneday we might catch up for a ride, and ill hopefully have a mate with a gsxr250 soon... going to look at it saturday... oh shit, that reminds me, i double booked saturday, argh, what do you do when all your days are taken? can someboday make more days in the damn week because i want to RIDE my damn bike oneday too! (and not just to work ffs) k getting mad.. will stop typing..

**doc** · 7th January 2004, 19:34

Sorry Guys, Woke up went outside and golly my metrosexual side sort of took over and said time you got that haircut you had been putting off.

**Andrew** · 7th January 2004, 19:43

Originally Posted by Kwaka-Kid

hey sounds like you guys had fun, wish i could have been there... maybe next time.. seem to have all of january booked out doing crap

anybody keen for a ride february? (advanced booking hey) and andrew mate, whats ya celly number dude? so on the offchance i get a day off oneday we might catch up for a ride, and ill hopefully have a mate with a gsxr250 soon... going to look at it saturday... oh shit, that reminds me, i double booked saturday, argh, what do you do when all your days are taken? can someboday make more days in the damn week because i want to RIDE my damn bike oneday too! (and not just to work ffs) k getting mad.. will stop typing..

Hey KK thats easy mate. Just throw sickies that seems to create more days of the week! yeah your right mate, too many old people (like more than 20 years old) would be good to catch up whenever you are free. As for my cell phone number I'll PM that to you - I wouldn't want some middle-age drag queen trying to contact me!

**Steve Taly** · 7th January 2004, 19:45

Wow! some of you guys are keen...I woke up and it was constant rain so turned chicken pretty quick and hid under the blankets till mid-day,the weather was a real bummer but hopefully I'll get the next one?

**Kwaka-Kid** · 7th January 2004, 20:12

haha Andrew... i keep telling you mate, im sure FF is genuine and doesnt really play dress up on sunday nights...

keen as, will check with mate shade on cbr250 and kerran on zxr250 to see if they wanna ride, possibly this sunday just for a quickie.. and i might have to be 2up to get out. -so long as its not wet AT ALL as its affected my confidence in my front tyre majorly, and also i kinda told mum id have that front tyre replaced pronto.. just 2 more months i think...

**Coldkiwi** · 8th January 2004, 09:25

mike.. where's that third photo of you?? don't be shy!

KK, is this possibly a second attempt at the 250 ride-off in the making??

**Firefight** · 8th January 2004, 13:25

Originally Posted by Coldkiwi

mike.. where's that third photo of you?? don't be shy!

KK, is this possibly a second attempt at the 250 ride-off in the making??

CK, that's a dam good idea, It would be good to organise a 250 ride out, we could see if 'Marty" would be interested, and maybe all head down the Waikato.

Firefight

**Firefight** · 8th January 2004, 13:27

what do you do when all your days are taken? can someboday make more days in the damn week because i want to RIDE my damn bike oneday too! (and not just to work ffs) k getting mad.. will stop typing..[/QUOTE]

Thats what sick leave is for.

firefight

**Motoracer** · 8th January 2004, 13:45

Originally Posted by Firefight

CK, that's a dam good idea, It would be good to organise a 250 ride out, we could see if 'Marty" would be interested, and maybe all head down the Waikato.

Firefight

I can't make it for the next couple of weekends. This weekend I have plans and next weekend I will see if I can make it to Taupo for my very first race meeting. If you go, have fun you guys