Mad Dogs & Englishmen only go out in the Midday Sun

[T.W.R]

As Noel Cowards song portraying the heat of Asia in his old song

Things are starting to get cooking down this way........34deg in the shade at 1pm

Just got back from a quick ride & on some of the quiet back roads the tar snakes are starting to leech through with ease

[george formby]

Yup, stinkin hot all of a sudden oop here. Probably the first time I've seen liquid tar bleeding through so early in the summer. My bike is a mess today, enough tar bleed for cars to cover the whole road with it. It's interesting when you come into a corner and can't find any grippy bits. Thankfully the tar is just stuck to the clay and dust that already covered the bike...

[Laava]

Just got back from a 2000km plus ride about the NI and there was tar bleed everywhere. Esp up over the thames-whangamata rd.

[T.W.R]

The gauge is still showing above 30 here now
This morning I stopped at one place after having a wee moment with the tail end lighting up coming out of a corner and the tail tidy was speckled like it'd been sprayed by a almost dead spray can and the rear of the belly pan was full of gravel Even walking around on it sounded like walking on treacle. Bet the likes of Fulton Hogan will be out in force patch sealing soon just to make things more enjoyable

Going to have to revert to dawn raids rather than deal with molten mess

If things keep going we'll see 40deg days within the next month

[eldog]

No, they will just put the usual cheap low temp crap back one with more loose chip seal.
up here they just lower speed limit, put up slippery when wet and temporary signs everywhere.

fix the problem the bean counters created when they first laid that crap. Often cut back bitumen

maybe they will roll a good mix of stones in to fill up the void left by the original stones slowly sinking through that bar bleed.

tar snakes are a different matter, foundation, segregation, water penetration and freezing common problems.

[Grumph]

The gauge is still showing above 30 here now
This morning I stopped at one place after having a wee moment with the tail end lighting up coming out of a corner and the tail tidy was speckled like it'd been sprayed by a almost dead spray can and the rear of the belly pan was full of gravel Even walking around on it sounded like walking on treacle. Bet the likes of Fulton Hogan will be out in force patch sealing soon just to make things more enjoyable

Going to have to revert to dawn raids rather than deal with molten mess

If things keep going we'll see 40deg days within the next month

Very noticeable that the areas in Selwyn done by HEB are the worst for tar melt. That's what you get for going with the cheapest...came up from the main south to the Bealey on saturday and nearly spun off twice on molten tar.

I'm suffering cos I spent a lot of yesterday doing the back brakes on the car - outside....half hour on, half hour off.

The big worry is fire. We had two last summer locally - either of which could have come through the village.
I'm not sure if it's good or bad that there's not a lot of wind at present. The fire danger ramps up real quick in the nor-westers.

[T.W.R]

Very noticeable that the areas in Selwyn done by HEB are the worst for tar melt. That's what you get for going with the cheapest...came up from the main south to the Bealey on saturday and nearly spun off twice on molten tar.

I'm suffering cos I spent a lot of yesterday doing the back brakes on the car - outside....half hour on, half hour off.

The big worry is fire. We had two last summer locally - either of which could have come through the village.
I'm not sure if it's good or bad that there's not a lot of wind at present. The fire danger ramps up real quick in the nor-westers.

Telegraph Rd was good for that & Charing cross intersection used to be bloody tar pit at the height of summer.

Was talking to a guy I know thats in the Rakaia fire brigade a couple of days ago and he was saying they've just been through a refresh & training update ready for dealing with roadside fires caused by glass & bottles etc..the old prism effect. They aren't expecting it to be an easy summer

[ellipsis]

...ride to the conditions...I just pretended that it wasn't 'alf as hot as it was...it didn't work but I got 9 hours done without cooking out...rain not shakes is what we require...

[Moi]

... The big worry is fire. We had two last summer locally - either of which could have come through the village.
I'm not sure if it's good or bad that there's not a lot of wind at present. The fire danger ramps up real quick in the nor-westers.

Was in the wheat-belt area of WA in early October looking at wild flowers... all rural properties, either farms or small town sections, have to "fire-proofed" by about mid-October. Most seemed to be firebreaks - about a metre wide of bare earth - to hinder grass fires and undergrowth fires. Wonder if something similar would be useful in your area?

[Grumph]

Was in the wheat-belt area of WA in early October looking at wild flowers... all rural properties, either farms or small town sections, have to "fire-proofed" by about mid-October. Most seemed to be firebreaks - about a metre wide of bare earth - to hinder grass fires and undergrowth fires. Wonder if something similar would be useful in your area?

The village area is quite closely built up - with a lot of vegetation too. We're surrounded by very big macrocarpa hedges which I know are firebombs in the right conditions. Any firebreaks are irrelevant in a howling canterbury nor-west gale. One of last summer's fires jumped a road and went down a treeline which stopped just short of the village. Gale blowing of course.
Couple of years back, dry as buggery, gale blowing and I heard a noise...tree had cracked and was resting on the power line in to our property.
Whipped out the chainsaw and did a clever cut to angle it off the line. If it had broken and sparked, it would have taken out half the village.

All we can do is have enough boxes handy to transport the animals if we have to grab and run. No water pressure to speak of but about 1000l storage.

[ellipsis]

Was in the wheat-belt area of WA in early October looking at wild flowers... all rural properties, either farms or small town sections, have to "fire-proofed" by about mid-October. Most seemed to be firebreaks - about a metre wide of bare earth - to hinder grass fires and undergrowth fires. Wonder if something similar would be useful in your area?

...Grumph could just about piss a meter...this dry with a fire imminent at any time needs a little more than a bare swathe to stop it...I've watched gums explode into action 50-60 meters from the ignition point...no prisoners with fire...

[Moi]

The village area ...

Grumph could just about piss a meter...this dry with a fire imminent at any time needs a little more than a bare swathe to stop it...I've watched gums explode into action 50-60 meters from the ignition point...no prisoners with fire...

When I saw the "firebreaks" and asked what they were, did wonder about their effectiveness in a fire that is being pushed along by a strong wind through a gum forest. Though if just a grass fire with little wind, apparently they can hinder a fire's spread...

Fingers crossed you get some heavy, steady rain this weekend.

[T.W.R]

A report put out a couple weeks back reckoned the district had only received 1% of it's usual rainfall

Decent fires around here jump roads with ease and apart form the risk of cockies doing burn-offs the 2nd biggest risk is sparks from the trains.
In the township here most places are pretty well wooded sections, my place I've got marco hedges front & rear of the house section, a run of macros on the south boundary and a pine hedge along the school rd boundary so it'd go up like a crackerbox. Best natural defence is the periwinkle undergrowth as its a natural fire retardant and one saving grace is just inside the gateway I have the community reserve holding tank for the fire brigade (about 10k litres)

[Berries]

Yeah, parts of SH1 in Southland are fucked after the last few days. Was 30 degrees in Pukerau yesterday, roads had melted and rain is on the way. No real helpful suggestions apart from don't push it too much in the wet if you didn't see it in the dry and don't ride in the wheeltracks.

Good for the chilis though.

[neels]

Drove to Westport and back Monday/Tuesday this week, they have trucks out gritting the road with coarse gravel to try and stop the tar bleeding out completely, the increased truck traffic is completely killing it. I don't think it is a fun motorcycling road at the moment.

When I got home there were still tar covered stones stuck on the roof of the car, probably why the fuckwit in the shiny black 300C about 6ft off my rear bumper backed off rather quickly when I encountered the first patch of loose gravel, particularly when I wandered a bit out of the liquid tar wheel tracks........