Top Ride Today

[Jackrat]

Met up with Motu and co' At the Tuakau Bridge at 8.30am.
Had one little heart stopper when my new front tyre did the slip grab, slip
grab Thing in a hard right hander some where on Highway 22,Had an interesting few seconds when we came around a corner to find four cows on the road,I don,t think that cocky likes bikers anymore as the last I saw of one of them cows was as it jumped the road side fence,Oops.
Came across about five Kms of gravel road and following Motu canceled the couple of hours cleaning I did yesterday.All that dust is good for spotting oil leaks an I was pleased to see I at lest fixed that.Had a moment on the gravel as well,When all else fails,PANIC,Foot down an pray,Well it worked that time.Got to Raglan an around a hundred bikes were already there,all nice an shiney apart from one dusty an Filthy XS 650.
Left Raglan in three groups,Newish,Old,An very Old.Found out trikes an Cruisers are not the things to get stuck behind.They go like hell on the straights but Can,t corner to save themselfs.Watched Motu go around the outside of a huge cruiser that was dragging every thing on the road an still looking like he was going to run wide,Saw a Goldwing trike get a wheel off the ground an darn near flip it(Bugger That).
Sorted out the order of things by the time we got to Tahuna for gas,pie an beer.The Triumph club organizers had half a dozen draws for neat things I would like to win,but Oh well maybe next year huh.
Left Tahuna heading for Waihi an got into a bit of a race with three Triumph twins and a Norton Commando through the gorge,That was fun an I won,
but then got blown away by a couple of Dukes and a Maniac on K100BMW.
Waihi was beer an Barby time with more draws for things I once again didn't win.Had a yarn with the maniac on the Bemmer an found out he lives in Waiuku Just down the road from me.Small world aye!
Left Waihi by myself intending to take it easy but caught up with the three Triumphs an Norton,So it was all on again.This time the Norton hauled ass an we got to Bombay in record XS time.So me new front tyre don't have any little rubber thingys on the outside edge anymore an it's well scrubbed in,Bike ran like he always does,Strong mate Strong.
Tomorrow I will do the wash an wax thing again and next time I follow Motu down some gravel road I might remember to stay back aways.
The Triumph owners club put on a good run,next year again for sure.

[Yamahamaman]

Good on ya man

[Motu]

Yeah,it was a choice ride alright,thanks for coming with us Jack.Sorry bout spooking the cow,she took off just as I came on them,so was in front of her at the time.So many bikes - and the huge vareity,old,new,wierd and unusual...only 2 dual purpose and only me on dirt tyres,so I was still in a class of my own.I behaved myself and was only naughty once - coming up to the Raglan hills I wanted to get passed the Goldwing trike and fat Harley,but a Guzzi came on the outside and boxed me in.I could see he wanted to get them as well,and I went with him,pushing him all the way up the hill,finally getting by at the top,he chased me and I saw 160kph at times - he dissapeared at Hamilton and I never saw the bike again...I hope he wasn't pissed off with me,but he didn't have to play,and being cleaned up by a dirt bike when you're two up is no great shame.

Although my friend is a daily rider and puts a lot more miles in a year than me,this was his first long ride with others in a long time - really enjoyed himself,but was bone tired after 10.5 hrs in the saddle,we came home from Waitakaruru to Kawakawa Bay,the rough roads slamming him around.My Honda with its soft long travel suspension just soaks that stuff up...but the seat doesn't! It was a real trip down memory lane for him - at Raglan we walked across the road and straight into a guy he hasn't seen for over 30yrs,then we kept finding others from the same era - ''what's **** doing these days?'' ''Oh,he's here today,that's him next to the Bonnie'' Back in those days (early 70s) everyone knew everyone else and some names were well known,it's great to see they are all still riding bikes.To top off his day he won one of the big prizes - the bike lifter.

I guess you picked his bike is kinda ''special'' in a discrete way Jack,the bike is in a constant state of change,and although I haven't ridden this particular version,it's a joy to ride,almost like a new bike - it gets the best parts fitted,subtle things like the TX750 swing arm are hard to pick,even if you know these bikes well.

I got home at 6.15,then drove to Omaha,getting home at 1.30 this morning - 14 hrs on the road yesterday,I don't think I'll go far today!