Ride to Whakatane Staying overnight during Easter hols.

[Kwaka-Kid]

sounds like yah had fun mate, sorry i could make it.
good work and nice pics.

[bikerboy]

Well from the tone of that synopsis I'm not sure whether Andrew enjoyed himself or not. I did though.

I do know that all of us except Andrew had several beers before and during our meal. Also his quick decision of what to eat took decidedly longer than which restaurant to eat in, having two menus to choose from.

At the pub, after a very large handle of guiness, our decision to return to the room early was prompted by a certain very jovial young man making loud comments about the locals. Judging by his unsteady steps back to the motel we all agreed it was a wise move, especially as the bartender told him he'd "remember your face mate".

The unsuccessful beer run resulted in an unhappy Andrew but at least there wasn't any that night and an early start the next morning was delayed by Andrew's poppartzzi impersonation until 9-45am.

As a frequent visitor of said Ponsonby cafes I can honestly say there are none in Whakatane. The staff's inability to cope with more than three customers resulted in our waiting (an entire fifteen minutes) for breakfast.

A second day away doing the east cape was unappealing to those responsible souls who have work commitments, unlike some students.

130 wide is a very hospitable guy with a lovely place and was keen to join us but had other commitments. Another excuse to return that way!

The return ride home was fast paced and saw me at least wearing a big smile from a great weekend away.

[Andrew]

The return ride home was fast paced and saw me at least wearing a big smile from a great weekend away.

Yes but in your version you forgot to add the part about soaring thorugh the Rimutakas. Which in your version is located north of Waiuku and west of Kumeu - right!?

[erik]

Why is everyone whimping out. Today was a great day and tomorrow will be nicer. It isn't that far to Whakatane for goodness sake...

I was actually meaning that my planned ride would be too long, not the ride to Whakatane. Having only been as far as Mercer before, I thought it would be a good idea to go on a slightly longer ride just to see how I handle it before trying to ride to Whakatane. I'm not a whimp, just cautious.
But anyway, I thought the Leigh ride would be good to just see if I was up to riding the longer distance to Whakatane. As it turned out, I think riding to Leigh was actually more tiring, as we left later in the day, didn't get home till 8:40pm, and were riding in rain, through roadworks where they'd taken the road back to clay, over wet gravel roads (the bikes got real dirty after all that). Oh, and I learned that the Gecko Guard doesn't actually control weather patterns And that my pants still leak. Pics from me and my brother's ride to Leigh are at: http://community.webshots.com/album/134295502WSSzbs
Still, the ride to Leigh was a fun ride. West Coast road from Araparera to Warkworth would have been a nice ride, if it hadn't been marked with 30km/h signs and was crawling with cops policing the rally cars as they were going between stages. It's got a couple of km's or so of gravel in the middle but, it wasn't so bad.

Luckily Thursday was fine, and my gear was able to dry out. My leather steel-capped boots (with not enough dubbin on them) and my leather bike gloves were both totally waterlogged; if I squeezed the gloves, water would come out like a sponge.

So come friday, my gear was all dried out, and I'd cleaned most of the mud off my bike ready for the ride to Whakatane.
There's not a hell of a lot to add to what Andrew wrote.
I've gotta say that after reading the Wellington Easter Monday ride thread, with all the crashes, and with the crash on Scenic drive on my previous kiwibiker ride, I'm bloody glad there were no incidents like that on this ride!

This was actually my first kiwibiker ride that I've completed! I thought it went pretty well.

It was interesting trying to determine where I fit in the group. Some of the time I was stuck behind Jesse (riding an FXR150), but there were one or two occasions where I plucked up the courage to overtake and push myself a bit in the twisties. No way I could keep up with Andrew though; I suspect even if I had the skills and experience necessary, I'd have a lower power to weight ratio so less acceleration/topspeed. Jeeze riding is fun though .

One thing Jesse pointed out to me after overtaking him once was that it looked like my chain was too loose, and told me how to adjust it. I don't think I ever read before about how to adjust a chain properly, I just kinda thought I'd get around to it soon. Anyway, I tried adjusting it after the ride, and found it was considerably tighter in some places than in others, maybe I should invest in a new chain? I've noticed before that it's pretty stiff too, so maybe the previous owner didn't look after it properly or something?
I guess I'll add that to the list of other things I need to do: change the oil, change the brake fluid, I should probably check or change the coolant, etc.

I've gotta say I liked that Irish pub. I'm not much of a drinker, but that guiness was real nice, and the pub was done up nice too, and the conversation was entertaining, so that was cool .

130wide has got a nice spot on that hill, and a nice house too. Thanks for inviting us for a visit.

This was actually a mistake, as we intended to go Pyes Pa

I thought it was a bit of a shame we missed that road, it sounded interesting. Oh well, next time...

I enjoyed myself and am looking forward to another ride when I've borrowed enough from the govt to pay mum back for the money I borrowed for this ride, and when I've got my uni work out the way...

I took my camera on the ride, and managed to get a few photos, they're here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/135218308PPnYWF