Morning dawned bright, clear and bloody crisp. We tootled off, headed for Waipara, after about 40 k's we came up behind a Falcoon Turbo who saw us and nailed it past a camper. Being totally immature, I thought "here's a go" and nailed it likewise. Those things are pretty damn quick from around 100 km/h, I could stay with him easily enough, but passing was another matter with the load we had on. But he was another straightline Schumacher, through the sweepers he got all nervous and twitchy to the point I could have gone around the outside if I'd been insane enough. Then came the 'slow down' kidney slap and funtime was over. I was even more impressed with the Z6's that they could be run to the edge with this weight on board and still feel secure. Just a slight squirm when we hit bumps mid-corner. We got to the cottage we'd rented in Waipara, unpacked and headed for the vineyards. Lunch at Pegasus Bay, (superb) followed by a visit to Mt Cass winery, where they warned us of the mufti car hidden under the trees at the end of the road, (he was) and then to Torlesse wines.
You have to love Mainlanders, my wife mentioned to the lady there that she couldn't buy single vege's to make soup, to which she offered to bring us some. But we didn't want to put her out and said thanks but we'll cope. So about 5.30 we hear a toot from the drive and it's her with a bag of spuds, carrots, silverbeet etc.
Full tummy's, a couple of glasses of the local produce and a roaring fire saw us out to it at an unseemly hour.
Another beautiful morning saw us off to ChCh to meet Dangerous, Rashika, K14, Kickarse, ZZR and others whose names escape me. The plan was a ride to Akaroa via the tunnel - Port Hills - Ellesmere - Summit Rd. These are seriously good bike roads, narrow, twisty and very challengeing if pushed.
The KB curse struck again with a certain nameless local parking in a ditch. Damage was only cosmetic and it was a strange bin, there didn't seem to be a reason for it. Until we got to Akaroa and I noticed that his rear tyre was half flat. The question was, was it flat before the bin too?
Anyway, we found out that plug repair kits work real well. ZZR also found out that CO2 bottles get bloody cold when you release the gas, who woulda thunk it?
More soon.
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Originally Posted by Lou Girardin
yank tank at Glenorchy 2006 rally
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