What a day. Even though it's late, I'm still amped! Sorry about the long post, I'll understand if you can't be arsed reading right through it. Still poor form, mind...
Got up this morning at a leisurly hour, and after a bit of breakfast and posting my 1000th post (), I decided I'd ride in to Sportzone Suzuki here in Christchurch and join them on their weekly Saturday ride. Not as many bikes this week as other times I've been with them, but no worries. It seemed to be the day for SVs... there were at least three SV1000Ss and an SV650S... as well as a CBR954RR, a ZX6R, OAB's GSXR thou K2... oh, and my NZ250. So I was the only bike under 600cc. Anyway, the decision was made to head to Godley House in Diamond Harbour for a bit of a feed and a beer. Up over Dyers Pass Road and around the bays was the chosen route, nice and twisty, and excellent riding roads (map below).
One of the guys from Sportzone (on an SV1000S) and the guy on the CBR quickly took the lead, with me following. I was feeling great on the bike, no idea why, but I just settled right into the groove from the open road zone heading up Dyers Pass Road. I was keeping the CBR and SV in sight... but after some twisty fun, I glanced in the mirror and was surprised to find nothing there. Huh? *Shrug* can't be far behind, carry on. Got caught behind a car after a while (I need to pick my moment to pass those being on a 250 single), and a few minutes later they caught up. No worries I thought. Got past the car and settled back into my groove again, still really enjoying myself.
Got to the Teddington straight - OAB and his mate on the ZX6R had flown past doing mumble km/h on an earlier straight, so they were a few hundred metres ahead of me, still in sight - but strangely, the mirrors were again empty. Where'd those SVs go?! OAB et al pulled over at Teddington to wait, and soon enough they showed again. No worries, off we go again. Cut a long story shorter... we eventually got to Diamond Harbour and talked shit for a while before settling down with a beer and some grub.
What an awesome ride... I've never felt so fulfilled. We got there at about 1.50pm, and since then I've sat with a beer, ridden home again (had to leave early, for the next part), driven to Hanmer with Mrs Deviant, lounged in the pools for a few hours, had tea at "on 47 (wtf is that supposed to mean anyway)", and driven home again... and I'm still buzzing about the ride earlier in the day. One of the things I'm pleased about is I noticed I'm using all of the bike. Glanced down at the clocks at a couple of points and thought 'whoops, almost at redline, better hook 5th.' (~110km/h on my bike!) Anyway... I had wondered if I was ready to upgrade... I had my doubts. No doubts now! Started on a 250. Got used to the 250. Now able to use the 250 near its limits in confidence - it's just a joy to ride in the twisty bits. But... Am I looking forward to upgrading? You bet I am.
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Originally Posted by Fat Tony
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