On behalf of 86gsxr.....

[chanceyy]

first off Al good .. just got back fr hospital & he is looking great .. & having excellent care

sorry guys it is a bit of a novel ...

Al's bikes over the last few days now my arm has recovered from yesterday & I can actually think a few coherent thoughts ..

Riding the trumpy on Friday .. of course this was only a few ks all up (thought I better stop stressing Alistair out) but she felt fantastic .. very light, smooth, responsive & very comfortable position on the bike .. now I have something to compare it with ..

the Gixxer .. I dunna think it took 2 seconds to convince me to ride it yesterday to wellywood to met Yod off the ferry, I am sure when Al called I said fark yes instantly .. so maybe 05 seconds to convince me ..

Anyhow did not want an audience for my first wee ride .. (just in case I made an ass of myself - sorry Sarah didn't need the pictorial evidence) so Al & I ventured for a wee ride round the block & went to gas up .. came back & got the weather report from Cowboyz that the weather in wellywood was pissing down ..

all geared up & ready to go .. apart from the wee ride on Friday this is the biggest road bike I have ridden .. & prob took all of 5 or so ks before I was sitting on 120 ks on the back roads outta palmy ... novel idea having a speedo

Still backed off the corners & played with counter steering but all in all felt good .. only stalled it twice on the ride down .. but was not a major ..

the very forward position on the bike I was not sure that my stuffed back would handle (thanks to 800kgs of horse standing on me when i was 15 after a fall) however the lower back pain did not evenuate .. more a bit of burning between shoulder blades keeping head up ..

have never ridden in such poor light with driving rain before .. & on a new bike so a few firsts there .. but trusted the bike would go round corners & backed off the speed a bit just happily tucking in behind a car & just crusied .. but man the weather was foul .. was quite happy to get to ferry terminal & see the others waiting .. while we hid under the ramp could have a wee break .. overall I was still nice & warm appeared dry .. & the weather could have been worse it could have had a frigid wind as well so at least that was missing ..

so off we all went & a few flooding patches that could not be avoided .. thought crap but stayed upright & followed Yod through the water ..
stop at Mana for a much needed hot choccy & to wring out the gloves (which are still drying by the fire tonite, rest of gear airing out but not bad) & headed off .. I managed to get a wee break on the rest of the crew .. & just again just cruised, was not prepared to risk bike or me by taking stupid risks .. but realised once we left mana some of the night/rain issues that bikers faced .. was interesting glare of headlights coming towards you, rain on visor making visablity pretty poor, & losing the road markings at times .. quickly realised the best bet would be to sit behind a car & follow their red lights ..

got to pram & still no signs of bikes so pulled into petrol station & got to other end bout 1 min later they came up so shot out & got back into the group .. much better with numbers .. also by this stage was starting to get fatigued, the throttle needed quite a bit of twist to keep her on power .. luckily i have a fair amount of upper body strength but was having to let go occassionally to shake my hand out .. combined with very wet gloves prob did not help

also this was quite a distance to ride on a bike that I had only just gotten on & with weather conditions not being the best, adding to the fatigue being constantly vigilant for cars who simply could not see you .. well i guess thats wot happened on the motorway heading down there ... had to take a wee bit of evasive action .. but all good & a boost to the heart rate ..

got to Otaki & had realised that cowboyz had been "missing" for quite a few ks .. so pulled over to wait .. others sailed off, but figured that they would realise the group was getting smaller soon enough .. cowboys rocked up a few mins later & we were on the way again .. picked up meanie few ks up the road ..& off the three of us set .. coming up the hill outta Otaki (passing lanes) the back end of the gixxer gave quite a good flick back & forth (is that a fish tail?) so figure I must have gone through a good puddle or river across the road .. certainly felt that one but survived it & did not panic, whew Al was not there to see it .. might have given him a heart attack.. speaking of which we picked up yod & 86 quite a few ks up the road just outta Manakau .. so off we set as a group again ..

finally got a break from the rain about levin .. stopped in shannon .. but since my truck & all were in Palmy was not heading home immediately .. so off we set again .. the twisties just outta shannon was my opps moment .. was far enough back to need high beam .. coming up to first corner had high beam on & car came round corner .. could not figure how to turn them off again .. & only one hand on handlebar trying to go round a corner .. will not do that again .. so a slight wobble from the bike again guess not giving in to the panic feeling stands me in pretty good stead .. still needing to be smoother through those corners & obviously being able to judge them in all conditions will help me though this ..

felt pretty good by the time we got back to Al's .. knees were not sore but shoulders & right arm quite tired .. & woke up about 2am with shoulder aching like crazy & muscle spasm .. but am guessing being in that sports rider stance is quite hard on the upper body .. being quite a long ride & mostly wet weatherfor the first time prob did not help either ... but fun factor totally up there .. & nerves gone once i was on the bike & started riding .. so totally worth any ache ..

Yod that is one nice machine you have, glad we came to escort you home, & knowing you got home safely in that weather

thanks Al totally appreciate the trust, & allowing me to have fun on your bikes .. it has been a real adventure, that I would repeat today if I could. Its also given me confidence to know that I can ride bikes of that size .. gives me plenty to ponder when I get my full licence

[NZsarge]

Sweet write up...sounds like ya had a good day all things considered.

[NZsarge]

nice bike yod,it would have been great to meet you in welly.but too busy unfortunately looking forward to seeing it in the flesh v.soon hopefully.

good luck with the recovery al,we're thinking of you.

have been a bit busy with the new lady in my life!

see pic

That dog is hardcore cute!

[Meanie]

thanks Al totally appreciate the trust, & allowing me to have fun on your bikes .. it has been a real adventure, that I would repeat today if I could. Its also given me confidence to know that I can ride bikes of that size .. gives me plenty to ponder when I get my full licence

OMG you were riding Als bikes without a full license
Nice write up chancey, very detailed You apeared to handle Als bike with ease and i think we all has at least one oops moment riding in that obismal weather Good fun though

[yod]

OMG you were riding Als bikes without a full license

full license?? wassat??

[sarahtvet]

had enough riding in the shite weather in blighty too last a lifetime

yep certainly reminded me of the UK, am I homesick ? nah

Pup looks gorgeous, she will waste loads of time and energy, will have to get a rucksack!!!

[sarahtvet]

Nice write up chancey, very detailed You apeared to handle Als bike with ease and i think we all has at least one oops moment riding in that obismal weather Good fun though [/QUOTE]


ditto on that, glad I didnt take him up on the offer of bringing other gixxer
I got wet enough on the back of the daytona

[yod]

someone has bid on the little viffer....so it will be officially sold as of about 9pm tonight and it looks like it will be going to whakatane

will get one last ride to get it's new rear tyre and wof but since it has a good 150kms of gas left in it, i may have to take it for an extra blat somewhere to say goodbye in true viffer style

[Meanie]

someone has bid on the little viffer....so it will be officially sold as of about 9pm tonight and it looks like it will be going to whakatane

will get one last ride to get it's new rear tyre and wof but since it has a good 150kms of gas left in it, i may have to take it for an extra blat somewhere to say goodbye in true viffer style

Ohhh so the RF will be all lonely

[yod]

Ohhh so the RF will be all lonely

nah she's all sweet - getting plenty of attention from me - finally figured how to get the seat off last night and discovered a complete toolkit and reasonably decent sized storage area under there too

and mrs yod checked out her new seating arrangement and was quite impressed too

[cowboyz]

so we riding up to waikatane?

[cowboyz]

just checked the auction. What is up with frieghting the bike? Send th eold girl off in propper fashion and ride it up there!! There might be one or two escorts around the place....

[yod]

well...i definitely hear ya as far as sending her off in style is concerned....but pillioning for 420+ kms back again??! and 840km in a day?

mate....if everybody was riding hondas then maybe....

[chanceyy]

OMG you were riding Als bikes without a full license
Nice write up chancey, very detailed You apeared to handle Als bike with ease and i think we all has at least one oops moment riding in that obismal weather Good fun though

full license?? wassat??

hmm dunno .. just glad those cops were dealing with a accident rather than doing licence checks ..

can honestly say when Al offered the ride on the trumpy did not have time to be nervous .. but sunday had a few hours to think about it & surely was nervous .. but once on the bike .. all sweet still rode to my own ability but conscious that I was on someone elses bike as well ..

[chanceyy]

someone has bid on the little viffer....so it will be officially sold as of about 9pm tonight and it looks like it will be going to whakatane

will get one last ride to get it's new rear tyre and wof but since it has a good 150kms of gas left in it, i may have to take it for an extra blat somewhere to say goodbye in true viffer style

congrats Yod .. at least the girls have not had much of a chance to bond .. so does Mrs Yod like it ??