Beware the RIBBON SEAL

[Drum]

What he said.

[beyond]

Tar snakes bite badly, especially when wet and in summer, as do the shiny patches of tar.

Always best avoided like man hole covers and steel grates unless of course you like drifting with the added rush of a possible highside. Then they are best attacked with aplomb as your bike snakes up the road attempting to regrip and surfing on wet tar in summer also has it's highlights apart from the huge cleanup job afterwards.

The Napier Taupo highway in mid summer in the gorge has to have the worst tar problem ever and they use grit to try and help the problem which of course is fantastic when making rapid progress.

[bert_is_evil]

ick, tar snakes and their evil cousin tar arrows aka booby traps, where they paint over the current roadmarking with shiney slippery stuff, then repaint the line right next to where it once was, effectively doubling the slippery area.

[LilSel]

Tar Snakes... eeeeek... *Flick back out*...

[vagrant]

Theres a nice bit of this stuff sealing the edge of the cambered round-about extension(for want of a better term) near Bar Africa.
It makes for great opposite lock "practice" when you drop in close to the roundabout, and cut across the cambered surface. "Accidentally" applying too much throttle makes for a great powerslide out onto the next bit of road.
well thats my excuse occifer:

[Skyryder]

So ya'll talking about gravity vortexes only know to bikers. Took a chick to one years back hoping it would help me get her knickers down but try as I might I could not find one.

Skyryder

[discotex]

I was riding along Oaktree Ave in Browns Bay yesterday and had a bit of a moment on this stuff, if you know oaktree you will know its a minefield of ribbon seal.

Oooh yeah it's a fun bit of road in the wet. I do Oaktree Ave 5+ times a week in all weather and had some fun moments before I learnt some lines that avoid the worst of it. If you ride it apex to apex in the wet at speed you're asking for trouble. To add insult to injury there's a big fuck off pothole by the centreline now.

The worst moment I had was late at night in the wet heading into Browns Bay. As you come round the downhill left-hander before Glencoe Rd I stayed further left than usual for some reason. Clipped the tar with the front and felt it tuck. I was sure I was going down but it gripped again. Was a real "oh fuck" moment as I then had to brake before I got to the T junction!

[*caution*]

Yeah its a nasty road in the rain, pretty fun corners in the dry though, just watch out for parked cars and people exiting their driveways, oblivious to all around them as happened to me on the weekend....

is your bike black and you've got a blue helmet? i think i saw you today...

[NordieBoy]

You avoid tar snakes?

Weird.

[discotex]

Yeah its a nasty road in the rain, pretty fun corners in the dry though, just watch out for parked cars and people exiting their driveways, oblivious to all around them as happened to me on the weekend....

is your bike black and you've got a blue helmet? i think i saw you today...

Yep that sounds like me. Bikes not a black as I'd like tho. It's more charcoal with a bit of purple.