Aye, thanks very much for the ride, excellent excuse to blow a few cobwebs
The alarm went off at 6:30, crawled out of bed and donned the gear. I arrived at Caltex a tad late, realised I hadn't looked at the route nor brought a map. As I signed the list the first riders had donned their lids and were setting off. Ah well, service station coffee sucks.
With the coffee in the bin and ear plugs in It was time to hold up KoroJ no more. Not wanting to hang about too much I set off over the takkas and on to Masterton. Passing a big group at the last petrol stop before heading in to the playground in the back of beyond. Apart from the inadvertent mutilation of a bird (RIP to the sparrow who found my screen then helmet.) I had heaps of fun up to Pongaroa when I did some maths... I needed my tank to last 260km's, which is ok cos i normally get 300ish on a tank... commuting... using the "go button" on back country roads sups a tad more than the usual. 19l went in, it's a 19.5l tank that was close! More unusual there was no-one else in Waipuk I thought those guys at the front must be really quick! A guy on a Ducati arrived just as I was about to get back on with business.
Next stop Taupo, and well it was literally the next stop my feet didn't touch the ground until the petrol station. About halfway through lunch (another musli bar) Mr Ducati arrived filled up and went off looking for a subway. This was the last time I would see a C1KC rider...
Much fun was had over the back of the lake. More fuel in National Park and Hi to the riders up from Ashburton. It was also about here when I realised I had forgotten my kidney belt doh! Down through the Paraparas i had my only real eeek moment, entering a downhill right hand 55k corner at a legal speed and i found a false neutral. The rest of the paraparas seemed shorter than usual. The Fordell road was a lot more interesting in the light (somehow it seemed easier in the pitch black). Also it was starting to get slippy, especially with not much left on my rear tyre. Vinager hill was the usual fun. And I decided to fill up before the Pihitua track and the last leg down SH2 to home. As I passed through Greytown my cycle computer ticked over a 1000kms, as it did the average moving speed dropped from 99.84kmph to 55. A clear, but breezy, run over the hill and home at 6:30pm.
Cheers to KoroJ for organising and all for helping :-) Looking forward till next year already!
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Originally Posted by XP@
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