Taupo Transit meeting, 4 Dec.

[sunhuntin]

mods, feel free to merge if you want. figured the attendees could put their accounts of the day where they can be easily read.

dragged my ass out of bed at 7 this morning... was tempted to stay there, but had to get on the road. was on the road by 7.30, headin up the paraparas.

sky was overcast till i got to national park, but then it was blue skies and no clouds. ive learned that 7 am is too early for fingerless gloves!

the paraparas arent too bad at the moment... the usual mess of crappy wash outs, leeching reseals, loose unmarked gravel etc etc. think todays take was the fastest ive managed them. was at national park at 9.10.
there are 3 stretches of cutter. the first two are .3k long, with the third being .2k long [can someone work that into meters please!] the first one, the bank has collapsed, leaving some of the concrete post surrounds hanging in midair.

arrived at mickey ds to be greeted by holy roller [great to meet you, and love the trailer!] dmntd, midnight mike, jas and pile of others arrived. we headed out to join the rest. was awesome to see mstrs and yt again, same goes for grub, tri boy, dmntd and mcduck. was also great to see relatives of loosebruce there to support us. skunk... cheers for the stickers! mine stayed on all the way home again.

ride was good, i had mcduck in front of me and mrs wasp behind... perfect set up. donna... you did great! im impressed. you can ride with me any day. speeds were between 20 and 55k, which was perfect for the situation.
i thought that resealed road was meant to be swept!

janet... you impress me more every time you talk. no one could have done it better. keep up the good work.

we had two transit guys come out and talk at us, said they are in constant talks with overseas road engineers and spoke with bronz reps last week and that placements of wire is being reviewed. bollocks. if they are being reviewed, why are they continuing to install? aside from not mucking up the scenery, what excuse do they have not using armco at the very least instead?

ride back was ok. got a better look at the roads. saw a hawk dead on the side of the road, so went back and removed a feather. poor beauty. it had been alive when i went past earlier, feeding on roadkill. whenever i see hawks flying, the ride is always more fun and i consider them good luck. i was bloody nervous after seeing the dead one.
stopped at the look out above turangi for a few photos. nice to see the taggers have been out in force.

i took a couple of photos, which will be uploaded and the link provided asap.

LINKY: http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=sun...ID=4991233&T=1

all in all, great job everyone, and keep it up.

[Katman]

I've always believed that the standard of conduct on our roads could be improved overnight by ripping the airbag out from behind the steering wheel and fitting a sharp 12 inch spike coming out from the centre of it instead.

I attended todays ride purely to help boost your numbers and that is where my commitment ends. My crusade is to change the attitude of a percentage of motorcyclists who believe they should have the right to ride "however the fuck they like". Motorcycling is experiencing a climate of change and becoming considerably more 'mainstream'. Unfortunately there is a number of motorcyclists who don't want to see this happen because it will lessen their 'rebel without a cause' complex. I refuse to allow something that I'm so passionate about to be reduced to that level.

We can bend over backwards to create a safer environment on our roads but quite frankly, New Zealanders being New Zealanders, we would just see that as an opportunity to lessen the degree of personal responsibility that we are willing to accept.

I wish you well in your campaign but I can guarantee that if you achieve your desired result and I achieve mine, I will have save countless more lives then the removal of a barrier.

[Meekey_Mouse]

Cool write up glad to hear you got home safe and sound! That road had been resealed recently, and there wasn't a lot we could do about that one. Wasp27 and my mum had already swept another part of the ride where lots of loose seal had been placed over melting seal... Leaving loads of stuff right where we were going to turn off SH5

[yungatart]

I'


I wish you well in your campaign but I can guarantee that if you achieve your desired result and I achieve mine, I will have save countless more lives then the removal of a barrier.

Thiis is just one of the things I am involved in to make motorcycling safer for me and my family and friends.
Not all of us ride like cocks...you don't want to believe everything you read on here, either. A good percentage of it is just testosterone fuelled BS.

If we all do our bit to make our roads and our riding safer, then together we will achieve the desired end result!
Unfortunately, that means Transit and roading engineers and Government have to do their bit too...