ride up 16 today......28th

[DEATH_INC.]

Going for a short ride up to wellsford today.Anyone who wants to come along welcome.Be at the shell westgate @ 11.15-11.30.
Send me a txt to confirm if ya can,0272185505.

[Lord Pac]

damn only saw this now! was looking for someone to ride with!

next one!

[crashe]

Going for a short ride up to wellsford today.Anyone who wants to come along welcome.Be at the shell westgate @ 11.15-11.30.
Send me a txt to confirm if ya can,0272185505.

Well I went up to Warkworth on the 27th nice ride (went up about 12.30pmish ..... until I hit the peak traffic on the northern motorway...... oh the joys of lane splitting....
Once throu Orewa, the roads opened up.
I came back throu Dairy Flat..... such a neat ride back throu that way.

Then on the 28th I rode down to Katikati...... oh it was so lovely in the sun..... riding down there.... the gorge is so nice to see.... the water rippling over the rocks.... Saw a few coppers out there, and a few cages were stopped and given a ticket... and two white vans hidden with camera's in them on the way down.
I did see a lot of bikes out and about..... all going the other direction to me....
It was great to get to stand up on the back footrests to stretch the body when you go throu the small towns... and then you get some interesting looks from folks as you do it... lol.

So I did well over 500km in the two days.... and the bike now needs a clean... all the mossie's and insects that I killed going down to and back from Katikati...

[Motu]

I had a bloody good ride north on the 28th,did 500km and was on the road for nearly 10hrs.I was a bit late leaving as the WoF had expired,but I know someone who can do a WoF for me on public holidays,didn't even ask to see the bike.Got on SH16 via Riverhead Forest and did my usual detour around Kaipara Hills,back on 16 I caught up with the traffic and settled down with them to Wellsford,no point being a dead hero cleaning up cars.On SH1 for 100mtrs and then down the Pakiri road,I wandered in around some of the Tomarata roads and ended up at the north end of Pakiri Beach,then headed to Mangawai where I stopped for a piss and feed.

From Mangawai to Kaiwaka,turning onto Settlement road at Hakaru - I used to live on Settlement rd as a young boy,and I finally found the old house we used to live in,just a falling down shack amongst some trees.I don't have many memories of the place as I was only 3,but there was the pond where I broke the geese eggs and got chased home by very angry geese! I also remember putting my arm into the wringer - that made Mum move! and she seemed to get upset by it,but I don't remember any pain.

From Kaiwaka I head to Maungaturoto,at the top of the hill I head down the Waipu Gorge rd,very nice...but it came out on SH1,I'm not going there!,so go back up the gorge,no worries,it's a bloody good road.Before Maungaturoto I head in again,taking roads at will,just trying to vaguely head north west,but finaly the roads only want to go to Dargaville,so head west towards Oakleigh and SH1.This is a sealed road and bloody boring after all the gravel I've been on all day,so take the Waipu Falls road...ah,much better,even the sealed bits are good fun.Looking on the map some of these roads are just dotted lines - greenbacks.I'm high up in some hills,and look out directly to Marsden Point,getting close to where I want to be,so finaly pick Doctors Hill rd as my exit point to SH1,not far at all from Urititi Beach,where friends and family are camping.

People!!! Ahhh,I don't want to be here,this is my holiday,I want to be nowhere near other people.So I head south,down to Waipu,Langs Beach and Mangawai - but the station has no gas,and I'm a bit worried if I'll get through the next bit.So It's off to Kaiwaka,and Settlement rd again,at 365km I'm still on one tap and haven't gone onto reserve - the bike has 3 litres left,plenty...but I still don't know how many kms I can go to reserve.Gosh,Settlement rd for the 3rd time today,and off that to the Te Hana rd,onto another gravel rd to the Wellsford/Pakiri rd and from Wellsford onto SH16 and just basicly run for home.

I've had a ball,of my 500km at least 200km has been gravel,my shoulders and inner thighs are sore,I've been working hard all day - sheee iit!!,I feel great! This was a test for my full summer rig - MX trou with hinged knee armour and Gaerne trials boots,Biko mesh armour suit and Acerbis enduro jacket,mesh Dri Rider gloves and my new Fly MX helmet and Scott goggles.Even so,if I stop for long I'm sweating,but get moving and you can feel it all working - cool hands from the vented gloves,vented jacket cooling my back,the helmet seems to be well vent too,as I can feel the air moving over the top of my head - the trou have a mesh crutch,in slow parts I stand up and cool my arse!

Yep,I had a good ride today...a very good ride.