Auckland - Tauranga

**Luker** · 8th August 2008, 22:27

Wow,

I left Thursday mid afternoon a little nervous & un prepared for the 260km Journey ahead of me. Luckily I had the foresight to get a Dryrider 1- piece and cowl bag.

Left Auckland thinking it would be easy, and after 30 minutes I got quite comfortable with the journey. Met a fellow KB at BP who gave me some good advise.

I can see the ease of which novice riders 'like my self' can get them selfs into trouble, the weather wasn't desirable but the suit held up. There is nothing to compare the smile with after the Krangahape Gouge, very nice (dangerous) piece of road.

I arrived in Tauranga no problems and left at around 1700 today, witch in hindsight was a mistake, the weather packed it in. Half the time i was battling the wind, cars high beaming me and horizontal rain and still trying to figure out the basics of counter steering. I underestimated how much skill is required to handle even the smaller of bikes (Ninja 250r). I was gob smacked when a ZX10r passed me and the line of traffic at some phenomenal speed.

But all was well made it to Auckland ok, and managed to avoid the two

lasering me going 70 in 100

Just thought I would let lose my bad grammar

And share my Newbie experience or inexperience... how ever you want to put it.

**Bikernereid** · 8th August 2008, 22:28

Originally Posted by Luker

Wow,

I left Thursday mid afternoon a little nervous & un prepared for the 260km Journey ahead of me. Luckily I had the foresight to get a Dryrider 1- piece and cowl bag.

Left Auckland thinking it would be easy, and after 30 minutes I got quite comfortable with the journey. Met a fellow KB at BP who gave me some good advise.

I can see the ease of which novice riders 'like my self' can get them selfs into trouble, the weather wasn't desirable but the suit held up. There is nothing to compare the smile with after the Krangahape Gouge, very nice (dangerous) piece of road.

I arrived in Tauranga no problems and left at around 1700 today, witch in hindsight was a mistake, the weather packed it in. Half the time i was battling the wind and horizontal rain and still trying to figure out the basics of counter steering. I underestimated how much skill is required to handle even the smaller of bikes (Ninja 250r). I was gob smacked when a ZX10r passed me and the line of traffic at some phenomenal speed.

But all was well made it to Auckland ok, and managed to avoid the two

lasering me going 70 in 100

Just thought I would let lose my bad grammar

And share my Newbie experience or inexperience... how ever you want to put it.

Great that you enoyed your trip and have the good sense to realise that you don't know everything and are not invinsible. Good on ya!!

**TOTO** · 8th August 2008, 22:32

hey , bro was nice to see you at BP autobahn with that brand spanking new ninja.

Glad you had a nice trip.

be safe

**BIHB@0610** · 8th August 2008, 22:35

Let me get this straight - you left Auckland, came to Tauranga, then LEFT Tauranga to go back to Auckland again??? What were you thinking??? We DO have decent lattes here ..........

Tis ok poppet .... you'll learn

**Big Dave** · 8th August 2008, 22:40

Nice job!

....

**Luker** · 8th August 2008, 22:42

Originally Posted by TOTO

hey , bro was nice to see you at BP autobahn with that brand spanking new ninja.

Glad you had a nice trip.

be safe

Cheers man was good, how as Raglan?

**N1CK** · 8th August 2008, 22:53

Originally Posted by Luker

Wow,

I left Thursday mid afternoon a little nervous & un prepared for the 260km Journey ahead of me. Luckily I had the foresight to get a Dryrider 1- piece and cowl bag.

Hey, nice bike!

What bag is that you have on the back of your bike?

**Luker** · 8th August 2008, 23:00

Originally Posted by N1CK

Hey, nice bike!

What bag is that you have on the back of your bike?

Its branded Oxford 1, just a little cowl bag from red baron, good buy tho, expands and came with its own rain jacket

**shafty** · 8th August 2008, 23:06

Well done Luker, good to hear about your ride, - and good to see people riding in winter! Big ups!!

**TOTO** · 8th August 2008, 23:12

Originally Posted by Luker

Cheers man was good, how as Raglan?

Yea , Raglan was all nice. Been stuck just commuting last two weeks so a ride out of town was well needed.

Went down SH22. There were some dodgy parts in the beginning but after that it was all nice. 90% of the road was dry so there was no trouble. I saw a wild goat, a small rabbit, and a stranded sheep on a giant rock that didnt know how to go down, it had a puzzled expression on its face - gigled my ass off

. Got to Raglan all good, bought me a lotto ticket (Its a Raglan ride tradition), a pie , enjoyed the view of the bay and looked at some fishermen catching fish. Waved and blew a kiss to some beauties and on my way back. Was supposed to meet a KBer somewhere up on the way back who was comming down exctly the same way I was going up on, but somehow we missed eachother

All in all a grat days riding. SH22 is a nice road but I would recommend you wait till you do another couple of thousand km and preferably in summer to go down on it as there are debry, moss and other stuff that can make a new riders day not very enjoyable.

On the way back on the motorway almost got taken clean out by a 4wd with a blond woman talking on the phone, as she didnt bother to check her mirror or her blind spots and just pulled out.

and on top of everything when I was next to her wand looked at her with a look of WTF you doing ? she floored it and tried to run away while still talking on the phone. Scared me to death but the rehearsed emergency braking techniques kicked in and saved my ass.
She didnt get too far in the 5:30 traffic.

revenge was sweet tho...

so moral of the story is: Enjoy your riding but always be prepared for some nutter to show up around you and challange your well-being...

**N1CK** · 8th August 2008, 23:14

Originally Posted by Luker

Its branded Oxford 1, just a little cowl bag from red baron, good buy tho, expands and came with its own rain jacket

Ok, cool thanks.

Keep up the riding.

**kiwifruit** · 8th August 2008, 23:25

ultimate beef unit!

**Nagash** · 9th August 2008, 11:05

I ride to Tauranga quite regularly, it's a bitch in the really bad weather..

Glad you enjoyed it mate. Happy riding!

**mapsanji** · 9th August 2008, 11:14

Good on yeah mate, that's the only way to learn....the Fearfactor

**Firefight** · 9th August 2008, 11:16

[QUOTE=TOTO;1681300]Yea ,

Went down SH22. There were some dodgy parts in the beginning but after Was supposed to meet a KBer somewhere up on the way back who was comming down exctly the same way I was going up on, but somehow we missed eachother

yeah sorry Todd, we went down 22 to start then onto

Herrington rd then back on to 22

our bad

F/F