Well.....first day of daylight savings (hate that first week of getting up soooo early....) but that aside, it felt like the first day of spring to me.....
I was very good- got up, fed the cat, vacuumed, first load of laundry through and hung out to dry....second load into the washer...then off to dance prac....two hours of solid work even if it did feel a little manky at times.....than back home via the supermarket. Take first wash in from line (DRY!!) and hang out second load, put load three into washer.....then go downstairs and pull out the bike...
...woohoo - have a whole half day to myself - it happens very rarely indeed to me after working six days a week.......but today I can take as long as I like and don't have ANYTHING else to "do" all day.....so I plan a decent ride for a change instead of the usual forty minutes....
Actually I don't plan it at all - I work from the gut feeling of which way I want to go today.....I live in the South West of Hamilton so usually head out that way. From there I tend to find obscure roads and explore them.
So I headed out.....south on SH3 thence west on Rukahia Rd, Gillard Rd and Ngahinapouri Rd etc etc to Pirongia, thence to Otorohanga...basically following my nose although I did want to do this particular section...the section from the Kawhia turnoff to Otorohanga is nice.....I get hunkered down over the tank, knees in, elbows in and just go with the machine.......lots of sweeping curves - bit too much traffic coming the other way of course - but such a blast to just get with the machine and let it do the work. I love to do that - tuck tight onto the bike and relax - be one with it - no moving the body around - part of the machine - THAT is what riding is to me and always has been.....the machine knows what it is doing so much better than I do - so let it do the work.....
Anyway, rapture apart, cross the Waipa into Otorohanga then North on SH3 to Kihikihi..thence East through Parawera, over the Arapuni Dam and through to Putaruru...another nice piece of road......pootle up SH1 for a bit, surrounded by the caged species in a huge long line, travelling about 90km/hr.....wait for the odd gap, drop a gear, wind it on, scream past a buncha cars...heeheeheee....
Turn West again over the Karapiro Dam this time and wind back to Leamington, then via Kaipaki, Mystery Creek, Airport Rd, Raynes Rd, Peacocke Rd and back home. Two and a half hours, about 200km.....or so, including a couple of pauses to let my bum come back to life and the cramp to disappear from my hips......
I doubt I have had such a blast ride in thirty years....and it was just as good as the last time I did it well it felt ok.....
AND I didn't have to go stupid to get the buzz....well not often anyway.....look, it was only for short little bursts!.....(OK sharrup!!)....generally pretty well behaved although I dare say the odd cage driver woulda said something along the lines of "blardy hoon!!!!!! no wonder their ACC levies are so high!!!"
All in all it felt good to be alive today - despite a score of sixty not out......
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