Well as you can imagine after working the last four days, I was champing at the bit to get out for a ride on Bella, my trusty steed. I left it a bit late to see if anyone else wanted to come, and had to be back in Papakura at midday to meet up with someone, so went on my own at 9am ish.
Decided to let Bella go wherever she wanted and see where I ended up.
So after filling up in Drury we headed out Great South Road to Bombay. Then a quick hop onto the motorway before getting off at Ridge Road. "Aha," I thought, "think I know where we're heading!" And lo and behold good old Bella did indeed set her sights on the infamous SH22, then she suddenly veered off and decided to go to Onewhero. Well I'd never been down this road, so I was quite happy. There's nice windy bits and the odd off camber corner, but otherwise very nice. Reached Onewhero and she kept going. The road started getting rougher, and very broken up in some corners but it was still quite delightful, especially as all the locals we saw gave us a cheery wave.Sadly it had to end sometime, and when the road turned to gravel I seized the opportunity to turn Bella round. Nice wee cruise back to SH22 and a quick check of the time. 10am. Hmm. So I told Bella she could go down 22 for a short blat and then we'd have to head back. It was at this stage that Bella had delusions that she was a sportsbike. I had to pull her head in a bit when she took some corners a bit quick, and there were a couple of well dodgy overtaking manouevres.
Our route then veered off 22 towards Huntly. Isn't that a delightful stretch of road? We had a ball. At the power station we turned left and headed north to get onto SH1 just before Te Kauwhata. Time was 10.45 so I figured it would be best if we headed up SH1 to Papakura. But no! Next thing we'd turned off at Te Kauwhata and were merrily heading along towards SH2 and Maramarua. Traffic was slow moving on SH2, so a bit more dodgy overtaking before heading up Hunua Road.
Just before the Gorge Bella started lurching a bit, so after a quick fumble I had her on the reserve tank so we could blat through the gorge. No traffic for a change - yippee. Got back into Papakura at 12.01.
Weather was fantastic, hardly any tarmelt and a bloody enjoyable ride. Think I might let her lead more often - and she seems to have a much better idea of time than me!!! Only saw 3 other bikes on the whole ride. Where was everyone? If you're sitting at home thinking about going for a ride then get off your arse now and do it!!!
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Its great to get back into some good riding after being away for a while...
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must ride everyday 
Originally Posted by Sparky Bills
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