Dunedin rides

[Ruralman]

Um i'm busy remembering the men and women that gave their lives for me so i could live peacefully in my own country (bless their souls) so count me out

MY NAMESAKE----
Lance Corporal- Daniel Davey 3rd N.Z Rifle Brigade

Fell on 12/10/1917 at Bellevue Spur, Passchendaele along with 3'179 men and 117 officers... they gained 200-500 yards through swamp and mud on a cold and raining morning a battle that achieved nothing really!!!

OT enough for ya's

It was an incredible waste - my Grandfather was at Passchendaele, got injured and sent back to UK to recoup - ironic that that injury probably saved his life.
I've been listening on the radio to the services this morning - I should have been there but its never been something we've done, time that changed methinks.
Its great that you are honouring your past Dani - bling from me

[Ruralman]

OK folks in case anyone reads this who can come.
Meeting at my place at midday (so far just Delphinus & Free2B)

this afternoon's ride:
Was planning on Lawrence, Tuapeka West to Clydevale, Through to Clinton, Clinton Gorge (back road to Mataura), turn down the Owaka Valley Road (heres the 15km gravel) to Owaka, then either back the main Catlins Highway to Balclutha or via another short gravel road through to Kaka Point, then Kaitangata back onto SH1 at Creighton and back to Milton.
Follow that?

Ring me at home, leave message if not answered 'cos I'll be doing a few things away from the phone but not for very long, if you need directions to here or want to meet up for part of the ride.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Um i'm busy remembering the men and women that gave their lives for me so i could live peacefully in my own country (bless their souls) so count me out

My great uncle, and great grand father died at Gallipoli

[Silverfern]

Glad you guys are heading south, big diesel spill this morning from Cherry farm to northern motorway, grit being laid but it will not be fun to ride on. Have a safe trip down south, will be doing family things today, don't forget to carry spare juice for G!

[scumdog]

What pisses me off is that thousands died to preserve our freedoms and way of life - and yet while driving at the Dawn Parade I looked around and I noticed that little effwitted slack-jawed mouth-breathing drongos had run around at night tagging and smashing empty bottles - argggh!

To think some died to give others that 'freedom', they'd be spinning in their graves!!

Rant over.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

and yet while driving at the Dawn Parade I looked around and I noticed that little effwitted slack-jawed mouth-breathing drongos had run around at night tagging and smashing empty bottles - argggh!

that fucks me off too... no respect

[botb]

mmmmmmmmm youth today are a totally different breed even from when i was a teen!!!! they have no respect at all a few round here need a damn good slappin' and i ain't scared to do it either

Went to take kids down to beach here to see 2 dudes screamin up and down the sand ( big problem here ) watched for about 5 minutes then thought right i'm gonna go tell them to feck off got one of em to stop and was shocked to see he was about my age or older gave him an earful bout what he was doin mid school holidays etc how irresponsible bla bla bla a few ferks and things too lol and he promptly buggered off te he he people just think they can do what they like where and when they like and stuff everyone else.... these little wankers know the police take too long to get here if they come at all ( not priority until one of the little assholes ditches and needs the chopper ) ....

Communities need to stand up to this sort of shit and make it their problem.... within reason of course mmmm anyway how was the ride this avo peeps??????

[JimO]

i had a quick ride to portobello with a mate on a 900 monster we went down portobello rd and came back the high road low mist and drizzle and tourists driving in the middle of a twisty wet road with 0 visibilate wasnt nice

[Ruralman]

Ok todays ride report.
Free2b, Delphinus and Mike on the 250 RGV came on the ride, the first 2 were here for lunch and we picked up Mike in Lawrence.
G & J said it rained a bit on the way here but it had stopped but the time we headed to Lawrence but still with heavy cloud.
From Lawrence we headed over Tuapeka West to Tuapeka Mouth, ducked down for a quick look at the punt on the Clutha River (only works during the week unless you make arrangements - which we hadn't) and then carried on to Clydevale.
By this time we'd started riding through heavy drizzle at times and all the way from Lawrence the road was wet. Decision time - head down the river to Balclutha and cut the ride short or turn right, over the bridge and on to Clinton - we went right.
Rain got worse as we got closer to Clinton but for most of us this wasn't a problem as it was reasonably warm. Pulled in to BP at Clinton to fuel up the smaller tanks and at this point I decided to put on my Oringi rainsuit. Also at this time G was becoming a bit wet in the nether regions due to a failure in her Spool riding pants to provide much waterproofing - we hadn't really ridden though any heavy rain, just some persistent light stuff but on the cruiser with no weather protection up front and the sitting angle meaning water tended to pool in her lap, the pants were being put to the test - they failed.
Next decision - carry on the planned route or head back to Balclutha and home. Decision made to carry on. So we headed off down the Clinton - Mataura road and then took the turn off to Owaka and headed on down to the Owaka valley.
This bit included the stretch of gravel which turned out to be nearer 25km than the expected 15km - it was pretty good gravel road to ride in normal conditions but the wet was pretty presistent and a certain cruiser was apparently trying to find and empty all the water out of all the potholes !!! J is certainly beginning to ride the gravel roads with a lot more confidence but it wouldn't have been that comfortable on the sports bike either.
Eventually we got back on the seal for a quicker pace down the last 20km of the Owaka Valley to Owaka and stopped for a really really good coffee and warm up.
After a pretty long coffee stop we headed back out into very light rain for a while and we took the back road (another 7km of gravel!!) to Kaka Point and then on to Balclutha for the last fuel stop. By this time the rain was picking up, it was getting dark and G was getting bloody cold and wet, and the rest of us were getting a bit worried about her.
Basically from there it was head home - I've had calls from G and J to say they're all home safe with G making the call sitting in front of her heat pump!!
Couple of things came out of today - cruisers like G's offer no weather protection and you need much better weather proof gear to deal with days like today (which wasn't actually that bad)
For those of us with the right gear the ride was no drama but would have been nicer on a good day - I've been warm and dry all day and I only had a T shirt and shirt on under my Dri Rider Jacket, plus the rain suit later on.
There are lots of rides like this that have a bit of gravel between sealed sections - if you can't learn to ride this stuff you'll miss out on a heap of NZ. All the bikes got through there OK, but the weather certainly made the gravel section in particular a bit unpleasant and G's bike especially was a pretty muddy mess (have photo - will post later) at the end of it. The Transalp is certainly the most versatile of the bikes in this regard and even today it would have been quite OK to zip down that gravel road at the speed limit.

We will do this trip again - in the summer, on a nice day, when you can all complain about the dust and the heat.

[JimO]

nothing worse than wet nether regions

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

nothing worse than wet nether regions

thats for sure... but will admit my gear is pretty good for that... just my gloves but have hot grips to compensate...

[Daffyd]

Glad the trip worked out ok for you all. I thought your estimation of 15 kms was a bit optimistic, but it's a year or two since I travelled it and wasn't sure.

[Daffyd]

What pisses me off is that thousands died to preserve our freedoms and way of life - and yet while driving at the Dawn Parade I looked around and I noticed that little effwitted slack-jawed mouth-breathing drongos had run around at night tagging and smashing empty bottles - argggh!

To think some died to give others that 'freedom', they'd be spinning in their graves!!

Rant over.

I totally agree. I think they would be spinning in their graves if they could see the over regulated society we live in now after giving their lives for the 'freedom' of others.

[smokeyging]

What pisses me off is that thousands died to preserve our freedoms and way of life - and yet while driving at the Dawn Parade I looked around and I noticed that little effwitted slack-jawed mouth-breathing drongos had run around at night tagging and smashing empty bottles - argggh!

To think some died to give others that 'freedom', they'd be spinning in their graves!!

Rant over.

What goes round comes round. If they have to go to war they might not be so cheeky.
I could just imagine whats in store for them if they tried tagging binladins caves…..

[FREE2B]

Cruisers rain and mud ... any great suggestions on how to clean mud caked cordura?? Bike picked up every bit of mud it could find and threw it at me even managed to get it up the back and inside my helmet oh yay while everyone else hardly had a speck on them. Maybe a pansy shield is a good idea Lunch was great RM and an awesome coffee can be had at Owaka.