Southern Cross 07 - Ride Reports

[ducatijim]

I finally broke out of the fog as I started climbing the Mangamukas, and what a lovely piece of road. On the previous Southern Cross, Blackbird, Mangel6, Rider in Black, and I, had passed over this stretch in daylight, and I really enjoyed it then. Now, in the dark, and it was almost surreal. The whole event was worth it if only for this piece of road. I saw one other bike on this stretch, a DR650 (ducatijim perhaps?), however I just waved him through as I was enjoying the ride too much to be bothered with another bike.

Yes Malcom, that was I......havn a ball!!

[shafty]

"I was impressed with how Shafty rode his big ST1300, and coped much better than many riders on smaller bikes. "

Cheers Jantar, - I was more wary of scooting around a corner to find someone crawling or stationery and becoming a Gay projectile. Great report Mate - good stuff.

[Keith the Pom]

I finally broke out of the fog as I started climbing the Mangamukas, and what a lovely piece of road. On the previous Southern Cross, Blackbird, Mangel6, Rider in Black, and I, had passed over this stretch in daylight, and I really enjoyed it then. Now, in the dark, and it was almost surreal. The whole event was worth it if only for this piece of road. I saw one other bike on this stretch, a DR650 (ducatijim perhaps?), however I just waved him through as I was enjoying the ride too much to be bothered with another bike.

Jantar, on Thu-28-Dec last year ['06] I captured some ‘on-board’ video footage of a run through, (up-and-over) the Mangamuka Gorge.

IMHO this 13 km stretch of road must be one the twistiest tar-sealed set of curves, possibly anywhere in the world; inclining between around 10% - 15% on the way up (northwards), and 5% -10% down on the other side of this barrier mountain-hill range.

Fantastic stuff! Surreal in daylight hours too, especially if you catch the right conditions.

Here's the link to the video in question. My good mate "oldrider" (aka John Jones, from this site) even felt inspired enough to compose a short poem in honour of the ride, which appears at the end of the footage.

I'm now back in the UK, having spent 4½ months (early December -to- mid April) just touring around your fine country on two wheels, almost without a care in the world, clocking up some 16,000 - 17,000 km in the process.

In summary: I really ... I mean REALLY .. miss New Zealand, and I just can't wait to get back in late February next year ['08]. There's still a lot more riding for me to do down your way.

Keep up the good work with your report BTW.

Regards

[Jantar]

Keep up the good work with your report BTW.

More tomorrow. I had just typed up another 2 sections when my computer crashed and I lost the lot. I'm too pissed to type co-herently at the moment.

[Keith the Pom]

I'm too pissed to type co-herently at the moment.

Yep, I know the feelin' ...

[Highlander]

... It is many years since I last rode over the Kaimais and I had forgotten just what a great road it is.... Going down the Tauranga side I came across the scene of an accident. One cop car was already there and another was just arriving. I believe Highlander and Shafty arrived at the scene ahead of me and only shortly after it happened, so I'll let them give more details.

No injuries, car was a bit of a mess. Young guy driving said there was a truck he thought was stopped, but it wasn't and he went up the back of the trailer.
I have pondered it much in the past week and can't work that out.
If the truck was stopped surely he should have:
a) stopped before reaching it, or
b) gone around it (it was in a passing lane after all).

I'm drawn to the conclusion that the box of Woodstock on the floor in the front may not have been full. Like I said, no injuries and the Police were being called when I arrived so I left them to it.

Good write up Jantar, keep them coming.

[oldrider]

Jantar, I was speaking to "Keith the Pom" on Skype after reading your account of the Southern cross 07 ride and I mentioned to him that you had made reference to the magic of the ""Mangamuka Gorge" road.

When Keith came out here in December 2006 he fell in love with that piece of road and proclaimed it as "the best in the world" and as he was based at that time at Ruakaka, he resolved to capture it on film, "to show the world".

I had said that I had ridden it and it never really registered with me as a "great road" and that I had never really heard anyone else mention it either, at which he retorted, you Kiwis are either blind or spoilt for choice, or both!

He became so obsessed with that section of road that I dubbed him the "Mangamuka Kid" and put together that little ditty which he included at the end of his video!

You will forever rank high in his list of respected Kiwi motorcycle riders since your acknowledgement of the Mangamuka Gorge in your Southern Cross ride report, while I have been spurned and reduced to my original posting (by him) as a "miserable old git".

He would love to come back with his beloved ST1300 Pan European, just to ride that track, I guess you will be invited to join him as, honoured guest. (lol)

Guess who wont be invited! Cheers John.

[Jantar]

Thursday 26th.

Today was an early start. Up at 05:30, packed and loaded, a quick coffee, and we were on the road by 06:15 am. RichardC was piliioning his wife as far as her work in Wellington, then later that day she was flying to Dunedin to ride the last section to Bluff. Even at this early hour of the morning there was quite a bit of traffic on the road, and we were quite happy to use the bus lanes where appropriate.

When I arrived at the ferry terminal there were a dozen or so bikes already there, and a large number still in the queue to check-in. The check-in process was rather slow and it was obvious that we all weren't going to be processed in time, so we were simply waved through to the line up and told to walk back and check-in if there is time, otherwise we could be processed on boad. Simplicity in action. 48 bikes were on board the Bluebridge crossing and we lined the entire length of one wall of the deck, and continued around one end. At least this time there was somewhere to tie to, although we were discouraged from facing the bulkhead and tieing down by compressing the front forks. I don't understand why the ferry crew don't want us to tie our bikes in the most secure manner possible.

It was a calm crossing, and way down south there appeared to be a low fog bank near Kaikoura. With a light southerly swell, and a gentle westerly wind, I was sure that this would soon burn off and give us another day of lovely weather. I was soon to be proved wrong.

Once off the ferry at Picton RichardC, Eric, myself, and another rider whose name escapes me (sorry mate), followed a large group through to Blenheim. There were a dozen or more bikes stopped for fuel at the first petrol station, so we continued on the the second one where the queue was much shorter. It didn't make any difference though as the EFTPOS was down and we had to wait a few minutes for it to come back online.

We continued as a group of four south from Blenheim in a relaxed manner as there were no deadlines to be met today. Just south of Ward we were seperated at some roadworks, so RichardC and I took the opportunity to put on another layer of clothing while the other two caught up. The temerature was cetrainly dropping. At Kaikoura it was time to stop for a coffee, and I noticed Higlander and Shafty ride by into town. Back on the road, and it was fairly uneventful riding until Parnassus where the drizzle started. It got quite heavy for a while, then somewhere south of Cheviot it just stopped and looked like it was clearing further south. (Another optical illusion).

Amberley was our next fuel stop, then down to Belfast where we turned onto the southern bypass. I remembered the near gridlock of 6 days earlier so turned right before Hornby and continued on the western side of the railway line through Islington, before coming back out to SH1 near Templeton. Unfortuanately at that moment in time half the population of christchurch decided to want to use SH1 and so we still had a 5 minute wait for a gap in the traffic. Then, once we turned south, it started to drizzle again.

The drizzle was that fine mist that just gets everywhere, and makes everything nice and damp, then turns to rain. After 30 minutes of this, and no sign of any let up, we stopped at Rakaia to put on some wet weather gear. Just as well too, as from here on it just got heavier and wetter.

We arrived at Timaru just on dark and stopped for a quick bite to eat. The Cafe and bar, just up from Caroline Bay, provided hot coffee, garlic bread, burgers so big that they were held together by fence posts (RichardC claimed telephone poles, but he exagerates) and chips. When we said that we wanted something fast, they provided fast. Prepared, cooked, and served faster than McDonalds in Matamata. As we left, the rain appeared to have stopped, and I briefly debated whether or not to leave off the wets. I decided that I'd stay prepared, just in case.

We fuelled up and continued south straight into more rain. Through South Canterbury and North Otago was uneventful riding, but even though this is supposedly my home territory, it was so dark with the low cloud, I sometimes had to keep reminding myself just where we were. The roads just seem so different when there are no landmarks to be seen.

At Hampden I waved farewell to the others in the group and pulled off at the Backpackers. What a disappointment. No Israeli girls, no Asian girls, in fact no girls at all. I had the entire backpackers to myself. However I did have my choice of room, my choice of bed, no queue for the shower, and plenty of hot water.

[shafty]

[QUOTE=Jantar;1039841]Thursday 26th.

"At Hampden I waved farewell to the others in the group and pulled off at the Backpackers. What a disappointment. "

Jantar, not so much detail please, LOL

[nadroj]

Must have been a pet goat there!

[Jantar]

Friday 27th.

I could hear a few bikes already passing on SH1 as I loaded the bike in the drizzle ready for an 08:00 departure. A few minutes before my intended time I started the final part of the rally. With the low cloud the scenery wasn't as spectacular as normal for this section of road, and I briefly debated about taking the Trotters Gorge road. However the wet conditions and a memory of moss on the road soon convinced me to stick to SH1. For visiting riders I would reccommend having a look at Trotters Gorge on a fine day. It is sealed all the way, narrow, windy, and only a few minutes longer than SH1.

Traffic was light as I approached Dunedin in the middle of rush hour, and I was also fortunate to get a good run through the lights. Only one red the whole way. I was starting to see a few more bikes as I passed various fuel stations and breakfast stops, and it seemed like no time at all and I was in Milton and making my own fuel stop. Further south, and passing through Balclutha, I noticed that ScumDog had his flag up, so a short tootle on the horn then through town to the Highway Diner at the south end and brunch; Bacon, eggs, chips and coffee for $11.

As I left Balclutha I noticed a couple of riders join me on what appeared to be matching bikes. I later recognised them as a pair of Bandit riders that I had seen earlier on the ride. Same bikes and similar gear. They followed me through to Clinton then stuck close to me as I took the back road through to Mataura. I was fairly confident that the cops don't patrol this road as often as they do on SH1, so I picked the pace up just a tad.

Back on the main road at Mataura, and also back to more legal speeds, and for once the weather was improving to the extent that the roads were drying. The two bandits were still right on my tail, but when I turned off at Kennington for the Kennington - Tiwai shortcut that bypasses Invercargill they decided to continue on the highway. Looking further south I could see a dark cloud and a rainbow right about where I estimated Bluff would be, and sure enough, as I reached the Tiwai turnoff, down came another shower.

Back onto SH1 for the last few kms to Bluff, and I could see another lone rider a short distance behind. Through Bluff and onto Stirling Point where I could see about 20 - 30 bikes already there. As I stopped, the rider who had followed me for the last few Kms turned out to be Highlander. More bikes were soon arriving and the pair of badits that follwed me from Balclutha were almost exactly 15 minutes behind. So, for future reference, the Kennington-Tiwai bypass saves around 1/4 hour and 12 kms over sticking to SH1.

It was an anti-climax to finally sign the book for the last time and collect a well deserved badge, before heading back to the Eagle and a few beers. After a great lunch I took the bike back to my accomadation and walked back to the Eagle and a great night. Shafty tried to talk me into riding his bike naked into the bar, but I considered it a bit cold, so as a compromise he rode his own (borrowed) bike up and down the main street with a BARE minimum of riding gear.

[Jantar]

Saturday 28th.

I only had a 2 - 3 hour ride today, so spent the first 1/2 hour riding around Bluff trying to get some oysters to take home. Would you believe that on a Saturday morning, you can't but buy fresh Bluff oysters in bluff. I could get froze, or cooked, but no fresh ones. So without any oysters, I headed back north. It was cold, but fine all the way to Gore where I stopped for fuel. A mufti cop targeted me just as I was pulling into the fuel station, but I was so far below the speed limit that I don't know why he bothered.

Travelling through Tapanui and I saw a large number of bikes stopped outside the pub. Of course, today is the Beaumont Rally, so a wave to them all and I carried on.

The day stayed cold and fine all the way home to Alexandra.

So ends my second Southern Cross. Will I do it again?

[oldrider]

Well done and well reported Jantar, that was a long ride, too long for this old fellah these days, I will just stick to reading about it! Thanks, John.

[Blackbird]

Saturday 28th.

So ends my second Southern Cross. Will I do it again?

Have enjoyed your write-up very much indeed Malcolm. Any mental comparisons between your '05 mount and your current one? A lot better in the comfort stakes I'd imagine!

Cheers

Geoff

[Jantar]

Any mental comparisons between your '05 mount and your current one?

In 2005 I rode a Suzuki GS1200SS, and found it very suitable for the trip. This year it was a Suzuki VStrom 1000, which is also a very suitable mount.

The GS1200SS had better fuel consumption, better acceleration and braking, and because of the sports bike seating position was more comfortable on the upper body.

The VStrom has a bigger fuel tank giving it the same range as the GS1200SS, has better handling in low speed corners and in the gravel, and with its higher seating postion is more comfortable on the legs. It also has better lights for the night sections.

I would be happy to take either of these bikes on a similar ride.