Learner Ride to Taupo (Saturday 11 Feb 2012)

[ynot slow]

BIG HUGS FOR YOU ANNA!!!!!!!!! So sad to hear this news, hope you and the family are doing okay in this horrible situation... If I was closer I'd definitely come give you a huge hug, hopefully some of our good friends up there will do just that.

Again, my heart goes out to you and your family.

My condolences too,huge hugs from me to you Anna,sounds crass but at least I have time to plan for the end,your family didn't have that chance,life sucks.

[Phreak]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, been putting a few km's on the bike over the holiday period catching up with heaps of friends all over the countryside, but I'm home again now, have caught up to date (mostly!) on the latest posts, I'm sure everyone knows how much I really am looking forward to this ride! Have been planning on doing a recon ride down and back again from Hamilton but funds are now preventing me at this stage... Silly season has been way too silly for me this year!!! I'm looking forward to getting back to work (next week hopefully) and putting money away for a great weekend with you guys!

[Grant`]

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, been putting a few km's on the bike over the holiday period catching up with heaps of friends all over the countryside, but I'm home again now, have caught up to date (mostly!) on the latest posts, I'm sure everyone knows how much I really am looking forward to this ride! Have been planning on doing a recon ride down and back again from Hamilton but funds are now preventing me at this stage... Silly season has been way too silly for me this year!!! I'm looking forward to getting back to work (next week hopefully) and putting money away for a great weekend with you guys!

Hope ya had a good break!

Wish I was still on holiday, but then I have some other holidays planned through out the year so can't be blowing it all at once!

[thehovel]

Actually a question for everybody - If you can please do some research on your bike if you don't know the answer to the below questions.

How many k's do you get to a tank of gas on average before your light comes on or you need to flick to reserve?

How many litres of fuel does your tank hold and how much of that is the reserve? i.e My tank on the predator is 17 litres of which the last 4 litres is reserve.

For your reference if your reserve light comes on you do not need to fuel up instantly as you will not run out of gas on majority of bikes for at least 50-60kilometres (that is kilometres not metres)

Please take the time to calculate this information as not necessarily on this trip but on any decent trip you do it can dictate where you do need to stop or if you should make the effort to fill up when you see a gas station it is a handy piece of information to have stored in your brain.

To put it into perspective my bike on average gets around 200-220 before reserve (13 litres of fuel) 210k's / 13 litres = 16.15k's per litre x 4 litres of reserve = 64.6k's I should be able to run on reserve before i am pushing my bike.

Hi Grant
All bikes after the mid 8ies have 50kmfrom light on or reserve. This is at the most economical(as listed on the sales brochure) As a rule of thumb I allow 30km. The only bike I have had with a fuel light was a BMW k75 it would run out of gas, I would suddenly do counter steering this would slop a couple of ks down the fuel line. When I gased up I could get 18.5l into an 18l tank. I think I was pushing my luck,but I never had to push the bike,I'm abit more careful this days as pushing a bike more than 10ft even down hill is not posible.

[blue rider]

holidays....i should never take them. got back to work (full three days off) and found over 250 emails. unfortunately i can't ignore them either, they are actually work.....

weekend....hot pools.....wine....o goddess i need it

[Grant`]

Hi Grant
All bikes after the mid 8ies have 50kmfrom light on or reserve. This is at the most economical(as listed on the sales brochure) As a rule of thumb I allow 30km. The only bike I have had with a fuel light was a BMW k75 it would run out of gas, I would suddenly do counter steering this would slop a couple of ks down the fuel line. When I gased up I could get 18.5l into an 18l tank. I think I was pushing my luck,but I never had to push the bike,I'm abit more careful this days as pushing a bike more than 10ft even down hill is not posible.

Hi Richard

I know this and you know this but a lot of people who ride on these rides do not seem to know this, so its not a bad exercise to complete to know exactly how efficient your bike is and how many k's your bike can do once you are on reserve whether you have a tap you turn, a blinking light, or a flashing fuel gauge indicator.

Becuase I know on the trip to the Cape we ended up stopping at 2 gas stations instead of 1 becuase someone all of a sudden had a blinking fuel light which in turn just wasted time for everybody.

[Grant`]

holidays....i should never take them. got back to work (full three days off) and found over 250 emails. unfortunately i can't ignore them either, they are actually work.....

weekend....hot pools.....wine....o goddess i need it

Ouch that really sucks!

Dang i haven't been to hot pools in ages

[thehovel]

May I suggest a diversion on day one? Its a great road.

Yes its a great road,but fully loaded learner riders I think not. Its twisty, loose gravel & several off camper down hill corners.Its a ride by its self and not to trifle with.

[nzspokes]

Yes its a great road,but fully loaded learner riders I think not. Its twisty, loose gravel & several off camper down hill corners.Its a ride by its self and not to trifle with.

That road was the first "long" ride I did. Doesnt seem so bad to me but I guess Im used to it.

[Mom]

weekend....hot pools.....wine....o goddess i need it

I have not taken holidays, YET, but I feel your pain, I have done 2 weeks of payroll, in a company with one payroll person on holiday, and one day to process what usually takes 3 days We have had 3 days, but the pressure has been intense. Some errors have been made and the time taken investigating them and then putting them right has eaten into time available. We even managed a bit of a software problem on Wedneswday this week. Mark said to me when I got home, it had been 12 hours since he had seen me

All of the above for me thanks

Wish me luck too you guys, am having another x-ray tomorrow, fingers crossed for a good result

[blue rider]

I have not taken holidays, YET, but I feel your pain, I have done 2 weeks of payroll, in a company with one payroll person on holiday, and one day to process what usually takes 3 days We have had 3 days, but the pressure has been intense. Some errors have been made and the time taken investigating them and then putting them right has eaten into time available. We even managed a bit of a software problem on Wedneswday this week. Mark said to me when I got home, it had been 12 hours since he had seen me

All of the above for me thanks

Wish me luck too you guys, am having another x-ray tomorrow, fingers crossed for a good result

you should come to the hot pools with me, we could have some bubbly, and say fark yeah with gusto....

crossing fingers and toes for ya tomorrow!!

oh and please stop breaking things...

[scorpio girl]

Searching for another Tail End Charlie to take over from time to time?
All TEC's and FEC's will play swap a job to suit.
There are currently FOUR FEC's

My dad, if there's still room on the ride? He got his cast off yesterday morning, the minute he got home he was out on the bike lol. That seemed to go ok so he should be sweet providing he doesn't do anything silly in the meantime, and I know he would be in heaven on a nice long ride like this

Wish me luck too you guys, am having another x-ray tomorrow, fingers crossed for a good result

Good luck, really hope the news is good!

[Virgil]

Searching for another Tail End Charlie to take over from time to time?
All TEC's and FEC's will play swap a job to suit.
There are currently FOUR FEC's

Hi Maha, I would be happy to take on a TEC role if required, I carry a reasonable first aid kit as well

[Maha]

My dad, if there's still room on the ride? He got his cast off yesterday morning, the minute he got home he was out on the bike lol. That seemed to go ok so he should be sweet providing he doesn't do anything silly in the meantime, and I know he would be in heaven on a nice long ride like this

Cant have too many looking after a group of this size so yeah ok.

Hi Maha, I would be happy to take on a TEC role if required, I carry a reasonable first aid kit as well

Thanks Virgil, as above mate, jump on in..
I encourage the FEC's and TEC's to swap at each stop, giving the brain a rest and it will allow you to enjoy the ride without having to use too much of the top two inches..

[Virgil]

Hows the bookings coming along?...
Anyone having a problem just let me know.

Hmmm, i havn't made a booking yet, I do have a $47 Warehouse jobbie one man tent, but if there is still a space in a cabin that would be awesome?

Cheers