Kawhia Overnighter, No2

[tri boy]

Ahhhh may have missed this but Ohura, i guess it must have a pub or a corner we will all hang out on as a meeting point?

One horse town mate, we will stick out like dog balls...on a cat.

[MXNUT]

You need to be there KAITUNA, the more SUZUKI`S the better

[Kaituna]

You need to be there KAITUNA, the more SUZUKI`S the better

PM me so we can meet up perhaps?

[gunnyrob]

All looking good. Will need to stop for beer on the way. See you at the auto bahn.

[Crisis management]

Right a brief update on day 1 (cause I'm a soft cock and went home to bed last night..)

Up bright and early to a cloudy but dry morning, pushed the DR outside and the rain started....bloody typical.
Half an hour of applying layers of waterproof stuff to myself I waddled out and set off for papakura. A soggy and dripping group slowly grew to 10 and after a fair bit of procrastination and dampening of the inside of the cafe we wandered off down the motorway.
The little troop consited of 3 DR650's, 1 Suzy Freewind, 1 KTM 950, 1 BMW 1200Gs, 1 BMW1200 adventure, 1 XT? 660, 1 Scrambler and 1 Tiger.

We did have the odd hiccup on the way, the first being a washout before we even got onto the gravel at Tuakau, however with my natural genius at navigation (only surpassed by my modesty) we found our way onto Klondyke road and 30 minutes of tight, hilly gravel in rain and bloody mist.

Bonus points to Gunnyrob who turned up on a clean GS1200 with road tyres...
The conversation went like this
GR: "Is there much gravel on this route?"
Me: "only about 80%"
GR: "Oh good, I need to learn how to ride on gravel, just tell me when we are close to it so I can stop and turn off the ABS"

At this point the DR owners backed into a corner making the sign of the cross to ward of the evils of such technology...

Anyway, he didn't fall off and the GS isn't quite as clean as it was, he did bloody well really!

Back to the story... Bams yet again managed to throw his luggage off the XT and yet again Qckid managed to pick it up for him but also managed to pick up a puncture. I tell you, these rides to Raglan seemed cursed with the puncture hoodoo....
I hate fixing tyres in the mud and rain, the only good bit is the rain washs the mud off fairly quickly!

Now somewhat behind time we continued on our merry and uneventful way down towards Raglan with the rain easing and roads in fair condition, most of the stock seemed to be on their side of the fence this time and everyone settled into a reasonable pace....This meant the all bloody passed me and missed the next turn off!
A select group of mature riders who had maintained a safe and responsible pace waited patiently for these bastids who had disappeared...after some discussion (mostly "lets fuck off quickly in case they find us") we did.

Unfortunately, they saw through our cunning plans and did catch up.
I would like to point out at this stage that GPS navigation will definately get you to the pub 30 minutes after everyone else, I see a fatal flaw in their design! Old bastids with paper maps (and glasses) won that round.

So, lunch at the raglan pub, which is recommended, and then towards Kawhia via the coast road less two of our number who headed back home.
The coast road is always windy and tight but was fairly cut up with some ruts and potholes and mud in layers in places, great fun.

Qckkid had another go at redecorating his DR (this was definately his day) and came away with some nicely placed mud and authentic looking scuff marks.

However the piece de resistance was the aerial display put on by an unnamed GS rider...

White men nor GS's can't jump.

Especialy bloody great pot holes in the middle of the road disguised as mud puddles. Luckily damage was limited to the bike, and we continued in a more sober manner (for at least a couple of minutes) with the slightly wounded being dispatched for home at Te Mata.

We continued down the Old Kawhia road hoping to take a short cut through a couple of fords but high water levels, read a bloody lake, detered us and it was back to the harbour road for the final run to Kawhia (avoiding horses out for walkies by themselves on blind corners).

By great planning we managed to beat the southern crew by a matter of minutes (we were all hours late....) and retired to the bach for drink.

God knows what happened after that as I wandered back up to Auckland before it all got out of hand.

Disclaimer:
1. It's all true and I didn't make any of this up, don't believe the others.
2. No KLR's were hurt in the making of this production.

[Tony W]

Nice report Crisis. Palmy was freezing last night at the 50th I went to.
Which way did you return to Ak, just out of interest?
Regards

[young1]

I am home safe after two fantastic sunny days (for those of us coming from the Naki) of riding. Again big thanks to Triboy, fantastic host but a shocking scrabble player.

Will post more details and photos later.

[dino3310]

Yes a fantastic day indeed, that was my first outing on the old DR and i had a shit load of fun, met some awesome people, saw some pretty cool sights.
big thanks to tri-boy
your a great bunch to ride with i look forward to doing it again soon
(hopefully the road tyre will be gone by then)

[offrd]

Home safe also! Was a great run thru Puriora forest on the way home!

Awesome weekend Triboy and Kanny, Thank you VERY much!

Good to meet up with many new faces !!

The little GS-D had no spills , even with marks behind the bars!

Man that DT was a blast!, at least i cleaned the carbon out of the pipe

[Cary]

Yep, herehere to all of us for a great weekend. Thanks again to Iain for leading us down on Saturday.

Thanks Brent & Kanny for hosting us and organizing the ride, food, accommodation, beers & great weather

Special thanks to those strapping lads for dragging the Tiger out of the soft sand, two times on a beach and two times stuck

Finished the day of with a quick run up the 22 (to avoid the boring run up SH1)

[tri boy]

Home too. Scrambler roughly washed. And I have left over apple crumble to desert later. Will post pic's later once I come down from my riding high.
To the crew that made the last 48hrs into a special weekend, thank you, truly.
Days like that just don't come often enough.
Cheers.

[xwhatsit]

Pics pics pics pics pics?!?!



I'm v. jealous.

[tri boy]

As you wish.
The Scrabble game will do Hitcher's head in.

[deanohit]

As you wish.
The Scrabble game will do Hitcher's head in.

Another successful ride with Triboys Tours then?

Good going guys, I'm looking forward to seeing the pics.

[mr gooster]

Hi to everyone I met and rode with on the Saturday.Thorouhly enjoyable day even if Mr Goosters adrenaline level exceeded his riding abilty at onepoint.Amazing what pride can do. I managed to pick up a 220kg bike off its right hand side remount from the right side and get going again before anyone caught up and found me sprawled on the edge of the road.
I went into a right hander way too quick all locked up, and it was a case of going over a steep bank or laying it down.Got home 6.30 pm. after 550km and an awesome days riding.
Catch all again sometime.