And so the countdown continues to NZ...
...looking forward to an early December return.
Summer in Korea was unfeasibly hot this year which wasn't helped by the fact that Daegu city, in a valley, is both the hottest and coldest part of the country in summer and winter. You probably don't want to know, as you were all freezing this winter, but with temperatures rising as high as 38 degrees here, it was a struggle to don the leathers to beat my favourite roads. It's a tough gig but someone's got to do it.
However, there was a period of about 3 weeks of non-stop torrential downpours owing to the summer monsoon season. The rain kept temperatures to a mercifully cool 30-32 degrees but this meant humidity also went through the roof. The sticky, inescapable muggy weather can really suck the ride out of even the most determined riders, but the hardcore amongst us were not to be deterred and we still braved our favourite twisties like the gluttons for punishment we are.
After the rain stopped and while on a group ride to the former Silla kingdom capital of Gyeongju (practically an open-air museum and well worth checking out if you're ever in Korea), just east of Daegu city we got caught in more torrential downpours - the rain was hoofing down. With Wellington weather riding XP, I wasn't too fazed so I just backed-off a bit but the rest of the group slowed down to a snail's pace; if they'd gone any slower the bikes would just tip over, I swear.
In preparation for returning to NZ, I have sold the 125cc R1-lookalike Yamuda Exiv, so now it's just me and the CBR600RR.
Last weekend I met up with a bunch of riders for a club ride, meeting at a shop in the middle of town called Z-Bike.
After meeting the guys at 10am and doing the usual pissing-around waiting for stragglers, we were off in the direction of Hapcheon Dam - a road I've ridden once before in the freezing winter but this time we were doing it in reverse. Kind of a reverse-Coromandel loop ride.
Leaving Daegu city and heading west, we stopped for gas. I filled up and got out of blast radius quickly when I noticed the ZX10 rider lighting up a smoke while the fuel attendant was pumping gas. No idea some folks...
Once out of the city, the B-roads were smooth, fast and wide, turning into tight twisties with nice banking so you can really tip the bike on its ear.
I didn't notice straight away that I was the 'smallest' of the group on my 600, the others were on R1s, ZX10, and GSXR1000 but the way they were charging on ahead was giving me some serious 1000cc envy, especially when the ZX10 rider stuffed up the inside of me on a sweeper.
I got a bit over-zealous and ran a bit wide on a couple of hairpins that unexpectedly tightened up. After that I took it easy.
Group met up in a big wide-open carpark at the summit after crossing the Hapcheon Dam. It was there that the lead rider proved that the CBR600 could do wheel-stands off the throttle - no more excuses for me now...
More wheelstands, burnouts and other non-PC behavior later and a crowd of tourists rolled up on a bus and stopped to watch. Some young ladies run over "Wow! So cool", so GSXR-guy says "Shall I give you a ride?"
She must have nearly wet her self (or something) because she got off (no pun intended) weak-kneed and grinning from ear to ear after a couple of laps of the carpark.Ah... more 1000 envy.
A feed and a relaxed ride back to Daegu and all is well with the world again.
That's probably it for ride reports from Korea - I'll be home soon and between now and then there's packing, flights, job-hunting, a wedding (mine) and more.
Watch out for this week's Korea International Motorcycle Show thread coming soon~!
'till then, take it easy~!
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Originally Posted by skelstar
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