250 ride, Sunday the 3rd/12/06

[Theatre]

Great ride guys, cheers to McJim and Mav for organising and Gremlin for leading the quicker group. Have to get another nice summer ride in before I gap overseas!

[toymachine]

I tell ya I was sore heading home after that one! (had a full scenic drive run detour), good run... people still getting caught out by the left hander in the gorge lol.. (yes I was one )

Good to catch up with ya'll, sorry I didn't catch much names etc..

[El Dopa]

Great ride, really enjoyed myself.

Fortunately my bike decided to crap out near to home at the end of the day and not at the beginning. I ended up pushing it a couple of K's along Quay Street to works garage....dead alternator?

[McJim]

Great ride, really enjoyed myself.

Fortunately my bike decided to crap out near to home at the end of the day and not at the beginning. I ended up pushing it a couple of K's along Quay Street to works garage....dead alternator?

Shoulda bought a Honda

[El Dopa]

Shoulda bought a Honda

I've owned a Honda. It was shit.

Not much in the mood for banter now that I'm catching up on the bad news. Sorry.

[alamony]

Nice ride today, was great to meet a few more KBers. Sorry I didn't stop after leaving Kaiaua I was on a mission! I look forward to catchin up with yas on the next ride. Re the tragic weekend, my thoughts and condolences go out to the friends and families of those involved. Please take care out there.

[Donor]

Well, what a hell of a day!

It began with coffee. Good coffee. Coffee that was 24 hours late, but it began with coffee none the less.

Toodled to the BP with the esteemed Blue Thunder, who was to become our Medic, TEC and general all round bloody nice guy, and hooked up with a few guys and a gal.

By the time I had topped up the tank and had a quick ass scratch, I was in danger of not being able to get a park, as a mystic portal opened, and the legions of the 250 poured forth and filled the air with the smell of brimstone... well okay, exhaust fumes. (Not a bloody patch on that good 'ol 2 stroke perfume though)

After the essential coffees/power drinks/last minute dunny stops, it was left to the surprisingly loud (he's usually SO timid) McJim to round up the masses for a well received briefing. He must have used his outside voice, as it managed to attract a couple of stragglers off the road - don't know if they were ours, probably just didn't dare ride past for fear of Tartan Retribution!

Departed the BP, and headed off toward Whitford. Conquered Whitford, so set forth to spank Clevedon, then Kawakawa Bay.

Should mention here before the rumors start, yes, I *DID* get the shit scared out of me by a Ginny backfiring whilst heading downhill on some twisties.

Twice.

Anyhoo... managed to wear a stone to the visor about 3km out of Kawakawa Bay, courtesy of the Vamr mobile, highlights the importance of that staggered riding!

Everything else was pretty unremarkable, I managed to get to Kaiaua and back 3 times before everyone else even got halfway... okay okay, I rode like a freaking NANA! Today was the first time I have navigated what *I* would call serious twisties.

Had the lovely lady Lucy behind me on her mighty steed, managed to lose sight of her in my mirrors about 20km out of Kaiaua, so backed off and caught her up, swapped positions with her, and mate... that girl can ride... she was whipping round corners without brakes where I was personally praying to the gods of Hydraulics to save me from impending peril, or worse, making a twat of myself. (That happened later, explain in a minute...)

So we made it to Kaiaua safe and well. This of course was helped by the tail wind kindly supplied by a fat-ass C90 Boulevard stretching its legs on the straights a few km out of town, thanks Simon!

Lunch was all good, had a chin wag with Vamr and... Al... sorry mate, forgotten your KB name. Mind you, I barely remember mine sometimes.

After the nosh up was done, and the L&P had released it's last belch from below, the crowd geared up, saddled up, and the chippy folk sighed a breath of relief, and dreamed fond dreams of early retirement after our grazing frenzy.

I saw a group bugger off, thought "Yay, there go the FAST guys".

I saw another group go - "Yay, there go the INTERMEDIATE guys".

I saw another group go - "Huzzah, that's us, onward proud newbies!!"...

...sigh...

About 1km down the road, I realised quite quickly, that the first group I had seen, was the first portion of the intermediate skilled mob.

Yes, I had tagged onto the end of the "bigger boys".

Managed to practice a few high speed... okay, 50-60km/h... overtakes past Nana and her bowling club mates on some nice long straight patches, so it was all good, and finally re-joined the grown ups along with a puzzled looking Mav at Kawakawa bay.

Jumped back into the right group, and tailed GIJoe back to Clevedon, which was brilliant - he takes some nice lines, heightened my awareness of patches of shininess on the tarmac, and thanks to his riding, an sage words, has brought my cornering along nicely.

Dropped out at the Shell in Clevedon, as it was more economical for me to head straight back to Papakura, where I promptly fell into a bourbon.

Lessons learned today:

1) Cornering is easy. It only becomes hard when you fail to use the basics. Basics are CALLED basics because that's what they are. Point your head in the direction you are going. Lean. Use a bit of throttle to bring you round, the bike LIKES to be made to do the work, and it saves those WIIIIIIDE corners that make you feel silly, or even worse hurt.

2) Staggered riding when on a large ride works and is a very good idea. The stone I wore in my visor was unavoidable, as both Vamr and I were approaching a corner, and due to the build up of loose metal, lines were few and far between. Had it been on a straight, it would have sailed merrily past me, without causing any concern.

3) Look after your fellow riders. If the person behind lags, slow up. This has a domino effect from the rear to the front, and nobody is going to mind slowing their fun a little when the welfare of a team member is at question.

4) GNs are fucking loud when they backfire. I hate GNs when they backfire.

5) Remember your place. Take better stock of your group leaders, mid pointers if you have one, and your TEC - he may be there to look after the flock, but he still needs someone keeping an eye out for him too!

Thanks go to Simon and Fiona on the Boulevard, and Steve and Christine on the Trike - appreciate the baby sitting guys, I know it must have been hard throttling back, but it was awesome knowing we had you there to keep us on the straight and narrow.

And now for the unpleasant bit.

3 KB family members have fallen this weekend.

I extend love and condolences to the families, friends and associates who were close to these folks.

Losing a loved one is the hardest thing in the world. They leave us memories, but memories are no substitute for the physical.

I have never met any of the gentlemen who left us this weekend, but I know that a great many of the KB family have.

As such, I know that the knowledge and information passed from the 3 to other KBers, will eventually filter through to others on two wheels.

This can be part of their legacy to the Motorcycling world.

Let the good things they have shared with us, become part of our ever expanding base of learning, and remember them with fondness, for that's what friends do.

Rest well guys - and thank you.

Enough from me, til next ride, everyone stay safe.

D.

[Blue Thunder]

To all the guys and gals on todays 250 ride.
Thanks for putting up with someone with just a few more cc's to spare, it was a pleasure seeing a well organised session aimed at getting the newbies out and about and riding in a safe even if unfamiliar teritory.
Great to see such numbers enjoying the day, and hopefully learning some new skills or honeing those recently acquired. Nice to see that my professional help was not required on anyone (keep that up).
The scoff at Kaiaua was as usuall brilliant and only matched by the weather.
Maverick: well done on arranging a great day.
Donor: if you want the wing mirror back that I sucked off your machine as I passed your sorry bright yellow ass. Its still in my saddle bag
Everyone else sorry forgot all the names (old age is a bugger of a thing!) hope to see you out on the streets sometime.

[Chickadee]

Thanks to all that attended today, awesome ride - looking forward to the next opportunity (with babysitters for our weeins).

Really enjoyed using what I've learned from the BRONZ RRRS course and definitely learned heaps, some of the corners were a little scary for a newbie, but taking it easy and we all got there and back safe and sound.

Cheers to GIJOE1313 for leading the way for us slowbies. Guess I might be moving up a group, for a newbie I'm (apparently) not such a Nana.

Had an unwanted hitch hiker in my helmet, plenty of dead bugs on the helmet and realised one of the wee buggers got in a vent and after stopping and trying to evict, the wee bugger was still persisting on catching a free lift, it was sitting on the nose guard inside the helmet when hubby McJim spotted the wee bugger and gave it the flick. Thanks babe! Didn't really enjoy having a wee insect buzzing around my face, at least the Oakleys saved me from getting icky bug eye.

Looking forward to seeing you on the next available newbie ride. LOL
Chickadee/Mrs McJim/Christine

Condolences to the family and friends of the 3 bikers that we sadly lost this weekend. Saw LooseBruce only a couple of hours before tragedy struck, still can't believe it. Took the family out to Miranda for a swim when we saw them parked up waiting for riders. Stopped for a quick hello. RIP.

[tide]

A Big thanks to Mav, McJim for an Awesome day.

It was my first ride out with a group and was enjoyed , althougth a bit sore , but hey a small price to pay for an enjoyable day.

Thank you to gijoe1313 for leading the slowies and to the guys from the Ulysses club bringing up the rear, much apprieated knowing there was a lot of exprience behind me.


Pity a great weekend was sadden by the news of 3 Bikers that lost their lives, condolences to their families...

Deon

[zeocen]

Everything else was pretty unremarkable, I managed to get to Kaiaua and back 3 times before everyone else even got halfway... okay okay, I rode like a freaking NANA! Today was the first time I have navigated what *I* would call serious twisties.

I agree, there were some serious bad decisions on my part in the first installment of those twisties.. there were 2 times when I had to convince myself I could corner tighter, I think the most part for me was just not knowing the road - gotta take things much slower I think!

I too was watching Lucy for the most part on the way to kaiaua, we'd get into some twists and suddenly the bright jacket of hope has disappeared! Great cornering!

Are pics of the rides usually posted in the same thread or are they in another forum all together? Just seeing all the bikes cuddled up together was great for my first group ride


I'd also like to extend my condolences to the families of the ones lost. I didn't know the bikers personally but it goes without saying that it's never good when tragedies like this happen.

[Donor]

For what they are worth - crap phone camera!

*The Gang
*The overflow of The Gang
*Daisy the 2 stroke sex goddess
*Miss Lucy Mobile

[gijoe1313]

I'll get the photos posted up - just my heart is feeling a little heavy from the losses to our family of free spirited, like-minded souls. I have a lot of photos from the two days of riding I have done this weekend, I feel it's superfluous - but then I think ... those bikers would have wanted us to keep enjoying what gets us out there. When so many others would not bother or consider, bikers test themselves to get out and learn more and put it into practice, and then, go out and learn some more!

So, yes! I will post them up! Watch this space!

[gijoe1313]

For what they are worth - crap phone camera!

*The Gang
*The overflow of The Gang
*Daisy the 2 stroke sex goddess
*Miss Lucy Mobile

Hey! Good effort! Now as I recall from a wise old hand here on the forum, when I posted my first piccies - need to edit/white paste/delete any licence plate numbers from the shots! I was sorta but hey! No worries, we all gotta learn someplace!

Not a dig, but trying to protect our secret biker identities!

Righto - now for my horrid selections of photos! Now after all that, I fergit to charge me battery up and only took *8* photos in total! And most of them have McJim in it! Is there nothing he won't stoop to and try to be in *ALL* of the twofiddy ride piccies!?

Methinks we will have to carry a cardboard cut-out of McJim permanently to have his scottish presence around!

Note the use of matrix style art direction! The last two were in Kaiaua, before my camera ran outta go-juice! Damn! Where is that electric mango I coulda got a recharge from?

[Donor]

Sorted guvnor