What a day

[Kendog]

The plan:
Meet a friend in town, ride over to the Rappa to meet Elle33f, Lissa and biggles1, ride to Lake Ferry for lunch then ride home to clean bikes and watch A1GP and cricket.

The actual:
All went to plan right up to the ride home stage. We were in Martinborough and heard the Taka's were closed and would not open for a couple of hours, so we decided to go over to Gladstone for a drink. There we here the road may be closed for another 3 or 4 hours, so Mrs KD, my friend and I decided to go to Masterton and ride round the Palmy way since it was such a nice day.
We get to Masterton and hear the road could be closed till 10pm, but may be open at 5pm. Mrs KD decides so is going to wait for the road to open or at worst stay with Elle335 and come back tomorrow.

So off my friend and I go, within 10 minutes it started raining and did not stop raining the entire way back. Wearing only leathers over a teeshirt was not the best, and when I got home I discovered the dye in the jacket had run onto my shirt and my arms.
o
The track in the rain and fog was no fun, but it got worse once we got onto SH1. The traffic was crawling as we passed two accidents. Just after Paraparam we witnessed an accident with a car crashing into the medium concrete wall destroying the front of it. Amazingly the two occupants got out ok. Some witnesses described the vehicle that cut them off and asked if I would go get the license plate, so I took off and got the driver to turn around and go back. Turned out to the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident was a friend of the guy I was riding with, so he decided to stay.

So off home I rode, got onto the motorway and noticed the bike was not turning like it should. This slowly got worse so I nursed her home to discover the front was flat.

What a day.

[98tls]

Crickets not bad though eh....................

[Lissa]

Glad you made it back ok Nigel... sorry to hear it didnt go all that well... darn tyre! When's Trudi getting back?

The ride to Lake Ferry and Gladstone was excellent... thanks guys. Next time will be even better.

[stevedee]

Mate that sucks BUT you are alive, healthy and there is always another weekend to enjoy. It's been a bad day out there for a few people, I got out there early and back to paint the house, have been listening on the radio about the Takas all afternoon while painting.

See you out there. tomorrow will be better.

spd:-)

[Kendog]

Crickets not bad though eh....................

Going ok at the moment. But I have a feeling Aussie will still dick us.

[Kendog]

Glad you made it back ok Nigel... sorry to hear it didnt go all that well... darn tyre! When's Trudi getting back?

The ride to Lake Ferry and Gladstone was excellent... thanks guys. Next time will be even better.

Trudi will come back tomorrow.

[Edbear]

"The best laid plans of mice and men..." Makes my weekend seem tame! Oh, that's right, it was.

Glad you're all okay!

[Kendog]

Mate that sucks BUT you are alive, healthy and there is always another weekend to enjoy. It's been a bad day out there for a few people

Funny you should say that, a few times as I was riding along thinking how bad this was I thought of the people involved in the crash on the Takas. Put things into perspective.

[Madness]

Ya should have stayed on the Taka's, it was great fun being the ONLY vehicle on the hill!

[98tls]

Cricket just got a little better mate...............

[Lissa]

Ya should have stayed on the Taka's, it was great fun being the ONLY vehicle on the hill!

How did you manage that??

[magicfairy]

Me and BusaJim just got home, turned around at Featherston after a trip to
Tora, came home via Pahiatua track like Nigel. Wet, cold, slow trip, glad to be home safe. Glad tomorrow's a holiday.

[chanceyy]

seen all the cars & bikes coming past my place .. here it is 10.45pm & there is still a steady stream heading past ... not a nice afternoon at all .. that nice fine misty rain .. felt for you guys

[Madness]

How did you manage that??

I was one of several bikes at the summit when the accident occured & the road was closed off at either end. After a few hours of drinking coffee, talking rubbish etc. everybody else buggered off. The Police eventually led the cars down past the accident site (the ones that had been waiting at the summit) and all but me & Johnno from WMCC were left at the top. I got around 4 or 5 runs to the bottom & back with the road completely EMPTY. It was nice & dry too, little wind & nice & mild temperature. Last time I go up there without a full tank, I could have had so much more fun, alas I only had half a tank.

[biggles1]

Thanks guys for the neat ride yesterday. Mark and I finally got let over the the hill just after 10.30 pm it was a very long day. Great that today is a holiday or I would have called in sick.No riding today I feel.