Thomson's Motorcycle Museum

The last Ulysses ride of the year was to a privately owned motorcycle at Rongotea.

The first stop was at Shannon and at the second turn we had lost 2 riders and tail end.  Then after tail end arrived we lost the rider who was with us.  Ah GPS and people not following instructions.

After viewing the bikes in the museum I followed Steve across the track to Masterton.  Had food and coffee at a neat cafe in First Street.  Experienced a 5.x earthquake why sitting outside the cafe.  I got home at 4.30pm and needed to rehydrate - it was a very hot ride.

Trip 347kms, moving average 80.3Kms,  4.8L/100Kms

Loop to Celtic

Friday, my day off and the weather forecast was for 17 to 22 C over the route.

I left home around 0900 and headed off to the Rimutakas.   It was cloudy and cool over the hill and then generally cloudy and a little cool up to Eketahuna.  I went the back way from Masterton via Mauriceville to Eketahuna.  Had coffee and a bit of carrot cake in Eketahuna and meet another biker who lives in Pahiatua and had ridden down to Eketahuna for coffee and cake.

After coffee and the chat I called Sam at Celtic and he was at his home office so 15 minutes later I arrived.  Sam made an adjustment to my leathers and then I headed back to Pahiatua and over the  track to take SH1 home.  The weather improved once over the track and temperature rose to a nice comfortable level.

Odometer for the trip 347kms, moving average 78.5 and the bike has done over 20,000kms.

Friday ride to Palmerston North

It was a bit of a shopping trip today with a stop at Te Horo, Levin and Palmerston North.  A mandatory visit was made to Anza Motorcycles and Suzuki to check out what was on display.

It was a nice ride and an interesting stop in Shannon for lunch where I meet a couple riding back home to Auckland from the South Island and stopping at Napier on the way.  They had done a motorcycle tour of India.

The bike odo is now; 19830kms. 

Monday on the road

The weather cleared.  A nice day for a shopping ride to the Hutt and the long way home.  Bike odo is now 19544.

Haywards loop on a warm Sunday afternoon

I had an hour free so what better than do the loop and include a loop up Grays road and back.   The air temp was 21 C; just perfect with one layer and leather.

Saturday to WMC

Just a quiet ride into the city and a visit to WMC. 

TCWNR to Paraparaumu

Video Camera on stem

Ulysses Meeting

Tuesday

Capital 1000km cruise

Yesterday I did the 1000Km ride with about 40 others.  The route started from the Caltex station on SH2 at the start of the Rimutakas.  The ride went to over the Rimutakas and to – Masterton – Pongaroa* - Waipawa - Patangata* - Wairoa* - Woodville - Pemberton* - Ohingaiti*  and finished at the Parrot and Jigger in Lower Hutt. Note: * is a photo stop to provide evidence you did the full ride.

The heavy southerly storm overnight meant a few decided to pull out.  I had studied the weather forecast and decided that while the ride will start in cold temps and rain the weather situation will improve during the day.  The roads around Pongaroa were littered with branches blown down during the storm.  Bikes managed to get through.   Most of the way to Waipawa I rode on my own and past one rider who was too slow and had poor lines through the corners.  At Waipawa I caught up with Steve and then at Bayview Steve, Barry and I rode the section to Wairoa and back.  I had to stop at Bayview for fuel and then teamed up with John for the run to Woodville where we both fuelled up again.  From Woodville I rode with John and Steve to Ohingiati and then back to the finish.

It was a long day and a great ride.   I am not sure if I will do it again;  700kms for me is a nice ride.

The trip computer stats:
Average overall 79.0km/hr, moving average 94.8km/hr, time stopped 1 hour 50mins, Odo 1038km.

 Patangata

Wairoa

 Pemberton

Ohingaiti










Videos to follow.

TCWNR

30 bikes on today's ride.   Most of them headed to Featherston but I came home from the meeting point.  My excuse for the ride was to see who was there and make sure the bike was okay for the 1000km ride on Saturday.

18,000km Service

The bike went into the shop last Thursday for a Service.  An air filter had to be ordered so the bike was not available that day and as I was going away on Friday for the weekend the bike was left at the shop.

Today I picked it up having been serviced and fitted with an expensive cleanable air filter.  As well as that the Scottoiler unit was replaced and reinstalled under the seat where is should have been. Good service from WMC as they fixed the problem with the Scottoiler and didn't charge me for that.

This afternoon I did a 70km loop up SH1, over the paikak hill and back on SH1.  This was a test of average speed in preparation for the Capital 1K Cruise next weekend.   My overall average was 68.4Km, moving average 73.9 and stopped time 4.4 minutes.    My average on the 12km section from Porirua to Jville was 109, so this illustrates how difficult it is to maintain a high average even with higher speeds on the easy roads.  I am planning for the C1K to have 60 minutes stopped and a moving average of 85km/hr.