Weekend rides

I could only fit in a couple of short rides this weekend. On Sunday the Ulysses club had a ride I had to miss as it was from 9.30am and finished with a BBQ; pity as it would have been a good day.

Instead at 4.00pm Saturday Alan and I did a ride to Makara and return via Karori. Had a coffee at Makara. Sunday another ride at 3.45pm over to Alan's and then to Wainuiomata and return home. Got home at 6.00pm.

Tonight I went out for a short ride down the Oharua Road and up to the access road to Kaukau and then down to Tawa. In Tawa did the slow riding and braking exercises in the Dress Mart car park and then home. I was only out for 35 minutes.

Got this photo from Narelle. It has been enhanced in Photoshop and looks great.

TCWNR - large turnout

It was a very good turnout this week with 35 bikes getting to the Tin Hutt. The ride was at a good pace on the way over; it has been too fast in previous rides. I took a few pics to show the bikes at the Duck Pond and the Tin Hutt.

I rode back with Buckbuck and Slayer. It was a nice medium pace over the hill. Once we got to the outskirts of Upper Hutt Slayer we stopped for a discussion on technique etc and then Slayer and I headed home.

Too busy to post

I have been a bit slack on updating the blog. So this is a bit of a catch up.

Sunday 11th went for a ride with Alan up the Paekakariki Hill road to the lookout. A great view and a few other people there. We watched two super sports bike come up the hill very fast.
Wednesday 14th did the evening cruisy ride with Kiwi bikers to the Tin Hutt. The days are closing in now with less daylight from a few weeks back.

Thursday 15th I went to the Ulysses meeting in Petone. Drove there in the car and found almost everyone arrives on a bike. Next meeting I will ride to. A good group and a nice casual meeting.

Saturday. Fitted a Stebel Air Horn. Very loud. That is what the photo is of.

Sunday 18th a ride around Whitemans Valley with Alan and stopped at the Harley Ride cafe in Avian Road. Every rider who is out in the Blue Mountains needs to visit as there is a good display of old bikes; Triumph, Indian, Harley.

TCWNR

It was 25 degrees today. Extraordinary for Wellington. So a ride was on.

The group for this week's ride included many who I had not seen before. The good weather is bringing out the bikes. We headed off to the Tin Hutt Pub out of Featherston. On one of the last few corners nearing the summit of the Rimutakas a cop was watching a corner at the end of a passing lane. I passed a car leading up to the corner and stayed in my lane around the bend. It will be interesting to see if any of the riders gets ticketed for something. Some were going very quickly on that section of the road.

Back home by 9.15pm

Sunday pm ride to Palmerston North

At 1.30pm Alan and I went for a ride to explore the Saddle Road and Pahiatua Track. Once we got to the roundabout at Manu we discovered there was more traffic on the road than normal. It was visitors returning home from the Sevens Rugby. Traffic was slow and stop start to Otaki and heavy up to Levin. We turned off at Levin and headed into Palmerston. There was a bit of rain and the sky towards the Saddle Road looked like rain. So we stopped in Palmerston North had a coffee and headed back to Wellington. Back home just after 8.00pm.

The Saddle Road and Pahiatua Track will have to be explored another day.

Wednesday night cruisy ride and Friday

I am a bit late posting this update.

The Wednesday night ride was a canter out on the Wainuiomata Coast Road. It was blowing a goodly gale, which was why we didn't go up the Rimutakas. Nice tail wind on the way down and a more-than-decent headwind on the return. Parrot & Jigger for refreshments and for some a meal afterwards, together with the local HOG chapter. About 14 bikes all told attended the ride.

Yesterday (Friday) was a lovely day for a ride. Just after midday I headed up the coast to Waitarere Beach (a few kms north of Levin). Spent just a few minutes looking at the beach and headed back getting fuel in Levin. I got back at 4.00pm having stopped for a much needed coffee in Plimmerton. A total distance of 205kms In the evening I fitted in another run around Johnsonville and Levin. On this outing I did a bit of practice stopping and then in the Dressmart car park some low speed maneourving. Total kilometres for the day of 240.

Ride with Ulysses

This was to be a long day. I left home at 9.00am and headed to Caltex Rimutaka to meet with Alan and John, who is a member of Ulysses. After fueling up we went up the road a few hundred metres to the meeting point for the ride.

I met Ron who is the coordinator for the Ulysses group and Steve who I had previously met on a couple of Kiwibiker rides. There were 5 other Ulysses members on the ride. A membership form was completed and I need to attend one more Ulysses event to qualify for membership.

We departed at 10.00am and did a quick blast over the hill to regroup in Featherston.
Then we were off to Masterton where we took the bypass and rode on to Eketahuna for the first stop. Alan and I topped up with fuel there and the group then headed up the highway to the Mangamaire turnoff and through Balance to Woodville where we had lunch at the Boots 'n Braces. The pace was quicker than I thought it would be.

The Return trip was via SH2 to Pahiatua where we diverted through Tane & Alfredton to Masterton then on to Martinborough for a Coffee. The last section through Gladstone was a spirted ride with Steve (Hayabusa) and me at the front, both enjoying the sweeping bends. We stopped at the Summit and Caltex for fuel on the way home. This trip added 410Kms and the bike has now done just over 3000kms.


Dennis and bike at lunch.














Alan and the Harley















Martinborough for refreshments and a much needed rest.

Just another week

I was away for the long weekend, so no bike ride. On Wednesday night I went on the Kiwibiker ride and we went over the the Tin Hutt Pub out of Featherston. It was a good ride over and the weather was great in Featherston although we could see a lot of heavy cloud back towards Wellington.

On the trip back it rained steadily through the Upper Hutt area but stopped raining my Johnsonville.

Thursday night Alan called by and I rode back around the inlet and Haywards with him.

On Friday evening I fitted a Ventura pack frame and have an RJays Explorer bag to go on it. The first test of this will be tomorrow (Sunday) when I go on a ride with the Ulysses group.