After basically being off the bike for 6 months ….and still being on blood thinners, I figured I better work my way back into the biking, so with Saturday being a nice day I started out by scrubbing all the dust and stuff off the beast, then after lunch, I tapped my toe on the seal by going for a restrained scoot over the Paekak’ Hill, back via Haywards, then over to Featherston and back.
It’s quite some time since I’ve been on the Paekak’ Hill road and although it’s posted with a 60kph limit, it was a good place to start, being narrowish, curly’ish, with a generous smattering of loose crap and tar snakes. Yes, well one could say that it kept me on my toes, the view at the top was spectacular with it being such a nice day and although I didn’t feel ‘in the groove’, I didn’t really feel out of it either. The Rimutakas was more good riding, with a clean surface, wider lanes to use and there wasn’t too much traffic. Coming back I caught a chappy with ‘Instructor’ emblazoned on the back of his jacket and he was herding four …? ….students I guess. They eventually let me through on a passing lane, then a few of the cars eased over for me to slip through, but there were a few ignorant prats after that, that left no room at all and since I was in conservative and behave-yourself mode, I just pootled behind them until I was off the hill. Nice wee re-intro outing though, doing around 175km. Sunday was the Wellington Ulysses ‘Local’ MDA Ride to take Christmas presents to the children in the city and Kapiti areas. The day was absolute crap ….but it was supposed to clear around 1000 and although I wasn’t particularly keen to go, I felt I needed to as it was likely that many others wouldn’t bother. (I suppose I should note that I’ve been involved in these rides since 2005 and have had a lot to do with the fundraising and ride-planning that goes with it). It didn’t make it any better when someone residing with me demanded that I didn’t go ….but she sort of relented in the end, so off I went, suitably attired for the conditions ….except for Rain-Off gloves, because they decided to fall apart, I threw them out, then forgot to buy more. I was a little late getting away from home but spotted some familiar bikes at BP Mana, so I pulled in and ‘waved’ to the boys who were seated along the window (a bit like those clones that one used to get at the side-shows!!) Anyway, I needed to take the opportunity to go in and apply anti-fog stuff to the visor and clean the specs and inside of the visor as both had a liberal coating of water droplets since I had to continually crack the visor open to clear the fogging. I did that and as soon as I was back on the bike, the visor was fogged again within 10 seconds!!! I pulled into the Plimmerton Weigh Station to find one car and one bike waiting, plus the other three, so figured, ‘lucky I came!’ Another reason I figured ‘Lucky I came’ was when I mentioned to the car peoples that there was an error on the GPS file, to which they replied, “it’s alright, we don’t have a GPS”. Then I mentioned it to the riders and there answer was, “We couldn’t download the file!” *Sigh* …I guess that meant I had to lead! So we pootled off to the Ohau area about 0900, through more miserable weather, made the drop and socialised with the family ….for about 5-10 minutes too long, then we headed back to Wgtn. I say 5-10 mins too long because when we got to Pukerua Bay and the traffic was stopped. We waited for a bit, then I shuffled back next to the car and said, “Ring me, I’ll just filter up to see what’s going on.” They rang as I got to the top of the rise, I pushed go (on the GPS) and I hit stop! Didn’t matter because the police had closed the road so I went back and indicated to the group to turn around, waited to regroup by the shops, then headed back to take the Paekak’ Hill road ….and that was closed to ….so we made our way to a Paekak’ Café. Traffic eventually started to move (after about an hour and a half) so we made our way to the bikes to resume the ride (after previously turning it off and letting the parents know). It was one of those occasions that one was glad to be on a bike as we filtered past kilometer after kilometer of crawling traffic, then put the waders on to get through the Plimmerton round-about, then we ended up waiting in J’ville for the car (with Santa) to arrive. By this time the day was brilliant sunshine and soaring temperature, we managed to complete three of the four remaining children, then finished up at Jim & Colleen’s for a coffee and snacks. I can’t say that the ride was particularly pleasant or fun, but visiting these children with Muscular Dystrophy and their families is special, so it was all very much worth the effort.
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This blog is pretty much just about motorcycling ...but every now and then I might rant or dribble on about other things. Categories
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