Today was scheduled as the Ulysses Long Ride for the month, which meant an 0930 start from Brown Owl which in turn meant getting up early, for a Sunday, to get ready, have a feed and aim to leave home around 0840 to give me plenty of time to fill-up on the way. It wasn't far to our lunch destination at Mt Bruce Bird Park but after a short discussion, we decided to stretch it out by heading over the 'hill', regrouping in Featherston, riding out to Martinborough then taking Ponatahi Rd to Masterton, using the bypass and LoopLine to go via Mauriceville, Alfredton, Hamua and back to Mt Bruce. Steve led 15 of us out with myself at TEC and we had our first withdrawl at the top of the hill with the rider not appearing comfortable on the wet road. After the regroup in Featherston, another rider & pillion decided to take the short route to Masterton as they had only planned to ride there anyway, so I headed off in pursuit of the rest and had quickish but uneventful ride through Martinborough to Masterton, with yet another rider heading back to Wgtn from the East Taratahi Rd turnoff. When I pulled up for the next regroup at the Mobil on the Masterton Bypass, I was surprised to see Neil filling-up.....since when does an ST need gas after just over 100Kms…..he must be getting as forgetful as Red Fred…..or really really pushing it….eh Red Neil?? and the other thing was, there were now only 10 bikes, so we lost another 2?? Was it the weather, was it the pace or just no marker at the by-pass turn?
The weather was still clear but it looked a bit marginal to the North so I put my pvc pants on (just in case) and we headed on for Mauriceville, taking it easy on the wet roads which had a scattering of loose stuff as well. We paused in Alfredton and rode on towards Tane, but when it came time to head through Rongomai, we continued on to Pahiatua instead, to avoid the rain on the minor roads, then headed back to Mt Bruce on SH2. After a bite to eat and chewing the fat for a bit, we split up and headed for home and I diverted back through Masterton to visit my Mum, finally getting home at 1630 after doing 372Km for the day at an average of 17.8K/Ltr. 47,358Kms now racked up on the ST.
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These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
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