I had my first weekend rides in nearly a month, and obviously the weather has been keeping most of the other bikers off the roads too, because today there were bikers galore. Yesterday I decided to attend the funeral of Paul Kenny, in Masterton. I went to school with him and he was Harley rider who came to grief whilst returning from from the Cold Duck Rally. It was a very big turnout to send him off and quite a nice touch when the 20+ Harley Riders provided a Side-Carriage Hearse and escort. He had obviously touched many lives. Today we went on the Ulysses ride through Martinborough and round the Water Towers. We left home at 0919 and stopped for a fill at Caltex Rimutaka where both the Kiwibiker and E-Rider groups were congregating. They both looked like they were getting good turnouts as we continued on to our meeting point at the Brown Owl shops and were surprised to see 15 bikes there because we normally only get 5 to 10. That was at 0950 and by the time we departed at about 1010, we had 27 bikes in the group. We got away early in the group and I passed the leaders just before the bottom of the hill so as not to get stuck in traffic. I wasn't 'pushing it' but we nipped along at the top end of the 'comfortable' range, still managing a wee moment as I went to pass a bus and having kicked down to 2nd , the front started to rise as I booted it, thanks to being on a rise with Ann on the back. We made good time over the hill for the first regroup in Featherston, then heading out of there, took a position near the back of the group and stayed as a link between some of the slower riders and the rest of the group. It was a great day with clear skies and the temp getting up to 15°, but some places hadn't seen any sun for a while and one had to be careful to avoid any green patches. Lunch at the Gladstone Pub was great, sitting in the beer garden, and we had a pleasant trip home via the 'middle' road to Martinborough and another nice nip over the hill. I managed over 500Kms for the weekend, getting back home with the economy at 16.1 K/Ltr, and 42,353 Kms on the bike.
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These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
January 2017
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