Lunch in Apiti for 7..6..5…but not Ken!

After yesterday’s delightful ride, it was easy to gear up again this morning for the Uly Long ride  to Apiti, except today I needed the wets as well. I was up and away by 0900 to fill at BP Mana and when I got there, I received a text from Ken to say “My girl won’t start this am. Battery I think. If I get going I’ll catch youse up.” Needless to say, he didn’t, ....and as an ex teacher of teachers, I feel he needs a visit from the BDOTGNZA’s!! Really Ken, with an ‘e’ on the end, yous will end up sounding like louse!
 
Anyway, I filled then pootled to the Weigh Station to wait, in hope that no one would turn up, but no sooner had a positioned the bike so I could still listen to the tunes, than Dave arrived onthe Yammy Scooter. By 10 there were 7 of us, but with the weather being a bit dismal, one pulled out there and then, leaving 6 to putter up to Shannon for a further assessment on where to go.

It had drizzled most of the way to Otaki, but just north of there, the roads dried and looked good,  although there was still some dirty weather clinging to the hills and away to the north, so at Shannon we deferred our decision until Ashhurst....and at this point we lost another rider...but he was going to take his mum ouyt for lunch, so that was OK.
 
I led from here over a mixture of wet and dry roads, but once we got to Ashhurst, things looked good, so we didn’t even stop and carried straight on to the Pohangina Valley East Road. We maintained a steady, pleasant pace and I was surprised to find when we paused in Apiti, that none of the other riders had done this road before and they were all stoked. I asked if they wanted to carry on to Kimbolton, but we were stopped now, it was 1230, so we just made our way across the road to the tavern for lunch.
 
It was a pleasant surprise to get inside and find that the bikes already out the front belonged to Uly Riders from Masterton, so we had a chat with them, enjoyed a nice lunch, then continued on our way. Dazza was heading to Feilding, but the rest of us decided to return via the Wairarapa, so I led through Kimbolton and back to Ashhurst for fuel, then back to Aokautere and over the Track, round through Mangamaire, down via Eketahuna and took the deviation through Mauriceville for the second time in two days.
 
Another great ride was had, although wet roads on the Hill put a damper on the finish. I got home about 1700, having done 474Km for the day at 19.2Km/Ltr and Emily tells me that I had an overall average of 60kph and moving average of 80kph, now having 119,565Km on the bike. The butt was a bit tender after yesterday’s ride and more of the same after today, but things are coming along nicely towards getting ‘match fit’ for the GC at the end of October.