It was my intention to go for a decent (1000 – 1100km) pre-GC ride today, starting between midnight and 0100 to get a bit of night riding in, then explore a few roads up in the Waikato, but as it transpired, events and the weather worked against me so I just ended up going for a local ride.
It was a great day when I got up shortly after 0800 with bright sunshine inspiring me to remove the liner from my jacket and after a light snack I departed to stop by the office at 0930. From there it was down to Caltex Kaiwhara’ to fill up, then on to Wright Spa Pools to get the water tested as I had just done the four monthly drain, treat the filters and fill yesterday. By the time I got out of there and lit out for ‘The Hill’, it was 1030, the traffic wasn’t too bad and I puttered along within the limits until by Kaitoke, where I noticed a line of half a dozen cars and a few bikes, so I ramped up the pace to get ahead of them before the double yellows started. That done, my ride up to the summit was relatively quick, squeezing past a few cars along the way but shortly after the peak I caught up to a huge line of cars. They were crawling which made it easier to get past but the slow pace left narrow gaps between cages so one had to be careful. Never the less I took them all before the bottom (screw the yellows) then relaxed up SH2 to the Masterton bypass. I noted the time at 1122 as I passed the Mobil on Ngaumutawa Rd and the temp was up to a very comfortable 18°. I cut across the Loop Line, opting to head North via Mauriceville and had a spirited ride arriving in Eketahuna at 1148 which is about when I would have arrived had I travelled up SH2 within the legal limit. Then it was just a short meander up to Mangamaire and over ‘The Track’. Once again the pace lifted a bit but I was finding that I wasn’t riding that smoothly so I eased off a bit, but stilled enjoyed my wee fang over to Palmy, where after a bit of a look around the city, I headed back to Wellington via Shannon. The traffic was moderate on SH1 but it was moving well and the trip back was hassle free, albeit a bit droll, so I finished the ride with a burst over the Paekak’ Hill, arriving home at 1430, having done 361Km for the day and with 74,268Km on the bike now. It was a pleasant day but made me realise that I’m a bit out of condition and should do a few preparatory rides over the next month to get in the groove for the GC as my hip got a bit uncomfortable and at times I found my riding form was a bit sloppy. I’ve got a few roads up north that I want to check out so I guess that will be enough excuse to rack-up a couple of 1000Km rides and if we get more weather like today, I look forward to the next few months of riding……Yeah baby!!
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Old Blog?
These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
January 2017
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