This week heralded the first ‘Annual’ Apiti Scamper….although it’s not so much a scamper as a dawdle, thanks to the multitude of Harleys that wanted to partake….but that’s a good thing as this was a charity ride to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House and Motorcycle charity events are only ever successful if the Harley riders get behind it, as they provide the numbers. Personally, Charity Runs aren’t my favoured type of ride but I don’t mind fronting if it’s a good cause and in this case, it was organised by the Palmy KB crew who support most of the Wellington events, so I figured it would be nice to return the favour. The Scamper was due to head out from the Palmy Square at 1000 so I organised to go with Steve and Ken, mentioned it on the Wednesday ride in case there were more takers and we were to meet at Caltex Rimutaka by 0730 which meant being up at 0600 to get away. I was filled and waiting by 0715 and we pootled off over the hill for Managamaire and the Track. It was warm enough at 18° but though it was rather gloomy, we struck out with no wets on as the weather was supposed to be clear and we expected it to be fine once we got into the Wairarapa. This wasn’t to be the case with some pretty dark patches and we were obviously following the rain up the valley as the roads were wet, so we ended up pausing at Clareville to don the wets. With that done, we didn’t really need them as we were only met with a brief squirt of showers and it was quite pleasant once we reached the Square, so I took them off, only to think better of it and put them on again before we headed out. Ken and I were near the rear of the ride coming out of the square, slowly filtering our way forward as we approached Ashhurst and gaps would appear. Things settled down a bit more as we rode up the Pohangina Valley, with the pace generally around 80 to 100kph, which is a little more pedestrian than we would usually do on this road, but expected on this type of ride. It was quite pleasant but we passed a few more bikes through here if they were too noisy to sit behind or braked too much for the bends and coming out of Apiti the pace picked up.
We were soon back in Palmy enjoying a burger and drink while we chatted to other riders and next thing you know I heard my name trying to be pronounced over the PA…. I had won a prize in the draw and grabbed a T-Shirt. Shortly after that, Ken and I headed back to Wellington without waiting for the Auction to start as we both needed to get back. We came down SH1 as the weather looked better on that side and it was pretty uneventful. The event was worthy of the effort to get there and hopefully more Welly riders will participate next year. The organisation was superb, right down to the parking markers and sidestand pads, excellent hamburgers, smooth ride, prizes and auction that we had to miss. I was home by 1500 having done 484Kms for the day at an economy of 19K/Ltr and have 85,759Kms 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
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