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Sunny Saturday.....
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The ride was all sorted for Saturday 10am, so I boldly thought I should
get some pants that offer a bit more protection than jeans and
long-johns.........$200 later and I'm wearing some windproof/waterproof
codura pants with padding panels.....and look like a dork. Oh well,
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So, to summarize so far ..... no major changes in appearance.
Very good. Carry on.
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...Yes :) , I should have said 'more of a dork!'......
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Never mind that. The knee armor can be a real blessing in the event
of a lithobraking incident.
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fashion has never been a strong point........
I wandered out of the bike shop and see a funny looking patch on the
tread of the rear wheel that I was hoping would last the weekends ride.
On closer inspection I saw it was a row of splits in the rubber (maybre
from a previous lock-up?) and thought, thats not too bad and gave it a
poke. My tyre was half flat (that expplains the 'funny' handling!), so
it was back inside to see if I could get a tyre fitted immediately, or
first thing in the morning (stress!). The answer was 'not 'till about
lunchtime'.......
A quick ride around to the Honda shop and I was told all the workers
were going on a trail ride on Saturday, but one of the mechanics would
stay on and do it now (Friday 4.55pm). So half an hour later the bike
was wearing a new Metzler Z6 (dual compound sports/tourer), the mechanic
had a 4 pack of bourbon and a 6 pack of beer as a big 'thank you' from
me. "Energy City Honda" now has a new cash paying satisfied customer.
Sat. morning was clear, and I met the other two guys (KTM SuperDuke &
another Aprilia Mille R) at Urenui to fill up......then it was all go,
with the Aprilia out front with the radar detector through my favourite
'main' roads....the ureti valley, Mt. Messenger twisties, the Awakino
gorge then over the Mahoanui hills and a stop for more fuel at Te Kuiti.
All the pumps were locked and we had to 'pre-pay' for our fuel as there
have been so many 'drive-offs' lately.
Then it was a quick ride to Waitomo, then turned left for 44km of pure
fun....up/down/twisty roads with just enough unmarked road works to keep
it interesting.....to the Te Anga pub for lunch.
A beer later, and a dozen bikes from Hamilton turned up, coming from the
other direction (another 60+km of twisties Iv'e never been on)...with a
chick on an SV coming in 'first'. (These riders refer to their annual
ride as the 'Te Anga GP'). A cheerful bunch of people and i finally got
to meet another 'net' rider who Iv'e been in contact with for a couple
of years.
A couple of social bourbons and some 'aromatherapy' and it was head home
time, re-riding the same roads as the way up. What a blast!
420km......great weather.....NO cops.....AND my first ride on the
Aprilia with full 'safety gear' which was an odd feeling.
We stopped for 'one more' at the Awakino hotel where we met up with some
New Plymouth riders on their way home....one of them with a sore hand
from chucking his Honda 250under the front of a van he was passing, and
'clipped'. He was getting a lift home on the back of his dads bike after
chucking the wreck in a drain and abandoning it!
40 minutes later I was back home with my feet up. Best ride on the
Aprilia yet!......and I spent most of the day riding alone as there was
no way I was going to keep up with my two mates.
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