Wellington Adventure Rideouts

mate a mid week RRRR is EXACTLY what I need at the moment but as I have no bike, a knackered shoulder, and cant stand up without falling backwards it looks like I'll have to pass

Wednesday looks good for weather. I don't care which way we go, but I guess clockwise would work better for you guys from the south.

I could bolt on some kind of side car, but I don't think even you would be crazy enough to ride with me.

Shall we aim for Saturday?
Steve - meet at Rimutex at 9am?
Wayne - if'n you want we could meet at 8.30 at Waikanae at Elizabeth St just over the railway lines?


Depending on how time goes I wouldn’t mind coming home via Gladstone - part of Route 52 then Pahiatua Shannon etc

whassat all about - is your balance buggered?

Any idea of when you can get back out on sheep patrol?

Wednesday should be ok for me - won't be able to confirm until Mon-Tues.

I presume this is a day trip and not an overnighter?

If no one else minds I'd prefer it anticlockwise (Wayne?) - it somehow feels like the Hawkes Bay side takes way longer than the Manawatu side. Plus there are more bail out points on the Manawatu side if time gets short.

Sounds good to me..

8.30 sounds fine to me.

Cheers

Wayne

balance problem its to do with crystals being dislodged in the inner ear apparently. Having treatment for it, getting better but still some way to go.

Livestock will be safe on the roads for at least another 6-12 months, there's just no rushing head injuries they tell me plus my shoulder is looking like a trip to the butchers is on the cards. Its getting so desperate I've even started having dreams (nightmares) about buying a KLR....EEE Gads man!

Boy, have I got a deal for you then. Only ridden on Sundays and balance optional.

I read a good thread about that recently. I think it was in the inmates section here or may have even been in a build thread about making up a campervan in the shiny things thread. Anyway there were quite a few people that had the same symptoms & the realignment exercise seemed to work very well.
I just suffer from headrush a lot nowadays - luckily not on the bike

wow that sounds great, unfortunately my doctors have told me i'm not allowed to make any decisions until the hamster is back spinning the wheel.

apparently about 40% of concussions end up with this problem. will see if I can find that thread, am keen to learn as much about it as possible. Its the weirdest sensation - and with all the drugs I'm on I know a bit about weirdness

I may have to postpone the mid week RRRR for a week or two. I have a couple of painting jobs to finish off before the weather turns to crap. School hols too, so I’d better spend a little time with the kids. They only see me for about 10 minutes a day when I’m working.

Must get out on the bike soon though.

you rancid turd

I might do a gentle annie loop on the sv next weekend if the weather/family gods permit

you missed a really good ride yesterday - either I've gone soft or the track was the knarliest I've ever seen it - getting to the hut felt like an accomplishment.

had an awesome run up Gladstone/52/Pahiatua over to Shannon and home.

Only downside of the day was being unable to keep up with 2 harleys going over the rimutuka's on the way to Martnborough - talk about feeling inadequate .

Marks_S advertised on ADVRider a ride to Sutherlands Hutt Saturday, leaving Rimutex from 9.00am. Given that the weather was supposed to be great, it seemed rude not to.

J'ville was still a bit clagged in but it got better (& colder) out towards Upper Hutt.

GuzziTony was there, but was sporting his large tank & supermoto wheels, so I suspected before I talked to him, that for him, this was just a ride to Martinborough. Manukau.KTM (Wayne) also made it over & arrived with Mark.

Mark took off to chase Harley's over the hill. He was humbled.

I passed Tony at the 1st up hill, but he rumbled past at the beginning of the Rimutakas, & I didn't see him again until Featherston.

Coffee & a chin wag at Martinborough.

The road into Sutherlands was in good nick, aside from a few sections in the forestry where a load of new gravel had been dumped. Mark was perhaps regretting not changing out the Shinko 705 rear & roady front. I was trying out new techniques, seated (normally I stand), & that worked really well for me on that surface.

Sutherland Track was about as knarly as I have seen it. The puddle at the start was low & manageable, but on the track itself there were some fairly deep erosion ruts, at times paralleling the track. This meant you needed to look ahead & pick your line carefully. The stream crossings were rocky, without little smaller gravel in between rocks, which would have given a smoother bottom. For my part, it didn't seem sensible to stand up going over that. It was more untidy - legs going in all directions. Now I remember why having a tall bike would be a disadvantage. It crossed my mind that on Mark's tyres he might struggle coming out.

Mark bottomed out the KLR on one stream crossing going in, which meant I got wet boots helping him out. Whilst the Forma Adventure boot is good for road riding, when water comes over the little sock, it ends up just holding water in around your feet.









Didn't look up Cnut Hill this time. It was enough of a ride going into the Hutt.

Once we got out, Mark suggested a further ride out into the Wairarapa, & back over the Pahiatua Track. But I declined, to take in some family time.

Thanks Steve

I found your link for a replacement rego plate. Must be a record to manage to destroy one on its first time out.




Mark and I left just after you (once Mark had put his wet socks and boots on) and we travelled up Route 52 until we reached Pa Rd, and then cut across to Paihatua.

Mark had a vaguely familiar mobile device that he called a map and we used that to find our way. It opens out as a flat screen. There is no scrolling, getting lost on the page and then roaming around trying to find where you were. Also there is no need to have an enlarge function if you're wearing your glasses.

It looks like you had a nice day for it. Some of us had to work.

Bummer - you certainly missed an entertaining day
Are you doing shift work?

4 days on, 4 off. Stupidly long days and a longish comute.

Hopping across the hill to escape the drizzle, & to do some gravel. Meet at Rimutex at 9.00am?

sorry Steve - I've just seen this - assume your ride went well - I spent the morning in the company of a respected BMW artisan who was addressing a problem I'd created when replacing the outer seal on my final drive - a small tear in the new seal was enough to have oil contaminating the tyre and disc. All resolved now

Scott mentioned wanting to get out for a ride, given some new tyres. Eugene was making noises about a trip into the Akatarewas - but given the rain & cloud I wasn't keen on going there.

I could see the Wairarapa weather was looking heaps better for Sunday than in Wellington. Johnsonville had been sitting in drizzle & low cloud all of Saturday, & that quickly gets depressing, so I was keen to get out of town.

There was very little notice for anyone else to join - I decided later Saturday night, with an earlyish start (9.00am) from Rimutex, basically because I was watching the weather forecast. It'd been wrong about the Wellington weekend weather, so I needed confidence that they were accurate about Wairarapa Sunday.

As it transpired only Scott & I turned up. Eugene & a friend came along in the car, with unregistered bikes on a trailer, so 'no go' there. Upper Hutt had low cloud looming over the hills, & the Akatarewas looked drizzly, so there was no incentives to go over there.

We bombed across the Rimutakas to Martinborough. The view coming down over the Rimutaka's showed we'd made the right choice. It was fine, albeit there was a thin haze in the air & sunshine out on the plains. There are a few places on the way down the Rimutakas that I've often thought would benefit from a pullover zone - so I can take photos looking down onto the Wairarapa side of the hill. As it is, those places are in the worst possible places to stop.

Scott had a go on the mighty Sir Gustave Sebastion between Featherston & Martinborough. Hope he wasn't too much of a disappointment, Scott. The KLR is taaalll compared to Gus, but needs more suspension compliance.

As had become a habit (for me at least), we stopping at Martinborough for coffee, & a herb & cheese scone.



Just as we were leaving a vintage car came in & parked up near us. Interesting to see the sprung steel bumpers. The bloke driving nearly used them on the car in front of us.

I had a bit of a brain fart moment leaving Martinborough, & ended up going down Hinakura Rd to Moeraki Rd, to do the Summerhill / Admirals Rd loop. No hardship - just not where I originally intended to head.





Howie met us just as we were coming out of the gravel on that, so we dragged him along with us to do the Te Wharau Rd / Homewood Rd loop thru to Riversdale Beach.



Stopped at Riversdale Beach for a steak & egg burger & a banana milkshake. Scott had a couple of hash browns sandwiching some bacon slices - see, there is some advantage in being gluten in-tolerant.

From there we headed across to Tinui, & up Castlehill Rd. It seems I'm never able to go through there without just following a grader / riding on freshly graded roads. I guess they need that constantly with all the logging in there. I could tell Howie wasn't enjoying that - he fell right back, & then left us at Route 52 to head home. Still beats painting, eh Howie!

I was keen to have a look up Puketoi Rd, but it was getting on in time. Probably we should have done this west / east, because of the position of the sun (right in our eyes heading west), but I enjoy the run down Pori Rd from the top. Puketoi Rd is a non maintained former road running east west, over the tail end of a range. You go through a couple of gates, but it never quite degrades to the level of a farm track. There have been a few (cleared) slips on it, so it can get muddy in places, but generally there is the old road bed available, or at least not far below the surface.



We gave a herd of yearling steers a bit of workout. They would just not shift off the track. I'd get about ½ way up the herd, & then the ones at the back would try & pass me back.



The run back down Pori Rd is great, especially at this time of the day / year. The views are awesome, & the light makes these special. Also, the road is narrow, but it's good gravel. You can see well ahead, which means that you can use all of the road, including the cambers. Magic.





Unfortunately that light was starting to fade, & Scott had pretty much finished up the gas in his tank, so we scampered across to Ekatahuna to gas up. By that time we had lost the light, so we slabbed it back thru Masterton on SH2, then did the Rimutakas on a very dark night. There was only a fingernail crescent moon.

Back in Wellington, & whilst it wasn't immediately raining, it was wet on the road. Home at 7.30. 498.2 kms. Put in 35 litres of fuel (but haven't used it all).

Here's a link to where we went