Some more Winter Wanderings

I thought I might throw up a few photos from some of the crew donning thermals and making the most of some of the fine weather over the last couple of weekends. The Apiti Loop is always a good run and the stop at Kimbolton for a cuppa always seems to provide some interesting sights and sounds. In this case it was the Daimler Club out for a spin. Also good to see a new bike and face along for the ride with Clint and his lovely Katana. Still remember Robert Holden racing one of them. Dion had his RG400 out for a spin for the fist time as well.
Last weekend saw a few hardy souls put on double layers of thermals and head south to a BBQ at Bruce Curries place. They must be tough in Wellington to have BBQs in Winter and the Palmy crew were a bit disappointed not to see them in shorts and jandals. The trip over to Wainuiomata from Paekakariki sounds like a good advertisement for a GPS with everyone eventually arriving. Bruce has a great set up and some great bikes on the go. Good to catch up with the Wellingtonians. As always Barry provided some entertainment and this time it was courtesy of his T125 special. Apparently it was quite a sight seeing it going up the Wainui hill with 'little' Barry perched on top!
Thanks for having everyone over Bruce
Thanks to Paul Whiting for the photos!

Eastward Ho

The weather for Sunday looked hopeful and by Saturday it looked certain so a quick text around showed some interest in a ride for the Sunday. The weather mans predictions turned out to be correct and the roll call had eight ticks beside it by 9:15am.
Bruce Sagger - Suzuki T500J
Richard  Kerr - Suzuki T500M
Alan Clark - Kawasaki 750H2
Paul De Lautour - Suzuki GT750J
Kim De Lautour - Kawasaki 750H2a
Paul Whiting - Kawasaki Gpz 750R
Bruce Andrews - BMW GS650
Gary Whiting - Yamaha XJ750 IIE
The usual discussion then ensued around the ride route with an easterly direction settled on and a return ETA back into town of 11:30 had us heading over to Rongomai via the Pahiatua track. The usual puff of two stroke smoke at the bottom of the track signaled the beginning of a great run up to the top with very little traffic and after a regroup at the top it was down the other side. Looks like the closure of the Manawatu Gorge is providing the roading contractors with plenty of work patching up and improving one of the regions many motorcycle friendly routes as we made our way through Mangamaire. The short five minute run down State Highway 2 had us turning off for our back road blast through Rongomai. The threat of a shower soon disappeared to the south as we got into the rhythm of the road. All to soon we came in through the back of Pahiatua and another regroup.  Brother Paul and I swapped bikes for the return journey over the track. The GPz was definetly better than the XJ around the corners and had more go up top and it is easy to see why they are now regarded as classic. The traffic was a bit heavier on the track but we still manged to arrive back in town by 11:30. The Rendezvous restaurant and cafe provided a great venue to finish off the ride with good coffee, cake and conversation to go with it.