A 9 am start on Sunday morning and a group of us gathered at Manawatu Motorcycles to celebrate the first Sunday of Summer and the start of the silly season. John and Graham from the Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Club joining us for the ride on BMW 600 and Triumph Bonny 1200 respectively, with Blue Hazers Dave on his CB750, Alan VFR800, Dion Honda NSR, Rich on the T500, Bruce S TZR, and myself on the VX800. Our fuel burning 2 wheeled steeds.
We made our way North along familiar roads aiming for Hunterville. Over Vinegar Hill with our backs to the advancing rain, and a haze of blue provided by Rich and Dion's sweet smelling 2-strokes.
A nice leisurely (for some) ride on a drying track, with Dion testing the fuel economy limits of his thirsty race-rep 250 discovering that 1 km short of Hunterville was about it's limit. A change of role saw Dion providing motive power and the NSR having a spell. Bet he was glad she's a nice light racer built for speed, and not a big old draught horse designed for cruising the interstate.
We all refueled on a combination of pies, coffee, etc and a walk down the main road to view a interesting V8 RatRod. Some eye opening attachments and several plastic rats adorning the mat black body with an artwork of white header pipes pushing out from under the hood.
Then it was time to head home via our usual collection of back roads. Another great start to a promising warm Summer of riding in our patch of paradise!
