A Cheaper Way to Hunterville?

One of the interesting things about designing your rides around loops is that we end up looping in the same direction. One of our favourite loops is the Apiti loop where we always seem to go up the Pohangina Valley and return usually through Kimbolton. Last Sunday saw seven of us lining up at Manawatu Motorcycles with a consensus around a ride to Hunterville as the return destination. If you look through this blog Hunterville has been a popular destination with us for years. Yesterday was different though. We decided to reverse our usual rotation! This itinerary had us heading out of town via Rangitikei Line towards our first turnoff at Mount Stewart. After taking some video on the departure I had to do some catching up and it wasn't difficult to find the route the crew took out of town as the little telltale cloud of smoke was only just beginning to dissipate at the town boundary.  It was Paul d on his H2, Rich on his T500 and Sir Al on his Bighorn who were supplying the haze. Nice to see Paul out on the H2 and Sir Al on the H2s younger sibling Bighorn. Rounding out the two strokers was Kim on his very well sorted 3XV. How sorted? Try over 60mpg from its last run to Pongaroa! Bruce had his GSXR400 out for another spin and with the suspension work done on it a few twisty were certainly in order. Ian's trusty VX800 was certainly up for a few twisties as well.

Mount Stewart to Halcombe has a nice mixture of corners and straights, then onto the main drag to our back road loops that had us once again enjoying yet again a nice mixture of corners and more open sections that let the two strokes have a bit of a blowout. All to soon we arrived in Hunterville for refreshments outside in the lovely sunny weather. The consensus was it was like riding on a whole new road with a tinge of familiarity. Well worth the effort and a 'must do again ride'.
It was very noticeable the large number of motorcycles making their way down the main drag (State Highway One). The majority were of a 'mature' age and on some relatively expensive machinery. With the high number of motorcycle fatalities this summer it would seem that one of the reasons could be the number of motorcyclists now on the road and the distances they have covered. Our group certainly has a very cautious approach to our riding with the only reason anyone not making it home being a breakdown. Some of the stories we hear about other groups and individuals riding habits certainly leaves a lot to be desired. We all know your chances of having an accident and injury are considerably greater on a motorcycle so the the basic message is don't be a 'dick' on your bike!
After that little rant I am pleased to report that the return route via Vinegar Hill was covered safely with our only stop being at Stormy Point for a photo op. It has a great vista looking up towards the mountains across the Rangitikei countryside. The earthquake and volcanicly tortured landscape certainly makes for some great motorcycling roads! We then continued on our reverse route through Makino Road and then to Colyton and Taonui.
All to soon Bunnythorpe arrived and from there we made our separate ways home. A little later on Sir Al sent a text that he made it home on the one tank of petrol with Richard also finding the same. After checking their tanks at Hunterville none of the strokers felt the need to top up. I am sure the finger crossing began on the outskirts of Feilding as certain people looked for the tell tale splutter and dash to Feilding Northend BP? Maybe the savings in petrol could buy an extra custard square? Not good for the power to weight ratio though which might negate the savings!
All in all another great ride on our 'mature and maturing' sicles. We are very lucky to have the variety of excellent motorcycle roads at our disposal around here and with the wonderful weather we have had lately maybe we should go and do some more reverse loops!
Role on next weekend.