Martinborough in the sun

An idea put forward by Bruce A and turned into a plan by Gary A, became one of the best rides we’ve had in a long time. 

Sunday was the perfect spring day and a gathering of 10 bikes left Manawatu Motorcycles heading for Martinborough, with our adventure riders continuing on to Cape Palliser. Thanks to Gary’s knowledge of Wairarapa we made the entire trip there and home without travelling on the main roads and in the process we have discovered some great new twisty back roads to enjoy. 

We had an interesting mix of bikes ranging from the new (2017 Triumph Bonny 1200) to the old (‘72 Kawasaki H2) with some interesting machines in between. A bike we haven’t seen in group before was Aaron’s ’83 Kawasaki GPz550 unitrak. Also with us for the first part of the run down was Dion’s Yamaha TZR250 3MA, a rare sight on the road today and an interesting bike.

After reaching the Castle Point to Masterton Road via Alfredton, Gary led us East of Masterton on good quality roads through to Martinborough. Beautiful rolling farm land and a mix of tight and open corners. 

Lunch was enjoyed at O.M.G. café. I think expensive would be the best description, but the quality was there.

After lunch Bruce and Russell continued down to Cape Palliser, while the rest of us filed out of Martinborough on a different set of roads further to the east. This included a wonderful ascent used for motorcycle hill climb events. We made our way back to Alfredton and then through Pa Valley Road to Rongomai and on to Pahiatua. 

This is a ride we should add to our calendar and I’m sure many would enjoy it.