Dancing in the Rain

One gets to find out the talents of people in all sorts of interesting ways. A few of us went out on the Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Clubs September run that took us out out the back of Feilding and through Halcombe and eventually to Mike and Brenda's for soup and a bun. the forecast wasn't to promising and so it proved to be with the rain and drizzle setting in early in the ride. Our one and only stop at the Stanway Hall had some muttering about a our road captain shortening the ride with the reply being to harden up! Others thought the situation was great and showed this by dancing in the rain. It certainly looks as though Ians recent dancing activities in Tauranga and Taupo have fine tuned his dance moves. After a bit of bogeying down we were soon on our way to Mike and Brenda's and the hot soup was certainly appreciated by a very damp group of motorcyclists. For those of us of a Japanese persuasion it was interesting to see Grahams latest purchase, a Yamaha TR1 in really great order. These were rather rare back in the day so it was very special to see one. Word is Graham is going to weave some of his engineering and design magic over it but do it so it can be brought back to standard easily. Can't wait to see what he does going by his previous efforts.
A big thank you to Mike and Brenda for the soup and buns.

Go East

Here is another little sojourn making the most of another sunny winters day. The troops decided on a run to the east ending up at the Black Stump Cafe in Dannevirke and whilst yours truly exited the ride early on with a dodgy electrics, it sounds like the ride certainly helped relieve the cabin fever one has to endure during the winter months. Following that uniquely British rumble of Ross's 60s Triumph Trophy over the track reminds one of why sunny Sundays are looked forward to by so many.  This particular Sunday certainly saw a mixture of motorcycle sounds with Bruce bringing the TDR out for another airing with its muffled expansion chambers and Dave and myself with our across the frame fours warble. Ians vee four Max certainly has a unique growl with Sir Als H2's lovely two stroke triple sound adding to the 'motorcycle symphony' that made its way over the hill to our first stop in Pahiatua.
It was here that the XJs battery let it be known that it had given its best. After a push from Sir Al I decided an exit stage West to home was the best strategy, just in case it was more than the battery.  The lads headed off around the back of Woodville and rejoined the main highway at Oringi for the short hop to Dannevirke test the coffee and food at the Black Stump Cafe. It was then just a matter of heading back home to do the Sunday chores and yours truly added a new battery to the shopping list.
PS. Just checked back to when the battery was purchased. 10 years is a good run out of any battery and a great thumbs up for Motobatt courtesy of Paul at Manawatu Motorcycles!

EoMR for August

It looked like the sunshine god was benevolent on us for our August end of month ride last weekend. The forecast during the week was looking a little bit dodgy whilst rain was on the cards our sophisticated weather forecasting equipment (called OurEyes) indicated sunshine to the south west and the strong possibility of rain in other directions. The destination was to be the metropolis of Foxton and one of our favourite go to cafes, The Dutch Oven. Nice to see Warren bringing out his Suzuki GT380 for a spin and Bruce S fronting up with his latest acquisition, the legendary Yamaha TDR 250. In the Yamaha camp as well was Ian with his VMax and yours truely on the XJ. Also out for a spin was Gary A on his BMW 800, alongside Bruce A on his BMW 650. Dave R on his Honda CB750 proved to be the sole representative of the brand.
Our route to Foxton was via Tokomaru and Shannon and then across to Foxton via the Motoua flood gates and then to our destination which as usual was a busy place. Ian and I thought the Kahawai pies looked to nice to leave in the cabinet, so on to the plates it went with the lads partaking of other fare. After being fed and watered it was home time with Gary A offering to show us an alternative route.  This involved  heading towards the beach and turning down Willys road towards Himatangi. We ended up on State Highway One and eventually headed east through Mangawhata and home. It was a great morning out and although one of our shorter runs it certainly is enough to scratch the riding itch and get one through the week until the next weekend ride.