Six hardy (or foolish?) souls set off leaving Bill Croasdale to lead the tarmac enthusiasts.

Selwyn Blinkhorne (one of Trade Me dad Gareth Morgan’s Silk Riders), Steve Bill, Steve from Petone and yours truly (Aslan aka Stephen O) all on ‘leven fiftys’ with Dave ? on his 1200GS and Ian Sowden on his Airhead Paris Dakar riding as tail end Charlie (Thanks Ian 🙂 ).

The section of seal from where we left the sealed road riders near Gladstone to the start of the gravel section was very wet as we traveled through a down pour.

The first part of the gravel through the forest was ‘hard and fast’ albeit very wet but with little evidence of the sort of slippery mud you can encounter in areas where papa cliffs are present like on the river road in the Whanganui National Park.

About a third of the way through the gravel ride, at the bottom of a sustained downhill section where a branch road runs off to the left, I stopped to check out a possible stream crossing for those interested in a ‘challenge loop’.

On checking the stream I judged it to be too deep and having too many large gnarly rocks to attempt a crossing. Getting my bike back up the little track I’d gone down to check out the stream was somewhat of a challenge it made we wish that the GS had a reverse gear like a Gold Wing.

Not long after the stream section we passed through the entry to a station – name of which escapes me (quick search on Tumonz http://www.tumonz.co.nz/mapplet.php would suggest it might be called Harapaki) – followed by a nice ascent where it’s possible to attack, standing up on the pegs and gassing it. Up on the plain approaching Riversdale, the road turned to deep gravel. Here the best approach seemed to be to keep the front light by keeping the power on letting the rear of the bike move around beneath you.

When we regrouped at the beginning of the seal several of us running Tourances or similar tyres remarked how much difference ‘knobblies’ would have made. I was very pleased with the performance of my TCK80’s inflated to normal pressures. This was the approach I’d adopted in the Capital Coast Adventure the previous weekend.

As we neared Riversdale we were treated to sunshine and a stiff breeze which served to begin to dry our saturated gear. A satisfying ride across a gravel section of the Wairarapa that always never fails to ‘bring a smile to the dial’. Cheers Aslan.

Pics show - threatening skies at the 'off' in Upper Hutt, regroup of drenched riders on Homewood Road and Aslan's leven fifty alongside the aborted challenge section 🙂


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