Kaimai Cheese Factory, 23 May 10.

[Anonymous]

#3351

Departure from Papakura was somewhat late, while the area rep attempted to mop up a fuel spill with a copy of the Waikato Times, not helped by the fact that some drongo had poured a bucket of soapy water over it while the aforesaid area rep was buying a copy of the Waikato “Spillsorb”.  I really needed two copies in the end, one for solvent and one for soapy water.  The result of another BMW owner discovering that the c/g of the bike moves north when the tank is full, even if the tank is under the seat.  Gravity sucks, and it did, again!.Anyhoo, away we went, eventfully/eventually, via SH1, SH2, SH27 to Kaihere, then left to Kerepehi, right to Awaiti, left out to the main Paeroa/Te Aroha drag and half-past tenses (more correctly, this morning, elevenses) at Ironique in Te Aroha.  The season is changing, to be sure - need to find out which drawer my thermal liners are stored in soon.  From Te Aroha I had intended to head straight to Gordon and pick up the end of Wardville Road, but there was a road closure which shot us off track into the wilderness - no big deal in that part of the Waikato, where all roads lead to either Te Aroha or Matamata, and Waharoa is just short of the latter.  Big Sister, AGD (full name Auntie Drannie Grannie) and UncaMoose were waiting outside the Kaimai Cheese Company, having left Awakeri this morning.  Our arrival bought the total bikes in the carpark to 19.The cafe was chocker, and it looked as if we were going to wind up sitting crosslegged on the floor eating our lunch off our laps, but the staff quickly shoved all their outside furniture into a line, set chairs around it, and set more than twenty sets of fighting irons for our use. Impressive!  Similarly impressive was their speed of service.  There were a couple of hiccups over coffees, but all were put to rights, and everyone was (well) fed and watered.  Henry and Trish Plowright arrived as we were nearly ready to leave.  Henry assured us they were happy to find their own way home (and he later overtook us!) so off we went.Route home was backroads around Walton to fuel at Morrinsville, then around Tahuna via Quine Rd, with the intention to throw in Waikare Road and Island Block Road on the way back to Pokeno for the traditional ice cream.  We road into drizzle at the crest of Quine Road, and by Hoe-O-Tainui it was raining for serious.  I made the executive decision to skip the twisties from there on with folk starting to get cold and tired (being Nana again, me), so I led out to the Expressway at Ohinewai.  From there people started to make their own decisions to head for home, so I waved to a succession of riders as they passed me headed for their own heat pumps.  The tough ones amongst us still had ice creams: a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, eh, YoungJim.And having mentioned YoungJim, I must thank him, yet again, for riding tail-end-charlie again today.I am still waiting for Steven to send me some photos: he was being so busy with his camera today that Otto Phocus didn't bother.  C'mon, Steven, share!

[Xan]

#13853

We got wet but it was an enjoyable ride. Nice venue for lunch with good company  🙂I could finish running in my Monster (Ducati has two phases of running in that completes at 2500km) when I arrived at home.I don't have to keep an eye on the taco meter when I ride Hampton Downs next month  🙂I shouldn't have listened to Jim's optimistic weather forecast. 👿I had no intention to wear the leather gear if there was a chance of shower.Kindly, gentleman Tony offered me his "brand new" rain wear and my leather gear stayed dry.

[Anonymous]

#13854

AGD and I found difficulty finding park'n at kaimai cheese factory , and resourceful members we thought we were, tried to “block” spaces as they became available. Oh shit look how many of the ride there is! Glad a few other spaces became free.

[Anonymous]

#13855

Very good ride today, even if it did get a little damp later in the day. It was great for me to meet more of the regular ride group. Thanks for excellent organisation Bwucie and thanks YoungJim for watching our tail. In the absence of official photos so far, I will try to upload a couple that I took today. I've enabled the odour plug-in for these so if you get close enough to the screen you may be able to smell the petrol fumes in pic 1.  I'm impressed that Bwucie chooses ice-cream that matches his hi-viz vest so that no one notices when he dribbles down his front.

[Anonymous]

#13856

Coffee at Te Aroha

[Anonymous]

#13857

Lunch stop at Kaimai Cheese

[Anonymous]

#13858

He had eaten half of it before I could take the picture

[Anonymous]

#13859

Thanks Bwucie for teeing up another great ride. Excellent roads, turnout and company (new and regular). Also big thanks to Uncamoose our new parking custodian for his tireless work at the Cheese Factory and finally Young Jim for taking care of the TEC duties.Cheers,Herr and Frau Baron

[Anonymous]

#13860

I am still waiting for Steven to send me some photos: he was being so busy with his camera today that Otto Phocus didn't bother.  C'mon, Steven, share!

And he did, too.  Good lad, Steven!Lead rider leads the Sunday prayers, "Please, keep all bikes shiny side up......""....and make them park less randomly when we next stop, amen"Rare photo of Otto Phocus on his scooter: he's normally on the other side of the lens.Followed out of Papakura by lots of klingons.YoungJim sorting himself out after elevenses at Ironique.Richard and Roz heading for lunch. Roz boomed along on the mighty GN250 like a trooper.Before the big furniture shift.And after.Queuing patiently.More waiting - Wendy sneaking in at the bottom edge of the shot!YoungJim and Rusty channel Zaphod Beeblebrox.Two grumpy old men: you can clearly see Jim and I are pissed off by our expressions, eh?Neko wonders if her eyes have been bigger than her stomach.  Rob raises his glass to toast her efforts.First photographer, Steven......................and then Jason, was forced to admit that the Germans did not design Henry's scooter with them in mind.  Maybe Henry could add a ladder to the options list for the 800?

[Steve Smith]

#13861

Hi thereI think I might be the "drongo"!  Perhaps we might have a discussion? When a bike falls over and loses petrol, there is the danger of a hot exhaust or a smoker who might light a match, causing a fire. In this instance, some kind person lifted the bike that fell over and moved it. The rider stood in the pool of petrol and examined his sore knee.  I poured detergent from the gas station on the pool of petrol because detergent binds with hydrocarbons to reduce the potential for a fire, especially one where there were other bikes within 3 metres (that no-one thought to move), also full of petrol. Wiping up spilled petrol with newspaper creates a second source of combustion because petrol still evaporates from the paper, thus creating an ideal circumstance to turn the holder of the paper into a human torch. I wonder why at racetracks, when  a bike goes over, the rider is expected move away from it upwind and the marshals spray the petrol with foam.  Agreed, the resultant mess is slippery, but that might be better than combustible.

[Peter Nash]

#13862

Thank you Brucie and others for the wonderful ride …………  🙄Now i'm happy that the photos request by Brucie have been posted .......  From now on the club ride you see me you see the bikers photos  😉RegardsSteven RT

[Anonymous]

#13863

All good points, Andrew: I generally elect to absorb as quickly as possible because if the flammable doesn't ignite it goes down the drain, if the detergent is not absorbed, it goes down the drain.  Tunnel vision created by background and training.  The BP didn't have kitty litter and weren't about to let me use their spill kit.And how come some models of bee-em leak so profusely when they tip over?  Neither my K100 or R1100s have done so, on all the occasions I have deposited them on their sides - when I have definitely been wearing my drongo hat.

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