Longish ride….

[Richard Kuysten]

#3699

First mistake was to forget my camera as I rushed out of the house at 7.50am needing gas before a quickish ride to BP Papakura getting there 5 minutes late just as Bruce was winding up his plan of action in front of approximately 16 riders and pillions.Sorry guys but I was gazzumped (is that the correct term) for the title anyway.  The camera would have been useful to show what a beaut day it was at Whakatane and the venue food and especially the service was excellent.  A really excellent ride down and the icing was the little side bar from Te Puke that Arne took us around, a lovely piece of tar seal and perfectly dry, thanks Arne.We dallied a little over lunch and when I considered the trip home I realized I would be riding after sunset with a tinted visor so decided to cut and run.  Tony too had to be home promptly and offered his company which was gratefully accepted.  A stunning ride up the coast to Tauranga and the billiard smooth sea glittered in the aftenoon sun, what a paradise we live in.  We stopped briefly at Matamata and decided to take the scenic route through Tahuna and out at Onhiniwai then into the traffic for the haul to the shore.  When we reached the motorway I realized Tony's rear light was not on other than a very brief flash every few minutes.  I tried to tuck in close behind to give some protection as he was almost invisible from a couple of cars away.  Very difficult to follow in moderately heavy traffic as he ducked and weaved through it all making great time. Beeped him goodbye as he swung off and as I ran down our road with it's poor lighting I realized that I didn't have a headlight *^&%$# that old blown bulb syndrome again.  So it was just as well that I tucked in behind Tony, he became my headlight and I was his tail light.  In was exactly 6pm and Jean was standing in the drive with the garage door open and dinner on the stove  😀 Thanks to all for being there, riding safely and being such good company.PS let me know if you see this Tony, otherwise I'll call you in the morning.PPS 640 kliks on my odo Neko door to door.

[Xan]

#15314

We picked an absolutely nice day, as we didn't have any shower.  😀Bruce has an iron butt too or his little Suzuki 250 has more comfy seat than his 1100S...Did I ride over 600km today? I'm not sure as I didn't remember the trip meter when I left home.But 2 lunches kept me going  🙂The second lunch was really good and their coffee was good too and service was good  🙂Thank you for the day and thank you for special attention, Rob and Uncamoose.Here are some photos.

[Anonymous]

#15315

It was indeed a great day: great company, great food, great roads and scenery.  Great fun chasing Arne through Old Coach Road on the Baby Burger: that loooong chassis can get badly out of shape on downhill corners when the tarseal is trudged into humps by trucks. ;DSuper big thanks to Rob for TEC duties: we swapped about before Tirau, as the light started to fade.  I wanted to put the big as tailights on the scooter at the rear so I could backup anybody that started to struggle with their pathetic speed-of-light = 96 kph BMW headlights.  (one of the biggest letdowns of many Beemers in my opinion: pathetic headlights and poky little tail lights.  Either designed by plonkers that have never ridden a bike at night, or subsist on a diet of 100% carrots.  The Baby Burger also has a phenomenally good headlight, too, why did I ever go away from a Suzy as my main ride?)Apologies to Richard for finding all the wrong roads to ride for a fella wearing specs, shades, visor and a tall windscreen into the setting sun. ::)  I can remember that syndrome from back in the days of the K100LT: I think they call it whiteout in Antarctica.Apologies to the Red Baron for dragging him out in the cold - not.  Toughen up, Alex!

[Anonymous]

#15316

It was indeed a great day: great company, great food, great roads and scenery.  Great fun chasing Arne through Old Coach Road .....

What a terrific ride yesterday - doesn't get much better than that. Big thanks to Bwucie and Rob for taking care of the managerial roles and to every one else for making it a memorable day.Cheers,The Red Baron

[Arne Rohde]

#15317

For a while I almost felt bad about hijacking your plans for a direct route from Te Puke, Bruce. But the Old Coach Rd route only takes a few minutes longer, and is much more interesting than SH2. And everyone seemed to enjoy the diversion.Anyway, it was good to catch up with everyone again.

[Anonymous]

#15318

I hadn”t been on a ride for some time. And its great to experience a ride with a great bunch of people. People that teamed up when lighting became an issue. I can't say why but without much talking teams formed by their geographical domicile as darkness fell for the final push home Majik. Good to see Arnie but we had hoped to see Mr Bell? 🙂 🙂 ;D

[Dave Morris]

#15319

the joys of having a young son and a wife that works shift.  Also since the bike is so clean would hate to get it dirty. I may appear at a future sojun without announcement. I have previously turned up at a destination but non of u guys turned up.Was seated at next to a table of BMW riders at Raglan cafe recently whom I suspected were from Tauranga. Lovely old late 70s R100RS in the group. Cant of been u guys no scooters or anyone whinging about final drives.You just never no who ya sitting by unless he is wearing a hoody and has dreads. Thats usually Tane Umaga.

[Anonymous]

#15320

no doubt young son has been groomed as a rider so we will be cnu

[Anonymous]

#15321

Just to reinforce the previous comments, it was a great ride. The weather couldn't have been better for mid-winter and the group was top company. We got very good service at both places we stopped, especially the lunch stop where the food was also excellent. Thanks to Bruce for organising and leading, Arne for adding some interesting diversions and Alex for not stopping at every cheese shop we passed. I covered 677 kms from door to door so we did well on such a daylight deprived day. If I've done this correctly a couple of pictures should be found on these links. The first shows the great spot we had for lunch and the second shows Alex, having just finished all of his salad and greens and wondering if he really feels like his fish and chips, eying up Neko's left-overs.

[Anonymous]

#15322

Brilliant photo looking down at where we had lunch on Metservice's site, here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/metservice-nz/5874238395/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Anonymous]

#15323

Hi guys – Ros and I really enjoyed the ride. Yes Bruce those twisties into a setting sun were a bummer and didnt impress me over much from Rotorua up to the top of the Mamakus but apart from that we had a great time – over 600kms for the Tuakau crew! As usual a well organised ride – thanks to all for the company!

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