Planes, trains & automobiles (boats & bikes really)

[Michelle]

We'd planned, over the xmas break, to catch a ferry to a neighbouring island and go for a ride. Today was the day.

The alarm didn't go off (it was set for 7pm - doh 1). We had about 20 minutes to get ready, work out the route to the ferry & go. Naturally, we ran late. Ah well, if we missed one ferry, we could catch another an hour later.

In due course, we arrived at the ferry terminal, purchased the tickets, loaded the bikes onboard (just made it) and proceeded to get ready for our big adventure. I opened the boot on my bike to find one bottle of water emptied. ah well, I didn't really like that cellphone anyway and at least the camera wasn't in there. Nothing of any importance got wet.

After about half an hour, it was time to unload the bikes and start our tour of the island. It's really just another suburb of Auckland but it was just something a bit different. Most of the roads are sealed but there is still a bit of gravel road to be found.

We had a route sheet, but some of the island had changed since it was written. Right down blah road, follow along coast - hey, what's this park thing doing here, nope, we really can't go along the beach at this point. Righto, sorted, we're off again. Cool, a bit of gravel, hmm, don't really want to get these corners wrong or I'll end up in the water.

We continued around the place, taking some wrong turns, reading street signs wrong (okay, that was me, it was just dumb the way they were), having to take some lefts instead of rights or vice versa, just an adventure.

We stopped by one beach to get breakfast and just relaxed for a while, then it was time to head off again. We had some planned detours along the way - we HAD to go to the vineyard for lunch as well as some unplanned (where does this road go, it looks like fun) and I'm sure another road had been closed as we didn't see the entrance to it, but we saw the exit so headed back up it - at the end was a gate with a "private road" sign on it - bugger, it looked like a goodie. Ah well, another u-turn.

We were tempted to ride onto a beach at one stage but the sign saying not to sort of put us off - it just would've made an awesome photo (we found out a bit later that the camera batteries had gone flat, so we couldn't take photos anyway). As we were about to leave, the friendly dog decided it either didn't want us to go or it remembered it hated bikes or something - it'd been asleep but when Henk got on the bike, it charged him (it'd given me the impression of being a lazy, overweight, slow beast, boy he moved fast) & went to bite Henk's leg. No matter, the owner called him & he was obedient - I think we were all a bit shocked by it, but it was funny.

On the route sheet there were some planned stops, but we'd caught an earlier ferry so times didn't tally and we didn't really feel like walking far.

Weather-wise it was perfect - a few hints of rain, but nothing developing, the wind wasn't too bad, the sea not too rough (it was definitely rougher on the way back, but neither bike fell over). Our summer this year is a joke (definitely not a funny one) - we've had so much rain & wind with a couple of days of sunshine in between. I'm sure wet weather gear shouldn't have to be packed all the time, but it does this/last year. I also think that the weather really helped with making the day perfect. Just a fun adventure.

The one thing we're finding is why go 20 miles when you can go 60 & end up in the same place. We're trying to find the funnest way to my parents' place and still have a million different routes to try (no, this wasn't today, this is just an observation I've made about riding).

Hope everyone else is having fun, too, sorry I didn't get pix though, I really wish i could show you some of what we experienced (helmet cam footage for loading & unloading the bikes would be fun).

 

[Tony Eeds]

Sounds like fun. Great report, I felt like I was there.

I have been thinking about a DP bike a lot lately.

 

[Michelle]

The cool thing about it is deciding at the last minute to go out for a bit of a ride. Not having to load up, just fuel up & go. We can just go out for an hour or two, rather than a whole day - so can head out for a ride after work if the weather permits it (wet weather gear is being used a lot, it's not really a deterrent).

I hate twisty roads so we're hitting as many of them as we can (plenty - Henk loves them & I'm determined to get better at cornering) but I also hate highways (so we're ignoring them as much as possible).

My parents live about 1/2 an hour north of us, but last time we went to visit it took us almost two hours to get there and over an hour to get home (we had to try different routes to figure which one we preferred or to find another way there). Mum can't understand this as she thinks we should jump on the motorway/highway as that's the quickest way - it's also the most boring as it's just straight, she was shocked when we said we'd only ever been that way once & never again.

I think someone in our club is going to organise some adventure rides, so we'll have to ask him when we see him next as it'd be huge fun with a group of us. None of the other women have a licence, so I may be the only one riding with some of the others pillion. Who knows though ;)

 

[Tony Eeds]

Have you thought about getting a GPS unit? I have one that I carry in my truck when I travel about Texas and have the destinct pleasure of locating some very interesting roads that are little more than goat trails. They don't even show up on the maps. I cas stop at an intersection, zoom out and see if the road goes through and where to. If I am going that way and it generally advances my position, I am most likely to take it.

Great fun and I have found many lovely spots to limber up my camera and take photos of some charming scenes.

I detest the bigger roads as well, but when I have to drive 400+ miles (650K +/-) to a meeting like this coming Wednesday, I have no choice. Time is money. I always take the slow way home though. :yeehaw:

 

[Michelle]

Over the holidays, we had many enjoyable rides. I've found, this week, that I'm just going the easiest way to & from work & begrudging the fact I've had to do something every day after work. There's just not enough hours in the day. I've also turned a bit skittery on the bike, like I'm waiting for something to happen.

This Saturday we're heading south to watch sx, which the quick way takes about 2-1/2 hours (I think), but we'll be taking as much time as we can to do it. We'll also head back all over the countryside - the sx is just an excuse to go for a ride. I thought Josh Coppins & maybe Ben Townley would be there, but josh has headed back to Europe & I'm not sure if Ben would even be able to ride at the moment (he injured himself). I've already booked the accommodation & we'll meet up with friends there, so what the hey. It's also a ride to figure out if I'm going to do a similar ride next month for the first round of the national enduro series, as that's in a relative location & I'm thinking I'd like to ride down on Saturday rather than stand on a check as per normal.

Henk has mounted our gps to his bars (he's in the garage doing so, in any case) but as it's an e-trex, we can't load maps onto it. Maybe it'll be another toy in time to come - this one has served well for helping cut trails ;)

Oh, I thought I'd taken photos riding to work the other day, but after developing the film, figured out it really had run out (disposable camera).
Well, I better run.