Friday morning rolled around - are we quiet enough at work for me to ask for a half day? Yip, cool. Headed up to the forest nice & early to find the grass being mowed & Henk in the forest picking up sticks (actually, I didn't really find him, I sort of got a bit lost & he was heading back). We watched the tractor for a while, then decided we really should get to work. By the time I'd got organised enough to start my bike to warm it up, the first of the riders had turned up - bummer, I had to do sign-on. I carried on with that, thinking that when the guys came back, I could go for a ride. No such luck - the club's running an enduro in two weeks' time, so everyone was planning for that & working out what still has to be done. Looking at the bikes coming back out the forest, I decided stuff it, I won't bother going for a ride, I then won't have to wash my bike. The tractor driver's wife turned up, so we decided to start the barbecue. Dragged that out the shed and looked around for the gas bottle - hmm, wonder who was meant to bring that? Found out later that because at the last ride there were two, it was decided that this time none would be a good option. One got borrowed from a local & it was definitely time to chow down. Wahoo, beer o'clock.
Well, so much for that ride, good to see my time off work was used constructively ;)
Saturday night was daylight savings end. Before bed, Henk set the clock. The alarm went off at 6am, so I stagger out of bed, get dressed, decided stuff it, I will check my emails, turn on the 'puter, make myself a coffee. Looked at the clock on the puter - 4am. Yip, the clock got put forward instead of back, I was wondering why the hell it was so dark. Finished my coffee & went back to bed for an hour or so. Righto, now it's time to get up, oops, a bit late. Got to where we were meeting a group of people just on time, to find a couple had arrived 15 minutes early & had breakfast & were heading off to the ride - I thought they were joking. Okay, where's everyone else? Gradually we saw everyone we'd organised to see, so it was time to head out of there.
We got to the ride ON TIME - this was the ride that was a bit of a disaster last year with CJ-Rider & hubby (slow breakfast and only just made it, with Henk taking the scenic route & me wondering where they were). Caught up with some others, signed ourselves on, got a bike started (GG Pampera wouldn't start), geared up & it was time to take the bikes through to the start to wait for briefing.
This is part of a series of rides put on by a local shop (Kawasaki/Suzuki/GG) & the owner has sold it (retiring) & his last official ride. The monies earned go back to the local communities & we get to ride on a lot of land that we don't usually have access to.
I did the ride two years ago & was really nervous about a few things from that. My friend had never done it & was generally just nervous about how she'd go - her 2nd ride on the GG EC200. Her and I swapped lead during the ride and at one point with me behind her, I was hoping she'd stop as I was getting pretty bad cramp in the hands. Finally she pulled up suffering the same problem. We regrouped & took photos & talked & time to go again. At one point on a downhill, I looked off to the side to see a group of guys we know sitting there, so I had to yell out to them, whilst doing so, my front wheel hit a hidden boulder & I decided to pay attention to what I was doing. One of those guys had hit a rock & come off hurting his shoulder but carried on for the rest of the day. (they'd eyed up the steering damper on Friday night, so I had to tell the guy who fell it would probably have saved him on the rock, like it did me - see, it's not just for pose value lol)
Nothing much eventful happened in the morning, but I kept seeing the ambulance & cars along the road & remembered where Jen & I had stopped last year ;)
Going down another hill (heading to the beach), I was busy watching the view - there was a really cool rock/island being pounded by surf - Henk almost ran into me as he was doing the same. Oops, watch the trail. I dumped my bike after the creek crossing & then just waited for it to be brought up to me hehehe. My friend decided she didn't want to do the creek crossing as a bit earlier on she'd dumped the GG & was in trouble over that already.
Before lunch we'd hit a sand dune. Last year it was solid, but this year the sand leading up to it was soggy, with people having trouble getting to the dune proper. I yelled out once I'd hit the top, then told my friend's son to come with me & we'd wait for the others back on farmland, unless he wanted to play a bit. They worked out we'd gone ahead, so we regrouped once again.
I got slightly stuck on a hill I'd got stuck on the other year (after admitting to J's husband that I'd got stuck there - we were watching someone else struggling at that point), so basically had psyched myself out before I even got near it. Ah well, no matter, hopefully I'll get it right next year.
At one point there was a great hillclimb with a few people scattered on it and a queue waiting for it to clear, so I just looked & went off to the side - the easy way we were meant to go ;) No problemo hehehe. Found out later this hill had claimed a few victims, it was steep & then when it flattened out a bit, it was lumpy.
Heading up to the windmills, I couldn't help but look for two women taking photos - nope, I was riding & Jen's back home lol. After having done this ride a 2nd time (btw the bits I'd been dreading weren't even in it), I think this has to be my favourite ride. I enjoyed watching it last year but really wish things had worked out better in the bike situation that all four of us could have ridden it.
I guess that was the end of an era in NZ motorcycling too - the rides will continue, the shop will continue, just the owner will be retired (but he's promised he'll be at the next ride as a customer). You'd often see him stopped by a tricky bit watching & helping & having a smoke.
I was hoping to have a great ride so I could survive a month off, but after having one, I'm hanging out to go riding again - can't win with me.
Well, so much for that ride, good to see my time off work was used constructively ;)
Saturday night was daylight savings end. Before bed, Henk set the clock. The alarm went off at 6am, so I stagger out of bed, get dressed, decided stuff it, I will check my emails, turn on the 'puter, make myself a coffee. Looked at the clock on the puter - 4am. Yip, the clock got put forward instead of back, I was wondering why the hell it was so dark. Finished my coffee & went back to bed for an hour or so. Righto, now it's time to get up, oops, a bit late. Got to where we were meeting a group of people just on time, to find a couple had arrived 15 minutes early & had breakfast & were heading off to the ride - I thought they were joking. Okay, where's everyone else? Gradually we saw everyone we'd organised to see, so it was time to head out of there.
We got to the ride ON TIME - this was the ride that was a bit of a disaster last year with CJ-Rider & hubby (slow breakfast and only just made it, with Henk taking the scenic route & me wondering where they were). Caught up with some others, signed ourselves on, got a bike started (GG Pampera wouldn't start), geared up & it was time to take the bikes through to the start to wait for briefing.
This is part of a series of rides put on by a local shop (Kawasaki/Suzuki/GG) & the owner has sold it (retiring) & his last official ride. The monies earned go back to the local communities & we get to ride on a lot of land that we don't usually have access to.
I did the ride two years ago & was really nervous about a few things from that. My friend had never done it & was generally just nervous about how she'd go - her 2nd ride on the GG EC200. Her and I swapped lead during the ride and at one point with me behind her, I was hoping she'd stop as I was getting pretty bad cramp in the hands. Finally she pulled up suffering the same problem. We regrouped & took photos & talked & time to go again. At one point on a downhill, I looked off to the side to see a group of guys we know sitting there, so I had to yell out to them, whilst doing so, my front wheel hit a hidden boulder & I decided to pay attention to what I was doing. One of those guys had hit a rock & come off hurting his shoulder but carried on for the rest of the day. (they'd eyed up the steering damper on Friday night, so I had to tell the guy who fell it would probably have saved him on the rock, like it did me - see, it's not just for pose value lol)
Nothing much eventful happened in the morning, but I kept seeing the ambulance & cars along the road & remembered where Jen & I had stopped last year ;)
Going down another hill (heading to the beach), I was busy watching the view - there was a really cool rock/island being pounded by surf - Henk almost ran into me as he was doing the same. Oops, watch the trail. I dumped my bike after the creek crossing & then just waited for it to be brought up to me hehehe. My friend decided she didn't want to do the creek crossing as a bit earlier on she'd dumped the GG & was in trouble over that already.
Before lunch we'd hit a sand dune. Last year it was solid, but this year the sand leading up to it was soggy, with people having trouble getting to the dune proper. I yelled out once I'd hit the top, then told my friend's son to come with me & we'd wait for the others back on farmland, unless he wanted to play a bit. They worked out we'd gone ahead, so we regrouped once again.
I got slightly stuck on a hill I'd got stuck on the other year (after admitting to J's husband that I'd got stuck there - we were watching someone else struggling at that point), so basically had psyched myself out before I even got near it. Ah well, no matter, hopefully I'll get it right next year.
At one point there was a great hillclimb with a few people scattered on it and a queue waiting for it to clear, so I just looked & went off to the side - the easy way we were meant to go ;) No problemo hehehe. Found out later this hill had claimed a few victims, it was steep & then when it flattened out a bit, it was lumpy.
Heading up to the windmills, I couldn't help but look for two women taking photos - nope, I was riding & Jen's back home lol. After having done this ride a 2nd time (btw the bits I'd been dreading weren't even in it), I think this has to be my favourite ride. I enjoyed watching it last year but really wish things had worked out better in the bike situation that all four of us could have ridden it.
I guess that was the end of an era in NZ motorcycling too - the rides will continue, the shop will continue, just the owner will be retired (but he's promised he'll be at the next ride as a customer). You'd often see him stopped by a tricky bit watching & helping & having a smoke.
I was hoping to have a great ride so I could survive a month off, but after having one, I'm hanging out to go riding again - can't win with me.
