So for the last two months I have eagerly awaited my free weekend to swing by. After I have dropped the kids back to there mothers on Sunday night, I start checking the weather and long range forecasts, in anticipation of the coming weekend. But of late disappointment has normally set in by Wednesday. It is around this time the forecasts become accurate, and as per usual rain has been forecast.
Now normally I am a lover of all seasons. I love the warmth of summer , the cosiness of winter, the newness of spring, and my favourite month is Autumn. But this winter has been warm, certainly warm by comparsion to other years...........but shit it has been wet. Rain, rain ,rain and dear I say it more rain.
Anyway I digress......
So this week I check the weather as per usual, and what you know it is forecast for rain, but by Wednesday it has changed. Instead of rain all day Saturday and Sunday, they are forecasting a fine day Friday, and fine till late Saturday............needless to say I needed no encouragement to make plans for a we trip.
So a quick text to my friend Rachael in Tauranga, and plans are made for a visit on Friday night.
Finally after the long winter I feel like spring is here. Come Friday, I leave work and shoot home, the bike of course is all ready packed, gassed and tyres check etc. A quick shower and I am out the door faster than Phil Goffs decline.
Choosing to avoid the motorway, I head out towards Kawakawa bay, Kaiaua, and Miranda. This is a piece of road I know very well, but brings a smile to my face every time I ride it. Eventually linking up with sh25, before stopping at Paeroa. Have promised Rachael I will be in Tauranga in time for dinner, I stop only briefly, but having never taken a photo of the famous kiwi icon, I thought it was about time i did!
I arrive in Tauranga a little after seven, and enjoy a fantastic meal made by Rachael's Spanish flatmates, (note to self..need to get a couple of them) , and also enjoy some fantastic Russian vodka.
By 8.00am in the morning I have said my good byes, and I am and on the road again......decisions decisions..the long way home or the short way.....ummm...let me think about that for all of about 2 seconds before i decide on the long way. Leaving Tauranga I head towards Waihi, then take 25 to Whangamata. This is a fantastic piece of road, with a great deal of it having been resealed. Pure motorcycling heaven.
A quick stop for coffee and I decide that the weather is holding so I head towards Tairua, Whitianga. It had been a while since I had ridden the loop, and now I realise why I love it so much. To make things better there was hardly a car to be seen, let alone another bike. Then it happened, 10kms form Coromandel township it starts to rain.
Not much to be done but just keep riding. To be brutally honest it doesn't bother me that much, and it is good thing from an experience point of view. No better way to learn how to ride in the rain , than ......well ride in the rain. Having done it lot of times , it is just par for the course when you ride.
In Thames I stopped for a coffee and some food. The rain had finally stopped. After lunch the rest of the ride home to Auckland was uneventful, pulling into my house just before three. I had been away from home for just 23 hours, .Had travelled just over 600 kms, spent just over 8 hours on the bike. But it felt like I had been away for ages.......motorcycling has a way of doing that to you.
Footnote: Racheal is good friend of mine whom I have known for many years. She set up Living Hope. Read all about her work . She is an amazing and inspiring person. http://www.livinghope.org.nz/
Rodger
ReplyDeleteThe unplanned way home is always the best way home, isn't it? We came very close to meeting up with your recent ride then. Let me know when you're planning to be up this way next!
Great post in the true spirit of riding!
Actually as I came over the hill into Coromandel, I did think of you. But I hadnt taken your phone number, otherwise I would have stopped and phoned. Thanks for your comments.
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