One of those Moments.

The weekend just gone was a long weekend here in NZ, and I went away for the weekend with the Gravel riders club.  I will post up a blog about the weekend in the next few days, but first I will share one the most scariest moment I have ever had on a motorbike.

Because we are coming into winter I wanted to replace the Tourence tyre on the back of the GS with a knobbly.  With the prospect of dealing with more mud and slush in the coming months I thought it would be a good move.  I realise of course that I will sacrifice some on road performance.

So a couple of weeks ago I did just that.  My first experience with riding on knobblies was the last weekend with Andy where we did some exploring around Tuakau and on the beach at port Waikato.  I certainly enjoyed having the knobbly on the back as well a the front as the back of the bike did not move around as much and I seemed to get more drive through in the soft stuff.

Anyway, enough waffle and fast forward to Sunday.  We pulled out of Awakino where we had been staying for the night and headed south where we would explore some of the gravel roads around New Plymouth etc.  

As we pulled out it had began to rain quite heavy, we had only travelled about ten kms when I rode over some shiny and very wet seal, I was doing about 110kms and was feeling more than comfortable.  Suddenly the bike began to rev and before I knew it the back of the bike lost traction and began to fish tail violently to the left and right.  The back end slide continued for what felt forever.   In that brief moment where time stands still I wondered how hard the tarseal was going to be when I hit it.......I was sure I was about to be high sided, in fact that was exactly what was happening.  There was really nothing I could do but hang on and wait for the inevitable dumping......and then as quickly as it happened the bike caught traction again and straightened.  

I have had moments before on a bike but this one would of been the scariest, it was not a tank slapper but a complete loss of traction.  I seriously thought my biking days were over.....

Steve who was following me said he was sure I was a gonnna and couldn't believe how I never got thrown off,  in his words "one of the scariest things I have ever seen on a bike in front of me".

My confidence took a huge hit for the rest of the day, and later after lunch I pulled away from the group with another person and rode a slow and steady ride for the rest of the day.  Conditions in the afternoon improved but the conditions in the morning as well as the roads we were riding was some of the most unnerving I had ever ridden.   Ironically the knobbly was worth its weight in gold on the gravel and mud we later rode...but I have learnt a very harsh lesson and introduction to the difference from road tyres to dirt.....

In the dry the TKC 80s are not bad, but I in the wet caution is a must....

I am off to wash my underware now.