Coromandel Circuit

 There are many problems to do with Covid-19, but a small and selfish benefit is that Aucklanders are stuck in the big city, leaving all the tourist destinations of the upper North Island free for others. A friend extolled the joy of going around Coromandel without aggressive drivers (not necessarily Aucklanders, but, well, actually, yes, Aucklanders) roaring up behind motorbikes. There is a fundamentally different road use between motorcyclists and car drivers. Motorcyclists have to go slowly into corners because, if you are going too fast, you either ride off the road or into incoming traffic. Motorbikes have brakes on the front and the back tyres, and the front tyres are the most effective. (This is not because of technology, but physics; the brake on the dragging tyre behind is far less effective than on the leading tyre in front. As a motorcyclist once explained to me; if you had a wheelbarrow with a jammed wheel, would you push it or pull it? A brake on the dragging wheel is useful, but not very effective.) Unfortunately, the brake on the leading front wheel can also cause problems when turning and heading into a curve at an angle. 

As a result, motorcyclists go into curves slowly and carefully. But once the motorcyclist reaches the apex of the curve and the open road is visible, then there is the power to accelerate. By contrast, a modern car (eg, since the 1980s) has four brakes, often operated with ABS, and the driver makes no decision on front or back brakes. The four brakes mean the vehicle is unlikely to slide and of course there is no angle to the tarmac. So just when a motorcyclist is slowing for a curve, a car driver is maintaining the same speed. A small nudge on the back of a motorcycle is devastating, unlikely a nudge to the back of a car. 

So, Coromandel. Beautiful, more beautiful than the last time I was out, as the weather was better. Although I had my heated grips, I did not need them. I rode out to Paeroa, then Waihi, then went around the Peninsula anti-clockwise. My first break was in the Karangahaka Gorge. The cafe was a little Bohemian, but charming and it had lovely views of the river and, across the road, walkers were heading off to tramp out kilometres. I enjoyed my coffee and a date, apple and oat cake. Very healthy. 

Refreshed, I rode on to Waihi and Whangamata. Some lovely roads and scenery. 

(While checking something else, I saw that two motorcyclists were involved in serious crashes in the areas I was in, at about the same time.)

In Whitianga I struggled to find a decent looking cafe, but did so eventually. I was able to order a calamari and chorizo dish, perhaps two of my favourite items. The chorizo was New Zealand style, so just a kind of sausage, but the calamari was good. By this stage, I was feeling that I had treated myself too much for Sunday. The ride up and over the Peninsula was fun. As my teaching colleague had said, the lack of Aucklanders meant that there was far less traffic, and so there was less need to look behind to see if a car was going to shunt one off the road. 

On the road to Whitianga.

The road around the Coromandel is Route 25, and I guess the marketing department of the Ministry of Transport thought long and hard before coming up with "Stay Alive on Route 25." I would prefer something more positive, perhaps bringing tourists in, rather than making them fearful. 

When I have previously travelled on this route, it has been quite wintry, so it was enjoyable to take off a layer and to feel comfortable. The views are spectacular, the road is lovely, and the curves, inclines and declines, set a challenging and entertaining ride. In the far distance I could see the miasma of Covid-19 over Auckland City, but I was able to ride on with my own thoughts and enjoyment of the road. 

Raglan

Plucky Raglan fought in the Crimean War between Britain and Russia. As with Wellington, his Crimean War exploits mean that a town in New Zealand is named after him. It is a 45 km ride out from Hamilton and is a pleasant, usually touristic town, with apparently some great surfing. As for the road, it winds, rises and falls, has some sharp turns and some opportunities to let the throttle out. It is a very popular route for motorcyclists who can usually be seen on the terrace at the pub on the main street on a Sunday. I took the route out to Raglan on my first day with the V-Strom in December last year, and before you are too critical, remember that I had not been on a bike in 14 years. I was soon terrified. The weight was different, the acceleration was incredible, I had forgotten how to counter-steer, I was too nervous to shift my weight into the curve. I could go on, but I won't. I am already remembering the scenes and the nervousness. So, back to the present. It was a lovely ride. Various important people in school had meetings, but I am unimportant so left once I had finished a number of tasks. I enjoyed a coffee in a small local cafe in Hamilton, and then headed out to Raglan. As always, there is the pleasure of being out, of gripping the fuel tank between my knees, of feeling the power and the responsiveness. I felt comfortable in the curves, relaxed as the road reverse-cambered and enjoyed the chance to speed up. 

I took a look at Raglan Area School, just so that I would know where it was. Who knows? I may have to look at jobs next year. I then rode into town, down a steep street with a right-hand turn. A man in a huge ute trailed me closely and I hoped that he would realise I had to stop as I wanted to turn. Once I was safely in the centre of Raglan, I saw that the butcher's shop was open. There are very few genuine butcher's open these days as most have been swallowed up by the large supermarkets, but in Raglan there is a genuine butcher's. Although I had planned leftovers for an unexciting supper, I felt I had to support Raglan's entrepreneurs. So I bought some lamb shanks for tomorrow, and some sausages for today. I always feel a little embarrassed when purchasing; so I now state that I live alone and so two lamb shanks is an evening meal and then leftovers for work the next day. The view from the carpark over the Raglan Harbour is beautiful and I stood and admired it for a few minutes. the sun was setting at the mouth of the inlet, waves were breaking over sand-bars, and the impression was given of a peaceful timelessness. The ride home was also pleasurable, as I now know well the swoops, curves, changes of gear, shifting of weight, and the chances to accelerate. Whilst there was a lot of traffic heading to Raglan in the evening, there was hardly any traffic going my direction. 

I rolled into Hamilton, a smile on my face. A good afternoon, with an enjoyable trip out to the seaside. It certainly beats a work meeting!

Ngaruawahia, Glen Massey and Glen Afton.

 Today was a fine spring day. It was freezing in the morning, and I mean that in the sense of the temperature being below 0 degrees C, not just the hyperbole expression 'it was a little nippy'. The temperature rose during the day so when I took my little son back to his mother's, I was able to enjoy 14 degrees C. 

I dropped off a book at the Central Library and then rode out north to Auckland. The big city is in a lockdown so there was little traffic heading north. Normally, thousands of vehicles return to Auckland on Sunday afternoon from little weekend away breaks in Rotorua, Coromandel, Taupo, Cambridge or Hamilton. I was kidding about Hamilton. It is not really a 'weekend away' type place. I turned off the State Highway at Taupiri and rode through Huntly. Only a year ago, this was a hectic road, but with the expressway by-passing Huntly and Covid-19 shutting down entrance to Auckland, the old state highway was forlorn and neglected as I rode along. I crossed the Waikato River and headed off to Glen Afton, Glen Massey and my intermediate landmark, Ngaruawahia. The roads were lovely, with climbs and then vistas of paddocks, sheep, beef cattle and the occasional dairy shed. 

For those unfamiliar with New Zealand agriculture, the most lucrative livestock is dairy cows as milk powder brings in a lot of export yuan from China. Next, beef is a good earner, but lamb is not so great. Wool is worthless. I have explained the latter point to teenage students by asking them how many woolen garments they have, and frequently they look at me with puzzlement as they have none. What a strange idea, to wear wool from a sheep! I need hardly explain that, globally, mutton is hardly possible to buy, even though it is far tastier than lamb. So the poorer mountainous areas of New Zealand are populated with sheep, the medium with beef cattle, and the rich lowland valley bottoms are populated with Friesian cows. As I rode along, I admired the sheep. 

In my bid to get the V-Strom to full touring specifications, I put on protectors for the hand grips. These provide very little protection in the event of an accident, but do keep the wind and insects off the hands. 

I gave these a wipe before taking the photographs as I was sure that the sight of multiple dead insects would be unattractive. 

I also took a photo of the heated grips control. 

As I returned through the steep gorges approaching Ngaruawahia, I put the heated grips on to the lowest setting, 30%. Twenty minutes later, as I approached Hamilton's Central Business District, I switched them off, as they were no longer necessary. 

It was a very pleasing ride. Some beautiful and scenic roads, hardly any traffic, I rode smoothly and well, and was able to return home to left-over Shepherd's Pie. Please note that no actual shepherds were harmed in the making of the pie.

Covid

 Back in April and May 2020, I thought that the Covid-19 lockdown would be over within a month or so. Here we are, months later, and things seem to be little better. In fact, with an Australian State closed down, and now Auckland closed down, albeit for only a couple of weeks, my plans for travel for 2021 are limited by the pandemic. 

There is an obvious belief that travel requires money, time, and energy, but that these are distributed unfairly over lifetimes. The young have energy but, given studies and work, little time and less money. The elderly have time and money but no energy. The middle-aged, and I count myself in this category, have some money but work takes up time and the energy levels are falling. So should I be taking a massive decision to use up my money to travel while I have the energy? I would also have to leave my work, which is not such a bad thing. I feel somewhat tired of being abused by teenagers! 

Due to Covid-19, the potential timing is unclear, and the destinations are also unclear. 

On the positive side, my bike is getting to be ship-shape, if I am permitted to mix metaphors. I put on a sump-protector, centre stand, heated grips and hand protectors. I have panniers for luggage and a possible tank bag. I say possible because it does not fit the shape of my fuel tank. I have researched tents and sleeping bags, and thought about cooking materials. So that is the vehicle. Next, is the financial aspect; I have my money invested and I could use that. Realistically I know I cannot afford to buy a house in this life-time, unless I miraculously inherit money, so should I save the money for to improve my retirement, or head into retirement having done something brave and adventurous? 

My contract is to teach until the end of the year. It is hard going, with several difficult classes that make me question my worth. Still, I can count down; six more weeks this term, then a two-week break, then eight weeks. In terms of dates, that means I finish with the school in the middle of December. I have the rental of my house to think about too. In New Zealand, tenants are poorly regarded and tied up with rules and regulations. One is that if I break my contract before my year is up, I can be charged for the remainder of the year. It is possible to protest and argue about that requirement, which I will probably have to do. Basically, I will truthfully plead that I have no job, which of course means that estate agents run for the hills. 

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the bike. The heated grips have certainly added an element of comfort as my hands are kept a little warmer. I have taken rides out to Morrinsville to the east of Hamilton, to Te Awamutu in the south and to Gordonston in the north. Right now, there is a lockdown in Auckland so there is no chance of going too far north in the next few weeks. 

I am also looking forward to better weather! 

Bike upgrades

 Boyd's Motorcycles in Hamilton kindly lent me a bike while my own was being repaired. In the conversation prior to leaving the bike, I'd been told it was a Suzuki Dr650. There are many codes with motorbikes and I confess I don't know much. I kind of knew that the Dr was adventure and that 650 was the engine size. I was told that this bike had gone around the world. I was right on about the Dr and the 650, but I had not appreciated that the bike was a single-cylinder, effectively agricultural bike, with studded wheels and negligible speed. I was surprised at how small it was, and, when I checked later, it was listed as 160kg as against my own V-Strom at 215kg. 

I could not get the motorbike up to more than 80 km/h and it also only seemed to have five gears. (On a motorbike you use your left foot to flick up through the gears. This bike did not to go up beyond five. I counted, because five gears is pretty old-fashioned!) I got it home and scratched my head. 650cc?

Very narrow, small engine. Only one disk brake on the front wheel. Is this really a 650? Around the world?

Bariloche, Argentina. !Ostras!

?Y que mas? 

Ushuaia, fin del mundo. Ushaia is a town at the very bottom of Patagonia, at the very south of Argentina, at the very south of South America. This bike had been there. 

Respect. 

Rotorua circuit

My plan for the day was to take a trip to Taupo, and perhaps to do the loop around the lake. I was up fairly early, had some breakfast and then tried to get going. Somehow, as I was getting on my bike, it fell. I had taken it off the centre stand, then swung my leg over, and I think I caught the seat or perhaps a pannier. The bike thus fell away from me, and, as it weighs 240 kg, that is too much to pull back. It also turned out to be too much to lift, especially as it was wrapped in the tarpaulin that is the car port's side wall. I tried various methods involving brute strength and failed. I ended up with a sore lower back. Then I checked a few YouTube videos and got some good points, particularly about turning the front wheel to full lock. I managed to get the bike quite high up, but, by this time, my back and legs were sore. My neighbour came out, surprised and concerned, and it took us two seconds. I feel I should be able to pick up the bike, but need to be aware. First, switch off the engine. Then put the bike in first. Then put the side stand down. Turn the front wheel towards me, full lock. Then lift, with my back to the bike, one hand on the front handlebar, one on the sissy bar at the back.

I was still rather sore, and I know that this back pain will last a few days. I have often suffered lower disk problems but know that the cure is nurofen and deep heat. Lucky I live alone!

As you can imagine, I became quite hot, sweaty and bothered with the business of picking up the bike. I decided I did not need a jersey and that a waistcoat fleece (or 'vest' as some call it) would be enough for my trip. I headed south on State Highway One and soon realised that it was going to be colder than the weather forecast had suggested. I stopped in Tirau where I admired the sheep. There is also a sheepdog, but I did not take a photo. The corrugated iron sheep are quite lovely enough on their own.

I was feeling a little sore and cold, so opted to go to Rotorua instead of Taupo. I had some vague fantasy ideas about the thermal water creating warmth, but the temperature dropped steadily from 14 degrees C to 13, 11, 10 and then 9. The scenery, as I rode through the Kaimai-Mamaku Conservation Park, was beautiful with fine trees, views of fields and distant hills, and the very attractive Ferguson Creek. As always, the odours of nature are vivid on the motorbike, and entering Rotorua adds to the mix. I do not find the sulphur smell of the area disagreeable and the pungent aroma takes me back to Prince George, British Columbia, which I visited when tree planting in 1985. That was not so pleasant as the smell was related to the Canadian paper and pulping industry whereas Rotorua has its natural smell from the depths of the earth. I took a picture of the lake, which involved searching for a place with a view, as most of the lake-front seems to be under repair, with unsightly construction fences.

Then I wandered about trying to find somewhere to eat. I could not decide. A brunch? Eggs benedict? Something like a steak? I did not fancy a curry. The prices in Rotorua do seem exorbitant and I was just about to give up and go to McDonald's, where the food is a lot cheaper and there is no urge to be pretentious, when I decided to take the simple option of Nando's. Sort of Kentucky Fried Chicken but more expensive. My ex-wife liked Nando's due to her South Africa connection. I ate there with mixed feelings. I had to park in one of Rotorua's motorcycle parking slots. The word 'slot' is appropriate as you can see. There is no room for a friend.

I had hoped to do a circuit of the lake, anti-clockwise. However, I missed the turn west at the north end of the lake, and ended up riding to Tauranga. There was rain, it was still cold, and my back was sore. I was impressed by the sight of Mount Maunganui which I could see from 20 kilometers away, and I could see why it is named twice. Mountain in English, and Maunganui means 'big mountain' in Te Reo Maori. So the name is Mount Mountain Big. Or Monte Montaña Grande if translated into Spanish. There was then a cold, wet and tricky route back to Hamilton negotiating the Kaimai Range again. The temperature warmed up but I was glad to get home.

The trip made a good Sunday. It is back to work tomorrow.

Hamilton Circuit

It is the first of August. Since January I have set myself a monthly target of 1000 kilometres with the motorbike and I have easily exceeded that, and was at 12,209 km on the 31st July. To self-justify; I sold my Kawasaki ZZR 400 in May 2007, and then lived in England and New Zealand. I had no motorbike until I sold my house to move to Hamilton and to be closer to my little son. I am not poor, but my teacher salary is laughable when compared to the price of housing. (I live in hope of either a 50 or 75% housing price fall or a 50% to 75% salary rise for teachers!) I invested my money, which has not been such a great decision, but used some to buy a motorbike, a Suzuki 650cc V-Strom.

Since December I have been improving my biking skills, enjoying my rides out, and frequently taking the long way home just so that I can have the pleasure of riding some more.

Today, 1st of August, a circuit of Hamilton. Although I had been to the town of Ngaruawahia in the morning, to support my school football team (which means trying to encourage them to keep battling despite losing 11-2 to some tough farming lads), I took a spin out north from my house. I stopped for a lovely cup of coffee at Woodville Old Home, or something like that. As this is New Zealand, I was not expecting a National Trust ancient 'home', but it was pretty enjoyable.

There was a cafe next to a cricket pitch. The cynic in me wonders how often the pitch is used, but this was winter. It was a little odd that the stumps were out but they did create a lovely sight. The staff were friendly. I only asked for a long black coffee but frankly, I am a little overweight and hardly need extra food. I took a wander through the gardens and enjoyed the views, before taking a quick tour in the house. As New Zealand is not very old, it is hard to be impressed with items that are 100 years old.

The house and gardens are lovely though, and I recommend them.

I then rode north, to Ngaruawahia, and then turned south to take a route through to Te Awamutu, then via Hamilton Airport back to Hillcrest, in Hamilton. I filled up with petrol. This was not as obviously easily as it should be because I pulled up at the Mobil pump, entered my card, entered my details, entered my "Mobil Saver Con" card, and then discovered that the 91-Octane was not working. I then had to move to another pump and start all over again. There was a sign, a label, attached to the 91-Octane hose, but it was small and only visible when I picked up the pump.

Still, I enjoyed 120+ km of riding, despite a late start. I have not yet decided where I will head off to tomorrow.

I also had to resurrect and recreate a Facebook page. There is no way around it, sadly.

Woodville, New Zealand.