Friday 20th February 2009
Woke up about 8:30am. Bit of a sleep in as I was tired from the previous 2 days riding.
It was raining pretty steady, so re-arranged luggage to keep stuff dry.
Ended up putting tools (heavy) into tank bag and this helped to balance the load better.
Put on my new Oxford rain suit. This ended up only doing an average job of keeping me dry.
With socks on, I put feet into plastic shopping bags and then into boots to try and keep feet dry. This seemed to work at first. But in the end was pretty useless idea.
Depart Springfield about 11:00am. Rode back west over Porters Pass and then south along Lyndon Rd towards Coleridge. Lyndon Road was signed as closed due to ice and snow damage to Coleridge Bridge but I just ignored this.
Was a pretty tricky road in wet with deep gravel making balance difficult. Found I was powering through corners using rear wheel steer, very similar technique to riding in sand.
Rain and low cloud/mist.
Diverged off to Mt Olympus
Got to damaged bridge and made an easy river crossing to continue on.
Talked to local farmer at a gate.
Note to self: "Gate" signs need to be taken seriously!
Through Coleridge and Rakaia Gorge then along highway 72 to Geraldine.
Low cloud and rain made for average riding/scenery-viewing, so pulled into a B&B in Geraldine. ($45)
Only need to ride through Timaru and Oamaru to get to Dunedin tomorrow.
Seems like South Island 95 octane petrol is not very good as bike seems a little down on power (apart from Arthur's Pass) and only doing about 180km before hitting reserve, although gravel roads will account for some of this.
Have my boots and gloves drying in hot water cupboard
Hope weather is dry for tomorrow.
Arrive Geraldine about 3:00pm. 51315 km = 195 km
Woke up about 8:30am. Bit of a sleep in as I was tired from the previous 2 days riding.
It was raining pretty steady, so re-arranged luggage to keep stuff dry.
Ended up putting tools (heavy) into tank bag and this helped to balance the load better.
Put on my new Oxford rain suit. This ended up only doing an average job of keeping me dry.
With socks on, I put feet into plastic shopping bags and then into boots to try and keep feet dry. This seemed to work at first. But in the end was pretty useless idea.
Depart Springfield about 11:00am. Rode back west over Porters Pass and then south along Lyndon Rd towards Coleridge. Lyndon Road was signed as closed due to ice and snow damage to Coleridge Bridge but I just ignored this.
Was a pretty tricky road in wet with deep gravel making balance difficult. Found I was powering through corners using rear wheel steer, very similar technique to riding in sand.
Rain and low cloud/mist.
Diverged off to Mt Olympus
Got to damaged bridge and made an easy river crossing to continue on.
Talked to local farmer at a gate.
Note to self: "Gate" signs need to be taken seriously!
Through Coleridge and Rakaia Gorge then along highway 72 to Geraldine.
Low cloud and rain made for average riding/scenery-viewing, so pulled into a B&B in Geraldine. ($45)
Only need to ride through Timaru and Oamaru to get to Dunedin tomorrow.
Seems like South Island 95 octane petrol is not very good as bike seems a little down on power (apart from Arthur's Pass) and only doing about 180km before hitting reserve, although gravel roads will account for some of this.
Have my boots and gloves drying in hot water cupboard
Hope weather is dry for tomorrow.
Arrive Geraldine about 3:00pm. 51315 km = 195 km
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