Road Ride Newsletters
NEWSLETTER No. 35 MAY 2010
The temperatures are starting to drop and it won’t be long before the thermals are dragged out again. Luckily when we headed up North on April 16th, the weather was warm and where we were heading, it was still in drought. Twenty four people had decided to head north and the first day’s ride was a big one. I had estimated the ride to be around 500km but that proved to be wrong!!! When we reached Auckland, the plan was to head west via Helensville on SH 16 and came out at Wellsford.
It has been a couple of years since I was on that road and I couldn’t believe how much better it was than last time, with fantastic views of the Kaipara Harbour. This road is well worth the extra time and is far better than SH 1.
The first night’s accommodation was at Kaihu, which is about 30km north of Dargaville and by the time we reached the Top 10, the trip meter was showing 598km. Hmmmm! This probably explains why a few people had such pained expressions on their faces.
Dinner that night was at the local Kaihu pub which puts them under a great deal of pressure when we all arrive at once for dinner. They coped beautifully and the locals are all very friendly.
The next day’s ride was not a big one, only around 140km which gave everyone the opportunity to have a look around Opononi and Rawene. A group of bikes went to Cape Reinga in the afternoon.
I have since heard the road is now all sealed. Apparently they finished it a week after we were there!
That night, we had a group BBQ, which gave everyone the opportunity to catch up and meet new people. A special thanks must go to Roy & Shona Dawson who made the trip north in their van as their bike was sitting in our workshop awaiting parts from overseas. They did all the shopping for the BBQs for both nights and prepared a lot of the food, it was appreciated by everyone. The following morning, breakfast was at the Waterfront Cafe in Mangonui, a beautiful spot. At KeriKeri, there was a brief stop at Makana Chocolate Factory for sample tasting the wares and purchasing for the chocoholics. We arrived at Sandspit around 4pm and everyone trickled in for another BBQ planned for that night. It was a great night! The trip home the next day was under threatening skies and it started to rain just after Warkworth, fortunately just quick heavy showers and nothing more.
We then struck the morning rush hour traffic, now I know why I left Auckland all those years ago. We turned off the Southern Motorway at Papakura and headed home via Clevedon and Miranda.
I gave the group a brief tour of the real estate in Ngatea after taking a wrong turn. Everyone made it home safe. Thanks to all of those that came along and made it such a great trip. I even received some fan mail from the Traffic Department a week later.
The dates for this years’ Burt Munroe are out. The 25th–28th of November for those of you who are interested. If there is enough interest, I will put a trip together which this year, will be a little different than past trips.
The shop ride for this month is on the 30th May and we are off to Te Kuiti.
Usual story, meet at the shop at 0900 if the weather looks suspect listen to cancellations on 1XX.
Cheers!
John Jones
Underwood & Wilkins
underwood.sales.john@wave.co.nz
For more photos of the trip, check out www.underwoodandwilkins.co.nz
Newsletter 32 - January 2010
What a great start we have had to the New Year. Lots of fine weather and time
off work to run some miles up on the bike.
I know I said in my last newsletter there would be a ride in January but with
things happening and generally the stars not lining up, it just hasn’t happened so
my apologies for that. There will defi nitely be something happening in February.
There are a lot of motorcyling events over the next couple of months, starting off
with the Classic Bike racing at Pukekohe on the 5th, 6th and 7th of February.
There are more classic racing on the 13th, and 14th Feb at the new Hampton
Downs track and of course, the street racing at Paeroa on Sunday 21st February.
On 14th March there is the annual Westpac Helicopter Charity ride in Auckland
and on the 20th March, there is the annual coast to coast ride starting at Waiuku
and fi nishing up in Whangamata. There is no excuse for not getting out on
the bike.
If you are thinking about coming along on the Underwood & Wilkins
Motorcycles Far North Ride on the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th of April, you better
be quick as places are fi lling up fast.
The ACC campaign is still continuing. There is a petition on the parts counter at
U & W so if you haven’t put your name to anything yet, you can now. There is
also another protest in Wellington on the 16th February at midday. If you want to
know more, check out the web site www.kiwibiker.co.nz .
On the 8th January there was a BBQ and get-together at Bill and Carol Hayman’s
with all the people that came along on the 2009 Burt Munroe Trip. There was a
fantastic turnout with people coming from Cambridge and Gisborne. It was great
to catch up with everyone and Mark Williams brought his computer along for
everyone to check out the photos. It was a great night and many thanks to Bill
and Carol for the use of their house and Mark for bringing along his PC.
The shop ride for February will be on the 21st leaving the front of the shop at
0900 and we will be heading to the street races at Paeroa. So if you are coming
along, don’t forget to bring along plenty of sun block, a hat, change of clothes
and fl uids. It can be a real scorcher there.
Cheers
John Jones
Underwood & Wilkins
underwood.sales.john@wave.co.nz
Newsletter 31 - December 2009
It seems to roll around way too fast. Organising the Annual Burt Munroe Challenge trip starts in May and before you know it, we are heading south again in November to enjoy the fantastic roads of the South Island and tropical weather.!!
This year on the trip, we had a huge variety of bikes from 250cc scooters and road bikes throught to Honda Goldwing fridges (aye Steve!). For once, the rain held off for a lot of the time and the only major thing we had to deal with was the high winds and in some places, the cold.
On the Friday making our way to Invercargill from Alexandra, the gusts were reaching 120mph which made for some unusual riding styles to keep the bikes upright. This year the rally was the biggest yet, even though on the friday evening the beach races had to be cancelled because of the rain and high winds. This for a couple of local beach racers was a huge disappointment after towing a trailer all the way from the Bay of Plenty to Invercargill and not getting a ride.
I would like to thank all those that came along and made it such a special trip and you definately get to know people a lot better when you have the time to spend with everyone.
The ladies night is still going to happen. Richard's ankle is improving all the time and it will be one of the first things we do in the new year.
Also if you cant make it to Whanganui on Boxing Day Cemetery Circuit, head to Taupo on the 27th and 28th December to watch some fantastic racing.
To all those of you who sent away submissions and signed the petitions and took part in protest rides regarding the ACC changes, you have made your protests heard with the announcments of new levies this week. Politicians have listened to our concerns, so well done to all those who took the time to stand up to unjust increases in ACC levies.
There will be no shop ride this month but we will kick off again in January.
I am thinking about a Far North ride in April 2010. This will be a three day ride. For those of you interested in this, contact me at the shop.
From all the team at Underwood's, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you are out and about on your bike over the Christmas period, be careful out there.
Cheers
John
