A combination of not very friendly weather and a bit of a cold (near death experience - nearly as bad as man flu) has meant that the bikes haven't had a lot of exercise.  Yesterday I decided to ignore my suffering and get some fresh air in the best possible way known to man.

With the sun shining and the washing hitting the spin cycle, I wheeled out the Tenere and started getting ready for action.  By the time I had hung out the washing and geared up it was raining...Never mind, I was going!

After topping up the bike I pointed it North and made for Vinegar Hill.  Along the way I managed to shave a little bit of weight off the bike (unintentional but man, E-07's are not bad kit) before catching up to a big fat Volvo SUV.  He was obviously an awesome driver as he floored it when he noticed me sneak up behind him and then demonstrated his superb technique by using all of the road regardless of whether he could see around the corners or not - nice.
From Hunterville I took Ongo and Turakina Valley Roadz as far as Pohonui Road where I turned off for my first bit of gravel.  I took this as far as Okaka Road which I then took down to Papanui Junction.

Dropping down the hill the gravel changed as I hit stretches that had either been graded or had a bit more metal dumped on them recently.  Turning back onto Turakina Valley Road the gravel conditions stayed fairly similar but with the roads a bit more open the speeds increased and I started to ge...