Shock, horror - the sun was out today and it wasn't raining!

I also have the week off!  Yes, there was stuff to do at home but come on - it wasn't raining!

So, as the Connie had got some exercise over the weekend (more on that later), it was the Tenere's time to come out and play.  I also decided that it would be worth exploring Ridge Road through to Apiti to see what the road was like after all the rain.

A quite pootle out to Pohangina saw the bike's economy hit 5.1L/100km and I was simply enjoying the sunshine and dry roads.

At Pohangina I pulled over to turn on the GoPro and try an experiment - turning the Traction Control off for the gravel ride up Finnis Road and then along Ridge Road to Apiti.

As it turned out the roads were in mint condition with very few muddy spots to worry about - maybe they're used to all the rain"  The run up the hill on Finnis Road gave me a bit of a chance to work out how the bike behaved with the TC off - basically it turned it into a gravel spitting demon...
It was a real hoot blasting all the way through to Apiti.  Wheelspin kicked in every time I got on the gas and I got the back end out a few times.  The bike's behaviour really brought out the inner hoon but even when I got a little out of shape the bike always seemed to sort things out and bring itself back more or less in line.  It was quite a workout for the rider though...and the economy nose dived to 5.7L/100km...

Nearing Apiti and what woul...