A couple of years ago we had a bit of a cold snap and I took the opportunity to take the Vee for a spin up into the snow and onto a closed Napier-Taihape Road.  You can reminisce with me here: http://banditrider.blogspot.co.nz/2014/07/searching-for-snow.html.

Well, last week (and yesterday), we had more shocking weather and there have been road closures all over the place - down in the South Island (funny that) and all across the Central North Island.  So, today it was the Tenere's turn to have a winter adventure.

It took me a while to get sorted this morning (I even packed a thermos for a hot drink up on the Annie) but I was finally gassed up and on the road about 10.  The day was actually relatively pleasant - the sun was out and it wasn't too windy - but it was still fairly chilly.
A quiet pootle over Vinegar Hill and up SH1 kicked things off and by Mangaweka the temperature had dropped quite a bit.  I got some light rain as I rode up the hill and saw my first "close" snow up on top of the hills.  The hot grips got tuned up a notch to 40%...

I turned off SH1 and rode across to Taoroa Junction taking it fairly easy on the greasy tar and carefully maneuvering around small slips and downed branches.  At the junction I went left instead of right (fighting the urge to go and jump off a cliff) and just a short distance up Pukeokahu Road hit the gravel.

The gravel wasn't too bad although it had been graded recently (the grader w...