With being caught out by finishing shorter days early on the previous two days and only 350km to do on Sunday, I decided not to be in too much of a hurry to leave Geraldine.  I fluffed around for a bit and looked out at a slightly drizzly looking morning as I got ready, but by the time I was organised the day had cleared and was warming up fast.  A quick fuel up and I was on the road up the Inland Scenic Route.

Even though the big long straights could be tempting, I kept the speed down and just tried to enjoy the morning and the views.  I can't have been going too slow as I did eventually reel in a Royal Enfield and pass him - Yamaha power!

My first gravel detour was up the Western side of the Rakaia River to the big station at the end of Double Hill Run Road.  And man, was this a cracker of a road!  While there was the odd rougher patch and about 5 fords to negotiate, the road was generally pretty fast.  And the views weren't that shabby either...
At one stage I was clipping along quite nicely when the idiot steering the bike hit a pothole fairly hard.  The poor forks took a big whack as they nearly bottomed out and the little mudguard extension hit the bash plate on the bike (twice) and was torn off - I heard it go.  Bummer!  What's worse is that the extension put a lot of stress on the guard itself and it has cracked on both sides - I may need another one, sob.

@#$%^#^#!At the end of the road I had a bit of a poke aro...