The Ride Stuff

  Well hello there - Welcome to my next blog this week coming to you from our beautiful home here in Tuamarina after having been out and about in some of the more picturesque parts of our region. Above you can see a picture of Elaine Bay, some 17Km further on from Okiwi Bay which I showed you in previous posts. I went there today with the Institute of Advanced Motorists Top of the South group (TOTS for short) on one of our fairly regular social rides. We had a few more come along today too which was nice to see. Plus the weather really played ball all day. It was just right being in the mid-20s with a slight breeze to prevent things becoming too warm. Perfect. These rides are good for a whole bunch of reasons. They help improve my mental health, somewhat vital for me at the moment as work has been getting me down for some time, they get me out and about seeing even more of the area we live in, they help keep my riding sharp and they sometimes allow others to join the caus...

It's funny how life throws us all the proverbial curve balls every now and again. It was once described to me (I can't remember by whom - So it must have been some time ago) as life's way of pressing the 'Reset' button for us all, whether we think we need it or not. Put another way 'Life is what happens to you whilst you're busy making other plans'. This saying has resonated with me for some years now and I'm a firm believer in its validity, even more so as I slide gracefully into middle age. I guess the fact is that, at almost 48 years old, people around you become ill, have crappy things befall them for seemingly no good reason and generally have life happen to them.  As one of my favourite F1 drivers, Martin Brundle, once said you make your own luck and I think that there's some truth to that but sometimes you do have to wonder abut the reasoning behind it all... The reason I've started off with this rather sombre tone is related to the ph...

As some of you will doubtless know I'm a mad keen motorcyclist - Have been since the age of 9 when, growing up in South Africa, we were bought a small 50cc Italjet off-road bike to ride in the nearby fields whilst living in a place called Ngodwana (More on that in future blogs) . That soon led to a small motocross bike, a Yamaha YZ80, being bought and many an enjoyable ride during the 1983 season before we moved to a place called Springs owing to Dad moving jobs once more and the riding was put on hold for some years. Fast forward to 1990, my final year in high school (Blimey that ages me...) and we were active in off-road riding once more, doing one-day-long enduro events and generally having a ball even if I was never the fastest person out there. Since the late 1990s I've been able to own my own bikes - I've being employed as a Royal Navy Officer to thank for that - And one genre of bike that has always puzzled me is cruisers. You know the thing - Big engines, lots of ch...

The Ride Stuff - 4 Jan 21   Thanks to Xmas being the main holiday period here in NZ the normal amount of time off is between 3 and 4 weeks.  Hence just about everyone we know, including us, is still on holiday this week. This is good as the weather has finally come to the party after something of a shaky start in late Dec. Blenheim, some 10Km from where we live, is known as being NZ's sunniest place and usually Dec through to Feb is properly warm with lots of sunny weather and temperatures above 20 degrees Celcius most days.  Ideal weather for getting out and about on the bikes and, since late 2020, in the little MGTF that I bought from a chap in Gisborne. It turns out that this chap retired to NZ after working for MG Rover for 20+ years, a lot of those being as a test driver, and he needed to sell as age was catching up with him. I've always fancied an MGF/TF as they were launched when I was at University and as an impoverished student they represented something to aspir...

The Ride Stuff - 3 Jan 21 The first 2021 IAM social ride As some of you will know I am a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, a registered road safety and training charity here in New Zealand. In fact this started in the UK some years ago and has become a feature here in NZ in recent years.  The aim is to join with a view to then preparing for and ultimately sitting your advanced motorcycle or car test. This has the benefit of getting you discounted insurance but more importantly it allows you to acquire skills which could well save your life out on the roads one day. Not just that but you achieve a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that you are doing you pride and joy justice by riding it to a good standard. Nowadays I try to get out on social rides with my local IAMers here on the Top of the South Island (TOTS) group and as such w get out and about and see some of the region's best spots. The picture above shows the distance board just off State Highway 6 just outsi...

The 'Ride Stuff' Blog Hello, good day and welcome to this the first 'Ride Stuff' blog written to you from New Zealand's beautiful South Island. Firstly a bit of background as to who I am and what this is all about. My wife Emma and I moved here to New Zealand just over 5 years ago from the UK. I moved from the Royal Navy across to the the Royal New Zealand Navy for many of the normal reasons such as improved lifestyle and so on. Having been out here for a holiday back in 2012 we both really enjoyed the place and when a job offer came up we decided to make the move. Not surprisingly fact that it is possibly one of the best countries in the world to travel on by motorcycle didn't hurt either!  I've been bitten by the biking bug since the age of 9 when, living in South Africa, we were intrduced to off road biking. Since then I've always loved bikes, talking about bikes, riding bikes, working on bikes and keeping up to date with the latest in the biking worl...