Akaroa ride

Had a wild ride to Akaroa yesterday. I got up early and did a bit of work on the Norton cause I've been riding it to work everyday for the last couple of weeks and wanted to have a bit of a look inside and see what was going on. Got all that done just in time to get down to the main rd in Lyttelton and meet up with Chris, Bad Evil, Aaron and Jesus. Chris had also invited Mad Dog and his mate (who's name I don't remember sorry!?). There was quite a collection of mismatched bikes which was awesome, from the lil' 150s, the CB350s, a GB500, Mad Dog's wild Suzuki cafe racer, and my Norton. We had a real good hustle to the Hill Top Tavern and then down to Akaroa, with Mad Dog providing one fairly exciting moment going down the hill into Akaroa Harbour. He did an amazing job keeping it right way up! We also noticed that Aaron's bike was about to lose a rear shock absorber at the hilltop, which he managed to keep in place with a few good kicks now and then.

My Norton didn't miss a beat for once and seems to be running fairly oil-tight too. There's a few little bits an pieces I need to attend to, but I'm definitely thinking pretty seriously now about taking on our Nth Island run in April? Fingers crossed. This ride was the hardest/fastest run I've done on it since the primary and gearbox rebuild.

Had a couple of beers at Akaroa and watched Aaron perform a temporary fix on that shock which was coming off of it's bottom attachment. Luckily I'd bought some tools and the general store there had some washers the right size to hold it on for the ride home.

Approaching the hill-top on the way back, and doing my best to keep up with Mad Dog and co who were really flying up the hill, I saw Jimi come past the other way on his Trident. I pulled over to wait for him and as Jesus came round onto the gravel behind me he dropped his CB360 cause of a little too much front brake. He was ok apart from a good burn on the leg and I'm pretty sure the bike was good apart from a busted indicator? By the time we were ready to head away again the little bikes had caught up and we all fucked off down the hill to meet the others waiting now in Little River.

From there we all sorta split up and a few of us went back to Lyttelton for a beer at Tommy Changs (a bar I have to say I'm developing a bit of a soft spot for!). Was a great day and a great ride. Good to get out with some new dudes on different bikes too. Mostly though I was just stoked that my Norton went so well – still buzzing off of it today!