This is the New Years Eve riding at Rotorua
. For other silliness, go back and look around, or
check out the Taupo Biking Weekend.
Carol and Barney took all the pics. Carol did the production.
Thanks guys.
Click any image for the full-size view.
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New Years In Rotorua
2002
We headed to Rotorua on Dec 31st so we could do a night
ride to bring in the New Year. Neither Carol or Roy had ever done a night
ride before so it was all very exciting. Here we are setting up camp and
having a quick meal before heading out. |
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Fenella and Barney kindly lent us some lights for the occasion. And
Ollie, always prepared with spare parts, made sure we were up and running.
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Here are our helmets ready to go. Lights. Action! |
The battery packs are a tad heavy, but running 30 watt lights was sure worth
it. No problem seeing the trail although the lights made the trails look
smoother than they actually were, so we could rip along, (or at least it
felt like it). As always, we were too busy riding to take photos. There were
lots of possums on the trails who refused to give way. Ollie persuaded one possum to hit the bush but he popped right back
out and continued to run up the trail until he was too exhausted to move. We
figured the possum was in training to lose a bit of weight!
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A quick stop to adjust Lizzy's lights. She was finding it
difficult to ride when her light kept going off. Talk about fussy. |
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Those Canadians are flashy!
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3.......2.......1
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Roy, Russel, and Lizzy popping the corks on the
champagne.
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We just couldn't convince Fenella and Barney to go easy on the
Champagne. They were a little shakey! |
Night riding was an excellent way to spend New Years Down Under. We
found the perfect spot to watch the fireworks going off over Lake Rotorua. |
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The Midnight Crew
Lizzy, Fenella, Ollie, Barney, Roy, Russel and Carol taking the picture
Left: just heading out.
Right: Watching the fireworks. |
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January 1st, 2002
Mission: Ride to Blue Lake
Purpose: Hot Exercise
(Swim and Ice Cream)
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We planned a longish ride for the day so sandwiches were in order. We
rode a few tracks in the forest first before heading up a long, hot, very
hot, dusty trail to the top of the ridge |
The last grunt to the top.
Phew.
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Made it.
And then the cruise down to the lake. |
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After a refreshing swim, and of course ice cream, we found some great
tracks taking us back to camp. |
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It was hot. Real HOT!
Russel unfortunately ran out of water on the trip home.
Real men do anything to help each other out... |
...but was it a good idea? |
| Play Time. We spent lots of time playing
on all the jumps, berms and water holes. |
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Roy |
Russel |
Carol |
Boys on Berm |
Girls on Berm |
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Barney & Ian Tandem Jumping |
Kinda like the steeplechase event.
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On the way back to Auckland, did you see the "PASSING PLANET
- 500 METRES" signs? It's amazing how an additional P and T can make
you feel so small. I can't tell you how long we were pulled over gazing into
the sky looking for the offending planet. At least there was room for the other cars to pass.
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