To the Black Dog for Lunch

A big thank you to the Queen for the long weekend and to some other unknown entity for providing some fine weather suitable for motorcycling. Memorial Park saw the gathering of of four of us at 9:30 am for a discussion around a suitable destination for lunch or brunch and most importantly an interesting route to get to it. The consensus was the Black Dog in Ormandville with a H.A.T (Home Arrival Time) between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. This meant we could have a great wander around some of the back roads that run parallel to State Highway 2 as it makes its way north. With Bruce S on his Triumph Speed Four, Bruce A on his BMW F800, Sir Al on his Potato Potato (Harley Sportster) and yours truly on a Suzuki GSR750 we pointed our bikes east and headed for the Pahiatua Track.

The run over the track saw a few moments where one could enjoy the corners, but most of the time was spent dealing with the plentiful traffic. The Rongomai loop was the next part of our ride and the turn off to Mangamaire had us into some more bend swinging with plenty of caution thrown in as we started to encounter the 'damp no sun' winter corners. A brief run heading south on State Highway 2 soon had us to our next turn East onto the Rongomai loop. Magaone Valley Road soon appeared and we then headed north towards Pahiatua and some nice moments enjoying the countryside. A quick morning tea and a chat in Pahiatua with a couple of Mazda MX5 enthusiast's had us wondering about what a post motorbike world might look like. Both were ex or nearly ex motorcyclists whose bodies had let them down. Nice to know we have future options but not just yet thanks!

We were soon on our way with Tui Brewery signalling the next part of our wander through to Hopelands. We encountered another group of motorcyclists stopped by the side of the road on their adventure bikes and it was interesting to see the number of groups of motorcyclists out and about over the day. Anecdotally, there really does seem to be a huge interest in motorcycling as a leisure activity and does seem to fit with the increased sales many motorcycle dealers are reporting. We continued on to Oringi via a few more back roads where we then joined State Highway Two for the ride through to Dannevirke and on to our final destination, The Black Dog. 

Ormandville isn't really known as a destination place but The Black Dog has certainly built up a reputation as a riding destination. Helen, the custodian has done a great job building this up over the years and her use of word of mouth and social media has really helped. Our visit entailed a photograph to go on the Facebook page and the food, drink and hospitality certainly made for a great visit. Our Fish and Chips were reasonably priced and nicely cooked and all for a good price. Having motorcycles in the bar certainly added to the motorcycling ambience of the place and I am sure we will visit again soon. We had a great chat with a group who seem to regularly ride down from Hastings and make the most of the backroads like we do. 

All and all a great ride and we were soon on our way home via our usual route that closely follows the Ruahine Ranges. Not a lot of traffic as usual and some nice straights to blow a few cob webs out of the bikes. All to soon it was waving farewell to the lads as I headed home via the Saddle Road and it was nice to see it had been resurfaced recently. The lads continued on via Balance Bridge and back over the Track to Palmy and Levin. A great ride and thanks to the crew for a great Sunday out on the bikes.

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