Motorcycle Club, which opens it up to people
interested in BMWs, not just owners. This is part
of the reason why Kiwi Rider mag went digital a
couple of years ago.
The rest of the evening involved food and beer.
Perfect.
MOLESWORTH AND RAINBOW
Now, for me this was the main event. My gravel
Raison D’etre. There was another gravel adventure
ride up Mt Patriarch on the Sunday which
promised a more demanding ride, but with
opportunity to pop my Molesworth/Rainbow
cherry on offer… I had to take it. The only problem
was I was going to have to bow out of the
Concours D’elegance, which I was sure the Red
Baron would have easily taken top honours.
Remember that patina...? Luckily for everyone
else, I decided to go on the Molesworth ride.
Jokes aside, the K100RS and R100S of brothers
Simon and Mike Marshall were absolutely
stunning. It came down to the two of them for
outright honours – with Mike’s R100S just pipping
Simon’s gleaming K100RS.
While the Concours guys were getting ready for
polishing cloths at dawn, a group of us set off for
the Taylor Pass, which would drop us down onto
Awatere Valley Road and on towards the
Molesworth Station. The Taylor is a great ride in
itself, something of an appetizer before the day’s
main course, which would see us needing a fuel
range of some 330km, 350km to be on the safe
side. 330km is right on the limit of The Baron’s
range – typically hitting reserve at 290-300km on
the road. So, some exuberant gravel riding would
make it touch and go for the air-cooled,
KIWI RIDER 107