The fierce southern
winds were a battle
being as unlimited as possible, and finding what’s
around the next corner, on your own terms.
We swapped yarns for a while, and the subject
of accidents came up - mishaps, if you will.
Remarkably she has remained almost incident free
in that regard. But she did say that New Zealand
had given her a number of frights with wind.
In the deep south, on the road to Glenorchy she
came around one particular corner leaning quite
hard, the katabatic mountain wind was blowing
so strongly as she rounded the bend that she was
completely unable to bring the bike back upright.
A handful of brake and some swearing
got her to an emergency stop, but it was a
nasty surprise and a fright for her. Another
time, on the Lindis road, the fierce southern
winds drove her nuts, and she says she spent
three hours screaming into her helmet.
To try to get to the bottom of why she does
what she does, I asked her if she listened to
music when she rode. No. Emphatically. No,
she prefers to think about where she is, what
she’s witnessing and the bike. Here and now.
Her self-imposed speed limit gives her
Enjoying a spot of down-time off
the bike at Milford Sound
KIWI RIDER 75