PETE ’ S PEOPLE
on every style of bike , from cruisers to motards to race bikes .
OUR TEAM We had a line-up of bikes that were mostly super-nakeds – designer John Shepherd rode his 2021 Triumph Rocket III and Leonie Whyte , his wife and fellow designer , aboard her 2021 Triumph 1200 Speed Twin . The second couple saw Megan Maxwell , a commercial make-up artist , on her 2019 BMW R9T Pure , and her husband - international fashion and commercials photographer , Tony Drayton , on his 2017 R9T Classic . All the bikes appeared in shop floor finish , and it ’ s a mark of these guys respect for their bikes that they are always immaculately maintained and cleaned . I was helming a ‘ 22 Honda Africa Twin 1100 , one of the worlds best touring bikes . It was one I ’ ve put more than 4000ks over spring and summer despite the wet , and comfortable on long days . The route was planned in advance . One of the perks of touring with married couples is they tend to like a few home comforts at the end of a day ’ s riding – meaning hotel or motel beds , and decent restaurants - they weren ’ t going to get any argument from me .
DAY ONE - AUCKLAND TO NEW PLYMOUTH Breaking out of the city , we wended our through Waikato , Waitomo and down the coast to New Plymouth . The weather was superb , and we were just happy to be riding . Leonie had been dead keen to go on this ride since I ’ d suggested it . The previous few months had been tough . John was away riding the South Island when Cyclone Gabrielle ’ s floods occurred , and she ’ d had to handle digging emergency trenches in the dead of night to channel water away from their house . She ’ d told John , “ I ’ m going on this ride – even if you aren ’ t !”. Leonie is pretty staunch , I ’ ve seen her handle wasp stings where you can ’ t mention , and keep riding . Somewhere on the wrong road around the back of Waitomo we noticed the BMW ’ s were low on gas and my GPS was directing us badly . After a couple of reroutes and stress over running out of fuel , the decision was made to return to Te Kuiti - about 30km back , to gas up and figure out a new route .
Lunch stop at the Awakino Hotel
86 KIWI RIDER