This meant that we could take the shortest, quickest route on the first 23k to Morrinsville and the first coffee stop...
We thought Soub and Yeractual would like this one...a Jaguar XK 120 in pristine, showroom condition...no salt on the roads here!Morrinsville is a small agricultural town..as you can see from the Xmas decorations...
lovely!
We found a flatter route than had been planned ( Scotsmans Valley will have to wait until we are fitter ) which meant 4 k along state highway road, but at that point it was quite wide, and with a hard shoulder wide enough for three bikes. Then we returned to the smaller roads for the last 15 or more km into Cambridge.
After refreshment we headed out on Highway 1 towards Hamilton ( 16 k away) to see the site of the new velodrome. This will be hopefully open by 2014 and will be the centre of NZ cycling. It will mainly be a training facility for the elite riders.
not bad progress so far.
We returned as soon as possible to the lanes to return to our outward route, and retraced via the first cafe stop....let's just say that my saddle isn't quite right...
By the end of the ride we'd done 120k....and after opening up the sleepout, managed to lock ourselves out...when the house was locked and everyone away at the skate park...but after a cuppa at our friend's house next door, all came come and all was well.
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9 comments:
Happy New Year, gz - to you and your pirate. I have watched from the sidelines as you traversed both bad and good .... and wonderful. You are Blessed and a bright beacon of hope to us all. Thank you.
xxx
That's the car Lady M has been pestering me for (it looks like an XK 150 to me). So,the adventure continues!
Sorry Cro, The Pirate says the 150 was a later one with a bigger engine!!
RDG, thankyou.
xx
Sounds like a fine bike-ride and a fine day out, including the lock-out! The car's a beauty - I do love those 1950s Jag ragtops, all the XKs were fine machines. The 150 had a trimmed dashboard, I think, though most had Jag's great 3.4 engine fitted. The 150 was also the first of the range to have a single windscreen, rather than a split-screen, I think! Takes me back, such useless knowledge!
You're so right... Soub would get all dreamy eyed and oily-handed over this.
but, I'm sorry to say, Cro-Magnon and yeractual are right too... Your pic IS an XK 150. The single windscreen is a 150 only item, but the big giveaway is the height of the doors. On the earlier cars, the door line swoops down in a cutaway style to the 'haunch' of the rear wheel-arch. The radiator grille in this one is broader, more rounded than the 120.
I met a chap who'd built a very convincing kit-car replica, but with some more modern Jaguar bits under the skin. It was a beauty, and I was taken for a trip out in it, over the Yorkshire moortops, but my friend was not satisfied. The car looked, to me, perfect, but he never forgave himself for building a replica, rather than the real thing. Now, my pub of choice, in those days, was a place full of petrolheads, cyclists, and motorbikers, one of the petrolheads was an ex pinewood studios car wrangler, another was a guy who restores and races multi-million pounds worth old cars. And Adie had a REAL XK120. We went out in that. Less power, noisier, bumpier ride, less effective brakes. Old red leather seats, and a hundred times the fun.
I wish I had the money to have a toy like that.
Look at it. A creation of the days when the car had character. Eat your heart out, porsche, audi, bmw, nasty, efficient, soul-less machines. Brrrrm! brrrrmmmmm!
You win, Soub!!
You write so well, too :D
Pirate says that he is a 1937 Model Y fan.....
Now, I've no knowledge whatsoever of 1937 model 'y's
Vacuum wipers?
The Pirate says Yes! You put your foot down, and the windscreen wipers stop!
Flat top engine, so easy to de-coke.
Spoke wheels broke spokes on the back.
Like to still have mine!!
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