A week after riding through Central America, the economist and his wife, Jo, were in Oturehua, enjoying the balmy temperature on Saturday after having to scrape snow off their camp site at last year's rally.
They have been to 10 or 12 Brass Monkeys, and Dr Morgan said the main attraction was the ride to the site from their Wellington home.
"Usually, we say, 'If the ice doesn't get you, the grit on the roads will,' but this year there's been none of either. It's good to come and camp out here."
His new role as chairman of the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council made him look differently at rallies and how people rode their motorcycles, he said.
The council, funded from ACC levies on motorcyclists, was set up in January to implement rider safety initiatives. It was inspired by a similar initiative in Victoria, Australia, where motorcycle fatalities and serious injuries had dropped by 20% since 2002, after the state government introduced a specific motorcycle safety levy programme and council.
Dr Morgan said the $30 motorcycle safety levy introduced in this country last July would provide an annual budget of about $2 million to fund the council's initiatives.
"Operation Green Line, launched last week, is our first initiative. It's aimed at the hazard presented by effluent on our roads, especially to motorcyclists."
The initiative tied in with the start of a two-month period when much stock was being shifted from farm to farm. The aim was to get road users to report effluent spills.
The council was set up because of the increasing number of motorcyclist injuries and fatalities, to allow motorcyclists' views and priorities to be taken into consideration when looking at riders' safety.
"So we're looking at riders solving this problem. If we don't, it'll end up costing us more in the future, " Dr Morgan said.
He had been poring over motorcycle accident statistics. About half the accidents involved only a motorcyclist; the other half involved a collision with a vehicle.
"One of the most expensive accidents is when older guys return to motorbiking after a gap of some years. They generally buy a big, expensive bike and when they have an accident they're on high salaries, so it costs us a lot in ACC."
