Another TT done and dusted and it was a beauty! After the frustrations of last year I took a slightly different approach this year, ….but then Mike Hyde has constantly evolved the concept of his ride so each year is different anyway and this time swung back to a ride where one could easily get their required points, then ride where they liked to stack up the km's. I didn't do that though! I looked at the layout of the checkpoints and my plan morphed through about 10 stages until I finally had a route that picked up almost all of the checkpoints apart from the gravelly ones and a couple that weren't convenient, it had early check-ins then further riding that meant there was no time pressure to get to the end (apart from trying to get plenty of sleep) and on the Sunday it had a 200km buffer of scooting over to Akaraoa just because we could. I started out with Steve (& his V-Strom) as my riding buddy, then we got joined by Woody )on his Z1000) and then later in the piece, Chris (on his Multistrada) joined us for his first TT2000. As per usual, I tried to plan the route to the nth degree, starting with the route in MapSource, then laying out the CP's and points on a spreadsheet with leg km's, total km's, working out potential fuel stops based on Woody's maxed out 300km range and finally assigning leg times from MapSource plus 2minutes per CP photo stop, 10minutes per fuelstop, 30minutes for lunch on Saturday and approx an hour to check-in to the cabins each evening and have dinner. I finally loaded the route into the GPS unit, noted the km's and route time from there, calculated the moving average and applied that to the spreadsheet to then have a fast time. (The unit comes up with a faster time than MapSource and it tends to be more accurate to my riding) (I also expected that the faster unit times would still be conservative.....yeah right!!) By compiling all this info, the route would get tweeked until we finally had a plan....Oh yes, and as I went, I also discovered the exact locations of the two Mystery checkpoints. Mystery 2 was easy as that was Moa statue constructed of wire, so I googled the image which linked to an old Stuff article that revealed the name of the sculptor and the farmer that commissioned it (on his farm and it's general location) The white pages identified his address, then a scoot along streetview revealed the statue about 300 metres from his gate! Voila, it was in the plan. I discarded Mystery 1 early in the piece because it was 3km from the end of the seal and there were no clues to start a search, but one tends to revisit these things and one evening it suddenly clicked that behind the two dunnies in a paddock was a bridge with a river running under it!! That prompted a scan of MapSource and Google Maps which identified that there were only two gravel CP's that went anywhere near a river at 3km from the end of the seal, Klondyke and Highview, but Klondyke passed by a loop in the river where Highview crossed it. Sure enough, zooming in at 3km along the Highview track on Google Maps did indicate there were two wee dots that had to be the dunnies! Entries were registered, ferries booked, accommodation booked for two, and it was big enough for three, then expanded for four, the bike was serviced, re-shod with a new set of Z8's, Sena S20's were purchased all round, the route loaded to GPS's and we were ready to go....on the 0230 sailing of the Arahura on Thursday morning. Thurs 19 – Day 1 After grabbing a couple of hours kip, I was up at midnight, scrubbed and geared up and as the bike was already packed, I was soon on the road to fill the bike, then check-in at the ferry terminal. Chris arrived shortly after so we paired up our Senas, then Woody turned up but Steve didn't arrive until almost time to board. We chatted for awhile before grabbing another hour plus of nap and we were on the road out of Picton before 0540. The temp started out at about 12° but hit 9° before Spring Creek and didn't really rise much as we made our way north in the dark. I had a wee moment as we hit the roadworks through the Dashwood pass and I suddenly found myself on gravel, so probably not a great time to be on intercom but I'm sure my choice of expletives would have alerted the boys to what lay ahead. Nothing untoward happened though and an hour or so later, as we made our way up the Kaikoura coast, we were treated to a lovely sunrise when the sun sneaked out of the sea with a pink glow all around it, then as we turned toward the Kaikouras through Clarence, the whole mountain range was covered with the same pink glow for a bit. I recall thinking that at least the temp would start to rise with the sun but shortly after we turned inland on SH70, the temp bottomed out at 7° and hardly went above 9° all the way through to our first fuel stop in Culverden. At this point we had travelled 262km at an average of 90kph and we got there at 0832, filled, had a play to try and improve the intermittent connection we were experiencing with the Senas and we finally got back on the road at 0906. We made our way out to Waipara, on to Amberley, then turn inland again to take SH72 via Oxford to Geraldine for lunch and the next fuel stop. This was an easy scoot, managing an average of 95kph, and we passed Dreds and his two mates through here, so they paused to say gidday before we went in for our feed. A bit over an hour later we had filled and were back on the road, then realised what a good idea it had been to take the inland route because once we got to Timaru, the traffic was diabolical. We were being diverted for roadworks (or perhaps a big accident) and we were constantly leap-frogging through long lines of cars and trucks. The traffic did ease from around Waimate though and we got to the holiday park at 1555, having had a relaxing day in the saddle. We checked in, scrubbed up, sorted our stuff, went a feed and settled in for the night.,..and that was day 1. 89 moving average; 765km; Fri 20 – Day 2 We didn't start until midday so we enjoyed a sleep in with plans to check-out by 1000 (managing to leave by 0930), finding a cafe for brunch before filling and registering at McIver & Vietch. We met Topher outside the cafe and Bandit Rider in it, as well as a couple of Blenheim Ulys (who didn't manage to finish the ride after she had a close encounter with a sheep) and got to the start at about 1100 to mingle and chew the fat. At this point we discovered that Mike Hyde wasn't well and couldn't make it, but all went off to plan anyway. We were briefed, collected our T-Shirts, which I quickly clipped into my shorts-hanger that I'd duct-taped into the lid of the top box for quick photo CP turnrounds, and after waiting for Woody to be already to go....then take his helmet off to put his earplugs in, we got underway for our first checkpoint at Aramoana at right on 1200. This was always going to be a slow start but we did alright to make our way through the traffic as well as passing a few other bikes on the way over. I was surprised to find that we only passed two or three bikes on their way out and half a dozen at the CP. There were another 10 – 15 that followed us in and a few more that we passed on the way out, so it would seem that not that many riders opted to grab these points? I'd never been there though and enjoyed the ride, then back to Port Chalmers and especially heading out to SH1 at Waitati....then from Palmerston where we turned onto the pig route and the pace lifted to a km-eating steady speed. We caught Dreds and his mates before Palmerston, slotted in behind them, then got caught by one or two others, so we had quite a wee train as we made our way to CP3, being the Macraes Gold Mine. Shucks....that's one big hole in the ground!....not to mention the huge pile of tailings sitting on top of it. It's amazing because I rode that road back in 2011, but between the fog, the sunstrike and the pace I don't recall seeing a thing of it....not to mention the other great scenery. From Macraes, it was onto CP4 at Hyde then over to Ranfurly and CP5 at Idaburn, but we were treated to a smirk as we approached Ranfurly when Dreds and co took to Bypass Rd (a gravel jobby) and I commented to Woody, "Did you see that, those pricks hit that gravel and they didn't flinch, they didn't falter and they didn't miss a beat!" I had assumed they were off to some dark-side CP but then got another surprise when they popped out just ahead of us again 6.7km later (them having done 5.6km) and I thought, "Huh, Gary, (who was leading us at the time) you haven't been going fast enough!" (We'd only averaged 103kph). They eased off a bit on the 16km to the Ida Valley turnoff, so I slipped past and the others followed because we did want to pick up 10 minutes on our schedule to add the Mystery 1 CP to our haul. We grabbed our photo of the dry dam, scooted past Chatto Creek and up to the Clyde Dam for CP5, then back to Clyde for gas. (what a quaint little town) Then we lit out for the Roxburgh Dam, CP6, and the ride along Conroys Rd was quite a treat with plenty of corners and views. From Roxburgh we had quite a cluster of relatively close CP's starting with Mystery 2 on Moa Flat Rd, Wilden, Edievale, Switzers, Mystery 1, Heriot, Kelso and Waikaka, before heading to our check-in at the Gore Cabins, at which time (being 1745) we were a quarter hour behind schedule. The ride plan had our departure on Part 2 at between 1850 – 1945, and after getting dithered around at the Kebab place, Woody & I scoffed down a couple of foot long Subs, while Steve & Chris went for a McCafe and whatever, with us getting back on schedule by heading out of town at 1853. Our 226km outing started with a quick scoot east out to Kaiwera, then back to Gore to head north-west on SH94 for Manderville, where we had to photograph an old train next to a community hall, then a hall in the middle of nowhere at Wendonside. That road had a somewhat out of the way 6km long straight which inspired Chris to check his speed on....but that's all I have to say about that! Our track from there briefly linked back onto SH94, then we took a link road across to SH6 to bypass Lumsden and down through Dipton to photograph a War Memorial, that like many in the Sth Island (and CP's on this trip) are tucked away on side roads out in the WopWops. We finished the day going down SH6 to Winton, across SH96, turning off before Mataura to collect the last CP for the day at Waimumu, where the route guides had a picture of the church, but noted the hall as the CP.....so we took both and were back in Gore and refueled by 2130 (8 minutes ahead of schedule) We finished the day with a scrub, then chewed the fat over a few wines before hitting the sack at about 2300, 89 moving average; 452km + 226km = 679km Sat 21 – Day 3 At this point we already had 38,000 of our required 50,000 points and Saturday's plan called for collecting another 36,500 points and 1,114km. I arose before the alarm went off at 0500, geared-up, re-packed, put a bit of air in the tyres and we were on the move by 0605 heading south for the first three CP's at Menzies Ferry, Mataura Island and Bluff. I had Chris behind me and his headlights were bloody bright so I turned my mirrors down and got on with the job, only to find that 4km down SH1, Chris was pulling alongside because his were the only lights there!! Turned out that Woody had pulled out of the motorcamp and followed the wrong bike in the wrong direction until the chap pulled into his residence.....then Woody decided to use his GPS! We had returned 2.7km when they came into view, so we turned and took off again. By 0722 we had collected the first two CP's, then cut across to come back out on SH1 by Tiwai Point and cruised down to Bluff to take a pic of a big chain sculpture, pissed around a little and we were still a minute ahead of schedule when we headed for our first fuel stop at Riverton. It amazes me how so many petrol stations have been shut in the Nth Island, but most little settlements in the deep south seem to have retained their pumps by going to card operated Allied, G.A.S. or McKeowns stations. The downside for four dumb Welly boys, was that the card pump wanted a $ limit entered, but we wanted to fill, so Woody dials up $25, but only draws off about $16, so we put the rest in Chris' machine and thought stuff it. I could get to the next planned stop and Kingston while Steve and Chris should have made Manapouri, so we hit the road with the plan for Steve and Chris to fill at the next available fuel. That turned out to be Tuatapere. Before that we had to collect a pic of the surfer statue at Colac Bay, where I led us onto the grass to get close. When I put the stand down it was a bit soft, so I moved the bike forward onto the wooden curb around the statue, took my photo, plus the spare of the group, then saw Steve trying to hold his bike up while he took his photo so I stepped in to assist. I should have gone to Spec Savers though because right then, Woody's bike fell over!! Oh dear, it took both of us to pick the poor wee thing up but the upside was that the grass was so soft that nothing got broken....and then we went on to Tuatapere. What a joke! We arrived at the servo (that didn't feature on the NZ Open Souce Maps) and it turned out to be open, manned by three people, but still on cards! Sheesh, dumbarse city boys still want fills so ask how to get around it and all we get is a tirade from the Arsehole Owner. What an absolute prat! Hardcase though because it turns out that you dial in your max amount, but it only charges you for what you take, so the boys filled and we moved on for Orawia, Clifden and Manapouri......but what a twat the prick that owns the Tuatapere servo is!!! The faffing around over fuel had cost us time though and by the time we were moving on from Orawia, we were 12minutes behind, same at Clifden and down to 7 minutes down at Manapouri. Averaging 100kph across to Mossburn pulled in another 5 minutes and at that point I was down to 2 bars on the fuel but hadn't been taking note so I wasn't sure where I stood for the 60km up to Kingston...and I didn't want to put 91 in the ST, so I said to Steve, "You take the lead and I'll draught." We made more good time averaging 104kph, while my economy picked up 0.2km/Ltr and didn't go on reserve until about 5km out of Kingston. It was interesting to see the new cycleway through here, complete with large swing-bridges. In fact, it wasn't until I saw the swing-bridges and wondered what they were for that I noticed the cycleway. It's hard enough to cycle on the highway, but why any one would want to do all that cycling on gravel behooves me? We were a minute ahead of time out of the 'Flyer' CP, then a minute behind out of the fill....and it was time to....'Let the Games Begin!' We were now at the bottom of Lake Wakatipu and were about to embark on the best riding of the weekend. It was only 12km up to the next CP, being the Devil's Staircase lookout and we did that in 7 minutes, departing on schedule, but Steve left while I waited for Woody and Chris to get back on the road, then when they were moving, I lit out like a scolded cat! ....and what a delightful wee fang that was!....didn't do much for my economy but!! We were scheduled to have lunch in Frankton, but the road in was choked and we got split up as we filtered past the traffic. I had a moment here when a boy-racer pillock saw me coming and veered across to the centreline....so I just took the gap behind him to nip around the inside but the prick swung back across on top of me as I passed....and he threw in a few expletives for good measure. I Had plenty of room though and after tossing the ST out of his way, I was soon well up the queue, through the round-about and waiting for the others by the BP, but everything was busy and Steve missed the stop, so we continued on to see what we could find along the way. The next CP was Coronet Peak and we saw nothing before that so that was the next stop...after some more magnificent fanging. I've been up Coronet Peak a couple of times but it's always had plenty of grit lying around.....but not this time. It was pretty clean so I had a blast as the ST is such a delight to throw around on roads like that. After losing a bit of time fluffing around in Frankton then taking a couple of extra minutes taking in the views from the Peak, we were now 20minutes ahead of schedule with lunch still to be had, and we decided to get that late, at the Cromwell fuel stop. But first we had to go to Cardrona and that meant up and down the Devil's Staircase and Crown Range! We shuffled around past Arrowtown and then I hit my straps again. Another huge blast was had all the way to Cardrona. The way back was a little more sedate and we stopped for a photo-op at one of the lookouts. I did manage to scrape a boot on one of the hairpins near the bottom and then we struck a huge queue. There was several km of cars just not moving so we shuffled up the centre-line and it soon became apparent that there had been a big accident. When we got near the front of the queue, a chap was out of his car and it transpired that he had been there for an hour, but traffic was moving as they had let them through from the other side and we didn't have to wait long before we were moving again, had passed a few cars ahead of us and were making our way to food, fuel and the next CP in Cromwell. We arrived at 1411 and enjoyed an extended stop, heading over the bridge out of town 48 minutes later (20 minutes behind schedule). It wasn't a worry though as we only had two more CP's to collect at Lindis Pass and Elephant Hill, before checking into the Top 10 at Timaru. It was easy riding over this leg, up to Omarama, out to Kurow and on to Timaru and I was starting to feel the effects of all the fanging through here as the straighter roads required less focus and I slipped out of the zone. We maintained a good average though and by the time we were pulling out of Elephant Hill, we were back to 6minutes off schedule and it was the same when we arrived at the Holiday Park. It was hard case because Woody and Chris were stoked to be in and finished so early....until I reminded them that we had another 200km to do! Watching Woody's mouth drop was joy to behold for an arsehole like myself and when he said, "You don't have a very good poker face!" I just replied with, "Read the book!" as my smirk transformed to a fill blown grin! I did sort of soften the blow though by adding, "We have got the Akaroa buffer tomorrow and you could stop now, but you'd have to go to Akaroa tomorrow." So they relented and after a little discussion, we opted to go straight out to get it over with, then enjoy a relaxed dinner when we got back. And so it was that we had fueled and were on the scoot again at 1832, 31km out to Totara Valley by 1852, on to Burkes Pass by 1921, across to Sherwood Downs by 1953, then back into town and fueled up by 2048. Rain had threatened most of the way around but we were only subjected to a bit of drizzle and settling down for a feed at the Lone Star by 2100. By the time we came out at 2220 though, it was absolutly pissing down. Once back at the cabin, I let the boys off the hook and said they could sleep in until 0600 and we'd have a more relaxed ride on Sunday...after all, we already had 74,500 points and 1802km 919km + 204km = 1123km Sun 22 – Day 4 I arose before 0600 and after a liesurly prep, we were on the road just before 0700. It wasn't raining but it was glopomy and we were kitted up in wets. We only had 5 CP's to collect and took a relatively sedate pace getting to Woodbury (War Memorial), but the pace did creep up a bit along the straight Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Road, but we eased off a bit as we made our way in on the wet, narrow road to the Stone cottage at Hakatere Corner and then around to the Doc Sign at Sharplin Falls. That rotten Mike Hyde....he said the Doc Sign was in a carpark and the road was sealed!! It was stuck in the middle of extremely thick bush down a horrid gravel road! OK, the gravel was only 504 metres...but that's over 1km return and we were treated to more Southern Hospitality. Shortly after we had turned onto the darkside we met a massive 4WD coming out and he was followed by Biggo and his mate Ed. I shuffled across the greasy slick rut and into the thick slippery mud that was the verge and still the prick came at me without flinching. He held his line like he owned the road....which he did because he was the biggest son-of-a-bitch in the valley, and as he passed me, with his window down and I was in a frantic state, I exclaimed, "Ignorant Cunt!!!" I guess I was at a loss for words but it did seem to sum the situation up rather succinctly. Phil explained later the the poor wee pet had flagged them down and he was rather cross that all these rotten nasty bikers were invading his turf. From here we had to get across SH1 and over to Pendarves and that meant negotiating Thompsons Track, which has a 21.6km straight between kinks. The trees and power poles disappeared into a point, so consequently the pace crept up a little along the way. We made it to the hall at Pendarves then into the mobil at Rakaia for fuel and extended 25minute coffee stop and now had our required km's with just the one CP to go at Brookside, but for good measure and to avoid all the awful traffic on SH1, we got our pic and continued out through Coes Ford to SH75 by Motukarara before turning for home via Taitap' and Halswell, arriving at Hampton Honda at 1141. What a great ride! We checked in, had a sausage sizzle, mingled and chatted and there weren't too many left wen we headed for 219 On Johns at about 1300. We checked in, scrubbed up, had a coffee, fluffed around and went out for chinese at about 1730, resupplied with a couple of wines and retired to the cabins. 91 Moving average; 328km; Arrival at Finish – 1141hrs = 2130km & 81,500 points (2156km on the odometer) Mon 23 – Day 5 Time to head for home and I was up around 0700, repacked the bike and we were filling at Z Belfast by 0830. I'd done my share of lead so slotted in at the rear as Steve led us up SH1 at a sedate pace....that was until we were up the road from Parnassus and I felt an urge come on. Suddenly I found myself in the overtaking lane and there were some odd comments filtering through the Sena....like those other guys knew what I was up to!!?? Well I guess they did because I was rocking and grooving to squeeze a final fang out of the trip, although a sign mentioning new seal did put a slight restrainer on it, but I was soon on the coast road and had a big grin on my face....and slotted back into the rear again. We stopped for a snack and fuel in Kaikoura (but the Pepper Steak pie at Rakaia was way better), went for another coffee stop in Picton before lining up for the ferry and finally got off the boat in Welly at 1740. 89 moving average; 326km = 3210km 64617km on the bike....and it needs a jolly good clean. It was a great trip and we had a good team. The Senas took the ride to a new level....when they worked....but that was more to do with ignorant finger trouble on our part rather than the equipment and we seemed to be getting better at it by the end of the trip. We'll have to work on that. The route was a great offering by Mike and it was much easier to get the required km's this year, although it would seem not so much for the northern starters. I was expecting to ride at a more sedate pace and one of these days, I will have to visit the deep south to actually take in some of the scenes and towns. As for real rides, that's pretty much it until the NI1600 October but there's plenty of planning and work to do to get that organised! Life can be really rough sometimes.
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With the New Zealand endurance riding scene down to just two real rides, (The Chatto Creek 1,000 miler and the TT2000 – 2000Km in 48 hours) since I haven't sampled the CC, it's pretty easy for me to say I've just completed the best endurance ride on the NZ riding calendar!! That's not to say that it was the best ride I've been on and definitely not the best TT I've done, but as always with this type of riding, it was different, it was challenging, I rode a shitload of new roads for me, we got shone on, we got cooked, we got pissed on, we hit the verge of hypothermia, we got delayed, we pissed around, we pissed each other off, we had a good laugh, we looked after each other, we got lost, ….and we found ourselves!!!.....oh yes, and as I was riding lead pretty much all weekend, I had some wicked fangs!! As with all walks of life, endurance riders are a funny breed and there's no one 'type' of rider that does this stuff. In talking to other punters at the event, there were those that just wing-it and see what happens, those that do a moderate amount of planning, and then there's anal pricks like me that plan down to the minutest details and try to organise their ride to the minute...but we all get there in the end. Well, almost all! My ride started back in August when the TT website went live with the Checkpoints and I quickly came up with a raw concept, then sat on it until after the C1KC (Capital 1,000Km Cruise) was done and dusted. At that point I tweeked and refined the plan, identifying the accommodation stops, booking them and ferry sailings for my riding buddy Steve and myself, and registered for the ride. Then I spent many more hours drilling into MapSource and Google Maps removing any nasty gravel sections, estimating minimum and maximum ride times minimising time and maximising Km's, identifying CP's based on Points per Km and Points per Minute to then identify the best potential drops with cutoff times. By this time Steve and I had been joined by Woody and Ken, I prepared and printed CP booklets with spreadsheet printouts and we were on the plan to do 280Km Friday, 1200Km Saturday and 800+Km Sunday, collecting 44,200 points along the way. I must say that I felt this ride was going to be more challenging than the 2011 ride when I did gold with Jantar, completing 1550Km Saturday and 1350Km Sunday …. but I had planned well......but the best laid plans! As the countdown rolled into the last week I kept watch on the rain forecasts (which were all at odds with each other) and things weren't looking great, but I have new cordura pants and jacket, with all the other trusty gear and it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Then Friday rolled around, I was down at the Bluebridge but 0645, met up with others as they boarded shortly after me and we settled down for an extremely smooth crossing, arriving at Picton to have a sidewalk lunch in a balmy 26º, before checking into our cabin, settling in and killing time before kitting up to head over to Woodbourne, arriving at about 1615....by then the temp had cracked 31º. We mingled until 1745, got briefed, picked up our T-shirts (which I clipped by the shoulders on to the trouser hanger duct taped into the lid of my topbox), then hit the road for Onamalutu and Top Valley on the Northern side of the Wairau River before heading back through Renwick and to the Waihopai Dam and Netherwood on the South side. From there it was back to Picton, over to Oyster Bay, back through Picton, around to Momorangi Bay on Queen Charlotte Dve, then back to Picton for fuel, a beer then bed. When Steve and I do this type of riding we switch into GC-mode (Grand Challenge) whereby we dial up a steady pace around 110’ish kph, minimise stops and although we don't go fast as such, we don't slow down much either to ride as efficiently and economically as our pace will allow. By the 2nd stop, I figured we had problems because we were on a 'light' pace but Ken mentioned he was struggling with the glare and sunscreen in his eyes, plus the stops were way over the allotted 2 minutes. *sigh* ...she'll be right but! I hadn't been up the North side of the river or over to Oyster Bay since the mid 80's, I'd never been out to Waihopai and, having found the road was clean on the way out, I enjoyed a wicked fang on the return from Momorangi. I'd opted to do that CP on Friday night as the out and return added 28Km to the night, then the scoot around Spring Creek on Saturday morning added another 50Km to the tally for no extra time. We hit the sack at about midnight and arose at 0430 to get on the road before 0510. The weather on Saturday was supposed to close in so we bought the 0600 start forward to make up predicted lost time and elected to drop Elaine Bay to generate a time buffer and depending on how things went, we could pick up the points and Km's by adding in the faster Kohaihai CP if things went well....but the best laid plans!! We enjoyed an easy ride around to Canvastown, the Pelorus Bridge, then out to Penzance, which turned out to be a sweet one. Another new road for me, which claimed two TT'ers...and nearly claimed me! We pootled out there, took our pics then headed back but I had one of those brain fades...? or perhaps more correctly, a rush off blood to the head and I took off like a scolded cat, pushing towards my limits through the forest, then out onto the dairy flats. As I came onto the flats, three TT'ers were heading out and I was a little distracted as I waved....then just about shit myself! As soon as the 3rd biker shot past me, a bloody great dairy cow, or three, immediately strolled from a gate and across the road in front of me, about 50 metres ahead and from my right! Holy shit! I hit the picks with all the best linked ABS stopping power an ST has to offer, the front dipped and the dreamy front cow must have caught a glimpse of the lights as I closed to within 20 metres, rapidly transitioning from warp to impulse speed, but still on a perfectly timed collision course with no viable escape routes on offer. You could say I was toast, but with 15 metres to go the old girl swung her head away from me, jumped her front around to the right and tried to break into a stumbling run along the side of the road, although only managing two or three steps before I was past and out of danger. At that point I thanked my lucky stars, felt sorry for the poor prick that ended up with that adrenalin loaded, curdled syrup on their cornies and promptly started to analyse the situation. These cows were stragglers from a herd that were crossing (but controlled by the farmer) on our way out. I hadn't noticed any movement due to the other bikes, the soothing whine of an ST isn't exactly going to scare the bejeezers out of any beast and the cows timing was perfect.....and I guess it just wasn't my time!? I pulled up at the junction and started to don my wets for the anticipated and approaching weather ahead as I waited for the others. Pity about that because they decided to do the same, but we ended up not needing them and just wasted more time. In fact, we were losing time to a couple two-up on another ST! I settled back down and we pootled on to Peppin Island, Rabbit Island, then on to Upper Moutere on our way to our 1st fuel stop at Motueka. I still had half a tank but took the top up just to be sociable and not make Woody feel bad about riding his Kermidly Z1000, and by the time we pulled out it was 0940 and we had spent 20 minutes on our 10 minute fuel stop! Aww, she'll be right, I hear you say...we've got plenty of time since we dumped Elaine Bay! More delightful new roads for me as we scooted over to Marahau (actually, I really had a bloody great fang and had already taken my pic before the others got there), then pootled out to Riwaka Resurgence, (??), before embarking on the statutory rip roaring fang that is required whenever heading over the Takaka Hill! Or at least it was a rip snorter until hitting the Pea Souper fog just before the summit the most of the way down the other side. Another short wait then it was on more new roads to the Anatoki Salmon farm, through Takaka to Farewell Spit, back to a cemetery in the back of beyond at some place called Bainham, then back to Mot' for a snack and more fuel, …...but we only wasted 35 minutes on lunch and 17 minutes on the 10 minute fuel stop this time!....it's really good to have the best laid plans!!! We were into easy cruising now as we slipped back down the Mot' Valley to Orinoco, then on to St Arnaud. By this time we had been on the road for 11 hours, but had only managed 675Km (which should have been 750 if we had done Elaine Bay) .....and we had blown the hour and a half buffer that had given us! At this point Ken was starting to feel the effects and considering pulling the plug, so another quick modification was required. We had huge excesses of points so we decided to dump Lake Rotoroa, Seddonville and Tauranga Bay, then if we got to Greymouth early enough, we could take out the first three CP's for Sunday morning to create a bit more buffer there......but the best laid plans!!!! Our dithering and replanning only took 6 minutes on that 2 minute stop before we were scooting out to Kawatiri and on to Murchison where I thought it prudent to take an unscheduled 20 minute drink stop before pushing on to Hawks Crag, then more fuel at Westport, which only took 9 of the allocated 10 minutes, so we were obviously starting to crack on and make up time!! Then we only had a short scoot to pick up Denniston, Grand Canyon and Stockton Mine before getting onto the home straight......but the best laid plans!!!!! We were soon turning off at Waimangaroa and taking it easy up the hill to Denniston, I had Ken behind me but was quite focused on the road ahead, because the last time Steve & I had gone up there, there was loose crap all over the road, so I was taking care. I pulled up at the junction at the top to regroup, then Ken pulled up beside me and said, “I lost the other two right at the bottom and I tried flashing you, but you didn't see.” Bugger!! We waited 4 minutes, then I said, we're here now, we'll take our pic then go look. Sure enough, 1-2 Km up, Woody had managed to lose the back end on some loose crap in a tight left hander, the back spun out and it had gone down, breaking the clutch lever. By this time Steve was part way to jury rigging a repair with tie-wraps (or zip ties if you prefer), but the 2nd one couldn't handle the pressure and was slipping through the locking mechanism, so I grabbed a couple of mine, which were a little better, but not quite up to it. Throughout the time we were there, Woody was trying to make contact with some of his local compadres, but to no avail, and meantime, Steve had given the clutch situation more thought and figured that a bit of classic No8 wire might do the trick, so while he and Ken went in search of a scrap of wire around a fence or pylon, I went back to Waimangaroa in search of a coat hanger. I cruised back to the junction because I had noted some kind of garage there, but the prospects didn't look good, and although there were a few cars parked up at various houses, there was no sign of life and it was like riding through a ghost town, until I spotted two young chaps chatting in the front garden, so I pulled over and strode in. They looked a bit baffled to be receiving a visitor, but after a quick outline of the situation, they were soon shuffling through the garage, but with no luck, then into the house, soon returning with the wire coathanger that we were to be hanging our dreams on (not to mention our badges). I got back to discover that Steve & Ken had also been lucky enough to find an ideal length of wire by a pylon....but there was just no bending it, so the hanger was soon unraveled, pruned, shaped, slipped into place, twisted tight, tested......and voila, Woody was back in action, but I packed the rest of the wire.... just in case. Another scoot was made to the summit for more pics and we were back on the road to Grand Canyon and Stockton mine having only lost an hour and a half and lucky to be on the road again at all....it was 2015 but! …And getting on for dusk. More pics taken and as we started to head back through Westport, it was starting to drizzle and I had to pull over to sort out the visor as I couldn't see too well. The others kitted up with wets but I just put my winter weight Spidi gloves on and relied on the new DirRider jacket to do its thing. *sigh* We hit the road again at 2128 in the pitch blackness and within a few Km’s I knew this leg was going to be tough. The road was wet, the drizzle came and went and was just enough to be a nuisance, but occasionally it would be interspersed with a jolly good dump, I’m not the happiest of campers when having to pick clean lines through the proliferation of slick patches in the wet these days, and then there was Woody to think about with his jury-rigged clutch, so I didn’t want him to be having to use that more than necessary….and of course, by this time we were all starting to feel the effects of a long day. Well! The first thing I discovered was that my new jacket is actually a Not-So-DriRider Jacket!? It has zipped vents right up each sleeve, down the centre section on each side at the back and a couple of large sections that can tuck away on the front. It was described to me as, “Waterproof, plus it has a separate waterproof liner, plus the padded thermal liner.” And of course, I didn’t bring the thermal liner, but I did bring the waterproof liner….but I hadn’t put it in!! I figured the zips must have been really high tech jobbies to be waterproof, but of course the outer jacket is just shower proof. Fortunately though, ST riders don’t need a lot of protection because the bike takes most of the sting out of any weather, so on the really heavy downpours, I just managed to feel a few dribbles coming in around my shoulders…..and I could live with that until Punakaiki!? Punakaiki was a long time coming with a lot of effort and concentration required though. I generally struggled to achieve more than 80kph thanks to the dismal conditions and poor vision, which was a bit sad because I love that road, but we finally made it to the CP and I was able to take a marginal pic, then put my trusty Warehouse over-jacket and RainOff gloves on, so that fixed both the damp and thermal issues I was starting to have to deal with. We got back on the road and just to finish things off for the day, we had about 5Km of very gritty, loose new seal to contend with before Runanga, before finally getting to the Greymouth 24Hr Z at 1109, where we gassed up for the morning, then looked for a feed, which we had to settle for a pie at the Caltex down the road, made it to the Top 10 and by this time I was so shattered, I just collapsed onto the bunk. That was a bloody nuisance because I didn’t have the energy to download the data from the GPS and clean it out for the next day or download the video footage from the GoPro to free up space on the card, and charge the camera and remote batteries….so Sunday would be videoless. The other damn nuisance was that earlier in the day a casual chat had me setting the phone alarm for 0430, and we finally decided on 0530!!!....doh!! I ended up arising around 0500 in order to give myself plenty of time to repack my panniers and set up for the day. It had really pissed down during the night but was back to an intermittent drizzly, dismal day with the temp at about 16º (when it would finally become day), ….and a few more hours kip would have been very nice thank you. We finally got on the road at 0607 and within a few minutes, my trusty GPS was telling me that I had arrived at Boddytown…..but alas there was no Doc sign to photograph and I hadn’t noticed one over the preceding 200metres, so I went a little further up the road before turning back and was about to turn around again, when I noticed a ‘Town Sign’ stating Boddytown, and it was reflective so it made a much better camera target in the pitch black morn’. Pic taken and we shuffled along Marsden Rd to Rutherglen Rd, turned left for Dunganville and I was soon leading us astray!! Well to be absolutely correct, that dastardly rotten Mike Hyde (reknowned author of the Twisting Throttle series of books) was really to blame and my culpability was only in my knowledge that I knew he was a dastardly devil who couldn’t be trusted with GPS co-ordinates….but I obviously hadn’t checked thoroughly enough when comparing his GPS position on google maps and streetview. If we had been scooting along in the daylight, it wouldn’t have been a problem because one couldn’t miss the checkpoint that was really 5-6Km earlier than what my GPS said….and I might add, 5-6 gravelly Km’s!! Oh well, we only lost half an hour, or maybe a little bit more….but the best laid plans!!!!!! Anyway, speaking of losing time, with everyone kitted up in their wets (except me just riding with my Spidi Gloves again) I saw the writing on the wall, that my 2 minute CP photo stops were about to become very extended sociable affairs between Ken’s very chatty nature and Woody’s very particular, careful and precise actions and with not a lot of fat left in the barrel, I couldn’t afford to have that if I didn’t want an asterix beside my name. (that would indicate on the result sheet that we were overstayers, or overtimers, or something like that), so at Dungeon-ville, I said, “stay on your bikes, I’ll take the photos for all of us!” But when Woody relayed that message to Ken, when we got to Shantytown, he responded with, “Oh no, I’ll take my photos.” To which I think my eyes probably just rolled back into my head somewhere as I was probably thinking to myself, “Ooohhh F….F….S….s!!” as I was waiting, tapping some unmusical tune on my tank while he put his gloves, etc back on and wasted yet another minute of two… Hehehe… ! On-on and coming onto 0700 we were just getting back through Greymouth and onto Dobson, but the time gods hadn’t finished with me yet! As we were exiting town, the GPS was wanting me to keep left, but I knew where I was going and that I needed to stay right, take the 2nd exit from the roundabout and head along the south bank of the river….easy! Yeah right, I confused poor Kate, then she was telling me to go across the river…or somewhere to get back on track so I tentatively went onto the bridge, got a wee way out, paused, then hung a u-ee and scooted back to the desired track. Kate caught up and got back on track eventually and we only lost a few more of those very precious seconds. Dobson done, we crossed the river, did Blackball, then had a slightly extended stop at the Pike River memorial as we checked out all the effort that had gone into it before rolling on to Waiuta. This next stop was a hoot and one could only get this in the south island. We flicked off the main road onto a very narrow lane (which was still open and easy going), but then there was 6Km of hardpack gravel. Not a problem I thought when I planned the route, hardpack is easy, even on an ST. Yes well, it had been pissing down all night and the hardpack was some sort of greasy clay so very soon I was feeling the front going one way and the rear the other, so much care and restraint was needed, but we got there in the end. (The end was a hundred year old deserted mining settlement in the back of beyond). While there, I had to remove the pinlock from my visor because it was giving me all sorts of grief with fogging and getting water on the inside. From here on we were onto the Lewis Pass and flowy roads through Reefton to Italian Creek, back through Reefton to Blacks Point, then down to GAS Lewis Pass at Springs Juncton. Through this stretch the temp dropped to 6º, which after the 28-31 we had been enjoying on Friday, then 23-26 on Saturday, it was bloody cold. Prior to leaving in the morning, I had reluctantly put on a scivvy, plus I was wearing my wets, but I still had to squirm about in my jacket to try to brush off the cold. I wasn't wearing the RainOffs because of having to get on and off the bike and use the camera so they were wet and I had been using the heated grips...and cranked them up to 2nd, but as soon as we got to Springs Junction I had to throw on another scivvy and wets trousers before gassing up. We'd been humming and Hahing whether to keep or drop Hanmer and at this point, we'd lost a bit of time so I decided to drop it. The next sections were good though because soon after getting back on the road, the clouds cleared, the roads dried, the temp started to climb back into double figures and we were skipping along at a better pace. We collected Marble Hill and Glynn Wye first before a pause in Waiau, then over Leader Rd to SH1 and over the Hunderlees to Goose Bay, before returning over the Hunderlees and down to Cheviot for fuel and a snack. I had a ball through here because once again, being in the front, I caught a break through the traffic, then seemed to time it right each time I caught the next car or truck and just flew through to Goose Bay, getting my wets off....well almost all off, just as the others arrived. Lunch was quick and easy, then it was straight out to Gore Bay, coming back in at Dommet before heading on to Greta Valley for the out and return to Motunau Beach. At this point I knew we were getting tight for time so I announced to the others that I was bailing on the rest of the CP's (ie Scargill, Balcairn, Lyttleton, Charteris Bay and Charring Cross) to just focus on the 3000 points on offer at Port Levy. They agreed so we hit the road on our final mission....but the best laid plans!!!!!!! My plan was that Woody would need more gas before the finish, so while he (and the others) were topping up at Z Belfast, I would nip down the road to check-in at 219 On Johns so we could return whenever we wanted and wouldn't have to rush away after the finish. That would have been a good plan if anyone was in attendance at the office so I left empty handed! Then I hadn't really accounted for the roadworks and really slow traffic through Christchurch and on to Lyttleton, and figured we had time to take that CP because we were there. And most of all I hadn't accounted for the heavens to open up, initially with some spectacular forked lightning....right where we needed to crest over the hills between Charteris Bay and Port Levy!! That slowed me down somewhat and it was with great concern, reservations and trepidation that I continued ...putting life and limb on the line for the cause.....and the badge of course!! Steve & I got separated from Ken & Woody through the last bit, then I got down to the monument at Port Levy to find I was alone, then Ken & Woody showed up but no Steve??? We were on the ropes for time by now and couldn't wait so we shot back up the hill to find Steve waiting at the top with two other riders, so I told him to join them and we'd meet him back at Hamptons. Then as we climbed the hill for Charteris Bay, I paused to look back to ensure that Steve was with the other chaps climbing out of Port Levy, but I could only see two headlights, so I told Ken & Woody (who both had GPS's) to carry on and I'd wait for Steve to ensure he didn't get lost. Fortunately though, as they got a bit closer, I could see there were three bikes so I bolted….over a road awash with riverlets of water and more slick patches than you could shake a stick at! It was depressing to have to ride right past the Charteris Bay CP (twice) without picking it up and then I couldn't remember if it would be quicker to take Gebbies Pass or Dyers Pass, as it's been over 20 years since I lived in Christchurch and closer to 40 since this area was my playground.....so I foolishly opted for Dyers!? What a bugger because it might have been a close call but the traffic coming in was thick and slow. We made it in the end though, a smidgen late, a little worse for wear, a lot frustrated with some poor decision making on my part, and even more frustrating on my part for some poor planning because I was so knackered the night before that I hadn't even reviewed our position, I had no idea of what our points talley was or what we needed and as it turned out, if we hadn't gone for Port Levy, we would have been short! Well short!
Another thing I did wrong was that I had programmed the ride around the way Steve and I ride then took on two endurance-riding novices but didn't change the plan thinking that, “She'll be right, there's plenty of fat so we can drop this and this and that and still be OK!” But I got more depressed every time I had to let one slip away and in hindsight, I should have reprogrammed the ride to a bare basics with add-ons, because then it would have been OK to ride to the plan, or a boost to pick-up any extras. We made it though, dumped our photos, scoffed a sizzled sausage or two, mingled and traded lies with the other punters. Then slipped away for some pizza and a few reds...and a well deserved kip. Monday dawned another beautiful day where Ken was up and away early for a southern tour while the rest of us relaxed and slowly prepped to head north. At this point I found the Sunday GPS Tracklog had gone to archive in the unit….but didn’t quite make it!! (and that’s why I tend to clear the unit each day). Bother! We got away around 1100 on a cruisy ride, stopped for a casual lunch in Kaikoura, a nice cuppa in Picton then an easy cruise across the straits to get home at around 2300. Once back, I went to retrieve Saturday’s Video footage from my 500Gb portable drive, only to find it had crashed, wanted to be formatted and all the data on it was lost!! That’s alright though. Let’s face it, I had the best laid plans! I don't think I was supposed to do the TT this year (again!!....I missed last year due to hip, conditioning & ping problems). Steve and I were all booked when he managed to get taken out by a 4WD on the Molesworth... “Oh well”, I thought, “No one to share the cost, but she'll-be-right, I'll just do it myself!”... but not so! After my wee altercation with black ice last year, she-who-must-be-obeyed advised, “Like Hell! You're not doing a ride like that by yourself!”, so I advertised for another riding buddy. Time passed with no takers, I was getting desperate and about to invite one of my imaginary friends when Trevor stepped up to the plate....whew, that was close. Then Ann's dad got crook. His health had been deteriorating for awhile and two weeks out from the TT, he ended up in hospital and it was a case of, “He might last days or months but we can't do anything for him”, so he went home to finish his days in familiar surroundings with his family around him. Old Wattie was a good bugger and he died on the Thursday morning (when I was pretty much packed to go the next day)......*sigh* I thought....but not so. When advising Mike Hyde (the author of the Twisting Throttle series of books and organiser of the TT2000), he said, “Do it next week!” Bloody marvellous....the Interislander were happy with that and so were the nice people at 219OnJohn's in Chch and the Seal Colony Top 10 in Westport...We were on!! All my prep (and there was lots of it) wasn't to be wasted. After spending much time selecting a route from the multitude of options, an overnight stop point had been identified and accommodation booked, fuel stops were programmed in for Steve's 350Km 'Busa range, then adjusted for Trevor's 250Km Stelvio range, booklets compiled for our checkpoint details, printed in the order they occurred, (compliments of my boss at AIB), spreadsheet prepared, breaking down the Km's between CP's, the time per leg, stopped time and ETA....hmmm a bit of a long day Saturday??....another spreadsheet for an alternative to drop 90Km (Rainbow) on Saturday and add 100Km (Mt John) on Sunday, route dropped to the GPS and checked, gear prepped, new front tyre obtained.....and so on. Day 1: Come Friday the 1st of Autumn at 0700'ish, we were checking in and queuing-up to board the Kaitake on a splendid Wellington morning. There were 'Classic' events on because there were heaps of old (70's type) bikes aboard as well as lots of Corvettes. We tied-down the bikes, parked ourselves in the cafeteria, waited for the queue to disappear before getting a feed, then watched another queue form as we waited for fresh bacon to come, we relaxed and chatted and at 1140 we were rolling out of Picton for a sedate cruise down SH1 to Christchurch, pausing for fuel in Kaikoura, noticing how many rivers were dry along the way and just enjoying the ride, arriving at the camp ground at 1640...exactly 4 hours to do the first 329Km of the weekend. We settled into the cabin (which I might add was able to be upgraded from a single cabin to a two room chalet with the change of weeks), then waited for Mike to turn up at 1750 with our T-shirts (these are required for the CP photos) and at 1802 we embarked on our quest to do 2,000Km in 48hours. The first wee jaunt was to flit over to Okains Bay, on Banks Peninsular, to grab the 5,000 points on offer. The original plan was to do this on Saturday morning, but by throwing it in on Friday night and finishing by 1800 on Sunday meant we were still completing within 48 hours but could do so with a nice cruisy Sunday ride. I haven't ridden over those parts since 1974, so it was pretty much new ground (although the blessings of age mean that two weeks between rides and every one is over new ground...which is quite handy when living in Wellington with only two routes in and out). Once again, there was no hurry so it was more relaxed cruising.... until I got to Little River and some little brain explosion occurred.....but....in my defence, although there were a couple of transgressions into ticketable territory, “I did not exceed the allowable limits...officer!”....I really like roads like that!! With cobwebs removed from the brain, we idled down to the Stoney Beach CP (which isn't a beach at all, and not really that stoney either...in fact it should have been called Grassy Corner) then stopped for pix of Okains Bay from the top of the hill as we made our way out, then picked-up a couple of extra CP's (that Mike had missed) at Taitapu and Halswell, allocating ourselves 1,000 & 500 points respectively....although the results indicate that Mike couldn't see his error!! Oh well, we stopped at a supermarket for some fruit and snacks, then grabbed a feed of pizza, finally getting back to the camp ground at 2226 for a well earned rest before our early start. Friday to Okains – GPS Stats 119kph Max Speed 68kph Moving Average 54kph Overall Average 3hrs Moving Time 205km Day 2: I'd set the alarm for 0515 but opened my eyes at 0505 to find Trevor was already up, so I arose, scrubbed, packed the bike and we were on the road at 0553. We had 29 CP photos to collect and I had only allowed 1 minute per stop but it soon became apparent that our stops were taking 2-3 minutes? Damn, that would add between a half and one hour to the day!! It wasn't too much of a problem though as we had the alternative route and in the early hours we just applied a little extra briskness to the pace to claw back the odd minute here or there and soon had West Eyerton, Bennetts, Ashley, Broomfield, Hawarden, Medbury and the 1st fuel stop for Trev at Culverden in the bag. It was then onto Rotherham and over the Inland Route, picking up a pic at The Doone on the way to Kaikoura. These roads were all pretty straight and unpatrolled in the early hours of a Saturday, although we showed much restraint and just pootled (plus a little). I’ve done the Inland Route a few times and as per usual, there was the odd spot of loose stuff, but that road is a delight to ride and although we weren’t ‘fanging’ it, we managed to pick-up a few more minutes on the ETA, then slipped down to the Esplanade for the Kaikoura CP, pootled on to Kekerengu and at Ward we re-ward-ed ourselves with a 15 minute snack break….that was dumb. We were now in the dreaded domain of the Tasman Enforcers, so extra care was taken as we made our way to a combined fuel stop in Blenheim before embarking on more straight (boring) roads to Woodbourne, 20’something Km’s up the Wairau Valley, back to Rapaura, then on to Picton. Picton was designated as our 30 minute lunch stop, so we went to Subway, arriving there at 1227, which was pretty good as our hardcore time had us there at 1204 and our easy time was 1301, so we were right where we wanted to be and half way between…..and the foot long sub was delightful. On-On and we were soon embarking on the cursed Queen Charlotte Drive. I had decided to include this in the route as it’s been about 5 years since I last did it, normally preferring the easier riding, 27Km longer but same-road-time squirt around through Spring Creek to Havelock. I must say that with no real time constraints, we struck it with minimal traffic and there was a bit of loose crap but that is always expected, so it was rather pleasant and we had soon picked-up Havelock, Rai Valley, had a good scoot over the Whangamoas to Wakapuaka, on to Marsden then Trev fueled again at Z Richmond. I had been leading for most of the way as I was more familiar with the plan and the roads as we nipped out to pick-up Tasman, then enjoyed a jolly good fang over the Takaka Hill, (because it was there!.....and because we had to come back over it to get to the next CP). This was our ‘D’ time to decide whether to drop Rainbow or not, based on if we were there by 1600 and as I arrived there at 1601 we opted for the longer Saturday and easier Sunday. Trev led back, we both fueled in Motueka and it was after this that we started to lose time….sort of! Since riding through the secondary roads of the Inland Route and picking up plenty of time on the GPS ETA, I expected to do the same on the back roads of the Mot’ Valley, but not so. I guess I was a little remiss in my planning here as I omitted to check closely and by rights, I should have taken the Mot’ Valley Hiway from Ngatimoti to Dovedale, but the Thorpe-Orinoco Rd was one I hadn’t tried, it didn’t appear to be gravel on MapSource …so I took it! What a dumb bastard! It was gravel! A liberal coating of reasonable thick loose shit on the straight sections….or very corrugated gnarly hardpack through the curly bits….my poor ST’s suspension took a hammering!! The upside was, my GPS obviously knew it was crap so I didn’t loose any time on the ETA. Once out of that crap, we made our way out to the Mot Valley Hiway, picked up Tapawera and Kohatu, then made our way down Tophouse Rd to get Rainbow. This being a back country minor road and with time slipping on, we took the pace a half a notch above ‘allowable’ through here, but there were a few pieces of newly repaired road and just after we were exiting from one of these, we encountered one of ‘those’ cars coming the other way. A wave of dread swept over me as my foot had already started to caress the brake before my eyes could glance down to see that I was still only doing 100 (indicated – which is about 95kph)….whew!! Who would ever want to complain about a few roadworks slowing them down? So it was an uninterrupted On-On down to the Wairau Valley Hiway and over to the Wairau-Hanmer Springs Hydro Rd. What a load of crap that was. I’ve ridden better goat-tracks. Narrow as hell, heaps of fords (half of which had flowing water), stock wandering about, dim sections of beech forest and bloody great 4WD’s coming the other way…..OK,… one 4WD!...and I considered I was ‘scooting’ but I failed to pick up any time!! But we got the1000 point pic and now only had 3 to go. We made our way back out (and all the stock had disappeared), we flitted through St Arnaud and onto the long straight roads back to SH6 and the run into Murchison, for the all-but-one CP and more fuel for Trev. At this point we were going and doing bloody well because our hardcore time had us at 1827, our pootle time was 2034 and it was still only 1950...but…not too far out of Murchison (on the way in) I had managed to have an encounter with a curmudgeonly little fellow wearing yellow and black stripes. The little bastard flew in through my open visor, lodging in the snug space between my right temple and helmet (I presume also on the inside of my balaclava). I didn’t know what hit me, but the little prick obviously took exception to being prodded by a bloody great gloved finger…so he/she/it drilled his/her/its arse into the nearest bit of skin it could find…..Bloody hell!!! That smarts and elicited a response whereby the bloody great gloved finger and thumb found the little bastard (by luck) and it was only mere chance that I happened to see the stripy body and some goo bounce off the tank when I flicked it free. It was rather uncomfortable and I don’t carry any anti-histamines in the 1st Aid Kit, so I scanned the shelves in the Murchison Servo, but to no avail. Oh well, give it a rub….no stop aggravating it….bugger, give it a squeeze in case any poison can be ejected….and put up with it …ya woos! I must say though, I was brave enough to think through the pain and ring through to the Westport Top 10 to advise that we were about an hour and a half out so they would leave the key out. 120 Km to go and one CP at Misty Hills!...how bad could that be? We were soon romping (at a nice sedate pace) through the fan-bloody-tastic Upper Buller Gorge! It was coming on dusk but we made good time to Inangahua, then took Brown Creek Rd down to Misty Hills. I say Misty Hills…but what a load of toss that is. Misty Hills is just a sign on a farm gate/fence (a bit like The Doone – except that’s a sign on a letterbox and a farm gate) and the bloody sign got swept away in the recent floods. Luckily, I had been somewhat pedantic about GPS CP locations in my prep, and took time to familiarize myself with many of the locations via Google Maps Streetview, so we landed right on the button. It was dark by now so I took a couple of pix with the flash and we were back on our way…only 62Km of Lower Buller Gorge between us and Westport. A doddle, one could say, or a pieced of piss...Yeah right! We had now been on the road for about 15 hours, it was dark, (and the night was as black as the hobs of hell – whatever they look like), we started to encounter some misty drizzle (enough to be a nuisance), I was tiring (probably enhanced by the bloody good fang over the Whanganoas and Takaka Hill…and back) my right temple was burning and I started to struggle. To compound that, something had happened to the bike’s suspension because it seemed like I was sitting (ie eye level) was about 8 feet off the ground….bloody weird! So our 40 minute fang into Westport took more like an hour and there was no fuel and nothing open except a whole lot of pubs which didn’t appear to sell food…except for one. We managed to get a feed of steak, figured we could both get to Greymouth in the morning, got to the motor camp at about 2230, settled in, I had a shower, made a quick call then collapsed into a coma until the alarm went off at 0530. Saturday to Westport – GPS Stats 123kph Max Speed 81kph Moving Average 68kph Overall Average 13:04 Moving Time 1061km 13-25°C Day 3: We had decided that we would start a little earlier to give us time for a relaxed breakfast with the fuel stop in Greymouth, but with my dilly-dallying about (scrubbing myself, packing, topping-up tyre pressures on the bikes, cleaning visor etc) it was 0638 by the time we hit the road with Trev leading down SH6. It was still pre-dawn, but just light enough to see it was going to be a spectacular day with not a cloud in sight, (but that was all to change) and with the GPS ETA at about 1530, we only had 16 CP's to collect with our predicted stopped time at around an hour and extending that allowance on the CP's to 2 or 3 minutes, it was still going to be easy to be in by 1800. By halfway down the coast though, the clear skies had clagged over and the alps ahead of us had disappeared into the clouds and rain. It would be a nuisance if I had to stop to put the wets on, but although the road was often wet, we seemed to miss any rain and managed to get to Greymouth OK for a quick fuel-up on both bikes, then a nice big coffee and hot cross bun for me at the McCafe. By the time I led out for Arthurs pass, we were pretty much on schedule. Coming down SH6, I had found myself taking careful lines to avoid the tar slicks, but Trevor didn't seem to be phased by them on the Stelvio, the weather briefly looked liked clearing, but by the time we started to climb out of Otira, the weather had closed in and we were riding through a mixture of wet roads, misty rain and cloud. This caused me to slow and take care on the lines, so Trev scooted past and lead up to Arthurs, where I expected to find it clearing as we descended...but not so. It got worse! The rain was light and it was OK to still ride with the visor up, but by the time it got bad enough to drop the visor, moisture had got into the pinlock and I could only see through the bottom half, so I had to keep it at half mast. As we got down on the flat and approached Sheffield, the situation got worse whereby I was virtually looking through the thin strip of visor between the pinlock and the edge, but I persisted as we were nearly at our stop and I'd be able to sort it while Trev fueled. Sure enough, removing the pinlock insert fixed my problem, but the 95 pump was out of action, so Trev had to settle for $20 of 91, which would get him to Geraldine after we had collected the CP's at Sheffield, Hororata, Mt Sommers and Ruapuna. We both fueled at Geraldine as that would get me home and Trevor to Timaru, then walked across to the subway for lunch before continuing. Our next section took us along a mix of more straight Canterbury roads as well as some quite nice rolling Countryside to Ashwick Flat, then back down to Hazelburn. From there we were heading to Sutherlands and encountered another gravel road, which I normally avoid but couldn’t be bothered to take the time to check alternatives, so just rocked on in. It was straight, about 1Km long and relatively easy going...but there was a bloody great deep, rocky ford near the end....shit, bother and blast. I paused for a moment scanning for a route through and it was a deepish pool (possibly up to 60cm deep in the middle) so that was out and it had shallows on both sides with the left (outlet side) looking better, but tracking off would have me dropped into crap, so I opted for the right which had larger rocks but looked a safer prospect....yeah right! As Trevor would tell the story, I entered the water at a steady pace, the front wheel got pivoted on large rocks and the bike went down with me stepping off and the engine dying. I picked it up, he got his socks wet coming to my rescue, the bike wouldn't start, we dragged the 360’ish Kgs of bike most of the way out (up the bloody great steep mountain pass of a bank), the bike still wouldn't start, Trevor got his bike through on the left side, then my bike did start and we had lost 4 minutes.....but there's no evidence that any of this happened...so it's probably just lies!! What fool would take an ST1300 down a gravel road and then be doubly stupid enough to take on a ford with it??? Pfft....some people!! We soon had Sutherlands and Cave, then on to Mt Horrible, down to Southburn, over to Blue Cliffs, over, in and out of Esk Valley, (where I missed the opportunity to take another gravel shortcut!!) up to Otipua, then out to Timaru, picking up a CP and Trevor's last fuel stop. This section had a lot of double backs and loops taking in opposite ends of the same road ...I was totally confused and the GPS wasn't too sure either, so on two occasions, I had to manually input and overwrite the next CP...but we got there in the end and were down to the last two CP's and looking to get in at 1735. We continued through Timaru, scooted out to Milford, got back to SH1, where we got overtaken by an idiot riding a Harley (I guess that's not really that strange – it was a straight road loaded with other vehicles after all) made our way through Ashburton and Rakaia, crossing the river then getting the last CP at Mead, leaving there at 1702 for home, but when we got there (at 1734) of course we still had 12.5Km to go because I hadn't thought to change my finish point from Hampton Honda to the motor camp!! Bugger, that short hop took another 20 minutes but we still got in at 1754, prior to our 1800 target and completed our 2000 (plus a little bit) Kms in 48hours. We checked back in to the motor camp, advised Mike that we were back, then I downloaded the pix and tracklogs to a stick to make it easier for him. He turned up and was followed shortly after by Gremlin, who was back in town after his week's tour with Toto, so we chatted for a bit, finally collapsing at about 2300. Sunday to Chch –GPS Stats 132kph Max Speed 90kph Moving Average 70kph Overall Average 09:04 Moving Time 816km 11-20°C Day 4:
During the ride, Trevor’s bike had been running a little rough, sometimes missing a bit, but settling to a situation where it wouldn’t pull over 5,000rpm. It still got along alright but did mean that some of his overtaking required a bit of a slingshot. On Monday morning he made a couple of calls and after cleaning up the bikes a bit, checking and topping-up the tyres, then packing, we went into town to have his bike checked by Motorcycles Downunder (the Guzzi dealership) They cleared one issue but it seemed apparent that one of the plug leads was breaking down so we were to continue to ‘limp’ home, departing at 1143, pausing for fuel at Z Shirley on the way out, then having a late brunch at Pukeko Junction (Leithfield) once we were clear of the city traffic. Trevor did ask for fries with his Bacon & Egg quichie-pie, only to find they only did healthy stuff. He led all the way back and the sedate pace (not much less than Friday) but without the heavy headwind led me to amusing myself by concentrating on getting the economy up. This turned out to be a bit disconcerting for Trev as I would get stuck in traffic, then take several minutes to slowly make up the separation….or just go off into a daydream, then realize I had slipped back a bit. I did have one wee moment where I swung wide to avoid a big slick patch through a right hand sweeper, then found myself drifting towards the shoulder, the heartrate rose and I had to divert my eyes through the corner to bring the bike back on track…..followed by murmerings like, ‘dickhead’, ‘FFS!! wake-up fool’. We had a pause for gas at Ward and finally arrived in Picton at 1635, so we made our way down to the terminal, checked-in and waited to board the ferry at around 1815. Monday to Wgtn – GPS Stats 127kph Max Speed 89kph Moving Average 66kph Overall Average 03:50 Moving Time 340+km 16-23°C I finally got home before 2200, reasonably shagged. We’d had a great weekend doing over 2800Km for the 4 days. Many thanks to Mike for allowing us to defer the ride, with him going out of his way to see us off and back in. The effort he must put in to identify the CP’s, do the website etc, etc must be huge. We had a ball and I will no doubt be back again for a No4. (Perhaps I should also see about doing a deferred run on my abandoned 5 Compass Points Run??) I hit the sack at 2100 on Thursday night, worried that it was too early to go to sleep, but I went out with the lights, only to be rudely awakened by the alarm at 1230. Excited to be on my way after a couple of months of plotting and planning with screeds of emails between Jantar, Gremlin and myself, I dragged myself from the bed with a groan, scrubbed up, boarded the already packed and prep’d Enterprise and scooted the 10Km down to the Bluebridge Terminal….where I waited, with the 10 or so Chorus vans heading for repairs in Christchurch and chatted with another chap heading down there to help his family cleanup after the earthquake. We didn’t start to board until after 0230, then waited some more before finally leaving half an hour late at around 0330. I managed another couple of hours kip, we docked…then waited some more, finally getting off the boat an hour late at 0720. I had no great hurry to get to Dunedin, so trimmed out at an ‘under the radar’ pace and prepared myself for an uneventful excursion down SH1…..and that’s about all I remember of that….oh, except for coming up on a queue of cars with a Ginnie trapped between them a few Km short of Blenheim. I did my usual space hop to the front of the queue and as I passed the wee bike, I thought, ‘Shit, he’s loaded….shit, he’s even carrying gas….oh shit, that must be Toto!’ but I was already past by then and with barely more than a raise of an eyebrow. The other things I remembered was queues of traffic down the street at one servo in Kaikoura, whilst the other was closed and this was the same all the way through to Ashburton. I paused to put the wets on in Amberly, was astounded by the amount of traffic and apparent normality through Belfast, along Johns Rd and out of Hornby (except for the queues to the pumps), then when I did stop for gas in Ashburton, they had no 98, so I opted to put $30 of 91 in and that would get me to Dunedin. Apart from that it was a boring blur of a boring 694Km in a boring 8 hours flat from 0727 to 1528. I would have stopped to visit friends in Christchurch, but it was raining so that put paid to that. I checked in at the Carisbrook Motel, then went out to pick up my supplies of water and bananas for two days, gassed with 98 as well as 5Ltrs to go, (I had decided to carry some insurance in case I came up short if the pace got to hot on a couple of the long legs), verified where MacIver & Veitch were on Crawford Street, then went back to the motel to settle in. Jim had arrived by then, so we chatted for a bit before he went visiting and I walked down the road for dinner. I was all set to go and once again, hit the sack at 2100, konking out immediately….only to awaken at 0200…..bugger!! This tends to happen a bit with the excitement and anticipation of a big ride so I have learned to relax and dose through it, eventually getting up a bit early at 0430, scrubbed, snacked, checked the tyres (they were down a couple of psi), threw my luggage pannier on the bike and headed off to pump the tyres then get to the start point at 0530. I’ve become very pedantic about my tyre pressures because on a ride like this with the bike gassed, loaded, and me on board, we’re hitting over 450Kg, so a bit of pace on a course south Island road and the ST just chews through the rubber, and then of course, there’s that peace of mind that one requires to have the confidence to hang off the brakes through the big sweepers and take the 65 – 85 rated corners at riding pace. I pulled up beside Gremlin, who was doing his last minute adjustments etc, chatted with him, Toto and others as they arrived, killing time until 0600. We were finally called in and Malcolm & I were fortunate enough to be in the first 10-15 of the queue, we exchanged our disclaimers for T-Shirts and fitted them to the bikes. As part of our pre-ride discussions, we came up with the idea to duct tape an old trouser hanger into the lid of the top-box. The hanger was loose to swing so photos stops would just be; angle in straight at the target, flip the lid, grab the camera, flick the shirt out over the back, step back and click, lift the lid which pulls the shirt in, stow the camera and we’re off again. More importantly though, we just walked out of the shop, pulled the T-shirt from the bag, clipped it on and we were gone, probably amongst the first to get away. The benefit of having Malcolm as a riding buddy was immediately realized as he led us on a long-cut which avoided 4 sets of lights on the way out to Taeri Rd, but the start to the ride wasn’t great. We bolted straight into the first flyer around George King Memorial Drive and this was quite tight in places, with occasional loose grit, damp and it was dark, but we hadn’t warmed into ride mode so it wasn’t that comfortable, but once we had taken our 2nd pic for the day (1st was at MacIver & Veitch), then were scooting around Outram to Milton, it started to lighten up and things got easier. From Flyer 1 we were virtually straight onto Flyer 2, which was pix at the entrance to Gabriel’s Gully Rd in Lawrence and the Clutha Ferry at Tuapeka West. This was more pleasant rolling country and delightful riding. The original plan had Malcolm taking a gravelly shortcut from Lee Stream to Lawrence, saving 50Km, but I have an aversion to the loose stuff on the ST and expected to catch him up by the ability to have fewer fuel stops. In the end he dumped the gravel option at the last minute so I slotted into his fuel programme and our first fill was at Balclutha, arriving at about 0830, 210Km into the ride. From here it was around the Catlins to the first Checkpoint at Niagara Falls. I’ve only done this road once, when it was wet and we rode into squalls shortly after Owaka. I very nearly had a bad off and consequently have no fond memories of the route. This occasion was a different story altogether, it was a beautiful sunny morning, we had the sunshine on our shoulders and the hour of riding between 0840 and 0940 saw little traffic on a combination of rolling country, tight sections and some spectacular coastal vistas. We did have the odd moment on loose, new seal grit, but I guess I’ll have to agree with BanditRider that like Wellington, the Catlins is hard to beat on a good day. Piccy snacked of the Niagara falls sign, we were off and almost straight into Flyer 6 (3 for us) Southland Towns which comprised of pix in Wyndham, Winton and Otautau. We ended up behind two other riders but when they paused at Gregory Rd (Gravel), Malcolm hesitated also (strong is the lure of the dark side in that one) so I ended up in the lead because I had already discounted that option in my planning. More rolling countryside taken at briskish pace….bloody Marvelous…getting to Wyndham by 1020, straighter roads onto Winton by 1100, then Tuatapere by 1120, on track and time for our gold target. Next was gas and 2nd checkpoint at Riverton, 3rd checkpoint at Tuatapere, then out to Hump Ridge, (Flyer 7 but #4 for us). We’d considered this one in the early planning but dumped it, only coming back to it when it was shortened at late notice for the same points. It also worked in well for us because we were able to load more into Saturday, leaving an easier ride with less pressure on Sunday. It was a good option, getting 350 points for a short, quick scoot and then the hard riding started. Arse numbing, long straight roads to CP4 at Milford Sound was boring as hell, the scenery was great, the weather was clear and continuing to warm, but I hate straight roads. We gassed at Te Anau and things improved as we got closer to Milford, in fact it got downright fangable but we maintained restraint as we cruised through the beech forest, then up through vertical, rugged rock faces climbing to the tunnel and we were fortunate to catch the green light, but it was a bit disconcerting to find myself in a damp hole in the rock which sloped downwards. The first half was a bit hairy because coming from the brilliant sunshine took awhile for the eyes to adjust and be able to see through the gloom, but we made it ok and were soon taking the liners out of our jackets and grazing after we had our evidence of the trip. Heading back out, I passed Malcolm and enjoyed a wee squirt up to the tunnel where we had to wait this time, then when the traffic started moving, Malcolm moved to the right and started easing past the traffic until we got to the front and it was easier going this time as I seemed to be able to see better. Malcolm lifted the pace a bit on the way out, which made the long haul somewhat more bearable. Te Anau meant another fill, then it was over to Mossburn to start Flyer 8 (5 for us) which was photos at Apirama River, Wreys Bush Pub and Dipton Hall. More straight roads, but Malcolm’s Radar Detector had gone on the blink and we were being followed by a suspicious car so had to show much restraint. What a literal pain in the arse! We were dropping legs, shifting to the back seat and jiggling around to ease the discomfort, having done about 1000Km and the best part was, we still had 500+ to go. Things got easier when we got back on SH6 though and it was quite pleasant slipping up the side of Lake Wakatipu. At some point along here I got frustrated of sitting behind some slow traffic so I passed Malcolm and them and took the lead through some road works to lead the last stretch into our next fuel stop in Queenstown. We were surprised along this section to have Gremlin join us and were pleased for him to be doing this good and be well and truly on track for diamond. Once fuelled, Malcolm took the lead again for the nice we pootle up to Glenorchy and on to the Isengard site. Once we’d exited Queenstown, Betty (GPS) seemed to lose the track, but then came right, and as we approached Glenorchy I was surprised to hear Betty telling me to do a u-turn at the roundabout, then when we carried on through, the GPS seemed to re-calculate and get back on route. As we approached the Dart River, I could see Betty was wanting to go back down the other side and when we stopped past the line of trees at the Isengard site…..well, the tart wanted me to do another 15Km….on gravel no less…and when I looked, the Waypoint wasn’t even there….Damn, that shakes ones confidence in the machinery! Oh well, I led back to Queenstown, then Malcolm led up to Coronet Peak. It got dark through this time but with over 1200Km on the clock for the day, we were well and truly in the riding groove, so riding at night felt the same as riding in the day…just darker. I had read a note on KB that there was grit on the Peak road so we maintained some decorum with a steady pace, but man….I’d love to get let loose on that baby with a good surface and, as we experienced, no traffic. Once the sun went, the temp plummeted so once stopped, we grazed (the usual bananas, nut bars & water for me while Malcolm appeared to be on a diet of pizza and fruit juice), applied more layers of clothing and glove liners, then down, down, and on, on to Cardrona. We hadn’t passed Gremlin through this section and I recalled he had programmed to go back to Shell Q, which had put us back in front and now we were about to embark on a section of road I had been looking forward to…The Devils Staircase. I’ve only been along this road once, from North to South and there were road-works on the staircase at that time. Malcolm led us in but within the 1st corner or two, it was so tight, I was loosing his lights, and thought the ST lights might be better, so I passed and dragged us up at a pleasant but brisk, sub-fang pace. The reason I didn’t cut loose, was that we were running to our targeted times, which meant we would miss the 2300 cutoff for fuel in Cromwell and although it wasn’t going to be a problem for me to get to Ranfurly the next day, it would be tight for Malcolm to get home to Alex’. (although I did have the insurance fuel packed in case we needed it so it wasn’t really an issue) Never the less, I was endeavouring to maintain our briskish pace, but at the same time, trying to ride economically, as well as minimising any braking and subsequent blinding moments for my mate behind. My recollection of the Crown Range road was pretty vague. I just seemed to recall that it was a nice flowy road that had climbed steadily as it meandered along from Wanaka, then dropped down a steep series of switchbacks. I guess I had that wrong and was surprised when I got to the top and it fell away, so that and the brisk/eco riding approach I was adopting made for an interesting combo on a road that I didn’t know. The weight of the ST was pulling it down the hill and the lack of engine braking provided by the V4, usually means tapping the brakes is a frequent and steady part of downhill riding, but I was having a ball, tapping down into 4th as I was cooking into the corners didn’t really slow me down, it just stabilised the speed and although I wasn’t fanging it, I was riding on the edge, and fortunately the surface was mint….what a buzz! Cardrona came and went and I led onto Treble Cone (Flyer 20), which we had bought forward from the Sunday ride and inserted into the Crown Range, to save on time and prune a bit of distance. That was another pleasant wee pootle on a good road and best of all, we were getting down to our last hundred Km for the day. It was also noticeable that the numbers of riders encountered on the out-&-returns was dropping off and we only spotted a couple on this one, with Gremmy only 5 to 10 minutes behind us again. We finished the day with marginal night time pix at Luggate Hotel and the street sign for the Mt Pisa Rd, then had a lucky break as we turned to cross past Cromwell because the BP still had vehicles on the forecourt. We pulled in and filled at 2330, which meant we were saving 10 minutes by not having to fuel in Ranfurly the next day. We were back at Malcolm’s around midnight, had a feed, chatted, scrubbed and collapsed in heap by 0100. DAY 2. Nooooooo! The alarm went off at 0530 and dragged me from my coma! Up up and away, I got dressed, packed the luggage panier, extracting the day’s supply of bananas and water for the top-box, checked the tyres – 42psi on the button, exchanged the summer gloves for winter ones out of the wets and fuel panier, tidied the topbox, snacked, had a nice hot cup of tea….and we were gone at 0630. I thought it was bloody winter as scooted through fog at 3°, it was almost dawn as we took our first photo of the Poolburn Pub, then more fog on the straightish road out to Patearoa. Once again, Betty balked at the post and had I been by myself I think I would have missed the flyer…and once again, a check at the Patearoa stop revealed the Waypoint had disappeared (but later proved to be still loaded in the unit???) We were now at another point along the trip where Malcolm had the opportunity to shave 18Km off the route by taking gravel to Kokonga, on the way to Flyer 15 (12 for us), MacRaes Flat. Malcolm had estimated he would accrue 7 minutes by doing that, which would work out OK as he would need fuel in Oamaru, but I could zip past and carry on to Omarama for fuel and we would rejoin then. I’m like a dog with dysentery on these long rides and every time I see a post…(read, - have to stop), I get the urge to mark the territory and hence my aversion to the diuretic effects of coffee, especially when it gets cold like it was at this time. Once Malcolm left the memorial at Patearoa, I nipped around the back for a leak, before putting on the gloves and heading back to Ranfurly. I upped the pace a notch or two into quite-brisk mode and even the fog didn’t slow me down too much because the road already travelled earlier was pretty straight. Betty directed me back through Ranfurly, over to Kyeburn then out through Kokonga and Hyde to Macraes Flat. I was now travelling at pace down into gullys filled with fog, then rising out with one hand on the throttle and one shielding my eyes from the wicked sunstrike as the golden orb had ascended to just above the hills. To make this worse, Betty’s poor form had me doubting the instructions so when I saw the sign to Middlemarch at the Kyeburn turnoff, I thought, WTF!! Where the hell am I!! and then as I came into Hyde or thereabouts I went into a spin because there in front of me was a lovely big monument stating ‘You are now entering the city limits of Dunedin’?! “Oh shit”, I thought, “I shouldn’t be anywhere near Dunedin?” but I pressed on anyway, in too much of a hurry to stop for a manual check. That was lucky because this fantastic road meandered through and around the hills and occasionally one could see several Km of curly macadam across a wee valley and on one of these occasions I spotted another lone bike…. “awsome….that must be Malcolm” and I could see I was reeling him in. DAY 2. Nooooooo! The alarm went off at 0530 and dragged me from my coma! Up up and away, I got dressed, packed the luggage panier, extracting the day’s supply of bananas and water for the top-box, checked the tyres – 42psi on the button, exchanged the summer gloves for winter ones out of the wets and fuel panier, tidied the topbox, snacked, had a nice hot cup of tea….and we were gone at 0630. I thought it was bloody winter as scooted through fog at 3°, it was almost dawn as we took our first photo of the Poolburn Pub, then more fog on the straightish road out to Patearoa. Once again, Betty balked at the post and had I been by myself I think I would have missed the flyer…and once again, a check at the Patearoa stop revealed the Waypoint had disappeared (but later proved to be still loaded in the unit???) We were now at another point along the trip where Malcolm had the opportunity to shave 18Km off the route by taking gravel to Kokonga, on the way to Flyer 15 (12 for us), MacRaes Flat. Malcolm had estimated he would accrue 7 minutes by doing that, which would work out OK as he would need fuel in Oamaru, but I could zip past and carry on to Omarama for fuel and we would rejoin then. I’m like a dog with dysentery on these long rides and every time I see a post…(read, - have to stop), I get the urge to mark the territory and hence my aversion to the diuretic effects of coffee, especially when it gets cold like it was at this time. Once Malcolm left the memorial at Patearoa, I nipped around the back for a leak, before putting on the gloves and heading back to Ranfurly. I upped the pace a notch or two into quite-brisk mode and even the fog didn’t slow me down too much because the road already travelled earlier was pretty straight. Betty directed me back through Ranfurly, over to Kyeburn then out through Kokonga and Hyde to Macraes Flat. I was now travelling at pace down into gullys filled with fog, then rising out with one hand on the throttle and one shielding my eyes from the wicked sunstrike as the golden orb had ascended to just above the hills. To make this worse, Betty’s poor form had me doubting the instructions so when I saw the sign to Middlemarch at the Kyeburn turnoff, I thought, WTF!! Where the hell am I!! and then as I came into Hyde or thereabouts I went into a spin because there in front of me was a lovely big monument stating ‘You are now entering the city limits of Dunedin’?! “Oh shit”, I thought, “I shouldn’t be anywhere near Dunedin?” but I pressed on anyway, in too much of a hurry to stop for a manual check. That was lucky because this fantastic road meandered through and around the hills and occasionally one could see several Km of curly macadam across a wee valley and on one of these occasions I spotted another lone bike…. “awsome….that must be Malcolm” and I could see I was reeling him in. Oh well, we photographed the sheepy at the Mobil Station and zipped out to Flyer 19 (13 for us) at Lake Ohau, more straight roads but the lake was pretty/nice, scooted back through Omarama and onto the Lindis Pass and that hard to read mottled chip surface, continued down to Tarras then over to, and in the back of Hawea for a fill. While we were there a couple of elderly ladies turned up, looked confused so we explained it was an unmanned card pump, at which she looked even more perplexed and meekly asked, “Could you fill it for me please?” “Not a problem” we said, “Stick your card through the machine” and once that was done, Malcolm attended to the pump while I did the windscreen. One can’t complain about the service at an unmanned Allied Servo. On the road again and that delightful ride along Lake Hawea, then Lake Wanaka where, Malcolm managed a couple of twitches on loose grit then didn’t seem that comfy, so I thought I should give him a rest at the lead. What a brilliant ride, but the pricks that maintain this road need shooting. The number of times we would get in the groove, then all of a sudden we would come across a section of new seal with loose crap scattered about and invariably it would manifest at a corner…with no signage to warn us. I’d fly into it, having difficulty identifying a clean track so I’d have to straighten and hope. This resulted in a close shave with an oncoming car, not to mention a couple of stationary hillsides as I overcooked into corners too scared to take them….I hate it when that happens! It was still a good ride though but then we had to go out to the Cray Pot at Jackson’s Bay (Flyer 21 but our #14)…..more bloody arse numbingly straight roads. Sure the Beech forest is very picturesque, and the uneven surface bounced us around a bit, but I hate straight roads, so I clicked the pace up a notch or two. It was soon over though, we had clicked, grazed, swigged, the dysentery dog marked his space and we had chatted to a couple of riders on tour…..(but why the hell would you endure those straight roads for an ice cream?) We got back to Haast for a Pic there and fill-up and it was onto the West Coast….and that was nice! I led us on to Fox where we would encounter another 16-18Km section of road that I had been really looking forward to. Unfortunately, when we got there we encountered drizzle and the road had more of that loose stuff so I had to behave myself, but that was OK because not long after, I found myself on a sweet strip that Malcolm later informed me was Mt Hercules. (But more on that shortly) It didn’t seem too long before we were turning off for our last flyer to Okarito (Flyer 23 but 15 and the last for us). That was a pleasant wee scoot, although maybe a little narrow to let rip, we slipped in took our picky, more of the usual protocols and we were soon gone again. Have I mentioned that I love tight roads! The tighter the better and Mt Hercules had some exquisitely tight, cambered switch-backs and the ST was purring (just like last year on the Takaka Hill). It would lay down as it swooped through the bend thrusting forward as it smoothly transitioned to the next most excellent turn in the series and I reckon….that was nice!! I came around a hillside on a right hander and noticed a camper van entering the left hander 20 metres ahead. By the time he had negotiated the corner and was just starting to accelerate up the rise, I had slipped down to the corner, flicked around it and identified that the 50 metres to the next blind right hander was clear. He was lucky to be doing 20kph at this point and I was in 2nd or 3rd, so I applied the power brutally and bolted past the van, probably before he even knew I was there and I would have disappeared from view while he was still collecting his wits about him. I was surprised to find later that this must have pissed him off, generating a little road rage, because when Malcolm encountered him, he would move out to block the V-Strom from passing, even to the point our camper-van-man moved into the path of an oncoming car!! I don’t know??!! Any way, my only moment on this sweet adventure was negotiating a left hander when a truck was coming the other way. The road dropped away from the corner so I tried to give him as much room as possible by bringing the wheels to the edge and hanging over the open space, but there was a curb and I had to resort to the old off-road skills by flicking the bike up while I countered the balance and continued through the same track. Gosh I love tight stuff and the tighter the better….I love Mt Hercules. (might be something to do with the heritage perhaps?) We now settled into the tame, straighter roads that took us to Hokitika which was the all-but check point (photo of the old schooner and anchor on Gibson Quay), after which we had our last fill, then embarked on the last 250Km of our adventure…Arthur’s Pass. Once again I ended up in the lead and tried to maintain a steady, briskish pace over another of the South Island’s sweet roads as we enjoyed the last section to our Gold prize. I did have a wee moment as we descended from Arthur’s and there’s a couple of blind humps that require a little care when one isn’t familiar with where the road is going on the other side. I took one of these a little quick and braked as it peaked, so my momentum as the bike dropped away felt like it wanted to lift the back wheel and flick me off. It didn’t and wouldn’t (I hope), but it was a little disconcerting…..and then we had more bloody great long arse numbing straights to finish. We had planned our route, estimating times to the minute and on Saturday we varied slightly but ended up running to the programmed times doing about 1550Km in 18 odd hours. On Sunday we upped the ante a little, leaving Malcolm’s a half hour late, eventually arriving at Yaldhurst three quarters of an hour early at 2045, after doing about 1350Km in 14¼ hours. The ride didn’t seem as memorable as last year but I think that was due to compressing so much riding into the two days so it all became a blur, but it was awesome. We rolled in, took our last photo of the bikes in front of the pub, took the cameras in for them to dump the photos for scrutineering, had a great feed and a beer, then I had to leave for the B&B with Jim.
Once again, it was midnight before I got to sleep, awakened a bit early and we were on the road by 0830. More boring SH1 riding, but I’d dumped the 5Ltrs insurance in the tank and although Jim filled in Amberly, I tried to make the ride interesting by turning it into an economy run so I didn’t need to fill until back in Wgtn. I made it, going onto reserve at Koromiko, but I did have a problem with the GPS when it cut out and I lost my music going into Blenheim. Fortunately at the end of the trip and not on the TT ride itself. (I’ve since notified the supplier and expect to have checked on the warranty as I also found that it had dumped most of my weekend’s tracks) The ferry trip was smooth and we just chatted with other TT riders in the café. Many thanks to Mike and Robert for another great event. I managed to do 3977Km in 4 days at an average economy of 18.47 Km/Ltr, managing to burn 215Ltrs of fuel at a cost of $461, not to mention some wicked tyre wear. What a nice ride! It was nice to get gold! It was nice to do lots of new roads! It was nice to do some old favourite roads! It was nice to meet up with mates and ride with them! That was nice!! 3 Strikes for the TT2000 and we were ‘In’! Strike 1 – We got to do a 1,000Km ride Strike 2 – We got to do 2 of them back to back Strike 3 – It was in the South Island and we were due for a treat! Sailings were organised and accommodation was booked for Christchurch and Nelson, tyres were good, the bike is always ready for a decent ride, we decided that a Bronze Flyer would suffice so we could approach the ride in a more relaxed manner and come Friday at 0725, we were ready to go on the Kaitaki, formerly known as ‘Pride of Cherbourg’, along with 40+ other motorbikes, some classics, all heading for various rallies in the South Island. The forecast for the weekend was pretty good except that we were expecting to encounter a few showers on the way down to Christchurch, but our arrival in Picton was greeted with bright sunshine, dry roads and lots of cops…5 to be precise, between Picton and Blenheim and another 3 before Ward, so we proceeded south with due care. By Kaikoura we were due for a little refreshment and paused to enjoy a pie in the balmy 26° and as the skies to the south were looking rather gloomy, I opted to don my ‘wets’ before continuing. This proved to be rather fortuitous as no sooner were we heading past the airport when we stuck our first wee shower of hailstones (about the size of marbles), but no problem, the road barely got wet…… however…….by the time we got to Goose Bay things were looking a little grim. Looking across the bay we could see a squall approaching quite rapidly and I quite literally, pulled my neck in when we got to within 100metres of the southern point of the Bay, and the front screamed around the bluff presenting itself as a wall of spray, hail and debris, stirred up by winds in excess of 100kph. Some of the hailstones this time were about half the size of golf balls, or perhaps if I continue with the marble theme, they had matured to tombolas, and they were falling with such intensity that each hit was felt through the layers of gear and some were bouncing up from my chest and shoulders inside the helmet. I guess at this point, normal people would recognise the gravity of the situation and pull over but Steve and I aren’t that mature and besides, my visor fogged instantly so I couldn’t see much anyway, apart from the fact that the road seemed strangely white. This actually made it easier to follow and fortunately a couplet of droplets ran down the inside of my visor, so I could see enough to continue. I can’t remember why, but I ended up leading, we had slowed our pace to between 20 & 40kph and about a kilometer down the road I realised the white layer was a carpet of hailstones. This realisation only came as we turned onto the Hunderlees where cars ahead of us had formed ruts in the bed of ice. I took the centre track and continued, getting showered in the wash from trucks coming the other way but as long as I stayed in the rut, the Avon Storms felt fine on the road and we even dribbled past a few cars. By now the blanket of ice was between 3 & 6 inches deep and then it happened... As we eased our way up an incline, I noticed that there was a stream of water about an inch deep flowing down the rut and right at that moment it eroded a large iceberg into my path. Sure enough, before you could say ‘slip slop slap’ I had been, and the front was gone….Bugger me!! I was back to my feet in an instant, turned the bike off and waited for Steve to help lift it. (300Kg + ¾ of a tank..say 20Kg + luggage…maybe 25Kg + bike leaning downhill = toooo heavy) We got it up, he went round to drop the side stand and I was able to reattach the mirror cover and observe that the wing cover had shattered but the steel bar underneath had done its job protecting the rest of the bike. However, a rock or the ice had managed to bend the foot-brake up slightly and tear a wee chunk out of the black skirt just in front of where my boot sits. Whew, I got off lightly…my bottom rib hurt a little but! We waved the cars past, mounted straight back up and continued on to find 6 or 8 bikers about a km further up the road, huddling under trees for shelter….we were still too dumb to stop! As we emerged from the Hunderlees, the ice had melted from the road and we were now just riding in steady rain. I guess I forgot to mention that our balmy 26° had plummeted to 6° and although it eased back up to 9°, it wasn’t very comfortable as we pressed on. When we got into Christchurch, Steve cut and run for his motel to wring his undies out, while I headed for Hampton Honda to get the bike checked and straighten the foot-brake lever slightly. This done, I checked into the Thistle B&B, sorted my gear and headed out to spend the evening with mates, after which I filled the bike and was in bed by 2200hrs…..quite knackered! I had set two alarms (cell phone and diary) for 0430, but I didn’t need them as I was awake by 0200 and thinking about the day ahead. I finally got up around 0415, packed up, checked the tyres and headed to the start by 0520, pausing in Hornby to put some air in the tyres. It was cool and as soon as I arrived, Steve informed me that we could go early, so by 0545 when we were barely out of Hornby, I realised that the T-shirt and skivvy I was wearing weren’t enough for the 3°, so decided I would fit the liner to my jacket when we stopped to take a pic in Rakaia. That done, and glove liners fitted, we were soon following 3 other bikes to Methven and as their pace was rather brisk (to say the least) I let them ease ahead but kept their lights in sight so I didn’t have to worry about navigating. Pic 2 taken in Methven and we were now in the groove, heading for our first ‘flyer’ to Lake Coleridge, to photograph the bike in front of the power station. It was now dawn, the temp was still down and the cold squeeze dictated that a natural break was warranted before heading for the first fuel stop at Springfield. At this time (0805) I needed to put another skivvy on, scoffed a nut bar and eagerly embarked on our first bit of good riding…Arthurs Pass. That was nice and all too soon we were taking the next pic in Kumara then witnessed a couple of fellow TT’ers chatting with a constable on the way out to SH6. That was rather good of them I thought, doing their civic duty and saving us the trouble so we could continue to the next ‘flyer’ without delay, which was a picture of the jetty at Lake Mahinapua, south of Hokitika. More straight and boring but we were doing well so being the hobbitses that we is, we rewarded ourselves with a coffee for elevenses, after our second fuel stop in Greymouth. On, on….and I was now onto new roads for me. Up SH7 for a pic in Ikamatua, then across for another in Blackball, back out to SH6 and yet another pic in Punakaiki. SH6 proved to be another sweet piece of macadam with mint surface and rolling curves. The sort of road that lifts a biker’s spirits as he locks the wrist and just flows…..so much so that Steve flowed right on past Punakaiki and after much flashing and tooting, I finally had to pass him to get his attention to stop. Best part though…that road was so nice I thought I was lucky to get to do it three times…..tena choice Steve! We were soon filling again in Westport before heading to Karamea and, although we didn’t need the points, we elected to sample the Denniston ‘flyer’ as it sounded interesting, “a boot scraper” they said, but not quite, as there was a bit of crap on the road and due care was required, but the view from the top was rather impressive. From here it was lots more boring straights until the Karamea Highway which was quite pleasant and we managed to maintain a fairly good pace, although I found the road difficult to read (It’s hard to tell if the mottled chip they use in parts of the South Island has loose stuff on it) on the way back out to our last fuel stop, once more in Westport. It was now 1700 and with 265Kms to go for the day, we were looking at getting to Nelson by 2000, so Steve led out through the Lower Buller Gorge….more biker ecstasy!!! We dialed in at 120 – 130 and just eased on and off the throttle riding at pace on a mint surface. We picked-up a ZX14 along the way who let us pass then tacked on the back, then we had to take a little more care on the Upper Buller Gorge but we were soon winding our way through Murchison and the turnoff at Kohatu for the last pix of the day in Motueka. At one stage we passed one of those pretty cars and he could obviously see we were enjoying ourselves so he fired us a friendly flash with his lights and waved with his finger, but he must have had other things on his mind as he decided not to hang a U’ee and join us. None-the-less we were soon in Mot’, still fizzing and I asked the others if they’d like one last fang for the day by taking the Moutere Highway back to Nelson. I explained it was a little longer but would have less traffic and also less likely to have any revenue collectors, so that was decided and once again, I led out. We scampered through there to get to Morley Honda in Wakatu at our estimated 2000, completing 1170Kms in 14¼ hours, checked in, then I retired to the Tahuna Beach Holiday Park where several others on the ride we staying as well. I went back out for a feed and filled the bike in preparation for another early start in the morning, let my son Lance know that I was in town, then collapsed into a coma…… ……only to wake at 0300! I lay around for awhile, mentally running the day’s route through my mind and finally gave-up and got-up to shower and pack. As I went to drop the key at the office, there was Lance so we chatted for a bit before I went to check-in for the ride. The first section was to Takaka and back and this was more unsampled road for me, from Mot’ onwards. I was a little slow getting ready so we were about 5 minutes late getting away, but then, others were still arriving to check-in. This proved to be the highlight of the trip and set the tone for the day as I led out, recognizing a chap with a bloody great swath of dreads hanging down his back and riding an Africa Twin. We had followed him briefly the day before and he was a very smooth rider so I decided to latch on to him and hoped that the light in my mirror was Steve. Sure enough, Dreads soon had us picking our way through the other bikes and in no time we started to climb on the most wicked series of hairpins, on a mint surface and the ST was purring….or perhaps that was me?? I was in the groove, I had a pace-setter and must have picked off another twenty odd bikes as the Takaka hill went on…and on…and on and up…and up …and up, the ST surging with power up the hill and rolling easily into the corners, laying flat as it flowed around the tightest of bends, the Avon Storms sticking to the seal like shit-to-a-blanket, never once twitching or giving rise to thoughts of ‘ease up’. It was just ‘yeehaa’ and ‘youuu beeauuty!!’ We crested the hill and by now it was just Dreads and me as we flew down the other side with him edging away. It was now time for my wake-up call as we hit a long (for the Takaka Hill) snakey section and I could see his tail light ahead of me as I straight lined through the kinks. All of a sudden I found there was no road ahead of me, but a larger kink and Dreadsy was luring me into a bloody great chasm!!?? Bloody Hell! Linked ABS brakes were fully deployed and the momentum of my 450’ish KG missile momentarily skipped onto the front wheel before the bike settled, sunk, bit-in and pulled up enough to flick through the larger kink and onwards down to the flats that led into Takaka and the statutory pic, the economy registering at 14.6K/Ltr. A couple of minutes later, Steve rocked in, we let the euphoria settle a bit…..then did it all again….and once again, tackled the Moutere Highway for desert. By the time we got to the Whangamoas we had settled back to our normal pace and the days ride ahead, but still enjoyed that piece of road too, although I was a little concerned that Steve might not make Picton on the tank. Not to worry, as we weren’t doing the Portage ‘flyer’, we decided to go via Spring Creek and could always detour to fill in Renwick or Blenheim if we had too. Fortunately, that wasn’t required and by Steve easing up on the pace and hunkering down slightly more on the bike, we made the 340’ish Kms to Picton in under 4hours, filled up, shook down and got back on the road. The next section back through Spring Creek and Renwick, then up the Wairau Valley was dead boring and it was a relief to get to Tophouse Road for some decent riding up to Belgrove. This was the first of our two flyers for the day and pleasant riding all the way through to the check point, fuel and a cooked feed in Murchison. We arrived at this half way point at 1235 and stopped for about an hour there as Steve enjoyed a rather large serving of pancakes topped with lashings of blueberrys while I had bacon sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs on toast. With the body feeling revived we were ready to take on the Upper Buller Gorge again, snack a quick pic at Inangahua, got our pic snacked as we approached Reefton (fortunately form the front), then enjoy the hell out of SH7 as it meandered through to Springs Junction and the Lewis Pass which took us to the next check Point in Hanmer Springs. This was our last fuel stop with 265Kms to go via Route 70 for the last pic in Kaikoura and the run to home down SH1. It was pretty uneventful as we controlled the pace, finally completing another 1170Kms for the day, but this time in just 13hours. Not bad I guess as on top of the hour for lunch, the other stops had to amount to an hour as well. We checked in, got scrutineered, bought our finishers packs and I got a collared T-shirt as well along with the Bronze Flyer Trophy. We then enjoyed a drink and sausage sizzle as we chatted to other riders before calling it a day at about 2030 and heading back to our digs for a well earned rest. Now I had stopped and come out of ‘the zone’, I was shattered. I slept well, rising about 0700 to clean-up, pack-up and check the bike. I was doing the tyre pressures when I noted the way the tyres had worn and even the little ‘Storm’ etched into last centimeter on the side of the tyre had incurred some scuffing. It immediately had me feeling warm fuzzys about the previous morning’s absolute fang over the Takaka Hill and all the other sweet spots that we had enjoyed over the weekend. All ready to go, I enjoyed a continental breakfast then hooked up with Steve before checking out some kit back at Hampton Honda. We then visited another mate in Christchurch, before getting back on the road for Picton at about 1300. We had plenty of time so settled down to a slow pootle, spotting and stopping to chat to other riders we knew as we passed through Cheviot. By the time we left there though, time was a bit tighter so we upped the pace through the Hunderlees for the third time in the weekend. Then came my next big wake-up call.
We were on the decent about 6-8Km from Oaro and the coast, when we caught a couple of trucks and the second (front one) was quite long, so after nipping into the gap between them, I waited for my opportunity to pass. I happened to be in 3rd when I decided to go and got a few metres up the trailer when I spotted there was a van approaching. I backed off, realising instantly I’d be stuck in no mans land, or worse, the 2nd truck would take me out, so I planted it, aiming for the quickly narrowing gap between the front of the truck and approaching van. The ST burst past the front of the truck at about 130 and if the van hadn’t given me that extra bit of space, I would have been toast, not to mention whatever other collateral. Then, as soon as I had bolted from that situation I had to hit the picks to avoid Steve and set-up for the next corner which was now looming as they come up pretty quick at that sort of pace, to say nothing of staying clear of the two trucks following. I didn’t have time to shit myself but afterwards, I was totally pissed off with my lack of judgement. I chastised myself, BHM’s were said and we settled into the rest of the ride. We had a pleasant boat trip back on the Kaitere and were chatting with another chap that had achieved a Silver Flyer Status on the ride and I noticed he was wearing his TT T-shirt, which had “I’ve done 2000Kms in 48hours” on the front. I thought, ‘that looks cool’ then got to thinking about previous rides and realised I’d done 2100kms in less than 24hours once…but hey, The TT2000 was an absolute blast. The organisation was superb and the route was primo. It was great to enjoy another foray into the south and enjoy some new roads. I finally got home at 2140, 3113Kms done for the long weekend and 89,200Kms on the bike….absolutely shattered and totally fanged out…..but I still have a wry smile as I think of the Takaka Hill and Lower Buller Gorge…..not to mention SH6 through Punakaiki….and…..and!!! |
Old Blog?
These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
January 2017
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