Gremlin's Tall Stories

I took a little break, eating and drinking and taking a few photos, including the film crew The Rustys had pointed out the road ahead, which required negotiating a car park, but when leaving I decided it was much easier just to hop the couple of berms in my way (and at the end, I found a few others had tried getting out, then hopped the berms). The warnings were clear about Middle Rd. It had several unmarked 35kph corners and it had just started raining, so I took it smoothly, but found nothing to be worried about.

Completing Middle Rd brought us out just north of Waipukurau. After speaking to KoroJ before the start, he mentioned that Eketahuna wouldn’t be open by the time we were passing through, and from memory, there was a shortage of 24 hour stations in the area. I did as he suggested, filling early at Mobil Waipukurau at 2.20am, which would still see me through to the finish. The attendant was really good, opening the pump with no prompting, so I filled and then carried on.

It was south along SH2 until Takapau, turning off and taking the backroads through Ormondville (I swear, I never saw any sign we were supposed to, but then, I’m male and I wasn’t really bothering to look either) which were all new to me, and then back onto SH2 and south to Eketahuna, to a very quiet CP4 outside the closed GAS. I saw a couple of bikes as I headed south, and again when I headed north, but there was no-one else at the stop, so I knew I was in a bit of a hole pack wise. I took a toilet break and made sure to eat and drink.

It was then north on SH2, but only for 15km, before turning off to Mangamarie and taking Nikau Rd to Pahiatua Track and upon completing it found out the Gorge road was closed. The track had also been closed in with fog but cleared once out the other side. A quick jump across to Ashhurst and onto a new road for me, Colyton Rd, which took me onto SH54 where I had to head north to SH1 and on to Waiouru.

Heading west at Waioura on SH49 then south on Whangaehu Valley Rd, I finally got to do a road I’ve had my eye on, Fields Track. Fortunately, dawn had broken so the two roads were done between 6 and 7am. Since Fields Track is effectively a single lane road, I was worried about farmers out and about, but not a single vehicle was on the road as I headed through. It was quite the workout after 1500km odd of other riding but still fun.

Entering Kakatahi, a camera guy on the side of the road was initially a hazard in my eyes, so I slowed, only to realise he was just filming for the DVD. I pulled into the small area to get the final punch in the card and found I was 8th on the road, and half an hour behind the next bike. I was also warned that just ahead it was extremely slippery. This turned out to be the understatement of the ride, having not one, but two very scary moments, both cresting right handers, one after another. Mud had fallen onto the road (actually sweeping the guy at the front off his bike) and there was zero traction.

On the first corner, the front wheel suddenly snapped right as I eased around the right hander. I pushed the wheel back into place using the bars and managed to keep it upright. More wary, the second corner was just as scary, instead, having the bars slap left and right several times as I slid through the corner and almost off the road. Having sucked up enough of the seat with my arse I was wondering if the next corner had any games for me, but the road went back to normal and I had no further moments up SH4 to National Park and then SH47 and SH46 towards Turangi.

Proceeding up SH4 the sun did come out to play, the sunstrike making some corners rather difficult and I was on the verge of making an unplanned stop to get the tinted visor back on when the sun was stolen by the clouds and never came back, even when heading east from National Park. There were more vehicles on the road now, mostly tour buses taking people to the day’s activities, but the cops were seemingly still in bed.

I returned to base just before 8am having taken just under 19 hours to complete the course of approx. 1630km. An overall average of just under 90kph and a moving average of 97kph wasn’t too bad for no preparation and 16.5 hours riding time. I tried telling Lee that my arse really hurt, but I got even less than a grin, and just a “Why would I care?”. Why else would you ride 1600km overnight, other than to hear a few of Lee’s gruff one-liners?

One of the ladies kindly dished up the usual plate of food after I’d unpacked and changed into jeans. After 6 OSM bars (One Square Meal) my body was telling me enough was enough and I could feel lumps where they weren’t going down any more, so the change to more regular food made my body a little happier. I settled in to wait for more to arrive, but most arrived in the 21-23 hour bracket, including Toto, who said he felt much better than last year (his first).

All in all, 67 starters, 65 finishers. One pulled out with a sore hip at CP1 and one crashed out somewhere, but was OK. One of the best finishing rates ever, but also one of the smallest fields in my memory, presumably the high gas prices and rugby world cup taking effect.

Once Toto had unpacked and had his plate of food, we found ourselves asking, what now. We were both hungry so decided more food was on the menu, and since it was only 1pm, the bakery should be open (which from previous blogs you’d know is a rather good favourite of mine) so we walked down there for some food. Toto asked if we should ride, and I said I reckoned my arse had done enough riding for the day. I’m glad I don’t follow Toto regularly, as even walking to the bakery had him trying shortcuts and we ended up having to climb a fence.

I had a chicken pie, chicken sandwich and a piece of carrot cake and returning to the cabins found more riders to talk to. Toto and I compared notes on how our bikes had faired. I now had a missing indicator bolt so taped up the indicator. Toto had fared worse, with the whole top box on a lean. Further inspection revealed he was missing a bolt on the back right, the front right had come loose, and the left side had taken all the weight. Front left had sheared off, leaving only one bolt keeping the top box mounting rails on the bike.

We brainstormed a bit, and it was cleared I needed to take some of his gear on my bike to Auckland, to try and reduce the strain on his top box. Luckily, these flash BMW’s are equipped with huge panniers, so I’d take our sleeping gear on the back seat, leaving most of my smaller pannier for Toto’s gear. Around 3pm I was lying on my bed wondering if I should have a nap, when Toto voiced my thoughts out loud, so setting the alarm for 6pm I was asleep almost instantly, even after leaving the door open for nice fresh air.

I awoke to the alarm, the air now a little cooler, but feeling better and better as the minutes passed. Toto was now thinking of dinner (I believe his thoughts are held together by meals and food) so as agreed, it was now the truck stops turn for some patronage, as I wanted to show Toto where it was, so he could stop in if he needed a break on a ride (it’s open 24/7 mainly catering to truckers, but serves good quality cheap food). I had a beef and onion stew washed down with a milkshake while Toto tucked into a bacon and egg burger AND a truckies breakfast, which was a plate loaded with toast, eggs, bacon and chips.

I remarked that it currently couldn’t get better. The sun was out in Turangi, and while not overly warm, it was peaceful. We’d ridden a thousand or three kilometres over the preceding days, caught up with other riders, had some great food… does it get any better?

On the way back to the cabins Toto posed for a shot with an animal sculpture en-route to New World. I’m not sure if the animal was more violated with a grinning Toto on its back, or the eyes of the passers-by, who witnessed such an abomination. It was 7.45pm and New World was on the verge of closing, so we grabbed our ice-creams for dessert, I finally got some chocolate milk (I like it) and some juice for the morning and we spent the rest of the evening chatting to some of the Rustys, LBD, and other riders. At 11.30pm I made the usual noises about it being late and needing to head for bed. I think everyone was waiting for someone else to do it, as immediately my actions caused the winding up of conversation and we all headed for bed.

I grabbed a shower first and returned to my cabin to hear Toto already snoring. Closing my door, I was still able to hear him through my cabin wall, the air gap, and his cabin wall. Let that be a warning for all those considering sharing a room with ol’ freight train.

Morning eventuated at 9am as discussed, by alarm. I presume other riders left earlier, but I never heard them leave. I didn’t get up either, but finally relented 20 min later, and Toto wasn’t stirring either. The first knock on his door at 9.30am went unanswered, the second bang getting a slow “Yeah Yeah” in response. Our packing was stuck in first gear, taking our sweet time, I had a few work calls to work through, and we finally departed around 11.30am.

It wasn’t a long trip either. The bakery down the road was the target for more food and Eugene came along as well. We found the 1150GS rider there, as apparently he was all ready to go at 8am, but his bike decided it wasn’t, and wasn’t starting. He was waiting for the afternoon bus, and the bike would be collected and sent down to Wellington for diagnosis. We ended up chatting about seemingly everything, and eventually decided at 1.30pm we needed to start heading towards Auckland otherwise we’d never get there.

Across to Z (first Z I’ve seen in the country too) for gas, I was now good for Auckland, but Toto would need a fill somewhere. We’d decided to use Western Access to head north and Toto seemed happy to leave me to the route making. It appears his role was stopping the ride, as we only made it 26km down the road before he needed to pull over as his panniers were at very uneven levels. We used a strop to try and keep them in place and headed north up the western side of Lake Taupo. I had found out the hard way that a fully laden GS is not going to have the same ground clearance as before, despite 2up mode and sports settings in the suspension, and had already touched down the centre and side stands. I guess it’s a handy warning that you’re already leaning plenty, and to stop leaning more.

On another note, the PR3T’s are showing wear juuust onto the side wall, so in terms of lean for the bike, the tyre is well matched to the bike’s ability, with neither in desperate need from the other.

This only went on for 25km, needing another stop because the strop hadn’t worked and we needed another plan. 3 trucks passed us, and I mentioned to him that I was sick of riding with him, because it meant trucks always passed us. I did also offer the reason behind his trouble, as he kept muttering he hadn’t had the trouble when going down to Turangi, and I reminded him he was now travelling with a Gremlin. I also started photographing it, much to his chagrin, so see the attachments

This time he did a decent job of securing the panniers, because pausing in Whakamaru to check he was OK (after all, we’d done like, 40km with no stopping), he motioned to continue, as all was well. I led north on SH30 to Tokoroa, stopping at the entry to the BP at 3.15pm to ask if he needed gas, and he indignantly replied we were stopping in Bombay anyway. Since that was a while away, I advised he still needed gas as there wouldn’t be another stop before then (and like hell he’s blaming me if he runs out of gas).

Once he filled, I asked if the panniers and zip ties were OK, and it was handy I asked, as sure enough, the zip ties holding the top box mounting rails in place were gone. All 3 had snapped off, so another stop (plus photographs of course) to re-secure the rails in place with even bigger zip ties. I really think the boy needs a GS, but his heart may belong to a competitor *shudder*

We back tracked onto SH30 then turned north on Old Taupo Rd as I haven’t done that road in ages, and while a little patchy with new bits (and the associated gravel) it was still good fun. We continued north on Horahora Rd, coming across a truck towing a huge but empty transporter trailer. The road was nice and straight, so an easy pass.

If I have a choice and no time limits, then I’ll avoid SH1, and Karen agreed, routing me off SH1 almost immediately, and onto SH29 north to Matamata and then it was the usual run up SH27 and SH2 (complete with a slow moving vehicle near the end of SH2 holding up a pile of traffic) and we pulled into Bombay around 5.45pm to return his gear to him. I’d offered to take it all the way home if he wanted, but he reckoned he would be Ok on the smooth motorway, but if I saw the gear lying on the side of the road, to please collect.

I got home around 6.30pm with a little bit of work to do, but all in all, an awesome weekend. Wished I could have done the whole Long Weekend, but something is better than nothing, and it’s great to have Jessica back on home soil. She’s done a little over 33,000km and only 7,000km before another service. I suspect fuel economy is getting better and better, so she’s clearly being run in more.