The Capital 1000K Cruise report

[Grub]

So this was the task (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=57216) and now the reality.

An amazing event put together by KoroJ and one of his Ulysses/Grand Challenge mates Steve (don't ask him about strainer posts). Faultlessly organised, meticulously planned, brilliantly supported, these guys rock! And so did our day out. Guys, if this is not a keeper for an annual event, I don't know what is.

The forecast really didn't look that flash. All week as I checked the rural forecast for the route through Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay, Taupo, Taumaranui, Wanganui, Horowhenua and Wellington ... all those forecasts for all those areas said rain after midday. Apparently the boys had considered a postponment, glad they didn't. The turn out was an amazing 20. If you think that the Rusty Nuts Grand Challenge is a national event and got 100 riders and here was John & Steve's 'local' event getting 20 - not bad, not bad at all.

The boys will post the official list of Who's Who but let's just say there was a full range of participants from 1300cc to 150cc. Yup, you heard it right, an FXR150 - and it finished! Go SweetP! In fact she would have beaten a Ducati 1098 if she hadn't waited up. And she did beat a CBR600F4:innocent: Anyway I digress, on with The Grub's ride report.

The bike got a new chain for the event as everything else had been checked during its recent stay in hospital - more on that later. The bike and I are still not friends but we are on speaking terms. I just don't trust it. The trouble is that I can't work out if its me or the bike. There's no doubt that my off has made me a real nana and I need to get over that and commit to corners instead of being wary of them. The bike on the other hand has never felt right and still doesn't. Since I no longer have the pleasure of the daily commute over Paekakariki Hill Rd, I have lost my ability to train and refine and to build a relationship with a bike. I miss that and it's made me wonder if this biking lark is a good idea if it is just a daily 60K commute down a flat and straight motorway interspersed with an attempt at an edgy serious ride once every couple of months. One of the reasons to do this ride was to have the opportunity to re-train me and the bike. The anticipation was keen. The opportunity to just get out on the bike and go all day was too good to pass up. There was to be some roads that I hadn't been on before (Alfredton, Pongaroa, Fordell) and that just heightens the anticipation because down in this part of the country, those are legendary.

Leg (defined by the need for fuel) one of the ride was from Rimutex to Masterton, Alfredton, Pongaroa, Weber, Wimbledon, Porangahau to Waipukurau. The weather was bright, sunny and cool with no damp roads from overnight. It can't be better. This was the first ride ever where nobody stopped at the top of the Takas ... serious stuff, on with the job. The bike's setup for this leg was preload to factory specs for my weight and height and all compression and rebound settings one full turn harder than soft. The ride over the hill was great because of the dry surface which just allowed us to get in the groove - and as one rider said "... have a hoon, get it out of the system and settle down ...". I was enjoying taking it as it came and I really enjoyed the clear air and emerging day. Just one of those magic mornings

Finally we got into the serious stuff by turning off onto the Bidiford Road just outside Masterton. It's a medium width road and fairly open to start with a good clean surface. That doesn't last as the road gets into some narrow sections with a rougher surface and gravelly bits on it. The gravel is not from the road breaking up or anything like that, it's just that it's a little used country road with stock, tractors and implements using it. Gravel, bits of trees and stuff gets thrown onto the surface and there's not enough traffic to sweep it clean. Now normally that wouldn't be an issue - if you could see it. I couldn't. We were riding directly into the rising sun and of course there's lots of road side trees on country roads which makes for that bright/shadow/bright setp. My visor was reasonably clean and the Nolan has a pop down tinted visor. I had to use that to cut down the sun which was coming from just over the bridge of the nose but the tint is quite dark and that meant the shadowy bits weren't ... they were jet black! The expereince of going onto one end of a short bridge in bright sunlight and having the other end just a big black hole with no indicators if the road went straight, hard left or hard right increases the puker-factor tenfold. It's a bit of a blur as to where we were but later in that leg the road seemed to get gravellier and narrower and a lot of that gravel started appearing on the outside of off-camber bends. I had a couple of moments on these roads. Happy that there were no run-wides but a right hander over a brow that had some gravel I never saw shifted the bike a long way. Both wheels lost it and regathered it at the same time so no mess there - whew

OK, that's not the end of the earth, those conditions exist on hunderds of our country roads - but I hated it. I hated it because in my mirrors were 5 other bikes. So I was holding them up, spoiling their pace, mucking up the rythym of their experience of this beautiful countryside and road. Thats the reason I vowed that I will never do this road again on a group ride but I will go back and ride it with Nasty and on my own many times ... it's just too beautiful and interesting not to.

... part two -> ...

[Grub]

We gassed up at Waipuk and used the main roads and bypass roads to get past Hastings and Napier and out onto the other side fot the Napier-Taupo road. SH50 would have been a fun addition but it's hard to get a group from Taradale to the airport without getting lost so you're forgiven guys. We found some roadworks on the way and confirmed that sportsbikes do not make good dirt bikes. At least my undignified waving of legs was duplicated by SweetP behind me :)

I just love the Napier-Taupo road ... what is there not to love! By this time the ride had pretty much split itself into three groups of fast, medium and tourists. What was cool about that is that it just sort of happens and you find yourself in a group that is comfortable and enjoing each others riding. So it was that Wannabiker, SweetP (don't mention the bus), Micheal and I as the tourists kept joining up, getting split and bumping into each other again. So by the time we hit the Napier-Taupo road we were an item. Just two minor dramas in getting there as SweetP tried to bowl over a nice doggie on the motorway - she's been reported to the SPCA. For me it was as I split to the head of the queue on one of those big roundabouts they have on the bypass road, I got myself too close to the 4WD on my right. Next thing I know is this fucking great dane has lunged at my head from the open window ... CBR's can go!

I got split from the group in those bypass roundabouts but I knew that SweetP would be history on the FXR doing the climb, so was happy to have a 'free ride' for the first part of the Napier-Taupo road knowing I would catch them - yeah right. It was bliss. Sweeping corners, changing elevations and the odd straight in beautiful weather is what biking is all about and this ride was just the bees knees. I was singing, the bike was singing (I'm not allowed to say what tune) and the road was clear I could do that ride over and over again and never get sick of it.

I finally caught Michael and SweetP on one of those long uphills with the FXR still managing 90 in the climb. That is one awesome bike and I think that particular one has been blessed mechanically as well as being brilliantly ridden. When we got split in bypass traffic I couldn't have been more than half a k behind them yet it too all that time to meet up again - impressive. WannaBeFaster had gone ahead to ... umm scout ... the road ahead for us. Where would we be without him I ask. Home a lot sooner might be one answer:)

I could rave on for hours about that bit of the ride but that would be just plain boring. The group kind of split right at the summit of the Napier-Taupo. If you know that road you'll remember the cafe/truck stop at the top is right on the crest of a steep up and a steep down. We crested the rise at about a 100kmh and there was a biker stopped over on the left. I was in the middle of the road when SweetP and Michael hit the picks, I had nowhere to go and sailed on past. That's when I realised that the biker was WannaBeFaster. Those familiar with the road will know that there's no verge to pull off on and no safe places to u-turn. So, knowing that WannaBeFaster had completed his recce for us and was just waiting to regroup, I carried on knowing they would find us in the food precinct at Taupo.

At the food precinct we caught up with KoroJ and three others (know your names but not your nicknames sorry). It looks like they'd become the medium group. Passed time with them and had a Subway. They'd already gassed up and so headed out while I went off to gas up and look for the other three - my tourist buddies. At the gas station Trevor pulls up on his cruiser. Where did he come from????? I though I was way last at this stage as the others must surely have gone through. Well Trevor had got lost way back in Alfredton and had done 17ks on a rural metal road - that man deserves a DB! OK, at least I wasn't alone ... but where were the others? We decided to do the rounds of the gas stations and food precinct. It was in the food precinct that we found SweetP - alone. Turns out that WannaBeFaster is now WannaBeGoing - with a new back tyre.

He had indeed stopped to regroup at the summit and while he was checking out why his bike seemed to be handling a bit funny he discovered that all the canvas bits showing through his back tyre might be one reason. I won't spoil their story of everything that followed except to say that a tyre was found and was being fitted, SweetP was getting Subway for everyone so now the Tourists were 5. WannaBeGoing, SweetP, Michael, Trevor (I hope I have that right) and your Grub.

... Part Three -> ...

[Grub]

From Taupo the route was to take us via the Western Lakes road (love it) to Taumaranui and Raetihi for more gas. This was only a 190km leg but that would be the last gas available until Hunterville. We were behind the rest of the group now by about 2 hours but we didn't really care, it was all part of the adventure and if we arrived home at 10pm nobody seemed to care that much. Many of you will know the road around Lake Taupo. I'ts one that we've toured before - alone. There just doesn't seem to be that much traffic in that part of the country and the road is in great condition. The five of us were really comfortable together with WannaBeGoing now WannaBeFaster again scouting out ahead. SweetP came next in our group as she was the one the headwinds and hills would affect. Then a varying order of Michael, Trevor and I.

First rain of the trip occurred at the T intersection at the south end of the western lakes road. I had 4 spots on my visor, Michael had 5 so wet weather gear was donned. Dumb idea really since there was a bit of mist for 5 minutes and that was the total rain for the entire trip. This country has amazing roads and no traffic. The run from the T intersection to Taumaranui is a dream and we happly cruised at a good clip just eating away the k's. The FXR set a new confirmed record (but not allowed to say what or how much) but that bike is a legend! Even getting onto SH4 from Taumaranui through National Park and on to Raetihi we could find no traffic. Life is just too good sometimes.

And so we made it to the end of Leg three in good heart, good shape and by all accounts through Nasty we were about 1hr 25mins behind the other last group. Speaking of legends - a word about Nasty. She gave up her day to be our recovery vehicle just-in-case. Nudemetalz loaned the event his trailer and so Nasty and the Suzuki Vitara headed for the Wanganui area to be central to the ride and any trouble that might arise. She and Steve stayed in contact all day with updates of where everyone was and the times they were expected. It made for the safe and efficient running that makes these sorts of things into must-do-agains. I love that girl :)

And so to Raetihi with the Paraparas ahead. WannBeFaster is now a world-renowned authority on canvas and tyres and while my CBR was up on the main stand he comes over to do a walk around (as you do). Then I see him bend down to inspect the oil streak right on the centreline of the tyre. Something I picked up on the forecourt thinks I. Then WannBaFaster bends down and fingers the 'mark" "Tell me that's not canvas you're looking at ." says I. Yup, you guessed it, it was a break in the rubber surface of the tyre, not quite canvas but not road rubber either. Oh shit. It didn't look too bad, we didn't quite know what it was so I just decided to do the Paraparas because Nasty was at the other end and closer to help.

It wasn't a fun ride for me or Trevor . I pretty much knew I was on borrowed time because any breach in the casing is going to let air out. It might come out slow but it could also come out with a bang. Fortunately there's not many straights on the paraparas so there was not much wear going on in the dead centre of the tread. As I tipped into every corner I imagined how I was going to handle the tyre going soft. Trevor bless his heart stayed behind me as I got slower and more rageed in my lines and confidence until I just nana-cruised all the way to Nasty, WannaBeFaster, SweetP and Michael who had all waited - which was hugely appreciated team. I had made up my mind that was the end of my ride before I got there. As much as I wanted to do the 1000km, no matter how slowly, I couldn't hold these guys or the rest of the riders up either on the road or at the Rimutaka Tavern. So I just rode it to the back of the trailer. As soon as we inspected the tyre we knew that was the right decision. The abraison had gone from 30cm to 60cm and we could definitely see canvas - game over at 729.1km for Grub.

Bugger it we said we're going to finsih this thing. So the remaining 4 Tourists took off towards the Paihiatua Track and Nasty and I did SH1 all the way back to the finish. We arrived within a few minutes of the last bike with the CBR having done 729.1km on the road and 228km on the trailer - arrggghhh only 957.1km ... they gave us the certificate anyway - that was cool.

So thanks again KoroJ, Steve, the Tourists (particularly Trevor ), Nudemetalz and of course the Nasty One :love:

... all done ...

[banditrider]

Tough luck on the tyre - maybe check before you go next time eh?

Good write up - it was a great day out all right! Here's my story: http://banditrider.blogspot.com/2007/11/capital-1000k-cruise.html

[Nasty]

Tough luck on the tyre - maybe check before you go next time eh?

Enjoyed your write up there Banditrider ... and funny thing about his tyre since it was in the shop on Friday!

[KoroJ]

Good one Grub, a pleasure riding with you.

Pix here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=1277891#post1277891

and my report here, http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=9500&entry=313

[nudemetalz]

Glad to have been of assistance. I would have loved to have taken the Guzzi on a ride like that, but.........
Anyway, the trailer is there at any time for use if need be :)

NDMz

[Wannabiker]

Yep what a great trip...well all apart from the tyre. Yes I did know the tyre was low, but still had tread bars across....so had it in mind to get last 1000ks before the new one went on... Well the road from Napier to Taupo is my old stomping ground, and know every corner as I used to ride pushbike over that road for training every other day. I was soooooo enjoying the first stretch, up lucky hill, Dillons hill, Titiokouras (apart from the speed camera on the way down the other side...had a short ride with Mel on the Aprillia going up the second major climb....stopped at the top to wait for others and had a quick look round the bike and .....Holy shit!! Steel belt!! Frantic phonecalling gave 2 options...back to Napier and bike shop there had tyre...but nobody to fit it...But Michael's wif had found a bike shop in Taupo that had correct size tyre and would open for us when we got there...So onward we went...oddly enough, I wasnt so eager to throw bike around now...
Got to Taupo, found the bike shop, young chap (the apprentice?) got the tyre for me....but then told me that they had no tyre machine or bead breaker...and that they took tyres to tyre shop across road...which was closed....but would do my tyre for $65 callout fee. So that was it...just hand the money over.( Oh...and the bike shop had no pit stand for rear swingarm...so we taught the apprentice how to improvise) To the shops credit, and the tyre guy (Goodyear independent in Taupo, and PRO-MOTO) they got the job done pretty quickly. Welldone.:rockon: (and thanks to Michael who stuck round to help and wait for us) SweetP was dispatched to get food while all this was going on.:clap:..make the most of downtime here, as we had some serious time to make up. SweetP came back with Grub and Trevor in tow...we were almost done on the Duczilla, so waited for us and then wer were on our merry way.

I was a little dissappointed that Grub did not take me up on the offer of completing the 1000kms on two wheels, turning down my offer to ride pillion!!

Once Grubs bik ewas on the trailer, it was decided that we would go Wanganui, Palmy direct, and re-join route at Pahiatua track, to home. I certainly enjoy riding at night...theres something special about it...really gets you wired...but the rimutakas in the rain and wind, at night, after 995kms was ...well, less fun than normal. Still managed to do over the 1000k mark, even with missing that wee bit out too!!

Oh, and thanks to the organising team, and our wee riding bunch, and big well done to SweetP...for doing the ride on her FXR 150, in her commuting gear...even down to her backpack which she takes to work!! Rumour is that SweetP is developing power envy, and is looking for a next step up from the mighty Fixxer 150!! Maybe a Fizzer400?? Who knows....Maybe she should buy an R6....

[sweetp]

Ok well what can I say I loved the ride and have got the long-distance bug. Ever since Koroj had posted the thread about the ride I had been umming and arring over if I should do it. First thought was wa-hoo but then the reality stuff got in the way – you know, things like I only have a 150, I am still on my learners (really only been seriously riding since Sept) and I get lost quiet easily.

But then I thought to heck with it, and with a bit of prompting from Wannabiker, I signed up. I was kinda hoping it would give me a thrill – I jumped out of a plane for my birthday a couple of months ago and all I felt was cold. The guy I was strapped to was like “wahoo, this is awesome” and I was like “so how long have you been doing this then?” Anyway I digress, so I wanted to do something that I might get a bit of enjoyment out of, and riding my bike never fails to put a smile on my face and hey let’s face it I can handle a bit of pain so what is there to stop me from riding a bike for 12 plus hours.

I also need to say up front that I love my wee little bike. It has a incredibly dodgy speedo – have absolutely no idea what I am doing (FXR’s are well known for being about 10% out), ok sure I have major power envy (I have to chase a Ducati every weekend) but I say I may not have power but I am agile, and the incident with the bus really proved that point (we are not mentioning the bus). But she is a real little goer and incredibly reliable. I worried a bit about if she could handle it or not, but I commute 110km each day so by my thinking it was only 2 weeks worth of riding, plus since I got a new sprocket which means that I went “one up” (no idea of what this mechanic speak means) the revs have dropped and I am able to push her a bit harder.

So getting back on track, Saturday rolls around and I leap out of bed with far more vigour than normal and got my stuff sorted and down to Caltex asap. Realised half way down the street the I forgot to wear my padded bike shorts which I was hoping was going to save my butt from a bit of pain but it seems that putting something on top of your other clothes does not necessarily mean you will remember to wear them at six am. Pulled on up and sore some familiar faces but a whole heap of new ones. Very impressed with the organisation of the ride, the table and the van with maps pinned on it just gave it a very professional feel. Headed on over to sign up and looked at the sheet to see I was the only girl. Thought that wasn’t on really, but hey I don’t mind hanging out with boys, especially boys who ride pretty bikes.

The plan was this, had a conversation with Wannabiker the night before and he agreed to wait for me at the bottom of each hill section but really I wanted to try and stick with the boys for as long as possible (knowing I would lose them in the takas), and just keep going. If I got lost well Wellington is south so if I kept going in that direction I would eventually find my way home.

I was pleasantly surprised to see when I hit Featherston that I wasn’t last and joined up with a little group that I managed to loosely stick with till Pongaroa. I catch up with the tail end group as they are pit stopping and Wannabiker kindly tells me I need to push it a bit more, I managed the classic come back of “the bike only goes so fast” but really I am not one for back country roads unless I can do it at my own pace. And while you can say “ride your own ride” trying to keep up with boys on 500cc plus knowing that if you lose them you have no idea where you are adds a bit of pressure.

It wasn’t until after Porangahau and our little tourist group was established that I really began to relax and enjoy myself. I also think the change of road helped, although riding through gravel for the first time was interesting, Nasty had given me a mantra “no front brake” and while this did work there was some heart rate rising moments (I really didn’t want to fall off in front of these guys) and the debrief at the petrol station later gave me the second part of the gravel mantra “if in doubt wheelie it out”.

By the time we had the dog incident in Napier our group was going ok but we had lost grub – I knew he would find us ok, we had gotten split up by some overtaking – one of the hard things with group rides, finding spots where you can all overtake within a shortish period of time of each other. I think Wannabiker (lead bike) tried to wait till most of us could get around but really I think I have way less patience than him, I was muttering “just go for it” every time the other side of the road was empty and my pet peeve of vans was really coming to the fore.

[sweetp]

Got out of Napier with no road rage incidents occurring and then just settled in for a fantastic ride – god I love that road! Wannabiker had a thing with his tyre so we had a longish unscheduled pit stop as we worked out the options. We ended up heading slowly (not too slowly) into Taupo where I received a phone call from Nasty to say that Grub was at my bike. This made me super happy as I had missed my riding buddy (and being a typical girl I was worried that he would have to do the rest of the trip on his own). But I shouldn’t have worried because not only did he find me but he had also picked up another stray and Trevor joined us tail-enders.

Slight diversion here to say thanks so much to Micheal (unhingedlizard) and his wife in front of the computer at home, as they coordinated the effort find us a place that had a tire and then sticking with us for what essentially added a good 2 hours to our time.

So back on the road and yet again some really great roads, thougherly enjoyed the ride, sore a number on my speedo that I a. never thought I would see and b. never thought the bike would be able to hit. Nowhere near some of the speeds the others were getting up to but I was fairly impressed what the girl had in her.

Really the trip was great, had a conversation with a service station attendant in Raetihi that went something like “lots of bikes out today”, “yeah we are doing a ride”, “were are you from” “Wellington”, “where are you going”, “Wellington”, “oh” ‘but its ok, we are going via Waipukurau, Napier, Taupo, Wanganu etc”, “ohh”. Ok you may have had to be there but it was rather classic.

At the garage we had a reasonable amount of conversation about cutting the trip short so we would get in at a reasonable hour but the general consensus was we wanted our 1000 k’s. It was really sad to say goodbye to Grub at Upokongaro, but our group just had a thing for tyres and we knew he was in very capable hands.

Nothing eventful happened on the trip home, except Masterton gave us a warm welcome – the fireworks went off as we pulled into town, so we headed down the straight with a big display right in front of us. The taka’s were a bit of a challenge, I know I just can’t keep up with others, and being tired I was ultra cautious (the rain and wind didn’t help). My head lights are not fantastic and I was just struggling, unhingedlizard quickly recognised my plight and jumped in front to guide us through. Michael – you make a great lead bike, the speed you went was perfect for me and I really appreciate that you hung back to help when you could have blasted your way over in half the time.

Once we got over the hill it was the homeward stretch, passing the turn off to our street was a struggle, bed was calling but once we got into the car park at the tavern I was perky again as we swapped war stories and had a jolly good natter with the folk who had hung around.

I was feeling surprisingly good (which lasted the next day as well). All up we had been out 15 ½ hours and I worked out that if we took out the tire time we would have done it in just over 13. Not bad really, no idea what our average speed was etc (no fancy computer on my bike), but I spent $48.93 on gas and came home with ¾ of a tank.

Overall I loved the day, the roads were good (some were challenging but without challenge life is boring), the company was fantastic but most of all I had fun, and got a bigger buzz than when sky diving. I know I will be back next year, and who knows with a bigger bike I might even take on the 1000 miles......

[Skinny_Birdman]

Great write up Grub! One of our compadres in the South Island run was showing cracks in his rear tyre at Nelson, and was through to pretty shiny steel belts for most of the circumference of the tyre by the time we got back to Christchurch. And he still insisted on rolling burnouts through all the road works! Personally I have always found a few mm of rubber tread depth more reassuring :laugh:

[XP@]

I was feeling surprisingly good (which lasted the next day as well). All up we had been out 15 ½ hours and I worked out that if we took out the tire time we would have done it in just over 13. Not bad really, no idea what our average speed was etc (no fancy computer on my bike), but I spent $48.93 on gas and came home with ¾ of a tank.

Overall I loved the day, the roads were good (some were challenging but without challenge life is boring), the company was fantastic but most of all I had fun, and got a bigger buzz than when sky diving. I know I will be back next year, and who knows with a bigger bike I might even take on the 1000 miles......

Yes, riding is better than (sky) diving! Last time I jumped out of a plane I spent the entire time looking for the roads I had just ridden whilst waiting for the weather to improve so I could jump...

If you want to do the 1000 miler then I wouldn't hang around waiting for mates with the need for new rubber. (The Rusties check your tires + other stuff before you set off)
1000kms over 15 hours is 65kph you need to do 66kph to make it in exactly 24 hours...
Without tyres 1000km's in 13 hours is an average of 77kph which would take you round in just under 21 hours.
So, if you get your test passed, get used to night riding and satisfy your hunger for more power you will be having a lot of fun next October ;-)

[unhingedlizard]

First: thanks to all for a great ride. cannot really add much to the above. Sweetp and wanna, not a problem and thanks for thanks.

Second: all this talk of the 1000k ride got me thinking, wonder how long it would take to do a lap of the north island, as in the whole way round....

[banditrider]

Overall I loved the day, the roads were good (some were challenging but without challenge life is boring), the company was fantastic but most of all I had fun, and got a bigger buzz than when sky diving. I know I will be back next year, and who knows with a bigger bike I might even take on the 1000 miles......

Smaller bikes than yours have completed the GC - namely a RG50 and a few scooters...Good effort!