Personal entry

....................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 ...

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 ...

Counting down the last two weeks to the TT and this week I went on the Uly Ride to Apiti, combining it with my last prep’ ride. My plan was to ride with the group to the Pilgrims Rest , on Pohangina Valley East Rd, but then continue riding instead of stopping for lunch, focusing on maintaining a good average pace, whilst generally riding economically and within the prescribed tolerances, so as not top get pinged.

I did the usual ride prep of tyres, clean (& polish for a change), prepared ...

With TT bookings and plans well underway and the drama of last weeks puncture(s) done and dusted with a new Storm 2 Ultra fitted, Steve & I were off on another ‘Multi-purpose’ ride…..for him it was just a conditioning ride for the Southern Cross, but for me it was conditioning for the TT2000, testing/familiarization for the GPS and the wish to put 2000Km on the bike to do the 108,000Km service and change the front tyre prior to the TT.

The various requirements meant that perhaps something ...

We got back from the Gold Coast on Friday, so yesterday I finished off fitting the GPS to the bike by tapping it onto the power, then last night I programmed a ride into the GPS for today. This would double as a bit more conditioning, but mainly to play and familiarise myself with the unit…and I need to do about 2000Km before the TT at the end of the February to: wear out the front tyre as well as get the Km up for the next service prior to the event.

I also had a club ride on at ...

Since August I’ve been dithering over whether to do the TT2000 on the last weekend of February, the Southern Cross on the 2nd week of March, or both. I was leaning towards doing the SX, but in the end, due to the time factor (4 days for the TT as opposed to 8 or 9 for the SX) and the route for the TT including lots of new roads for me, I made my decision this week. I then ordered a Garmin Zumo 660 GPS, booked my ferry crossings, booked Friday & Sunday accommodations and liased with Jantar over the ...

What a week it's been, no sooner had I finished writing up the tales of my fishing exploits from yesterday, than the phone rings, and it's Ron. He was all interested to know if I was keen to go for a small motorcycle excursion, and maybe stop for a coffee somewhere. Destination as yet undecided.

I argued with him for a little while, because I really don't like that sort of thing, but eventually after giving it a moment's thought I agreed. "Meet you at BP at 10:00 tomorrow." Ron ...

By Jingo, that one went quick! In fact, the year has disappeared so quickly I only managed to squeeze in 22,250Kms….but there were some good’uns.

The TT2000 jumps to mind and not only for 2010 rides, as this years event would have to rate on my all time top 5 rides list. Steve and I only opted to do Bronze (2340Kms over 2 days), which took any pressure off us with regard to achieving targets, so we were able to enjoy a relaxed ride, (sometimes at a frenetic pace) over roads that provided ...