KoroJ's Blog

(Continued from Pt 1)............With that done, the usual rituals completed, we were back on our way and I opted to bring up the rear. From my perspective, in these conditions, this is actually the worst place to be because you cop all the crap thrown up from the other bikes. Also, when following another bike at night, my preferred option is to sit close behind within the range of my low beam and ride off the lights of the bike in front, however in these conditions one has to sit back because if the bike in front brakes to avoid a slick spot, you’re left with nowhere to go. This means one is riding on low beam and while trying to pick non-slick lines to ride on the road in the gloom, you’re constantly blinded by leading brake lights and an abundance of crap…bottom line…it sucks but someone’s gotta do it…or ride alone!

The ride up SH3 to Hawera was OK but the ride on SH45 around Taranaki was the worst leg of the event. Disregarding that I was at the rear, even the hump on the roads through here was often slick reducing ones options for good traction. We also encountered a stiff headwind through here which was strong enough to bring my economy down to 16.3L/Ltr, even though we only sitting on 110-120 and this also enhanced the roar in my helmet to the extent that it was uncomfortable, even wearing my molded audio-earplugs (it was like riding at 160+ for two hours) so by the time I got to New Plymouth, I hated my Raid II helmet and replaced the earplugs with foam ones which worked much better..(naturally since we were out of the wind from here on). The other problem on this leg was that Taranaki is dairy central and therefore, large dairy tankers with trailers are abundant on the roads and these babies can really kick up the crap. Coming the other way they momentarily blind you and following you need to hang back a bit which means you miss a few passing opportunities, but one has to give the tanker drivers their due because their road etiquette is great, they make room where they can as well flicking their indicators if the road ahead is clear. Well done Fontera!

We were at Spotswood Caltex around 0430 and with plenty of time to spare so from here on in we maintained our riding pace but had a more sociable ride with plenty of stops. The ride up the coast, over Mt Messenger and the Awakino gorge was good but not the usual buzz thanks to the inclement weather however, at least by the time we got to the gorge it was getting light enough to see and I no longer had to struggle with riding on low beam, so picking clean lines on the road was a lot easier. We stopped in Piopio because Cowboys needed a natural break but I think he was more desperate for a smoke, then we went on to Kihikihi for him to top-up, only to find the garage still shut so we continued over the Arapuni Dam to Putararu, by which time he was running on fumes (the ST was down to about half).

From here we headed up SH’s 28 & 29 to Tauranga where we had our first encounter with the law…or at least Meanie did. We were just descending from our climb over the Kaimais when we were snapped and the cop managed a hasty but safe u-turn to give chase, shooting past myself and Duncan to stop the guilty bastard as we puttered past, stopping at a Caltex station down the road to await the result of the encounter. I couldn’t believe it when I heard they had ticketed him because there were three targets in their sights and it amazes me that they got it right and knew who to ping!!??

This resulted in a more sedate pace over to Mt Maunganui then along to Te Puke and the last checkpoint on SH33 at Gull Paengaroa. After checking in here, I continued on to Te Ngae to top up then waited for the others to come through and resumed my position at the rear of the group. We were soon repeating our scoot down SH30 and had just joined traffic on SH1 at Atiamuri when we got snapped again. This time it was just Duncan and myself that were targeted….so I knew it had to be his fault and being a good bloke, he fell on his sword and pulled over as the rest of us took the turn back onto SH30 and scooted to Whakamaru to wait for him. As it turned out though, he managed to accuse me and got off with a promise to give me a good talking too…which he tried to do…..and I tried to listen!!??

We were finally down to the last 100’ish Kms, heading back down the Western Arm of the lake and back across SH41 to Turangi. The weather was trying to improve but we still encountered a mixture of rain, patches of wet road, wet steamy road and dry road and as I followed Meanie over the last saddle before dropping down to Tokaanu, it was dry and we were enjoying our last wee fang for the ride. We were cranked right over on the right hander at the summit when ¾ of the way through the corner we suddenly found ourselves on a wet road. That resulted in a quick BHM (Biker Hail Mary) and pucker moment as I sucked onto the seat, but fortunately we weren’t pushing it too hard and were able to ease around with no incident.

We were finished minutes later and I struggled off the bike but felt great. We were 4 of a kind, 4 of 84 like minded nutters attempting to ride all day and all night for a badge, a patch, a feed and a beer,….and because we could. (This field was down on the 100-120 that have started on my previous rides). I now had 4 GC’s under my belt and felt great, not suffering any of the fatigue I had encountered on my three previous rides, which I put down to doubling the dose of electrolyte in my water and all the stops we had throughout the morning. The weather was the usual crap I have come to expect at this event, but having a bike and gear that kept me dry and warm meant that it wasn’t a problem. 11 riders withdrew for various reasons and it is impressive that close to 80,000 miles (130,000Kms) would have been completed in 24 hours without incident at a time when ACC are vilifying bikers as dangerous Cretans that can’t generally ride to the shop without causing injury.

After our hearty Rusty Feed, the rest of the day was spent trading lies as we wound down, until I hit the wall at about 1430 and headed off for a sleep until 1830. Then it was back to the dining room for leftovers and more lies until heading back to bed at about 2300.

Steve and I finished off the weekend with a quiet ride down SH1, getting to work after 1300 having done over 2400Kms over 4 days. It’s a pity more weekends aren’t like this!