XP@

Friday afternoon 3pm
Bloody Rusties... "See you on Saturday" they said. "No" I said. But then I thought about it and well, I did promise myself a treat for the 200km / day commute.
With my bike gear soaked after the ride in to work and a new set of wets to test out the inner turmoil reaches fever pitch. Realising I don't have a phone number for any of the Rusties at the GC I call the motor camp somehow the phone goes to the kitchen, a good place to start!

Friday 8:30pm at Home in Levin
"Bye Honey! See you on Sunday..."
Vroom...
Strange the light seems a tad dim.

Friday 9:00pm at petrol station in Levin
Front of bike totally disassembled the Petrol station closes and turns off most of it's lights.
With most bits back on the bike I set off (nearly 30 fastenings to take off the 6 bits of plastic which lead to the headlight).
At the 100kmh sign I get my first taste of things to come, a wall of water!
On the way I picked up young Eugine with a broken odometer. We picked our way over the desert road low viability and rain adding to the excitement.

Saturday 12:06(ish) in Turangi
Arrived at the camp (without getting very lost)
Said "Hi" to the geeks plotting their GPS routes (seems like they had learned from previous years and waited until Lee had gone to bed thus avoiding ribbing from that department)
Went to bed and couldn't sleep so loaded the checkpoints in to Google maps on my phone (geek?).

Saturday before the ride
Said "Hi" to lots of people some new faces some old
Someone said the worst part of the ride is the waiting for it to start. Very true!
Discovered that re-routing speedo cables can be a spectator sport.
Bought an umbrella - the forcast was for rain, it was an obvious choice and only $9.

The ride
Went round a few bends, corners and straight bits of road.
At the time check said Hi to KoroJ who I had been following for a few rather spirited sections. I noticed I was getting a bit low on fuel so emptied my spare 500ml in to the tank.
Exiting Huntly I came to a few realisations within seconds of each other:
1. There are no petrol stations on that side of town.
2. The range of my tank (plus 500ml) would have been enough to get me to the Mobil.
3. The range of my tank (plus 500ml) was not enough to get me to the other side of town and back to the Mobil.
4. Trusting a local with $20 to get you $5 worth of gas sometimes pays off (who ever you were thankyou!)
Back on the road and it rained.
Riding with Felix and crew (the geeks) for a while was good they had GPS they knew where they were going... They were a tight group of well matched riders, a pleasure to watch.
More roads More rain I started to get tired, my eyes working really hard. I dropped back and left those guys to it.
Wanganui I had to resort to Google maps to find the checkpoint.
Hawera I had a small sleep on the grass by the bike shop.
New Plymouth I was still sleeping through the rain and shine.
My new DriRider 1 piece gave in the the pressure of the water. I was wet, but still blissfully sleeping.
7:42 am I had the sudden feel of my bike working under me, I was awake again.
The fire lit and I was on my way.
Across the country and on to the last checkpoint my favourite time of the ride when everything comes together.
The weather had one last poke in the eye 20kms from the camp.
#5 done and dusted, well good!

After the ride
Lunch was, as usual Awsome! Beats the musli bars and water I had been living on for the last 24 hours.
Really happy to hear about the low accident rate :=)
Had a sleep, Oblivious to my phone receiving 3 text messages and a call!
Lee's rain dance only managed to work to Taihape the rest was a walk in the park.

A special thanks this year to Kerry Dukie (http://www.dukicperformance.com/) for his help with suspension set-up which made not only added a few kmph in the corners and improved braking but saved me from a sore butt!