KoroJ's Blog

I lay around for awhile, mentally running the day’s route through my mind and finally gave-up and got-up to shower and pack. As I went to drop the key at the office, there was Lance so we chatted for a bit before I went to check-in for the ride.

The first section was to Takaka and back and this was more unsampled road for me, from Mot’ onwards. I was a little slow getting ready so we were about 5 minutes late getting away, but then, others were still arriving to check-in. This proved to be the highlight of the trip and set the tone for the day as I led out, recognizing a chap with a bloody great swath of dreads hanging down his back and riding an Africa Twin. We had followed him briefly the day before and he was a very smooth rider so I decided to latch on to him and hoped that the light in my mirror was Steve.

Sure enough, Dreads soon had us picking our way through the other bikes and in no time we started to climb on the most wicked series of hairpins, on a mint surface and the ST was purring….or perhaps that was me?? I was in the groove, I had a pace-setter and must have picked off another twenty odd bikes as the Takaka hill went on…and on…and on and up…and up …and up, the ST surging with power up the hill and rolling easily into the corners, laying flat as it flowed around the tightest of bends, the Avon Storms sticking to the seal like shit-to-a-blanket, never once twitching or giving rise to thoughts of ‘ease up’. It was just ‘yeehaa’ and ‘youuu beeauuty!!’

We crested the hill and by now it was just Dreads and me as we flew down the other side with him edging away. It was now time for my wake-up call as we hit a long (for the Takaka Hill) snakey section and I could see his tail light ahead of me as I straight lined through the kinks. All of a sudden I found there was no road ahead of me, but a larger kink and Dreadsy was luring me into a bloody great chasm!!?? Bloody Hell! Linked ABS brakes were fully deployed and the momentum of my 450’ish KG missile momentarily skipped onto the front wheel before the bike settled, sunk, bit-in and pulled up enough to flick through the larger kink and onwards down to the flats that led into Takaka and the statutory pic, the economy registering at 14.6K/Ltr. A couple of minutes later, Steve rocked in, we let the euphoria settle a bit…..then did it all again….and once again, tackled the Moutere Highway for desert.

By the time we got to the Whangamoas we had settled back to our normal pace and the days ride ahead, but still enjoyed that piece of road too, although I was a little concerned that Steve might not make Picton on the tank. Not to worry, as we weren’t doing the Portage ‘flyer’, we decided to go via Spring Creek and could always detour to fill in Renwick or Blenheim if we had too. Fortunately, that wasn’t required and by Steve easing up on the pace and hunkering down slightly more on the bike, we made the 340’ish Kms to Picton in under 4hours, filled up, shook down and got back on the road.

The next section back through Spring Creek and Renwick, then up the Wairau Valley was dead boring and it was a relief to get to Tophouse Road for some decent riding up to Belgrove. This was the first of our two flyers for the day and pleasant riding all the way through to the check point, fuel and a cooked feed in Murchison. We arrived at this half way point at 1235 and stopped for about an hour there as Steve enjoyed a rather large serving of pancakes topped with lashings of blueberrys while I had bacon sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs on toast.

With the body feeling revived we were ready to take on the Upper Buller Gorge again, snack a quick pic at Inangahua, got our pic snacked as we approached Reefton (fortunately form the front), then enjoy the hell out of SH7 as it meandered through to Springs Junction and the Lewis Pass which took us to the next check Point in Hanmer Springs. This was our last fuel stop with 265Kms to go via Route 70 for the last pic in Kaikoura and the run to home down SH1.

It was pretty uneventful as we controlled the pace, finally completing another 1170Kms for the day, but this time in just 13hours. Not bad I guess as on top of the hour for lunch, the other stops had to amount to an hour as well. We checked in, got scrutineered, bought our finishers packs and I got a collared T-shirt as well along with the Bronze Flyer Trophy. We then enjoyed a drink and sausage sizzle as we chatted to other riders before calling it a day at about 2030 and heading back to our digs for a well earned rest. Now I had stopped and come out of ‘the zone’, I was shattered.

I slept well, rising about 0700 to clean-up, pack-up and check the bike. I was doing the tyre pressures when I noted the way the tyres had worn and even the little ‘Storm’ etched into last centimeter on the side of the tyre had incurred some scuffing. It immediately had me feeling warm fuzzys about the previous morning’s absolute fang over the Takaka Hill and all the other sweet spots that we had enjoyed over the weekend.

All ready to go, I enjoyed a continental breakfast then hooked up with Steve before checking out some kit back at Hampton Honda. We then visited another mate in Christchurch, before getting back on the road for Picton at about 1300.

We had plenty of time so settled down to a slow pootle, spotting and stopping to chat to other riders we knew as we passed through Cheviot. By the time we left there though, time was a bit tighter so we upped the pace through the Hunderlees for the third time in the weekend. Then came my next big wake-up call.

We were on the decent about 6-8Km from Oaro and the coast, when we caught a couple of trucks and the second (front one) was quite long, so after nipping into the gap between them, I waited for my opportunity to pass. I happened to be in 3rd when I decided to go and got a few metres up the trailer when I spotted there was a van approaching. I backed off, realising instantly I’d be stuck in no mans land, or worse, the 2nd truck would take me out, so I planted it, aiming for the quickly narrowing gap between the front of the truck and approaching van. The ST burst past the front of the truck at about 130 and if the van hadn’t given me that extra bit of space, I would have been toast, not to mention whatever other collateral. I didn’t have time to shit myself but afterwards, I was totally pissed off with my lack of judgement. I chastised myself, BHM’s were said and we settled into the rest of the ride.

We had a pleasant boat trip back on the Kaitere and were chatting with another chap that had achieved a Silver Flyer Status on the ride and I noticed he was wearing his TT T-shirt, which had “I’ve done 2000Kms in 48hours” on the front. I thought, ‘that looks cool’ then got to thinking about previous rides and realised I’d done 2100kms in less than 24hours once…but hey, The TT2000 was an absolute blast. The organisation was superb and the route was primo. It was great to enjoy another foray into the south and enjoy some new roads.

I finally got home at 2140, 3113Kms done for the long weekend and 89,200Kms on the bike….absolutely shattered and totally fanged out…..but I still have a wry smile as I think of the Takaka Hill and Lower Buller Gorge…..not to mention SH6 through Punakaiki….and…..and!!!