Gremlin's Tall Stories

I bought a new helmet a little over a couple of weeks ago, as my new long distance helmet (still have the Shoei XR1000), but I've been looking at the speed of my stops, and concluded that if I don't have to remove the helmet, I don't have to remove the plugs, balaclava etc, balaclava needs jacket adjusted, as it slides underneath etc. In short, a flip front helmet was called for. Get to station, lift front, ea, drink etc, and no potential problems with fuel station attendants either.

Of course, nothing is ever easy with me, and because of my baehr comms system, any helmet needs to have all the comms gear installed (speakers and microphone), unless its pre-installed. That range is limited, visor replacements even more limited, so after trying a few on, I settled on a Shoei Multitec. Shoei, good quality, seems to accomodate speakers etc a bit better than the XR1000 (long distance in the XR my ears hurt like hell), but uses the same visors, so I can re-use my existing.

I already have spare speakers, but being a flip front, I need a boom microphone, which I don't have. Quick call to Tony at Challenge Motors, jump on his website, and order placed. Fast forward two weeks... it still hasn't appeared. Call to him, and yep, all sent, but no idea where its gone.

Two weeks out from the Grand Challenge, this doesn't leave me with a lot of room to move, with the gear still needing to be installed into the helmet. Check the microphone still hasn't turned up on Friday, nup, and another call to Tony. He's OK with me collecting another, and once the other turns up (probably from the bottom of a post bag) I'll send it back to him.

Except he's moved from West Auckland to Napier. I'm not exactly popping over to him one evening and grabbing it (the thought did cross my head tho), so Saturday, I popped over instead. Worked till the early hours on Saturday, then got busy sorting gas distances (long range tank installed and needs testing) and multiple other little things, suddenly its 2pm. So much for being in Napier mid afternoon.

Having already popped over to Napier for MSTRS, I pretty much re-ran the same route, getting off the motorway at Pokeno instead of Mercer, down SH22 (no rain, so the slippery tar near Naike wasn't nearly as bad), through back roads to SH39, then down through Te Kuiti, turn at Taumarunui. With both tanks filled in East Auckland, instead of needing a stop at Te Kuiti, I was good for 400km (before reserve) and no gas needed before Turangi.

Looks like the local councils are preparing for the Grand Challenge, with roadworks on SH4 and SH41, joyful. Whole sections of road several metres in length turned into thick gravel. Stopped in Turangi for 30min, pie, drink, swap visors, noted I'll need to be more motivated in stop times for the GC.

Had several messages to check, let mission control (GiJoe) know all was well, and just before 7pm finished off the rest of daylight in a clear visor heading to Taupo then Napier. The East Taupo Bypass is coming along nicely, I have gone around in circles around the roundabouts tracking them for the GPS project and submitted the data, found a new road, etc. The bypass is scheduled for completion in March 2011.

It certainly wasn't as cold heading through SH5 to Napier as last time, but I should have put the rain jacket on to block the wind. Reasonably quiet, mostly boring as usual. Shortly before Napier I head off to Tony's house and collect the microphone. 9pm its gear back on, including rain jacket, and I head for home, using the main highways (tyres were fine, just testing my resistance to fatigue and boredom on boring roads). Stopping in Tokoroa for gas, I opt to carry straight on, only 200km to home. By pure chance, 20km south of Tokoroa, I'm flicking through my display, checking temp, distance, and I see the bike hit 50,000km. Rather fitting. I collected the bike with 6km on it (brand new) on 3rd October 2008, so late on 2nd October 2010, I hit the 50k mark. Could have been on a better road than SH1 tho

Just south of Putaruru, I come across a cop following a car, so followed along as well, not sure what was going on. In Putaruru, I think about just ducking down the back roads instead, but can't be bothered, done them several times before, and SH1 through here is actually quite novel, probably the 2nd or 3rd time I've ever done it. Cop pulls over, so I pass, only for him to pull back onto the road, lights on, and pulls me over Turns out he thought I was following a little close, but wasn't sure, with all the lights etc, but a quick chat, and I'm on my way again. Car has been pulled over by another unit just up the road, Putaruru is busy at night, with at least 2 cops on duty! Cop is bemused when I tell him I'm from Auckland, but I've popped down to Napier. He puts 2 and 2 together, and figures that's why I have the extra tank. Yup!

Was surprised by a stupid possum in the middle of the Waikato Expressway, it really should pick its places better, and look the right way, but managed to miss it. Raced a few rabbits, but beat them all. One in particular did try some dodgy blocking tactics, but it got to keep its life.

Home around 1.20am, 950km covered, so not exactly quick for 11 hours, but finding house, speaking to Tony, unscheduled chat with cop, not too bad all things considered.

Only got into bed just after 3am, with a late dinner. Woke up at 5am for the Ulysses ride starting in Hamilton, but somehow lost 36 minutes between waking up and getting out of bed Didn't know if there was an Auckland meetpoint, and not enough time to get to Hamilton, so rolled over, then spent the day doing odd jobs, so I'll probably do the Coro Loop later tonight. I need to finish off about 2500km before next weekend, so the bike can get a service and checkover before the Grand Challenge.