TOTO

Saturday – Day 1 of TT2000

Beep, beep, beep – 4:30 and the alarm was going. It didn't take long for the Gremlin and I to get packed up and jump on the bike this time. We were both excited about the two days ahead. Went to the Gas station and Mr. Gremlin proceeded to fill up his fuel tanker while I was busy lubricating the chain on the GN. There were already a bunch of TT riders at the gassy and I could see that the GN had already sparked interest amongst some of them and was seeing some wondering looks coming our way. It is also not a picture you see every day – two guys riding together and one being on one of the biggest and tallest bikes on the market and the other one on one of the oldest, smallest and most underpowered ones. The reason for this is not so strange however - Gremlin and I both like a challenge and adventure. He was aiming to achieve the diamond award which includes the basic route of the TT2000 plus also doing all the extra fliers giving him a grand total of about 3300km over the two days – hence the BMW. I on the other had seeing that my travel time is consistently about two or three hours over what the GPS software estimated was aiming for just completing the basic route. It was to be an adventure for both of us.

We arrive at McIver and Veich (starting point of the TT) to find a good bunch of about 100 people meandering around. See plenty of familiar faces from the TT in 2010. Plenty of bike brands and styles of bikes represented, but with all my looking around I could not see another GN250 – GREAT. Meant that the flag was mine - first one to complete the TT on a GN that is.

6am rolled around and we all got our shirts, I helped the Gremlin attach his shirt to his bike, said our good luck wishes and farewells and off we went into the dark cold morning riding our “two wheeled motorbikes”*. Having been stuck behind slow bikes with reasonably competent rider in the past I was well aware how frustrating it can be being stuck behind someone who doesn't allow you to pass. For this reason wherever possible in the straights I was trying to let other bikes get passed on the straights as the GN just does not have the capability of cruising on the open road at 100-110km/h due to the not so small rider with all the luggage, but it’s mostly the wind that makes the difference to the cruising speed of the GN.

Made it to the first photo checkpoint at Niagara falls and was surprised to see plenty of riders there as I taught I’m miles behind. Most of them had their gear off, taking photos from different angles etc. My plan was different – In and out quick. That how ended up overtaking many people, and there was a couple on a Triumph Rocket 3 that was most pleasurable to ride with thorough the whole day. About 15kms past Niagara Falls I had used up all my 10:3L of gas and was now parked at a small towns gas station which was not even open at 8am. Good thing I have 10L gas can strapped to the passenger seat exactly for this reason. Feeding up the GN and eating a muesli bar myself, I hadn't noticed that a blond girl in her late twenties had come out of her house around the corner and was looking by at all the bikes passing. She wandering why was her small peaceful town was invaded by helmet wearing strangers on metal horses. I was doing my thing, adding balaclavas and neck warmers to my kit when she decided to come around and ask what was going on. A few minutes of explaining of what we were doing, why we were doing it etc and she was quite envious of our adventures. I’m guessing that If I was on my big bike, and if I had a spare helmet, she would have come for a ride if invited, but since I was on a small bike, had no passenger seat free and had no spare helmet I didn’t offer her a ride. Mental note taken though - carry a helmet in the future for strangers that might want join the ride. Just out of the little town I encountered what seemed like a river of sheep. The farmers were transferring sheep from one land block to the other and the two sections were a few kms away so they used the road to get the sheep to the right place. Seems very interesting to me that the sheep know exactly where to go and did not get lost within a few km’s distance. I was kindly instructed by the farmer keep as much to the right as possible and I was ok to move through the sheep river. Did not need a second invitation, after all I had a tight schedule to keep to. It is funny how the first reaction of sheep encountering a motorcycle coming directly ahead of them, was to stop, pee on the road and then run. I must have encountered at least 50 or 60 sheep that did exactly the same thing. This procedure was most amusing to myself as I'm a man of simple pleasures. With humans the procedure is usually something like – get out of way, swear and curse and then urinate (on road or in pants).

The next section consisted of about 50 – 60 kms of reasonably straight road which say my odometer increase, but I had not seen any gas stations present. Being already almost half way through my gas tank and had no more spare fuel left I was quite keen to get to a gas station. Arrived in Riverton to the second checkpoint. It was not hard to find due to the accurate coordinates in the GPS, I snapped my picture and was away to a gas station down the road to fill up my almost empty bike.

It has to be said that I owe a big Thanks to Gremlin for letting me use the GPS coordinates for the TT2000 as they were accurate to the meter. He had spent about 30 human hours plotting the route while sitting on 3 computers at the same time, having the TT2000 instructions file open on one, Google maps open on the other and Mapsource (GPS software) open on the third which had enabled to plot the route with pin point accuracy. I am a little bit on the optimistic side when it comes down to route planning and generally when going for a ride I choose a direction instead of destination and had not done much route planning prep. A week before the TT, talking to Gremlin he kindly offered he let me use his GPS coordinates due to my shocking lack of route preparation. Thanks Gremlin.

Filling up in Riverton, my bike and my spare can I was ready to tackle the road and move on to the next checkpoint which was a café/museum in Tuatapere. I arrived in the small town after a few more sections (100kms) of reasonably straight road and a pee stop. There were plenty of bikes everywhere, and could see plenty of bikes going back and forth trying to find the photo checkpoint. It almost seemed like the bee dance – figure eights, U turns etc just so they can get to the right spot. I on the other hand was absolutely fine getting to the photo checkpoint – by “fine” I mean it took me only two U turns – LOL. Photo snapped and I was away.

The next checkpoint was to be a photo of the bike and Millford Sound in the background. In the almost 10 years I’ve called NZ home, I have never had a chance to go and see Milford sound even though I've always been told it is one of the most amazing places to go and see. I was really looking forward to this as my expectations were set high. Had to go through Te Anau in order to get to Milford Sound and the scenery on the way to Te Anau was spectacular. That is one of the good things about being on a slow bike, you get to see what around you. Made it to Te Anau, filled with gas (essential if going to Millford Sound) and was off.

Is the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound something or is it something. That must have been one of the most enjoyable roads I have ever ridden. Nice corners, great road surface and unparalleled beauty every second of the ride. The mountains of made me feel like a tiny spec of dust passing through, and when you think of it in the grand scheme of things that's what we all are. I was keeping good pace – GN really does not have a problem with twisties, and I even caught up to a few bikes which promptly got away from me on the straights. Good for me as wasn’t being held up in the twisty tight sections. Came across a few buses that were taking their time to get through the tight sections, but that was understandable as the road was very technical and the tourist operators have to give time to the tourists in the bus to get that “OOoooooh, AAaaaaah” feeling. All good. Got to the tunnel going under the mountain where a few TT bikes were waiting for the tunnel to open as it is open each direction for 15 minutes at a time. Having a few minutes stopped and being able to look around was fantastic. All of a sudden you realize that you are sitting in front of about 500-600 vertical stone wall, and I don’t care how many big cathedrals or buildings you have been dwarfed by, it can never compare to the monumental scale of the buildings mother nature can create.

Light turns green, through the tunnel and the rumble of high capacity motorcycles filles the air – music to my ears, the only thing missing was some two stroke smoke for flavor. Out come on the other side and the bike comes into its own again as we hit the 15 km/h and 25 km/h corners. What a thrill, especially knowing that there is a good 300m drop if you mess it up. Bearing that in mind we were all riding on the side of caution and there were no Valentine Rossies there. Arriving at Milford Sound saw us once again in the middle of plenty of bikes buzzing about and tourists going “Was is das?”. Good Fun. Took my checkpoint photo and proceeded to take some gear off, have a sandwich and relax. Got talking to a few other TT participants and everyone had something to say about a GN doing the TT. It was fun, and especially talking to a few people that years ago used to own a GN and knew the challenges of riding that kind of bike long distance were. Got talking to a guy who not only couldn't believe I was actually doing the run on the Ginny but also looked very surprised that I had specially ridden it from the city of traffic jams to do it. I was more than happy to ruin his view of Auckland riders being only posers on litre bikes riding them to the coffee shop in one piece racing suits, even though we have too many of those. Also got talking to a chap on a cruiser who was traveling with his three mates but they were a bit too fast for him and he wasn’t enjoying so much trying to keep up. I commented that it was a ride and not a race, so everyone has to do what they enjoy and if that meant taking things at a bit slower pace there was no shame in that. I told him I’ll be off soon and wished him happy travel and he did the same. He got ready faster than me, got on his bike , started it and proceeded to wait for me to get on my bike and leave in front of him. I believe he was aiming to stay and cruise behind the little GN. The little GN is very deceiving in that way, being a small underpowered bike with 19 horse power (7 of which are epileptic) gives the impression that it is a very tame bike, the good ground clearance and the skinny tyres though mean that with a reasonably competent rider it is not a slug through the twisties. After five corners I no longer saw the guy with the cruiser in my mirrors and I then saw him at the Te Anau petrol station. His words were “No I can say that I have been burned off by a 250”. I tried to make it easier on him by telling him that I got burned off on my 900 Hornet at last years TT by a scooter. An Italian racing scooter, but a scooter none the less, and that the weight of the bike had a lot to do with the ability to throw it into corners, so he shouldn’t feel that bad.
Filled up and off I went again towards the next photo stop which was the pub in Poolburn.

To get to Poolburn had to pass through the roads going between lake Wakatipu and the other gorgeous lakes. Oh my god, I could so spend a good month or so camping at those lakes. With an adventure bike there were so many trails that could be explored while having a camp on the side of a fresh water lake, far away from any civilization. It is definitely on my list of things to do soon. About half way through Poolburn the GPS started to play up and give me a little bit roundabout roots to the destination I wanted to get to. I usually have no problem exploring new uncharted territory, but on a GN you only have so much fuel, and I had not planned on camping under the stars that night. Fixed the GPS issue by reloading the route a few times and using a bit of common sence on what roads to take and all was sweet. At this point I also ran out of gas and had to stop and refuel – looking on to zero my trip meter and what do I notice – my odometer is sitting at 49 999 km. Oh well how is that for a sign – took a photo, rolls the bike another 100m took another photo at 50 000 km and full with gas the GN fired up again. Good point at this time I had enough gas for about 150 kms, bad point was that I had mo more spare gas and if the gas station at Palmerston was closed, I'd be cutting it very fine.
Took my photo at Poolburn, nothing fancy – just a pub in the fields, saw a few drunk farmers and most of them did not have problem getting into their cars and driving off pissed. It seems that the drink drive campaign does not get quite the enforcement here as it does in the bigger NZ cities. I for one am always happy to go through a breathalyzer check point – it means it keeps the drunk far away from me.

I got to Palmerston, stopped at a car park and pulled out my laptop to check again where was the photo that I was supposed to take. What do you know, I was sitting in the car park exactly where the photo checkpoint was. Oh well that was easy. Picture – snap. That is when two boys rocked up – one on a Hayabusa, and one on a ST1300. I had met them before, and the Hayabusa guy had already established himself as a prick in my books (Mr. Prick). His friend I had also met and he was quite a nice chap. He had been unfortunate enough to come off his bike near Poolburn and was not so happy. He was all good and the bike seemed to have only cosmetic damage so no problems there – just a little pride lost. Mr. Prick proceeded to stomp around, asking me where the bloody photo was where we were supposed to take. I wouldn't have told him but I decided to give him a chance once again to show he was not such a wanker and pointed out exactly where the photo was supposed to be and where he should take it from. After all we are both bike riders, both doing the same long distance rally, and riders help each other in a time of need. Mr. Prick proceeds to have an argument with me how it is supposed to have a train station next to it of some sort – no comment from my part. Mr. Prick snaps his photo evidence and leaves revving his bike followed by his friend. Some people are so shallow. You are welcome Mr. Prick.

Once left alone and remember that I am probably not far away from reserve. Reserve means that I have about 35kms of petrol. I am about 51kms from Oamaru – my place of rest for the night. A quick ride 50 meters up he road reveals that the gas station in Palmerston is closed for the day. It is after all 10:30 at night. Well I have no spare petrol, so the wisest thing to do is to ride the bike in the most economic way possible to Oamary and hope that I can make it. The most economical pace of the GN250 is at about 55-60 km/h on 5th gear. That means that the fuel economy is at its best at around 27 km/s per litre. That means that I should make it to Oamaru, be it on vapors. Oh well only one way to find out – pootle along. I start my 55km/h pootle and get ready for an hours journey to my destination 51 kms away. Pootle pootle and pull over to let cars get passed, after all I’m doing 55km/h where cars and trucks are doing about 100-110 and it is probably good idea to give way if I don’t want to become a hood ornament. 10 kms down and its getting boring, 15 kms and I see lights of a small town in the distance. I come closer and what do you know there is a 24h petrol station operated by cards only. Ok that is a good sign. I am a bit careful not to celebrate until the actual petrol is being pumped into my tank as am aware of premature celebrations and disappointment. Like Gremlin says – “Myrphy and I are good friends” and it does apply to me too. Card accepted, and petrol pouring into the gas tank at great speed. That must have been the happiest petrol I have ever pumped. Could have been the fact that I was into my 17th hour on the bike, but having full tank of gas as well as a gas can full to the top with gas was so liberating. Petrol full, and I left the gas station with the biggest grin on my face and a healthy Vrooooom Vroom coming from the GN. Happy Days. 20 minutes later and I'm at my accommodation. Having a well deserved hot shower, and off to bed.

It has been quite a great day. Sleep and then off to more adventures for the second day of the TT2000….