Gremlin's Tall Stories

Thursday morning, we packed and set off. Toto proudly claiming on MSN he had barely looked at the website, had just finished planning his routes and generally giving the impression that he was following me, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. (There would be a recurring theme that Toto barely ever knew where he was, didn’t know any town names, and couldn’t remember any from the discussion we had had for the past 5 minutes).

Set off from the BP Autobahn on Thursday at 10am (a bit late, but still in time for the ferry) and spent an uneventful 7.5 hours trekking down to Wellington (at least completely quiet by our usual standards). I had just got my bike back from the shop on Wednesday afternoon, after a service and more custom work, and Katie was now sporting a 11.5L marine tank strapped to the back seat and fuel line running into the main line. In theory, it would increase my main tank from a max of 250km before reserve to 400+ km before reserve. I say in theory, as this was completely untested, right before a 2000km+ journey that would depend on it. Excellent The ride down was of course, the best way to test it, so stopping in Tokoroa for Toto to gas up (and asked him to fill his spare tank as well), I noticed my 2nd tank hadn’t gone down at all. Good sign for the next 200km to Taihape!

Yes well… the first 3 attempts to get the 2nd tank working failed. The bike would run for 5-10km then grind to a halt. Giving up for the moment, we poured Toto’s spare tank in (y’know, to help make his bike lighter) and we carried on to Taihape. While riding, I remembered the shop advising the breather could be left closed as the fuel pump would draw the gas, but thought, just how strong is the suction? Air has to get in somehow to replace the lost fuel, and this would explain why I can go for a few kilometres, then it dies. Opened the breather and sure enough, the tank had gone down when I checked in Wellington.

Checked into Interislander just after 5.30pm for the 6.30pm sailing, had a chat to a Speed Triple and Street Triple who were separately heading down for their own rides, but nothing TT related. Helped them tie down their bikes, all secure, and headed upstairs for dinner. Chat, banter and food for 3 hours, explaining the South Island, TT, routes etc to Toto, unfamiliar with the position of newbie (his first time to South Island). Off the ferry at Picton and across the road to Tombstone Backpackers (excellent accommodation really).

I used my GPS software to give Toto an overview of the South Island, main routes, particular roads etc as he didn’t have a single map yet (good sign huh?). Had what sleep I could that night, with the freight training snoring next to me. Morning dawned fantastic, ended up leaving Picton at 10am, with Toto now in possession of a big map and map book, and a rough idea of where to go. I had to go direct to Christchurch to visit a client, while Toto was doing Takaka, West coast and Arthur’s Pass to Christchurch. A great opportunity to test the tank again, and with no Toto following, it was the last test before the actual TT2000. Finally, it worked smoothly, and I made Christchurch without a single stop, and getting a weird feeling of seeing the trip meter casually tick over 300km and keep going

I got a hearty welcome north of Christchurch by the storm front that swept up the east coast. I could see the black clouds ahead, so stopped to put my rain jacket on, leaving the pants off, as it wouldn’t be too bad. Little did I know, it was the wildest weather I have ever ridden through. Rain so thick I could barely see the tail lights of the vehicle in front, which was vital, as I had no idea where the road was going and couldn’t see it either. Two sets of lightning and I was thinking about the clever idea of being on top of metal in the open country. When the wind came as the rain started to ease (making it normal heavy rain) and I started seeing cars almost get blown off the road it certainly put things into perspective. Arrived in chch, bottom half soaked, and sent a warning txt to Toto (who missed the whole lot).

Sorted client and found accommodation. Settled in and waited. And waited. And got bored and waited some more. Sporadic communication, and he’s somewhere in Christchurch, thinks the town is shit, and evidently lost. More txt, offering to come get him if he can tell me where he is, and at 8.30pm I give up and go to pub down the road for dinner. I’ve missed the meals, so settle for a pie and wedges. 2.5 hours after entering Christchurch he appears. It turns out that despite my instructions to go through the city, stay on SH1 and you will find it, because I said it several times, he thought it better to go through the city centre for an unknown reason. Idiot. He loses one map along the way somewhere, and that evening, I go through all the required points for each day… again. I had also emailed him an A4 page of all the accommodation, address and contact details. He decided that, along with the website, it was far too much text, didn’t print it, didn’t read it… have I already said he’s an idiot? He was starting to make me look far too sorted for my reputation.

Up at 5am (after another freight train went through my head during the night) and we filled up, went to the shop and signed in. We received our starter tickets, and the TT2000 was all go.

Going to leave it here for now, got stuff to do, and by the time I’m probably posting the ride itself, Toto may have come across this thread…. hehehehehehe

I am currently working in Christchurch, and will be in Picton this evening. Toto has had lunch in Arthurs Pass, and will do a long trip round to Picton for this evening. Give he's done a lot of the roads on the TT2000, I think he will be OK... He's also been to the accommodation on Thursday, so *fingers crossed* he's going to make it.