Gremlin's Tall Stories

The alarms came at 0430, much too early for my liking but no choice to be had and after half a year of waiting (I didn't do the first as the bike was in the shop being repaired) the 2010 TT2000 was finally here.

Showered in the freezing cold... damn toilet block was separate and breezy. Gear was put on and packed into the luggage with the noise of bikes constantly going past and we headed the 7km down the road filling up our tanks and grabbing some drinks for later in the day. At Hampton Honda, the main group had already left, apparently they had let out a couple to take photographs, and everyone had taken it as the time to leave. Toto was staying with me until Rakaia, where he would continue the basic route as it was his first time in the South Island and sightseeing was on his list. I was continuing down to Geraldine for the first of 3 flyers, aiming for a Silver Award. Left Hampton Honda around 6am.

It was cold, very cold heading down the straights, and I quickly found my right hand heated grip was definitely not working. Not such a great start when the bike is saying the air temp is hovering between 1 and 2 degrees, but I was fresh and knowing it wasn't quite the difficulty of the Grand Challenge, I would be reasonably OK. Pace was brisk, enough to pass some bikes, but passed by others. Didn't want to be stopping and chatting at this early stage, but the cover of night was a handy thing to polish off some early boring kilometres. Rakaia came into view, a quick stop to photograph the 50kph speed sign and say my goodbyes to Toto, who was already asking if I knew where the turn off was...

I had decided photograph almost every town or place required, as it was quick and I was aiming to stop 2-3 times a day with my increased gas range. I had even purchased a bum bag that sat on my gut, allowing me to take 1 glove off, phone out, take picture, put away, glove on and go. On top of the radar detector was also a small piece of paper with the places required, and the flyers of my choosing. Handy quick reference when you're tired. On the way down to Geraldine, I came across a Holden that was in a similar mindset to me, not going too far about 110, but slowing for oncoming cars. Used him as a rabbit until my turn off. Few bikes had been seen so far, but had no idea who was doing which circuit first, who was actually going for flyers etc, and travelling the same way, finding bikes was going to be rare. At Geraldine I decided to stop and eat, as my next stop was 400km. I had had some muesli bars made in preparation for the trip, and this was my sole food during the riding. All vital nutrition and quite tasty. There were bikes in Geraldine already and a few more arrived while stopped. Chatted to a father-daughter on a Pegaso from Lyttleton, who had forgotten his notes at home, so showed him the brief run down. Didn't end up seeing them again.

From Geraldine it was a boring run to Coleridge, but excellent time was made, and I suspect, made the big impact on the schedule, maintaining consistent speeds for long periods of time. Dawn had broken, so traffic was increasing a little, and some horse event thing was on somewhere. Up to Coleridge, a great road with rises and falls, and a few coleridge locals looking puzzled to see another bike. From here, I took the shortcut across to Arthur's Pass, using Lyndon Rd, as I had the gas range and the SM wouldn't have a problem with the road which turned out to be quite easy (at least perhaps in summer and dry).

Great run through Arthur's Pass, apparently missing the cops in it, perhaps they were south of Lyndon Rd, but I didn't see a single one, not that it would have presented a problem, as I try to maintain 110kph most of the time on the more main roads. Approaching Greymouth, I was tossing up between passing the 3 bikes in front of me and not, aware of the town approaching, but 90-95kph was robbing me of time. While thinking, ran a bit close to the bike in front, so decided to overtake, but as I did so, the radar detector chirped for the first time, so tucked back in. Sure enough, 1 parked on the side of the road, and as I was getting relaxed, more blue and reds with a sv1000 parked up... oh dear, looks like it was busy, with the food festival etc. As we rounded the corner to the roundabout, another cop, oncoming. Wow... 3 in one hit. Greymouth was the next stop, so knowing the KTM ran great on 98, into BP. Pity I didn't know the price until that evening. A whopping $2.139 per litre. Either they have big litres there, or I just got ripped a new hole.

Food and drink consumed and a short break, on to Ikamatua and Blackball. Had a blue/purple gsxf or something and a vstrom sweep pass, it turned out I would see them from time to time, and kept a pace similar to mine. At Ikamatua, they went into the town to go to the store to get a receipt, while I did my usual trick of stopping at the town sign. This in turn put me just in front at the turn off in Ikamatua and while they caught up quickly enough down the straights, they didn't pass. I assume it was my turn to be a rabbit. Stopped at the Blackball sign, this time, they copied me. I checked if I was holding them up, but wasn't, so carried on, them behind me. Excellent pace maintained, they stayed right behind until Punakaiki, where I saw the town sign, mentally nodded, then realised I needed to stop. Slid to a stop, preferring this to Pancake rocks, which would be busy.

Saw the guys stopped outside the pancakes rock entrance, and sure enough, they took a bit longer to latch on coming up behind near Westport. Didn't need to stop yet, so carried on through, while they stopped. I had chosen the Denniston flyer as the last for the day, as I have done it before, but this time, the road was not in a great condition, a lot of pea sized gravel on seal, which can be very slippery. Saw the two bikes going up as I was coming down. Up to Karamea, a great ride as always, but had a bit of a close call getting to Karamea, when I didn't realise how new the new seal was, and had a two wheel slide from left wheel track to right around a left hand. Slowed the pace a bit on the seal after that.

Found the Karamea sign and headed back to Westport, but with more of a head wind now, and hard going. Sorta struggled to get much over 120kph, what with full luggage and being a naked bike, so didn't try as I needed decent consumption to get back to Westport. 220km odd from Greymouth, another 220km for Denniston and Karamea... walking is muuuuch slower than doing 120kph. On the way south, I started thinking about the end of the route. My eta was already estimated at 1815 by the GPS, which, if I wanted, could leave plenty of time for another flyer, perhaps gold was possible. Not having the documentation for other flyers, I hoped there would be bikers at Westport Caltex, and sure enough, ran into STJim (who I've met on a GC prep ride) and a fella on a gsxr that had passed me twice on the straights to Geraldine (hehehe, tortoise and the hare, I have a bigger gas range )

They told me the proof was Springs Juction, for that flyer, the other 2 possible flyers for the day, I had already passed. Thought, oh why not, don't have anything else to do (definition of crazy perhaps? Doing over 1000km in 16 hours, I'm ahead of time, so may as well do some more?). STJim didn't stop long, but I stopped again, feeling sore from the pace and the previous stop was Greymouth. Gsxr was also doing Springs Junction, with STJim and I, but we did it separately. Buller Gorge, a delight as always, few spots of rain on the visor, but realised the extra flyer was going to allow me to dodge the front, which it did.

Got a good break going through Reefton etc, finding a cop parked up fishing, but pointing the other way so I saw him as I exited a corner, in plain view. With a pace of 120kph ish, it might have been worse if either of us were doing the opposite. Saw STJim stopped in Springs Junction after I had taken my photo, he was wondering what he could take. Told him to take the town sign, it would be fine.

I was really starting to feel it now. A little more than 300km remained, the 1000km mark ticked over and the strain was obvious. Back, neck, arse, all hurting, and the overwhelming sense of just wanting to be finished was growing. Corners were no longer entertainment, they were a small chore. An accident scene broke the monotony, but it was all cleared, except for a bashed up car sitting on a truck.

The Mot Valley highway was a great break from the straights of boredom, just a brilliant road and helped me ignore the pain. A long half hour spent trundling to Nelson, and Morley Honda for the completion of Day 1 just before 8pm. Checked the stats on the GPS. I had been on the road for 14 hours, 1 hour of stops. A moving average of 97kph and an overall average of 89kph ish from memory. Toto arrives within minutes, sporting a BP pie, the bastard. Nothing for me.

Trundled off the find the night's accommodation, organisers had said they would be much more strict on the 6am start for Sunday. Turned out the Hell's Angels were in town for their meeting, so the cops were kept busy, which was great from my view point, hoping it would extend to morning as well (or that the cops were tired and sleeping - either way, not interested in us). A great burger each from Smugglers or something, shower and bed. Freight train returned to haunt me, but not much, as I was too tired.