Well, Bandit rider has been on at me for a long time about just doing it and this year is it. Rain in the last 2 years running so bound to be a dry one this year!
So packed up and headed up to Turangi Friday night. Really nice run up there. One boy racer picking his car out of the ditch. That was entertaining.
Got up there and did the bike check thing. Passed with flying colours. YAY , so not alot to do and headed back to the motel for a relax for the night.
Caught up with Banditrider, Mark and Meanie and went for dinner at the local truckstop. Mint place to eat! then it was off to aquire the instructions and back to the motel to convert those to the GPS which turned out to be a bit of a waste cause my GPS stuffed out about 200k in. oh well, at least Meanie had the map and Id looked at it 400 times so had a pretty good memory of where I was surposed to go.
Spent my time mucking round on the internet, relaxing and doing frik all friday night. Woke at 4am Sat morning and contemplated the day. Sometimes it sucks being an early riser. The wait actually didnt take as long as I was expecting. Left the Hotel at 10am and went for breaky and then hung around the camp waiting till 2.30 for the start. The weather improved from the heavy rain the night before so I was feeling pretty good about getting out on the bike for the night.
Riders briefing was pretty much as expected so 3pm comes round so gear up and head for the start. Weather was mint, not too hot, blue sky and perfect for stacking up some ks. Western access is a nice road to start on too so knocked out the first 60k in about 20mins and then the heavens opened up. Ive never seen so much water fall out of the sky in 2 mins. Quick stop and put wets on. About 1 min later it stopped raining. Frik. Oh well. wets can stay on.
I pretty much stayed right behind the rain right to Te Awamutu cause the road was always wet but it wasnt raining where I was so that is good.
Had one moment coming up out of mangakino where I screwed up the breaking into a 25k corner and took the long way round a paddock back to the road. Gave Bazza a bit of a laugh and it wasnt that bad but had to check myself and go to cruise mode as I got used to the changing weather.
Fuel at TA and then headed out to Te Uku for the time check. Had a really good run out here in the dry and then back to huntly via some more magic roads.
Roads turned wet and rain come again and pretty much didnt stop from now on.
Got to Whangamata where I caught up with KoroJ for the first checkpoint. Meanie arrived so left together and had a very wet run down to Taranga and out Pyes Pa road. It was dark now and the lightneing storm was a shocker. Really hard riding through to Te kuiwiti. Had one moment where I was following Meanie in a daze and just watching his taillight and he went wayward and I just followed off course. Decided it was time for a smoke stop and wander round the bikes for a bit. Headed away again and stopped in Rotorua for fuel and then Te Kuiwiti (can never figure out how to spell that)
Caught KoroJ again and a guy Duncan from Nelson and did the rest of the trip as a 4.
8 mile was tough.. Just trying to get back into it and convince myself this was a good idea. SH30 in the wet had taken its toll and we had done less than 600k! I almost quit but decided we were heading south anyhow and Id see how I felt when we hit Wangas. Stopped on the side of the road somewhere in National park cause I was stuffed and couldnt see for the rain. Big thanks to KoroJ for stopping to check if I was ok. Pressed on and the Paraparas were great following KoroJ. Wet and slippery but still fun. by the time we got to Wangas it was 2.30ish am and everyones spirits were really high. Over 900k out the way in 11 hours. The rest just seemed easy from then. Ate up taranaki pretty quick and next stop was in New Plymouth. Really keen for a smoke about now so checked in and had a smoke. Left my phone and drink behind.. Duh.. It was just before 5am so sun wasnt up yet. On to Mt messenger which I made a complete hash out of. Really slippery up there but awkino was magic. The light was coming on so it was nice to be able to see again.
Stopped in Pio Pio for a much needed pitstop and then on to Kihikihi. No fuel here so quick discussion decided it was only 38k to Pataruru and I was already on reserve so decided to risk it. Damn long 38k too! but made it for a refuel and smoke and then headed over the kaimais to Tauranga. Gave it a bit of a serve coming up the hill which was fun and then decided to wait for the others just as a cop showed up. Phew! Lucky. .. Meanie wasnt so and come over the hill with reports of a 114k ticket. Suck. At least it wasnt me this time.
Through to the mount and then down to Paeangaroa for the last stop.. Its funny cause usually we dont ride far at all between stops but now it was like, Its only 200k we might as well go striaght through to there....
Had a stack of time up our sleeves so cruise mode back to Sh30. The rain had eased and wet roads were less of a concern now. Body was feeling alot better and everything just felt easy. Crossing Sh5 a cop showed up coming towards us and pulled over. Quick check of speedo and although in cruise mode looks like it could get expensive so decided not to stop till given the stern warning to. We were about 100m away from the turnoff so hit Sh30 and gave it some enthusaism to move on to the next point. Apparently the police pulled Ducan over and had a chat about one of the group doing 124k and he couldnt decide which one so no ticket. Mint.
Waited in Whakamaru for everyone to show and then headed up western access to the finish. Kinda figured out Id forgot to refuel at the last stop and fuel was getting low. Went to reserve and did a head calculate that I probably had about 20k left in the tank right when I saw the sign that Turangi was 23k away. Right.. Ahem.. oops.
Put 17.9L in a 18l tank in Tokannuu (sp?) i might have made Turangi but I doubt it. SO the last Fuel stop had me finishing about 5 mins after Meanie, KoroJ and Duncan. It was good to be back and I felt surprisingly good.
Got my badge and cert. and then had a bit of a feed and a chat and loaded up the bike and headed home. I liked that there was no big palarva at the end. It was a good. Done. Thanks for that. Its all about the personal challenge and setting goals and competing them. I will definitely be back next year. Lets hope the rain isnt!
Goals.
Complete it... check
Bring bike back in one piece ... check
improve night riding ... definitely check
improve wet weather riding... check
done.
Final note. Thanks to Rustys and all the work they put into it. Special thanks to the guys who brought my phone back. Thanks to the cops who picked on Meanie instead of me for a change. Thanks to KoroJ for looking out for me and Meanie and Duncan for the company.
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Originally Posted by cowboyz
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. I think I might go for #5 next year to see how a Street Triple handles it after my last one in 2003 on the Blackbird.
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