Planned on a early arrival so left home before 6am loaded with backpack , petrol and redbull stop at Carterton and on to Gladstone only to find 10 or so others there already.
Parked up next to 2 more TLS, later find out all same year and stock apart from pipes and them running slicks to my road tyres ,unloaded gear then a 1098 tricolor duc pulls up and parks next to me ,found out later he went home after something happened to it mid sunday swapped it for his 1100 multistrada and times weren't much different to first runs in morming .
Filled out required paperwork get number 29, first couldn't get it on bike now cannot get the flocker off.
Get the briefing from the big fellow then off for looksee of hills state ,work out lines to take on the patched repairs to road ,coming back down felt the front move on the loose stones,must remember that spot ,easily done at 100k or less we'll see full speed .
Second look at road to work out where to be careful same as 1st look the esses before cliffhanger corner .
The first run starts ,move to back of line as told in briefing nervous wait must have visited portaloo 3x before pucker up time boy your turns almost here,
the launch was ok up the hill tell myself keep it open but let go before corner,up past houses and next few corners including sharp 1 with bad patching fine get to esses and lose way to much speed thinking about loose stones open her up again and jump on brakes to late and get a close look at fence on exit, next bit enjoyed the most up hill past tower to dam entrance after dam theres a dip in the road with big patch of repaired smoove seal on the uphill left hander the TLS didnt like that hole much , next came the fast right/right /left/right and give her death uphill to finish line with a just over 3mins I was told .
2nd run same problems on main straight and the esses again couldnt get those loose stones out of my mine, sorted cliffhanger and better over top ,6sec better on 2nd run .
Last run went well with launch big clutch slip going up hill [2nd time in day]better through esses this time, cliffhanger and up to dam perfect but eased off coming up the dip and didnt get fully onto it again until last bit to finish line,no idea of time of run .
Had a great time, met lots great people swapped stories some good some not so and watched some awesome riding,and I thought my 2.50something was good for me then theres guys coming in 20,30 and 40sec's faster ,holy shit if only .yeah right
Will be back next year hopefully to improve on my times never going to win anything but oh what fun .
Sunday didnt run pictures only, will post more on Deanos cliffhanger thread.
pic 1 run up to tower my fav bit
pic 2 near top of hill fast corners
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Way to go Wilber. It's a mind-blowing experience isn't it?
Originally Posted by Mrs Kendog
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