2008 Chatto Creek 1,000 miler

[FJRider]

The two days just gone, has seen the running of the 13th annual Chatto Creek 1000 mile rally. As a previous entrant (I have completed 5 under time allowed) I decided to do checkpoint duty instead of doing the ride this year.
The appointed place was Haast village... the first checkpoint this year. So this entailed a ride from Alexandra TO Haast ... not a bad task at all.
Four KB'rs were involved in the Chatto Creek 1000 miler this year.
Jantar was doing (DID) it...
Racing Dave, was doing (did) it...
Me, on a checkpoint,
and Okey Dokey, whose partner... mr Okey Dokey, was doing (DID) the ride.

First pic is me, taking a short senic break on the way to Haast.
Second pic is Okey dokey.
Third is MR Okey Dokey.
Fourth is Jantar on the pink suzuki.
Fifth is the record holder for the smallest bike to COMPLETE the ride under the allowed time. A bike I would describe as a fools dress tourer... and at the end , the rider was capable of climbing off AND WALKING...
And last is Racing dave, who will be better known in the "Duel purpose" brigade, who will do a report to/in Kiwi Rider AGAIN... on his OWN bike ...

[banditrider]

Looks like the weather played ball for you. Dead keen to come down and do a Chatto Creek. Probably be 2010 as I'm doing the Southern X again next year and don't think I'm up for the 10,000km in 10 days...

[Okey Dokey]

This was a fantastic event. My husband, who actually rode the 1000 miler said it was very well organised and a great run to be part of. As part of the cheerleading squad, I really enjoyed it, too. I was very proud of my man and a friend, Gavin, who as first time participants both finished.

It was very good to meet some kbers, FJRider, Racingdave and Jantar. Look forward to seeing you on the roads.

Nice pictures and write-up FJR

[Jantar]

No pics from me this year as I was too busy riding.

36 riders were sent off from Chatto Creek at 5 minutes before midday, and it was immediately obvious who wanted to get round first. Some riders attended the briefing already in all their riding gear, so as soon as Pete Jones (the organiser) said off you go, they went. (eh Racing Dave?).

I left almost bang on midday, through Alexandra then northwest to Cromwell. At this stage I was probably mid-field or maybe a bit towards the back. We had a long way to go, and I didn't intend to push it at all, so my cruise speed was around 105 - 108 kmh, and I was trying to keep a moving average on the GPS of 100. My basic strategy was to ride reasonably hard during the day, and take it easy during the night, with a target time for the ride of around 17 - 18 hours.

There were 4 VStroms on the ride, and heading up the side of lake Dunstan I could see at least 2 of them immediately behind me.

The weather was perfect, and traffic light all the way to Haast where FJrider was manning the first checkpoint. I refuelled here, and managed to move past a large number of other riders at the fuel stop. Their eftpos machine was operating very slowly, so they gave preference to anyone who could pay in cash. I reckon that saved me at least 6 minutes.

I still kept the same relaxed speed up the coast to Fox Glacier, and a few of the bikes that had still been at the fuel stop when I left Haast went past at a considerably higher speed. The tight sections between the glaciers and again at Mt Hercules were just perfect. Good road surface and light traffic meant the bike could just flow through the bends. I sat behing a guy on a BMW K100RT for a while, but wasn't too keen on his riding style. He would brake for almost every corner, then choose the gear he wanted and accelerate out just to brake again almost immediately. I just left my bike in 3rd gear and swept from bend to bend at a fairly constant speed. This meant that I'd catch up rapidly as we approached a bend, the drop back between the bends.

Onto Hokitika for another fuel stop, and my strategy of cruisy speeds, but short stops was really paying off as I was now up with the front third of the field. There was a HP cop parked at the side of the road midway between Hoki and Greymouth, but I guess he was busy eating his donut as he didn't have his radar on and wasn't looking at any of the traffic.

North of Greymouth it became cop alley as first one then another cop car passed us in the opposite direction. In all there were 6 cop cars within a 20 km section, but only one (a female) seemed interested enough to give a burst on her radar. I was travelling with a group of 6 other riders, including one of the other VStroms (Gavin from Kurow), at this stage, and all were sitting on a comfortable pace. I sat behind the other VStrom for a while and found him to be a pleasure to ride behind. He had a smooth style and just used one or two gears with little braking through the bends. We eventually got split up by slower traffic, yet still arrived at the checkpoint in Westport within a minute of each other.

Once again I filled up and away quickly, with Gavin right behind me. We were on our own right through the Lower Buller Gorge, and past Inungahua Junction before a group of faster riders caught up with us. 6 bikes arrived at the meal stop in Reefton at the same time (7:30 pm), to find out that only 3 other riders had already passed through and that the first of them arrived over an hour earlier. A quick 20 minute stop for a meal and a drink, then we were on our way.

The 2 VStroms were now a tight pair through to Springs Junction where two Triumph riders, who are regulars on endurance rides, were filling up. A wave as we passed then on to Lewis Pass, and down into North Canterbury. Sure enough the Triumphs passed us between Hamner and Culverdon. This is their home turf and we just let them go. It started getting dark past Culverdon, and Gavin passed me to take the lead for a while. I saw a set of car headlights catching rapidly from the rear, and as he got to within a couple of hundred meters of us he slowed down to match our speed. I thought this looked a bit suspicious, so watched my speed closely to keep it under 110, and around 95 - 100 around the bends. Sure enough, the car would drop back a bit on the tighter bends then accelerate to catch up on the straights, by which time I was nicely set at between 100 -110. This kept up for around 20 kms before the car pulled over at the side of the road and let us go. Was it a cop? We'll never know, but if it was he was OK.

Shortly after we turned onto SH1 at Waipara my radar detector gave a short beep. It was a weak signal, so there was a cop around somewhere but could be a way ahead. A minute later and there was a stronger signal, just as Gavin was passing a car in front. I kept my speed to 100, and as Gavin pulled back into the line of traffic he gave his hazard lights a few seconds burst. I figured he was telling me about the cop ahead that I already knew about. The radar signal got stronger, then Gavin accelerated ahead. I thought to myself, "you fool, you know there's a cop ahead". Sure enough a set of red and blues suddenly came on, and Gavin was caught. He didn't have a detector, and had hit the hazard switch by mistake. I tootled past him and the cop at a nice steady 100 and on to the checkpoint and fuel at Amberly. There were a couple of bikes already here, including the Triumphs that passed us earlier.

As was now my usual practice, I stopped for the shortest possible time, for fuel and clean my visor, then on my way. Gavin was just arriving at the fuel sto as I left. This time I was on my own, and once on the road I immediately picked something was wrong. I could hadly see. The was water at the last fuel stop must have been filthy because my visor appeared to be covered in a semi-opaque film. I rubbed it with my gloves as best as possible to get a clear enough patch and it was OK to ride with.

Onto the Christchurch motorway, and the radar detector lit up like a christmas tree. Multiple cops every few km - well it is saturday night. Right at Belfast onto what is now a permanent 80kmh area then right again at Yalhurst road on out to Darfield. There was a light drizzle here and that allowed me to wipe the visor a bit more, but still not perfect. I found it best to ride with the visor up through the small towns.

Left onto the inland scenic route and I had the road to myself. I had left the drizzle behind and the road was good. Not too many insects, I only wished I see a bit better. At Glentunnel I saw a set of headlights approaching rapidly from behind, and within a couple of minutes I had a bike right up my tail. I soon moved over and waved him past as with my limited visibility combined with his bright lights I just couldn't see anything. He shot past and I later learned that it was Mr Okey Dokey. Just short of Geraldine another group of riders caught up with me. Some passed, but I soon recognised the headlights of a VStrom staying behind me. On to Timaru for fuel, piss, and a proper visor clean. I learned that Gavin's contribution to the donut fund at Amberly was $120.

What a difference a clean visor made. I could see again. We rode south as a group of 6 bikes with myself in the lead. Just south of the Waimate turnoff I got a quick blip on the radar detector and almost immedaitely could see a single flash of blue light away in the distance. Within a few seconds there was a red to match the blue, then as we got closer, we saw a motorcyclist talking to a cop at the side of the road. (I won't identify him, as he can make himself known if he wishes after reading this.) Onto Palmerston and the last checkpoint, accompanied by a hot coffee and a biscuit at 2:00 am. As the other riders learned about my electronic counter measures, I was elected to lead the group for the rest of the trip.

From Palmerston it was a perfect trip south to the Dunedin motorway where out of nowhere came drizzle, then fog. I'm glad I had experience earlier in the night of riding blind, because the fog suddenly became so thick itwas impossible to see more than a few meters in front of the bike. Once over the top of the motorway the fog cleared and it was a good ride down to Dunedin and more fuel.

By now there was almost no traffic on the road, and once through Milton at 3:15 am we assumed no cops either. I was still leading as we headed into the Manuka Gorge and effectively my play area, so I must admit to having some fun and throwing the bike around a bit. The other riders wisely dropped back a little here and when I came to the roadworks area near the top I slowed down and let them catch up. On the whole trip this is the only place where I let myself hoon a little.

Another small group of riders attached themselves to us near Beaumont, and what a magnificent sight in my mirrors to the lights of 8 other bikes, all in crocodile formation, winding through the Central Otago hills. At Dunbarton one of the riders on a BMW must have decided that he didn't want to arrive at the finish as part of a group and he shot ahead at warp speed. Unfortuantely for him, he probably didn't know the road well enough to make much of a difference, as 25 km on, as we we were going down one side of Gorge Creek, he was just going up the other side. So he had gained less than a minute. Once through Aleaxandra, and on the final few kms to Chatto Creek, I started to notice how light it was getting. Not yet daylight, but light enough to see the road well ahead.

9 bikes pulled into Chatto Ckreek at the same time to find only 3 others had arrived any earlier. So, as my certificate says 1000 miles in a time of - under 24 hours.

[Okey Dokey]

Well, I guess Mr OD won't mind if I reveal he is the mystery biker who got to make a contribution to the donut fund in Jantar's excellent post. As he says, the cops are just doing their jobs.

Mr OD is a man of few words, but I will share a few of his impressions as a first timer on this event. He had anticipated tiring in the early morning hours, but found that this was not the case. He felt fit and alert and did not need to break for a kip.

The old gsxr was a bit of a limiting factor from his point of view as it can only manage about 220-230k on a tankful of fuel. Consequently he had about 8 fuel stops to make during the ride. Like Jantar, he kept them brief and moved on. I think he may like to try again on my bike, which has a better range.

He also enjoyed the camaraderie of the participants, and commented on the variety of both the men and their machines.

I take my hat off to all the finishers as well as the organisers of this event. Very well done to all of you.

[FJRider]

Mr OD is a man of few words, but I will share a few of his impressions as a first timer on this event. He had anticipated tiring in the early morning hours, but found that this was not the case. He felt fit and alert and did not need to break for a kip.

He also enjoyed the camaraderie of the participants, and commented on the variety of both the men and their machines.

I take my hat off to all the finishers as well as the organisers of this event. Very well done to all of you.

The adrenaline on the "First" always plays tricks on the mind and body...
All involved in this event are serious motorcycle enthusiasts...

[Jantar]

Well, I guess Mr OD won't mind if I reveal he is the mystery biker who got to make a contribution to the donut fund ....

I sort of hinted at that when I named him as the one who passed me a little earlier.

Overall it was pretty good. Over the whole field it was 57000 km ridden with only 2 tickets, and no accidents. 2 bikes pulled out at Amberly due to mechanical problems and 34 of the 36 finished. The smallest bike was a Yamaha 125 who completed the ride with almost 3 hours to spare.

[KoroJ]

Good yarn.

Was that a small turnout or normal for this event?

[FJRider]

Good yarn.

Was that a small turnout or normal for this event?

There has been more on other years... there has been less. But at the end of the event... you know them ALL ....well.

[Jantar]

Good yarn.

Was that a small turnout or normal for this event?

Its about normal. The last two years had slightly more, the previous years slightly less. The Organiser is a little worried about it becoming too popular, and if entries get up much above 40 he said he would cap the event at 50 riders.

[DougieNZ]

Nice report(s)

I can thoroughly recommend this event to anyone considering it. The great thing about it is that you really do get to know your fellow riders.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it lasty year due to a change in jobs, but am hoping to make it in 09 and bring the Mrs down...

Cheers

[longwayfromhome]

Jantar

Just wondering why the ride starts so late in the day? This seems to force a lot of the riding to be at night, enjoyable, but less enjoyable than daylight riding. Also would seem safer as a general rule. A 6 am start would see most riders finished before midnight with only 2-3 hours in the dark.

[Jantar]

I believe the midday start is to give riders a chance to get to the start, do the ride and get home again in the space of a weekend.

Or maybe its because it is a 24 hour ride, so to be fair on all riders a midday start ensures an equal amount of night riding for everyone.

[DougieNZ]

The midday start worked fine for me the year i did it. It meant that i could ride up from Dunedin on the day in planety of time for the start.

It could be a lot worse... the Grand Challenge starts at 3pm!

[Gremlin]

I believe the midday start is to give riders a chance to get to the start, do the ride and get home again in the space of a weekend.

Who would be crazy enough to do that!!

It could be a lot worse... the Grand Challenge starts at 3pm!

I don't really see any issues with the start time, as everyone has the same amount of night riding, and really, when doing these rides, if you're not competent at riding at night you err... shouldn't be doing it?

Only real issue is fuel stops. Some of us have to stop 10 odd times, and the servo kind of needs to be open to get the precious juice