North Island 1600

The NI1600 ride is organised by a group called NZ Distance Riders .

The ride is an endurance ride to ride 1609 km,s ( 1000miles) in 24 Hours.

This type of ride is quite common in the US but they do seem to have a multitude of freeways where it is possible to keep your moving average at a respectable pace.

This year’s ride is also being certified by the Iron Butt Association as a SS1600 Ride

Little old New Zealand on the other hand has very few major motorway type road except around the main cities . From looking at past routes of these types of rides in NZ they seem to run on mainly minor less used roads and even their fair share of goat tracks !

I soon realised that this ride was more about strategy and planning than just getting on the bike without a good idea of where I needed to be at any time during the 24 hour period.

I had done some long distance rides before but about 1100 km’s in one day was my longest and if my memory serves me well I was extremely tired at the end of that.

I started doing some practice rides and monitored both my moving  average  and overall average , it soon became apparent that even a small stop would take a fair amount of catch up time so for me the key would be keep the stops small and then a moderate pace on the road would suffice , this for me is far less stressful over such a long period.

I decided that I would ride the ride on my own, it was recommended that we should try and group up in case of an emergency however I didn’t want to find myself riding at a pace that I was not happy with.

I made the choice to ride my trusty 22 year old Yamaha FJ1200 . Although a bit long in the tooth compared to the modern machinery the FJ can still eat up distances without too much effort. I did a couple of mods specifically for this ride one was to rewire the headlamp and heavy duty wiring via relays straight from the battery, this made a huge difference to the headlight output that on a bike of this age is never going to be great. I also added a couple of small 10 watt LED units that came on with main beam and did a good job of lighting up the whole road great when on the twisties in the dead of night.

The ride was due to start Saturday at 1pm . I rode up to Turangi on the Friday morning. The sun was shining and all was good I decided to take the longer but more enjoyable ride up the Para Para’s . The road had been quiet badly damaged in places by the flood a few months back and there were parts that were down to one lane. Never a bad ride up the Para’s though so got the Ride HQ about 12.30.

There were about 5 or 6 others there so went to check in and find out what I needed to do. Was issued with my rider card this told me what time my start was, the rider were let loose on groups of around ten at 3 minute intervals. Then off to get the FJ scrutineered .  Bike all checked over and passed with flying colours. Long John said he was wondering if my bike would be ok !  me being a mechanic by trade ! 

  Had a good chat with some of the other guys then decided to go and check in to my room and have a rest.  Big part of my plan was to get well rested properly hydrated and nourished before the ride, so an hours nap was a good start.

Got a message from Andrew ( Banditrider) inviting me to join him and his mate Neil for dinner in town so tootled off to town.

There were about 20 or so other riders and organisers at the pub having dinner before the route was revealed at 7 PM.

Everyone assembled at Ride HQ for the route details and briefing on some of the roads. The route looked good to me avoiding the major cities although a lot of roads I had never been on and by my reckoning they be mainly ridden at night !

The route had 10 checkpoints that we needed to visit. Some of these were manned checkpoints where marshals were there to check everyone had passed through their time and could assess if riders needed to take a rest or even pull out. The other checkpoints needed a digital picture to be taken with your bike in it.

I got back to my room and started plotting the route on my laptop. Didn’t take long my software told me it was 1635 km,s and would take 22.5 hours. I loaded all checkpoints to my GPS and drew the route on my map as a backup if GPS failed. I wrote the time my routing software said I should be at each checkpoint to monitor my progress throughout the ride.

I had a shower phoned my wife sent her and my mate Ed in England a copy of my route as they we re following my Spot satellite tracker.

Asleep by 9.30 and had a great sleep waking at 8.45 next day. Breakfast filled bike with gas plus spare jerry can I decided to carry and off to the start and wait for 1.06pm my groups start time.

I had some various food to eat on the way cut up some apples into small chunks . Small mini choc chip cookies nuts raisins and almonds and plenty to drink.

Start time soon arrived and we were off heading down the parapara,s the reverse way I had ridden on my way up yesterday.

We got to Upokongaro the first manned checkpoint about 10 mins ahead of schedule. I ended up following another rider who riding a similar pace to myself so was happy to settle in behind him. At the checkpoint took my photo and ready to head off.

Second CP was at Mangamahu Rd down the Fordell to Hunterville Road. Stopped for second checkpoint and took photo.

 Had a chat with the guy I was riding with who was going to stop in Hunterville for fuel , I decided to carry on as I had a different plan. I suspected that a lot of riders would be stopping at Hunterville and there is only one gas station with a couple of pumps so I decide I would put my extra fuel in aat the next checkpoint and fuel up at Whanganui. While on the  Hunterville road I tagged on behind Mr & Mrs Hitcher with another guy on a BMW behind me. We went road a fairly sharp right hander to be confronted by some very ugly looking loose gravel. I straightened up the bike as much as I could but the front slid out ,I was able to get a foot down and was able to save it all slow motion stuff ! The guy following me said he thought I was over when we spoke at next checkpoint. I later learnt that 2 people had come off at the same corner but no injury or major damage.

Third Checkpoint was Pemberton Corner  the road up to hear was again very winding and technical. Filled up gas tank with gerry can took picture and headed off toward Cheltenham .

Forth CP was at Halcombe where there were about 6 or 7 other riders taking a break so quick picky something to eat and drink and back on the road. Next stop was not a CP but a fuel only stop in Wanganui. 3 min stop and off again.

Lovely ride around the Taranaki coast with the sun setting was great next checkpoint was Oakura just outside new Plymouth. This was a manned checkpoint so checked in with marshall topped up with fuel and was busting for the toilet so rushed there. In my haste to get on the road I forgot to get my photo, to make things worse I didn’t realise this until I got To Raglan the next CP far too late to return. Would I be disqualified felt a bit disappointed but thought well I know that I have been there I have my spot track and the marshal has sighted me and signed me in should be ok ??

The road to Raglan was new to me the GPS seemed to be a bit confused so I stopped to consult my map. A bike stopped next to me to see if I was lost , it turned out to be Chris who I knew from some previous 1000Km rides I had done. He was also having some GPS issues so maybe this is one of those black hole areas you can get with GPS systems sometimes. I tagged along with Chris although his Multistrada was a bit more capable on these roads than the old FJ. We got to Raglan had a chat then headed off.

 I just followed my GPS that I am sure took me on the route that was shortest rather than fastest any way saw no one else until I eventually got to the expressway .

Next CP was another manned one at Bombay. At this point I was still about half an hour ahead of my schedule . I asked the marshal if I was one of the last through but he said only half the field had been through so far so I was happy with that. Bumped into Chris again and we soon headed off towards the Coromandel for the next one.

The ride from Thames up the western side of the Coromandel I found very hard Chris pulled away and I found myself having to stop clean my visor and just catching my breath. By the time I got to Te Rerenga Chris and another rider were taking their photos and I felt a lot better after a stretch something to eat and a toilet stop.

I seemed to have gained my second wind and felt in really good form as we headed across to Kuaotuna . Here I saw Andrew,s Connie parked on the side of the road. The Bike was upright and looked ok so I assumed he was taking a rest . Turned out he was feeling crook so made the best decision to get some rest then see how he felt .Andrew Ride Report Here

Next checkpoint was Whangamata we had to head into town and find the Z petrol station drove straight passed it first time luckly doig a U turn at 4.30 in the morning not a problem !!

Next stop was going to be a fuel stop at Waihi. I was still riding with Chris and we had a good time buffer so decided a longer stop at the gas stop a coffee and pie to recharge the batteries a bit before heading off to Rotorua the last manned checkpoint.

Only one more checkpoint left to go that was Ohura out in the middle of nowhere. The Waimiha and Ohura Roads I found tiring after 1400 kms covered they were both in fairly bad condition.

From here was a fairly relaxed ride back to HQ we did it in 22.25 hours so the plan worked out as planned.

I actually felt very good much better that I thought I might. Had something to eat checked in my photos had a chat with some of the other guys. People soon started departing and I had a nap then felt ok to ride home about another 3.5 hours.

So what a great weekend . Meet some great people who all share the same passion for being on two wheels.

So will I do it again ?? While riding around the Coromandel , I had moments I questioned what the hell I was doing but I will be back again next year.

A final huge thanks to all the organisers and helpers for putting together such a great weekend J

TT2000 2015

So the day has come for this year’s TT2000.

This is my second year at doing the TT and I have talked by mate Steve (Ed) into joining me while he is on holiday here in New Zealand.

The TT2000 is an endurance rally where we need to meet three criteria to be considered finishers.

1.       Cover 2000kms

2.       Do this is 48 hours and check in at finish in Christchurch before Midday Sunday.

3.       Collect 50,000 points by visiting enough of the checkpoints.

Steve and I had been in the South Island since Monday and already done 1800kms so given our new tyres a good scrub in.  The South Island roads tend to be quiet hard on tyres so we started on new rubber all round on both bikes.

We spent the night before the rally at a campsite in Dunedin. Turned out there several other riders including Andrew there who had entered the TT so we had a chat with a few before an early night.

We arrived at the start about an hour before the start where there were already about 20 bikes lined up ready to go. I had a cunning plan to park on the road so giving us a quick getaway by not being blocked in t the start. Little did I know that by the time over 90 bikes had arrived I we were blocked in anywayJ.

We chewed the fat with other people there and had a look at some of the lovely machinery about , we probably had two of the oldest bikes there at 30years and 21years old, but a classic never goes out of fashion at least that’s what I tell myself J

The briefing came and went we grabbed out t shirts and hit the traffic in Dunedin to battle our way north.

We chose not to do the checkpoints near to Dunedin but headed straight for Macraes Mine about 50 mins North.  We had been there the day before on our way down to Dunedin to help Steve understand how the GPS worked and how we do quick stops.

First stop went well quite a few other people had the same idea it turned out with 5 or 6 people there at the same time.

Next stop was Hyde this went through some magnificent central Otago countryside , would have loved to take it slower and get some photo’s but we were on a mission.

Checkpoint 3 was the entrance to the brass monkey rally. No snow this time of year so that was a bonus.

Next one was Drybread no Problems there.

Clyde Dam caught us out we ended up on the wrong side of the Dam , I somehow think this was a plan by Mike !!. We decided to give it a bit of time to find our way to the other side , turned out it was not too hard just whizzed over the bridge and got necessary photo.

Next half a dozen went really easy including the two mystery point which Steve had sussed out using google earth and street view while still in England.

Checkpoint 15 for us was Kaiwera where I found myself pointing the wrong way to exit. No problem just do a U turn and head off. While doing the U turn I lost my balance and slowly felt the bike falling down on its right side. No damage to the bike just my pride as another group of bikes had just turned up J. Quick look over he bike and off to the next one.

The rest of the afternoon went to plan and we arrived at are Motel in Invercargill 10 minutes earlier than the plan.

We checked in then headed off to our last checkpoint for the day at Bluff. We ended up in Maccy D,s with a bunch of other riders and many questions from the staff as to why so many people on bikes were there.

Off to bed with a proposed start of 5 am next day.

Sleep very well . We both woke up raring to go and were on the road 5 mins before 5.

Did first 3 checkpoints in the dark all flowed well and ahead of our schedule.

We got to CP4 Kauana where we got apprehended by an interested Lady who wondered what was going on in their quiet neck of the woods.

Next planned stop was Mossburn where we intended to fuel up as well.  The petrol station was closed as it was only 7.30 am. I didn’t know if we could get fuel at Manapouri so we did some maths and decided we should have enough fuel to get there and back to Mossburn when they would be open. We would have to ride a bit more reserved to save fuel but we should be ok. As it turned out there was a card pump at Manapouri so we filled up there.

All was going well until we left Arrowtown to head for Cromwell. There had been a bad accident, we passed the stopped cars but could see that we were going nowhere fast. We had to decide what to do fairly fast. I had chosen to go out to Cromwell and back to gain some KM,s more than the points and decided not to go over the crown range. We made the decision to go over the crown range and see if we could get up to Triple cone without any more hold ups due to the ironman being held at Wanaka. As it turned out the traffic was fairly light in the area so no problems.

We fuelled up again in Wanaka and found a fellow tt,er with a puncture. We grabbed a bit to eat and gave the guy a tyre plug to help him on his way J  It was great to see him at the finish with the plug still holding up. I always carry a puncture kit used it 3 times over the years always for other people J

Next on to Wanaka Airport only to find the fighter training school was no more. We worked out what building they used to be in and got a few pics in the general are to prove we had been there.

From here was over the Lindis Pass pick up the points there then off to our last “daytime checkpoint at Elephant Hill.

From here off to Timaru for our stop for the night. We ended up following John ( koroj ) and his team as it seemed we had all booked in to the top10.

We also had the same plan of checking in and going out again to do some more checkpoint to give us an easy Sunday. We had a quick cup of tea, unloaded our bikes then headed off again. We stopped for fuel where John and his team were getting there wets on. Ed and I had a brief discussion but decided to take the change and left our wets off. We spent the evening skirting the showers more luck than judgement.

Our sena intercoms had just gone flat after 12 hours continual use, I was very impressed by this. I had bever tried charging and using them at the same time but we connected them up and they worked fine through the car adapter leads J

We had 3 checkpoint planned to do and another 200km,s which would give us a total of just over 1200km,s for the day.

We got back to our cabin both pretty shattered so a quick shower and off to bed , lay in tomorrow no need to get up until 7am.

Had a great sleep and both woke being able to see the end in sight. The weather was not so good so straight on with wets today and off to our first stop which was uneventful.

Our second stop was Sharplin Falls turned out the last few hundred meters was up a gravel track to the carpark never mind !!  We met some other up there then got our picture and made our exit.  As we got just down the road there was a utu with hazard lights going parked across the road. We slowed down to see what was happening. The farmer was moaning about the number of bikes going up and down “ his” road . I could hear him getting quiet heated talking to steve so told him though our sena intercoms to drive off and leave him. We heard later that he had stopped some other riders and a Waikato farmer on the ride had told him that they know how to make fences up there if he wanted some lessons !!

2 more stops then off to Christchurch for the finish.

We got to the finish about 11.15 and had a good yarn with lots of other riders. Seemed everyone had a good time , One rider had a broken shoulder after being taken out by a loose sheep , get well soon J.

Steve ( Ed ) had followed mw doing this last year and said he would come out this year. As he said he done it and got the tee shirt so that’s great.

This was my second year I found this quiet a bit easier but I think my preparation was better and I knew more of what to expect. The roads this year were not as slow as some of last years also.

Mike is not too well so my thoughts are with him and his family . Im sure we will see him at 2016 TT2000 J

Stopwalla Map  Click Here

Scooterbob encouraging TT2000 Participants.

It was great to have Andrew bring Scooterbob to the TT2000 to give us all a boost before the start of our 2000km adventure .

Scooterbob waiting between Steve and my Bikes ready for the TT2000 Start

Around the World without leaving New Zealand

Winter is in full swing here. Had a big storm last night but the forecast for today didn't look to bad.
Both my bikes have been off the road for 3 months due to trip back to UK & US on the way home and lots of other stuff going on so desperately needed to get out and do some Km,s .

Some friend had told me that the Wanganui river road is now sealed the whole length. I have never been down there before but thought today would be a great time to try it out.

The road took over 30 years to construction and was opened in 1934. Before then, all access to remote settlements was by boat only. Key settlements included: Hiruharama (Jerusalem), Koriniti (Corinth), Atene (Athens) and Ranana (London).


Also meant I could come back down the Para paras one of my favorite motorcycle roads :)

So anyway I went through Athens , London and  Jerusalem all within the space of an hour.

465 Kms done cleaned off a dirty bike and a great day :)

Athens First European Stop

London not far from where I grew Up !!!

Auto Awesome playing its games
At Jerusalem

TT2000 2014

So I decided I was going to have a crack at the TT2000 this year after reading other peoples reports of previous events looked like great fun to me. I spoke to a few people who had done similar rallies in the past to try and gauge what would be involved. I decided to do the C1KC ( 1000km ) run in November to see how I felt after half the distance needed to finish the TT. Did that and really enjoyed it and was hooked.

The planning part of an event like this is more challenging than I initially thought. There are so many variables I played around with all sorts of options and was going to start the rally in the North Island. The ferry across the to the South Island has had more than its fair share of troubles recently so decided that I would can the North island and head down to the South on the Thursday before.

Getting there the day before gave me the chance to have a look around some of the roads in the sounds that I have never been on before. I decided to head out to Penzance as this was on my route to get some idea or road conditions time etc.  Great road did have some roaming sheep in places but seem better trained than North Island sheep that I’m sure want to get run over, the south island guys get out of your way and just look!

Waiting for the ferry in the fog

Penzance

Penzance

I checked into my campsite and asked what time I had to out in the morning, when I told them wha I was doing they were happy for me to stay till 2-3 pm. I used the opportunity to relax and get afew hours sleep in the shade of what was a very hot day. I woke up about 2.30 feeling very chilled packed and hit the road.

Arrived at the Argosy cafe at about quarter to five to find everyone hiding under the wings of the plane in the shade to keep out of the fairly intense heat. Already 30 - 40 bikes ready to go. I parked up and took off my bike gear to try and keep cool for as long as I could. Finally met Bandit Rider (Andrew) after crossing paths at a gas station in Rotorua whilst doing the C1KC back in November and not knowing who each other was then. Drunk plenty of water and had an ice cream while chatting to everyone about each other’s plans etc.

Just before 6pm Mike gave us his final briefing, issued our tee shirts and it was time to go.

 Quite a few people headed off to the Waihopai Valley to pick up the two checkpoints there for 3,400 points.

 From there it was to Onamalutu and Top Valley. Top Valley was a lovely straight road, however I was riding straight into the sun for about 10ks which was not nice and something to remember when planning next years TT.

Up to now we were riding in quite large groups but people seemed to start going their separate ways. I headed off towards Havelock and did Canvas Town and Pelorus Bridge checkpoints, then into the sounds to Penzance.

 Before I got to the turning for Penzance I saw a 24hr gas station in Rai Valley, there was another TT rider there on a Yamaha RZ500 the same year as my XJ (1985). We had a quick chat he was there just cleaning his visor but our paths would cross again several times before Sunday night. The road to Penzance was a pearler and I had planned to camp at Harvey Bay if I felt tired. I had a good rest throughout the day on Friday so was still feeling pretty fresh so decided to head on to what were my Saturday checkpoints.

I headed back out the Sounds on my way to Nelson and did all the checkpoints in that area. At Rabbit Island I stopped to do my pic and now it was about 12.30am and the lights went on in the house over the road and the front door opened so the residents obviously wondered what was going on. I quickly got my pic and left the area so they could get back to sleep.

 Continued on feeling fresh picked up points at Upper Moutere and Orinoco with no problems.

Filled up with gas at Motueka where the pubs were just throwing out at 2am, so plenty of police around but showed no interest in me. I think they had their hands full seeing the number of people staggering up the road. Had a 15 minute break and some fuel for me too.  Off on the road again to Marahau for 1000 points then out to the Riwaka Resurgence by now it was 2.15 am and I was aware of several camper vans parked by the checkpoint so was very quiet. However managed to make someone get out their van in PJ,s to see what the hell was going on J.

From here I headed over the Takaka Hill which is always a wonderful ride. Did the checkpoint at Anotoki Salmon farm where I was greeted by a wondering cow who showed some interest.

Got to Bainham and couldnt find the checkpoint. By now it was about 4am and pitch black so I worked my way up and down the road for anything that resembled what I was looking for on the run sheet. I eventually found the gate and parked up. The heavens had just opened so it was a good opportunity to put my wet weather gear on.

 From here it was off to Farewell Spit, again pitch black and pouring with rain, so not very pleasant. I was feeling a bit tired so decided to have a lay down for half and hour which recharged my batteries enough to head off again.

Day was beginning to break by now I had been on the road over 12 hours. My pace through the night had slowed due to rain, uncharted roads for me and probably extra caution realizing I was quiet away from civilization a lot of the time. It’s amazing how much of a welcome daylight is after riding all night even though I was really impressed with the LED lights I had fitting in anticipation of the TT. I had fitted 2 small 10watt led lights to use as daytime running lights. When I first fitted them I went out in the dark to see how they performed. They work fine as DTR lights during daylight but do glare in low light and certainly could not be used with dip beam at night. I wired them through a 3 way switch so I could have them manually switched during the day or switched on with main beam headlamp at night.  At night they produce the most intense white light that gives a great spread of light ahead and to either side of the bike. Travelling on winding roads at night has become a whole lot safer and more enjoyable as the leds light around the bend not just forward like my normal high beam.

Headed back over the Takaka Hill which was now covered in thick fog, my visor fogged up, then the glasses so I ended up removing them and made my way very slowly across the hill. Crossed Paths with Andrew again around the summit who was also riding cautiously.

Headed off down the Motueka Valley to the next checkpoint which was a good distance away and it was Hope Saddle Summit on highway 6.

 I wanted to keep going until I got to Westport where I planned to check into my motel and freshen up before doing the checkpoints to Karamea. Stopped at hope saddle just before 10 am got my pic then off to St. Arnaud 20 minutes later. Meet up with a couple of other bike who I assumed were on the TT but they were just on holiday having a tour around the area , funnily enough I spotted them again on Sunday at Waiau.

 I got to Westport about 1.30pm and headed to subway for some lunch. Met another rider named Ross from Greymouth who knew the area well. So he was able to give me an indication of what the roads were like and probable times to get up there. I felt really refreshed after a shower so gassed up again and headed up the Karamea coast Just as I was coming into Waimangaroa when I got waved down by a cop using his radar gun, just as I got up to him he gave me hand signals telling me to slow down then waved me on with a thumbs up ! that’s what I call positive policing . Headed up to Dennison, wow what a fantastic view from up there worth going up just for that although the 1000 points was handy too.

 From there a quick scoot up to Stockton mine picking up the Mystery (Grand Canyon) checkpoint on the way, that must have been the worst kept secret of the weekend!! Lovely ride up the coast stopping at Sedonville where there was a wedding in progress and the guys outside had obviously noticed the unusual bike traffic during the day gave us a wave. 

Passed lots of bikes on the way to and from Kohaihai and I could see the smiles on everyone. Got back to my room about 8pm. Checked the bike over and found my left Pannier had come loose and was resting on the exhaust. Some of the bolts holding the frame had vibrated out, maybe due to the gravel road or overloading....Who knows.?  Looking at my photos the pannier had come loose soon after I left Westport heading North but I was too focused on the job in hand to even notice it was loose. Managed to do desert repair that I thought should hold, in the end it did and got me all the way home.

There were 5 riders staying at the holiday park in Westport, I got talking to the guy next door to me who was going to head up the coast in the morning to do those chechpoints, the road was quiet slow in places and the weather was not looking good for Sunday morning so he decided that a early start was called for.

My Sunday plan should take me aroung 10-11 hours I estimated so thought I would leave around 6am giving myself a buffer.

The guy next door was off at 4 am and although he was quiet I was basically awake and ready to go. Tried to go back to sleep to wait for my alarm but in the end decided to get on the road early.

The ride down the westcoast at 5 in the morning with horizontal torrential rain and wind that was blowing bits of tree across the road was somewhat challenging. The only other vehicles I saw before I got to Punakaika were milk tankers all sensible people were still tucked up in bed.

 Got to Boddytown and turned round in the layby where the checkpoint was thinking I had missed it. Some other bikes arrived just as I was leaving so other people on early starts.

 Got to shantytown just as day was braking but the rain didn’t seem to be giving up. Back into Greymouth then off to Dobson .

 Over the river towards blackball where the heavens opened again. Got stuck behind a milk tanker who thoughtfully pulled over when he could to let me past on what was now more like a river than a road. Quick stop there then off to pike river nearly missed that one hidden behind a substation in the middle of nowhere but a very nice memorial to the poor victims of the pike river disaster.

Next stop was a 1000 pointer Waiuta. A disused historic mine the last 6 kms of what were gravel so not sure what conditions to expect with the rain, but I guessed this is pretty normal weather for this part of the country.

The road turned out to be quiet narrow and winding therefore slow at least for me. Meet a few bike coming back as I was heading in including KoroJ and his posse.

Anyway the ride out seemed much quicker except when I meet a camper van who thought he should have all the road, good job I was going slow.

Next stop Reefton for gas. Filled up the out to Italian Creek for another 100 pts. Then quick stop at blacks point then over the Lewis pass one of the best motorcycling road in the country.

Two nice easy 400 pts across the pass at Marble Hill and Glynn Wye Station. The temperature coming over the summit of the pass got very cold but nice warm hands that to my rain off gloves thanks Pauline ! ( Birthday prezzy from wife ).

Finally got my wets off at Glynn Wye and the weather was starting to look much better.

Next stop Hamner .  GPS sent me off around the back of Hamner then wanted me to turm up gated paths through a wooded area. Something not right here so got my book out and looked and though I needed to get to other side of this wooded are if poss. Very busy in Hamner as always so stopped at a shop and asked a local for some help. Was only 2 streets away so able to get that one in the bag for another 400pts.

Next it was off to jail at Waiau .  Meet up with Ross here who I had lunch with in Westport the previous day.

 We basically has the same checkpoints from here on. Headed north now for Goose Bay where 3000 pts were on offer. Got our photos I was running short of gas but had plenty of time up my sleeve so decided to head up to Kaikoura for more gas and lunch. Only needed another 400 pts to qualify While at Goose bay meet up with another group who had GPS problems. They had the same (Chinese) gps that I did and they had died. I had the same problem with mine that doesn’t become evident until about 6 hours continual use. It happened twice with me once doing the C1KC ( 1000km ) run last year and again when I did a trial run using the North island TT checkpoint about 6 weeks ago. I came to the conclusion that the system cannot get enough power from the bike to keep the battery topped up. I ended up buying a spare battery that only takes a minute to swap over when it dies not ideal but you get what you pay ( maybe a Garmin Zumo for xmas from the wife !!! ) .

I planned a nice cruise down to the finish picking up Gore Bay and Motunau on the way.

Pulled down into Gore Bay where I saw Ross at the side of the the road, I stopped to what was going on only to find his battery had gone flat but he had got a jump start off a passing car and was good to go. We both got to gore bay when his bike died again. He has some loose tools under the seat and suspected a spanner has shorted across the battery.

We took the seat and covers off my bike in a bid to get him going again, luckily he had a set off jumper leads with him. Left them connected for a while but no life in his bike at all. We waved down a local guy on his quad bike and asked for help. He was more than happy to go back and get his utu to try something more grunty to get some life in his battery. Didn’t look good Ross told me to go and gave me his details so I could let Mike know he would not be finishing, add to that no cell phone coverage etc he was working on a plan to get home the Greymouth.

My time was ticking away now I decided to have a stop add up my points to make sure I have meet the 35000 target, I had so decided to head straight for the finish.

The skies above Christchurch were looking very black. As I was within a few Kms of the finish we had a huge hail storm that actually hurt your arms while riding in it. I decided to pull over in a shop awning and either sit it out or get my wet gear back on again.

Hail stopped a soon as it started text home to tell them I had just about finished and then made my way down to Hamptons for the finish.

Felt pretty tired now but had a warm welcome from Andrew and got photos downloaded then hit the very welcome BBQ.  Andrew had a good run and looked more alert than I felt !!

Not long after getting into my second sausage off the Barbie was great to see Ross pull up on his bike. After 15 mins connected to the ute it seems all was well with his bike so great to see him finish after flat battery so close to the finish. Meet up with lots of great people who all had a great time over the weekend.  There was board of people who were not going to make it to the finish for one reason or another great that none of them were due to injury’s though.

Went off to check in to my room for the night and got a call from another rider Graeme for Levin who I had swapped notes and ideas with during the planning stages. I was only 5 mins away so back on the bike and spent a bit of time with him. Graeme had started in the North Island so had the ferry to contend with I chose to avoid that and do my run wholly in the South Island. He also had a great time and without incident so all good.

Can’t wait for next year I think I have even talked my mate Steve to come over from the UK to do it with me J