Piston Blown

Copied from:  New-Zealand-s-TT2000-in-2022 Some here will know that I’m an iron butt nut and of all the rides I do the definite highlight of my year is the annual TT2000. This year there was writeup in a local paper that will gives a good background of what is involved: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300...ndurance-rally Though the minimum is 2,000km in the 48 hours I ended up doing 2,824km in 45 hours during the event and 3,572km in total. US iron butt riders will be saying that’s not 1000 miles in 24 hours, that’s true and we do have events like that here, but the TT2000 takes place on twisting single lane roads, even gravel tracks, not multi-lane highways. Despite this I have previously done 3278km (2037 miles) in the 48 hours, so it is possible (just). The checkpoints this year where all schools with under 100 pupils, this made sure they were in nice out of the way places, though does mean the photos are not the most exciting views of NZ. There were also five mystery checkpoi...

Copied from:  TT2000 2015 Update Well I’ve done it, 2,778km (1,353 miles) of the finest motorcycle roads in the world in just over 32 hours. At midday 97 riders start in Dunedin. There’s a fair range of machines though majority are adventure bikes or sports-tourers. There’s even a couple of cruisers but not a single Harley. Other than my RS there’s one other guy on an ST – I give him my spare set of grip puppies as he’s not come across them before. As everyone has planned their own routes to the various check points we soon disperse in different directions. Occasionally you see another rider flying in the other direction and give them a wave. At each checkpoint it’s rare not to meet someone and have a quick chat, an instant bond of sharing an experience. There’s one group of adventure bikers who I meet at a succession of checkpoints. They head off in one direction along dirt tracks while I go the other sticking to tarmac and yet at the next checkpoint we meet again. One hour into t...

Copied from original here:  NI1600 2016 - A South Islanders view - Blogs - Kiwi Biker forums Being a South Islander first challenge was the 715 km to the start point. I had a typical Southerners view of North Island roads i.e. boring, congested, and with a speed cop behind every tree. The torturous, traffic laden ride from the Ferry terminal to Levin in heavy rain didn’t do anything to dispel this. But once past Foxton the traffic began to lighten and with it my mood. Beyond Mangaweka the landscape changed to rolling hills and the road began to twist and turn. There was still the rain but I could ignore that with a road worth riding. Then it was the last section of this trip from from Waiouru to Turangi. This is the famous, or perhaps infamous, desert road which appears regularly on news bulletins about road closures or accidents. I’d imagined something like SH8 between Tekapo and Lake Pukaki with its wasteland feel. However, it was a softer more welcoming landscape - despite the o...

 Copied from:  Tt2000 2016 - Blogs - Kiwi Biker forums So for those who don’t already know the rules are simple. There’s various checkpoints, worth between 1000 and 5000 points, dotted around the South Island. They give you a t-shirt at the start and when you get to one of the checkpoints you have to take a photo of the bike, the landmark and the t-shirt to prove you were there. The target is a minimum 2000km (1243 miles) and 50,000 points by the time you get to the finish point 48 hours later. The TT2000 is very much about setting your own targets through, in my case I had just two: Pick a route that involved road’s I’d never ridden before or really enjoyed riding (i.e. bendy) Points are less important but want to score more than 72,000 points (my previous year’s results). There were two start points, one in Dunedin and the other in Picton; I’d plumbed for Picton. There’s about 50 of us at the start point, I’m the only Spyder rider and so I field the usual questions (and insu...