Buns of steel

The other night I ended my post with the below picture:

The bloke in the picture is Chris and Chris has an Iron Butt - he even has the paperwork to prove it...

Prior to Anzac Day Chris had two Saddle Sore 1600km rides under his belt (that's 1,600km in 24 hours for those not familiar with the IBA's lingo) and on Anzac Day he was after number three.  In fact it wasn't an ordinary SS1600 either - the one he was chasing is a special Anzac Day version open only to Aussies and Kiwis.

I won't go into all the details around his ride as you can find all that on Chris's own blog here: https://www.wiltshire.net/2018/04/26/anzac-ride-ss1600-2018/

Anyway, Chris had advertised his ride on the NZ Distance Rider Facebook page and asked if anyone wanted to join him for a portion of his epic ride.  He got two takers and one was me :)

During the day I checked in on his Spotwaller page to see how he was progressing while I did boring stuff like changing brake pads and vacuuming...

Chris gave me a ring when he hit Paraparam and gave me an ETA into Ashhurst of 20:30.  That sounded about right to me so at around 8 I saddled up, picked up some fuel and then rode out to Ashhurst to wait for him.

I had time to take the above picture, fart around with my phone (checking his Spotwaller again) and get my camera ready when I heard the sound of an inline four approaching.  It was coming from a funny direction and in the end wasn't him - it was a R1 or R6 though...

About 5 minutes later I finally spotted an array of lights coming my way and managed to get that first picture of Chris arriving.  We quickly made our introductions and then Chris got stuck into fuelling his bike, taking the required photos and completing his all important paperwork.

Yes, this is a long distance R1

This pump stumped him as it wasn't going to give out a receipt - Chris had to change pumps...

Once I'd taken a few pics I hurriedly put away my camera and got my gear on.  I didn't want to hold up Chris too much - he still had 500km to go.

We departed Ashhurst and I led Chris over through Colyton to Cheltenham and then onto Vinegar Hill.  While we were riding Chris called me on the phone and we spent a lot of the ride chatting away about endurance riding and funnily enough motorcycles...The phone cut out reasonably often but it was quite neat being able to chat to Chris while enjoying a really pleasant ride.

We got to talking about lights too and just past Rewa Chris passed me so he could show off his setup (more details about it on his blog) and I just tucked in behind for the rest of the ride to the main road.

For the occasion I ran a camera on the front and rear of the Connie so the video below shows bits of Chris following and then leading - along with a fair bit of darkness...

At the main road we quickly said goodbye and Chris headed North towards the completion of his SS1600.

As for me, I took the boring ride home via SH1 and then Halcombe.  I did enjoy the ride though as there was very little traffic and it was a nice still night but not too cold.  Some coal may have got burnt in places...

I ended up home by just before 10 and after organising vehicles and taking off my gear, checked in on Chris and saw that he was just hitting Waiouru.  Then I went to bed and left him to it...

The next day saw confirmation that Chris made it home with time to spare and hopefully all the paperwork he needs to get his certificate - well done Chris!

Oh, and I think there might just be a challenge in order eh Chillertek?