This weekend was the third running of the NI1600, (1,600km in 24 hours) but for all sorts of silly reasons (well, they definitely feel silly now) I had decided to skip this one.  But rather than sit at home and wonder how everything was going I decided to volunteer to help out on the event.  The bosses requested my help in Turangi so after knocking off a little early on Friday I headed North...

The ride up was fairly average with some heavy rain over Vinegar Hill, more wetness around Taihape and a fairly damp Desert Road too.  I didn't hurry, stopping for fuel and warm gloves in Taihape before carrying on.  There were definitely a few slippery places and the below section (picture actually taken on the way home on Sunday) was "interesting" in the wet. Slippery when wet...In Turangi I checked into my cabin and started catching up with everyone before we all wandered off for tea in town.
After tea it was time for the route reveal - what all the riders were champing at the bit to see.  This time there was a bit of change too.  In order to try to attract more riders into distance riding, the team were putting on two rides: an 800km (in twelve hours) and the famous 1,600km.
The big boys' and girls' routeAfter plenty of yarning and receiving my orders for the next day I headed off to bed somewhere around ten.  Most of the others were also doing the same, the riders hoping for a good night's sleep but if they were anything like me befo...