Day None – TT2000 2016 – Planning
TT2000 time has come around again and for me planning starts very early. This year like others there are 4 mystery locations to find so I started out trying to find these. Mystery #3 was very easy for me to find and it did not take long with google to find the snow cats in the paddock and lock in their location. Of the rest of them I had trouble finding and the church was a nightmare and I spent many hours at work and home trying to find it and in the end someone had to tell me where it was. The other two I got hints to as well and took time to find. These would have to be the hardest mystery points ever.
Then came planning the route. The start was easy and coming from the North Island, Picton was always going to be the start. Wanted to be in Motueka around 6pm and planned the stops around that. Next was the second day which would be the longest. Planned to end up in Timaru and again wanted to be there about 7pm so worked the route and stops out and put in the time in Basecamp and it said I would need to be on the road by 2:15am. Sunday would be a quick ride out from Timaru to Mount Cook and then to the finish. Now that I had the route and times roughed out I checked to see how many mystery checkpoints I could grab. Turned out only one was close enough without a major detour so one it was.
Checked the times and points. Should get 57,000 points (need 50,000) and 2,243 kms (need 2,000). Booked the Bluebridge ferry for Friday morning to get a sleep on the way over. Inter Islander sucks here in that you can’t get on the night or early morning trips and they only do cabins for truckies. Had to use Inter Islander for the way back as the only one sailing at a reasonable time to get home again. Booked a back packer in Motueka and a motel in Timaru and sat back and waiting for the big day to arrive.
Just over a week out and checking the weather and it does not look too hot. Could be a bit damp but I am crossing my fingers.