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The biannual Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari is a take a look at of endurance, with individuals touring 150 miles via near-freezing temperatures on metropolis scooters. It crosses New Zealand’s South Island, from Christchurch to Hokitika, and goes over the gorgeous Southern Alps. The occasion helps a severe trigger, however the organizers and riders have a superb humorousness about it.
The TASS was created in 2009 by Jayne and Mike Rattray after their pal Blair Newton was recognized with colorectal most cancers. Newton’s mates determined to band collectively and create the best “ache within the ass” fundraiser they might devise to assist his most cancers journey. Newton, who handed away in 2014, beloved pimping out his scooters and making his personal costumes. He rode in two TASS occasions, dressed up as Prime Gear’s The Stig for one and Elvis within the different.
Thirty-two riders participated within the first Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari, and collectively they raised $14,000 NZD for the Most cancers Society. Since then, the occasion has snowballed, with greater than 250 scooters collaborating in 2022. For the reason that TASS started, it has raised greater than $1.4 million NZD.
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A gradual stream of colorfully dressed riders arrived for the 2022 Scooter Safari in close to darkness on the rural Canterbury Classic Automobile Membership, close to the airport in Christchurch. Regardless of the chilly, a constructive vibe prevailed, with riders wearing eclectic apparel. A group dressed as bumblebees joked with a group of riders in shark costumes.
Some wore playful onesies – zebras, tigers, unicorns – over their driving gear. Regardless of it being a cold 36 F, one courageous lad wore shorts and a sweatshirt, and two guys had on short-sleeved California Freeway Patrol outfits.
Scattered about have been predominantly older Japanese scooters and minibikes, and a few have been towing sulky-type carts with toys connected to them. One scooter was fitted with handguards common from plastic John Deere Hy-Gard oil containers.
As soon as everybody was signed in and briefed, the solar appeared and forged a glow on the motley crew. The primary leg of the journey went via the Canterbury Plains, previous dairy and fruit farms, to Sheffield (pop. 192), the place the punters stopped for his or her first scorching drink and among the village’s well-known pie store treats.
Extra colourful characters turned up. Cookie Monster and Batman made an look, each with matching scooters. A white terrier in a miniature navy jeep sidecar connected to a scooter questioned what all of the fuss was about. One man tried to make the journey on a mobility scooter, adopted intently by a man on a classic minibike in a gorilla go well with and a Hawaiian shirt.
After the break, the assist automobiles vacated the situation first, and the refreshed scootistas adopted go well with, touring totally on two-lane State Freeway 73, with some single-lane bridges north of Springfield. Porters Move (3,051 toes) quickly appeared, and the steep incline introduced challenges for most of the low-powered scooters.
The second cease was Lake Lyndon, which offered an uninterrupted view of snowcapped Mount Torlesse and surrounding peaks. The route continued previous Damaged Hill towards Lake Pearson and several other Canterbury ski areas after which alongside the Waimakariri River to Arthur’s Move Village for lunch and gas. The Speedy Aid Crew offered the catering, churning out 500 meals outdoor in lower than an hour.
Arthur’s Move, which is located at 2,425 toes in a nationwide park of the identical title, is one in every of three alpine passes connecting the South Island’s East and West coasts, and it marks the boundary between the West Coast and Canterbury areas.
After riders and machines had a reprieve, the downhill part started, together with the 1,440-foot-long, 131-foot-tall Otira Viaduct towards Jacksons on the Taramakau River. Previous to the viaduct’s opening in 1999, the street between Arthur’s Move and Otira was among the many most harmful in New Zealand because of landslides from close by scree slopes.
After a cease in Kumara, the scooterists continued alongside Freeway 73 via undulating farmland, scrubland, and forest till they came across the Tasman Sea on the West Coast. From there, the weary vacationers rode the ultimate 13 miles south on State Freeway 6 to their vacation spot: the Beachfront Lodge in Hokitika.
Let’s meet just a few members of the Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari menagerie…
Rodney Faulkner: Customized Stand-up Scooter
Faulkner solely made it into this yr’s occasion by luck. Demand was so excessive that the entry restrict of 250 scooters was reached inside 20 minutes. All riders who take part are required to lift a minimal of $250 NZD, and a few raised as a lot as $10,000 NZD.
Faulkner fabricated a body, an upright gas tank, and all of the gear for his stand-up scooter with 12-inch wheels, which is constructed round a 2-stroke TGB 50 scooter engine bored out to 70cc. How did his stand-up scooter, which has a 34-mph high velocity, carry out over the 150-mile course?
“I fairly loved the expertise,” Faulkner stated. “It was an enormous chortle all the way in which. Visibility is such that you simply look excessive of everyone, and the stand-up most likely outhandled every other scooter since you’re virtually in a motocross driving place.”
Faulkner’s gas tank has a capability of 1.3 gallons and a spread of about 62 miles, so he used about 3.2 gallons in the course of the Safari. Was he uncomfortable standing up for thus lengthy?
“No, as a result of you possibly can shift your legs backwards and forwards. The one stress is in your toes, and also you additionally use your knees as suspension. However you will get a little bit of tingling toes as a result of vibration of the engine coming via the ground.”
Sadly, about 6 miles away from Hokitika, Faulkner’s engine seized. However his assist car was carrying an earlier model of this scoot, which he calls the “Mk I,” as a backup, so he managed to complete in spite of everything.
Karl Crossman: ‘Suzuski’
Crossman’s majestic jet ski on wheels was awarded Finest Bike within the 2022 TASS. His custom-built conveyance took place after he noticed a YouTube clip of somebody driving a jet ski down the motorway. He thought it was the funniest factor he’d ever seen, prompting him to construct one for the TASS. He remarked with amusing, “I reckon if everybody would journey a jet ski on the street, the world could be a greater place.”
Crossman runs a bike workshop on the South Island’s West Coast, servicing and promoting ATVs, so this construct supplied no engineering problem for him. In his cheeky phrases, the undertaking was a top-secret collaboration between engineers at Area X and retired South Island mechanic Spanners Watson. They grafted an previous 1998 Yamaha WaveRunner with some holes within the backside onto a 2004 Suzuki SJ125 scooter. It took about two days, and probably the most time-consuming half was extending all of the wires for the lights.
“The end result was this beautiful piece of equipment,” stated Crossman. “It rivals different engineering marvels such because the Chunnel, the massive Hadron collider, the Springfield monorail, and the Escalator to Nowhere.” He christened his creation “Suzuski,” and it turned fairly just a few heads and made lots of people smile alongside the way in which.
Crossman is 6 toes tall, so he had no downside getting his toes right down to the bottom. “It’s a heavy scoot,” he stated, “however the weight is good and low, and it was a pleasant, comfy journey at a 44-mph tempo over the alpine atmosphere. It doesn’t journey like a jet ski; it simply appears to be like like one. At slower speeds, it takes a little bit of getting used to, as you possibly can’t see the place the entrance wheel is. You are likely to nook wider than you have to.”
When Crossman came to visit to Christchurch on Friday evening for the beginning of the TASS, there was snow on the bottom, however the climate for Saturday’s run was lovely. That’s, till it acquired a bit moist and chilly on the part right down to Otira on the West Coast aspect.
After the occasion, Crossman’s scoot was bought on NZ’s TradeMe buy-and-sell web site, marketed in a humorous style: “Don’t bow to pier stress to journey a standard car…the ‘Suzuski’ will create waves wherever you go. Canoe consider a greater method to journey? Wave goodbye to your commonplace scooter and say hey to your new vessel.” For sure, it discovered a brand new residence.
Nicola Garlick: Flintstone-Cellular
Trainer’s aide Nicola Garlick transformed her 50cc Yamaha Jog scooter right into a Fred Flintstone automobile for her third TASS attendance. The theme was impressed by her dad, who used to belong to the Lions Membership in Westport and did a Flintstone conversion of an ATV with some mates for a Christmas parade some years in the past.
Garlick misplaced each dad and mom to most cancers, and she or he all the time carries {a photograph} of her of us on the dashboard as a tribute to them. Regardless of all of the colourful outfits now and again, the Scooter Safari additionally has its severe aspect in elevating cash for the Most cancers Society, and Garlick raised $2,800 NZD for the trigger this yr.
Her two-wheeled Flintstone “automobile” was fabricated out of froth, fiberglass, and curtain materials for the perimeters, bolstered with plastic cardboard and previous pillows and supported by 50mm downpipe rails. Garlick used lighter supplies for this yr’s conversion, having realized extra fabrication abilities since her earlier Safari, for which she transformed her scoot with using heavier plaster of paris right into a two-wheeled hen.
She was assured her Flintstone scoot would make it up Porters Move, and it did. Others weren’t so fortunate and needed to push their scooters uphill on this part. However wind caught Garlick’s scooter on the final leg of the journey into Hokitika, so she needed to scale back her velocity to fifteen mph to be on the secure aspect. Her son Jared encountered an identical destiny together with his 50cc Honda As we speak pink rocket scooter, which was outfitted with a nostril cone up entrance and tassels on the again.
They each agreed that it was fairly a chilly journey, with a tough wind chill on the japanese aspect of the Alps following them. Surroundings was spectacular, however a bitter chilly rain chased all of them the way in which from Arthur’s Move to Hokitika.
“Arthur’s Move is a little bit of a geographical climate divide,” stated Nicola. “The place I stood on the high of the Viaduct lookout, you could possibly see blue sky in the direction of the East and black sky down in the direction of the West Coast.” The Garlicks left Christchurch at 9 a.m. and arrived in Hokitkia about 5 p.m.
After I requested riders on the finish of their journey in the event that they’d do all of it once more in Might 2024, “Hell, sure!” was the same old response.
For extra data, go to Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari web site.
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