Riders Gathered For An Over-1,000-Mile Rally In New Zealand

That’s 2,000 kilometers or about 1,200 miles of riding!

By: Earl Davidson

Feb 20, 2022 at 3:00pm ET

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How long can you ride? Do a thousand miles and change sound great? If it does, then you’re going to love this. The TT2000 is an endurance rally that spans 2,000 kilometers (approximately 1,242 miles) over a 48-hour time frame. The two-day challenge started at Brayshaw Park, with the finish line set in Otago.

Participants are expected to finish the rally today, and unlike the Isle of Man TT, which shares a similar name, the TT2000 is no race, but a test of endurance. Instead of holeshots or sector times, riders will instead collect points from checkpoints that are scattered across Te Waipounamu, and each participant must collect at least 2,000 points during the event before crossing the finish line at Milton, Otago.

This event happens yearly and the challenges change up as different themes are adopted. The checkpoints for the 2022 event were situated at schools, and are worth a varying number of points. There is a bigger incentive for riders to go to the schools if they’re hard to reach. For example, the checkpoints that are easy to get to merit 30 points, while the more remote establishments can get up to 250 points. Motorcyclists are encouraged to take long trips to make sure that they reach the 2,000 point quota to finish the rally.

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About 300 participants registered for the event, and the rally began on Friday, February 18, 2022. Today, the riders are all expected to cross the finish line, hopefully with enough points to deem them as bonafide finishers of the TT2000 rally.

The great part about this event is that it is not a race, but rather a test of how long can you last on the saddle. One rider reckoned that his average speed was 60 kilometers per hour or a hair under 40 miles per hour, so there is little to no galavanting or hooliganism going on. Plotting routes are common among the participants, and every destination is optional. Of course, to make such a journey possible, having a good long-distance adventure bike helps, and that seems to be the case with the participants, but all bikes are welcome as long as you have an iron butt, I suppose.