At 11:40pm on Saturday, 29 March, my Kawasaki ZX-10R and I were ready to head off on our adventure - an Iron Butt challenge known as the Saddlesore 1600 which requires the rider to travel at least 1610 km (1000 miles) in less than 24 hours. With 3 hours to go before my deadline, I pulled into the Coles Express service station at Wahroonga, having traveled a total of 1787 km in 21 hours.

I had decided on the route three months earlier and after two previous postponements due to bad weather, I finally confirmed the departure date just three days previous on the basis of a forecast of fine weather along the entire east coast of Australia.

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I departed Caltex Woolworths Thornleigh with a mix of excitement and fear and started heading north for the turn-around point at Coolangatta Airport in Queensland.

Leg 1 to BP Heatherbrae near Newcastle was largely uneventful, with mild traffic and cool temperatures. I felt a little like the Michelin Man, wearing full-length thermals and a t-shirt under my leathers. I probably should have worn my wet-weather gear over my leathers for more warmth, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Instead I traveled light, bringing only a small tank bag containing my phone, wallet, GPS, spare ear-plugs and the Iron Butt paperwork. The GPS was preloaded with the coordinates of my fuel stops, in case I got horribly lost.

A hot chocolate was enthusiastically met at BP Heatherbrae as it was getting colder due to fog settling in the Newcastle area. A quick fill-up of both bike and rider and we got back on the road heading north.

Traffic had all but disappeared by this time, but the temperature continued to drop due to extended periods of mist and fog. When I finally rolled into BP Gateway (also affectionately known as the donut) near Port Macquarie at the end of Leg 2, another hot chocolate and a chat with the attendant was welcome.

The road works all along the Pacific Highway combined with low temperatures were conspiring to keep the pace down, so I was glad to have left Sydney 20 minutes earlier than originally planned. Having snoozed for around 8 hours prior to departure from Sydney, I was feeling awake and alert and so far the cold wasn't bothering me too much.

A strange mix-up at Coffs Harbour at the end of Leg 3 saw me retracing my steps for 5 km looking for a Caltex service station that just wasn't where it was supposed to be. Eventually I abandoned the search and stopped at a Coles Express a few kilometres up the road at Woolgoolga. The hot chocolate came from one of those little push-button machines and wasn't all that good, so I hit the road again, hoping the sun that was threatening to rise would warm me up.

Leg 4 found the one major flaw in my extensive planning - a long stretch heading north-east from Grafton to Ballina into a very bright and very slowly rising sun. In my quest to travel light, I had brought neither a tinted visor nor my sunglasses. Again, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Ballina finally arrived along with the end of Leg 4. I stopped at BP North Ballina for fuel, an energy drink and a sausage roll - my body clock felt out of whack but I knew I needed to eat something. About halfway through, I realised that a sausage roll wasn't it.

The run to the turnaround was a short one, around 100 km, and I had no intention of getting fuel there - I just had to purchase something in order to get a dated receipt and start heading south again. The receipt appeared to be out by an hour. It wasn't until I got back home that I realised that Queensland doesn't have daylight savings time and that the receipt was correct.

A slight navigational error saw me riding an extra couple of kilometres through Tweed Heads and Coolangatta rather than taking the expressway, but I enjoyed the view of the beaches so I figured it was probably worth it.

Leg 6 saw me heading south again on Pacific Highway and I turned off at Bangalow and rode west towards Lismore. From Bangalow through to Armidale, I would be traveling on roads I'd never been on before and I was really looking forward to it.

After fueling up at Lismore, I took off the t-shirt and threw it in the bin (it was old and I had planned to discard it once the temperature rose anyway) and headed off on Leg 7.

Casino wasn't on my printed maps and there were no signs in Lismore for Tenterfield, so I took a punt and headed there anyway, hoping that it was the right direction. It was.

A nice surprise that I hadn't planned for was the road between Casino and Tenterfield through Girard State Forest and across the ranges. It felt and looked a lot like the Oxley Highway so I imagine it must be a favourite of a few of the Gold Coast and Brisbane riders. I certainly saw a few of them.

The end of Leg 7 joined up with the New England Highway, and turned me south towards Armidale. A roll of glucose sweets at the BP in Tenterfield turned out to be one of my wiser purchases and kept me alert several times throughout the remainder of the trip.

Once on the New England Highway, I could roll on the throttle a little and begin counting off the kilometres. I had started to feel like I was on the run home.

Glen Innes sped by on Leg 8 and it wasn't long before the long sweeping corners of the New England delivered me to the Armidale bypass and eventually to Caltex Armidale Airport.

The cash register at the BP in Tamworth at the end of Leg 9 recorded me as having travelled there from Armidale in just 10 minutes. I was impressed with myself at achieving an average speed for Leg 9 of approximately 660 km/h but it turned out they had incorrectly reverted from Daylight Savings time a week too early.

I was starting to feel the pressure of getting home as soon after sunset as possible, already knowing that I could not possibly beat the sun to bed. I powered on through the longest leg of the trip, Leg 10 to Rutherford in the Hunter Valley, my last fuel stop before Sydney.

The light was failing as I arrived at the BP at Rutherford, and I quickly fueled up the bike, popped two glucose sweets in my mouth and hit the road for the final push to Sydney and the finish line.

Due to the falling temperatures and knowing that I had already traveled more than enough to qualify for the Saddlesore 1600, I lent low over the fuel tank, tucked in behind the screen and joined the tail of cars heading south on the F3 for Sydney. My only remaining task was to fill up at Coles Express Wahroonga, finalise the Iron Butt paperwork and get home to a hot meal and a warm bed.

I have yet to send my Iron Butt paperwork to the US for verification and it's looking less likely that I will. I don't need a piece of paper to prove I did it - I have the memories.