There are Three types Of fun!
Type One Fun. True Fun, enjoyable while it is happening and you just want to keep doing it.
Type Two Fun. Fun only in retrospect, but horrible while it is happening. Type Two Fun has a sliding scale. It may become fun the moment you stop doing it, but it may take days, weeks or even years to allow the memory to fade before it is remembered as fun.
Type Three Fun. Not fun at all, not even in retrospect. Just pure misery.
There were about two hundred and sixty people who lined up at Cape Reinga over three different days to ride the 3000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff. There were countless different bike set ups and equipment choices and many more different reasons and plans for doing the event. Although clearly not a "race" some were focusing of finishing as fast as possible and some were focused on just finishing.
My plan was simple.
The Tour Aotearoa was my second large Brevet type event. In the first one I experienced more Type Two fun, than Type One fun and a few episodes of Type Three Fun. For the Tour Aotearoa, my plan was simple. To have more Type One Fun than Type Two Fun and each day, to take away one thing that was amazing.
Although I had spent a huge amount of time and effort in preparation, I was not expecting what actually happened on the Tour Aotearoa. Apart from a few moments like in the middle of Ninety Mile Beach, when the novelty had worn off and the pace hadn't and a couple of longer moments that involved wind and rain. They were the only times that could be described as Type Two Fun. I had two weeks of Type One Fun and each day, enjoyed many things that were really amazing.
It does not matter if you have a faith or not, it is so easy to grasp the concept that the Maori belief the spirits leave this world for the next from Cape Reinga. You really get the feeling that this place is special.
I was just thinking "I have had enough of this, we must be there soon" and someone in the group yells out "we are just on half way"! Despite that moment, hammering down the beach in that front bunch who were on a mission was a fantastic experience.
The Hokianga (above) and Kaipara (below) are such amazing Harbours. It was neat that we had to cross both of them by boat and to meet and enjoy the characters that work on these boats. The first night was the only night I spent in the "Glad Wrap Hilton" and although it was a perfect camp site, the full moon sent the dogs at the two neighbouring farms into a "bark-a-thon" that went on all night.
As a Kiwi, it was telling that this was the first time that I have actually seen Tane Mahuta. The fact that this tree has probably been around since before Jesus is really amazing, but the whole ride through the Waipoa forest, full of these amazing Kauri trees at dawn was just stunning.
The Timber Trail was easily my favourite trail on the whole ride. Just stunning! It was like riding on the walking path in the woodland section of a Botanical gardens. I expected a gardener to come out at any moment and tell me that I could not ride a bike here. But I could and I loved all 80km of it.
The first part of the Bridge to Nowhere Trail was really tough, sticky parpa clay and a technical single track resulted in a few falls. I was not alone in ending up on the ground, Sheila even went right off the track and was very lucky not to have been hurt. The second part down the Mangapurua Valley was easier, but was sobering to reflect on the WW 1 returned servicemen and their families who had hacked farms out of the bush in this isolated and rugged place, only to be beaten by nature and the government. All that remains are name plaques, the odd chimney and Poplar trees that once would have surrounded the garden fence. My own scrapes and aches soon seemed insignificant when compared to the hardship that these families endured and the Bridge to Nowhere suddenly became a monument to some really tough people who were promised a dream and received very little, rather than a simple quirk of history.
Many years ago, I did an Outward Bound Course. One of the many things that Outward Bound taught me was to "enjoy the moment". Part of my plan to take away one thing that was amazing each day and this involved really taking the time with "the moments" as they occurred. Whether it was taking a photo, talking to people along the way, reading the DOC information boards or just taking a moment to enjoy the view or the experience. I read every single information board along the entire length of the course and learnt some amazing things about our country.
The combination of meeting family in Wellington and having reached half way in 7 days was such a huge mental boost. Catching the 2.30am Ferry was very efficient time wise but only getting four hours sleep was almost counter productive.
Big River and Waiuta are a mixture of some of the most stunning bush, fantastic trails and magical technical single track that is best suited to a serious mountain bike with sticky rubber and lots of suspension. After battling the off camber roots and slippery single track in the pouring rain last year, Big River filled me with dread. However this time with dry conditions and a plan that involved walking, and stopping to enjoy all the mine relics made for a completely different and really great "type one fun" experience.
The Wilderness trail starts in Greymouth and goes to Ross. It is just 136 km of pure "smile all the way" trail. Just a joy to ride. As I approached Ross it was starting to drizzle. Heading towards Harihari, it was steady rain and I had promised my self a big ice-cream from the tearooms as it was shaping up to be a long day alone in the rain.
Waking up with a bike at the end of the bed became the norm. I later used the dish rack to dry my socks above the heater. By the time we reached Haast Village the rain was torrential.
Dave was in the first bunch with me on Ninety Mile beach and we crossing paths a few times along the way, but ended up riding the last three days together. Not only was Dave fantastic company, but it was his strength, his sense of humour and his organisation that got us to Bluff in under two weeks.
It was odd to be lining up with the other tourists on the Earnslaw in Queestown.
Bikes get put in the museum on the Earnslaw, with the comment "Careful with your handle bars on the picture frames"
Many people described the road through from Lake Wakatipu to Mossburn as "a long way of nothing", but it is the most fantastic huge nothing. I just loved the isolation and scale of this landscape.
3020km, 13 days 21hours and 15 minutes, 25 pies, 16 Vanilla Milk Shakes, 7 packets of Golden Fruit biscuits, A tin and a half of Sweet Cheeks Butt Butter, awed by natural beauty and scenery, humbled by kindness and generosity and constantly reminded how lucky we are to call New Zealand home.
The Preparation and details.
There is no doubt that the biggest single factor as to why the Tour Aotearoa was so enjoyable was the help that Blair Stockwell gave me as a coach. Blair is a kiwi cycling legend and has coached at a national level. Over the years he has coached athletes of amazing ability to stand on a podium at an international level. Blair really understood exactly what I needed to do an event like Tour Aotearoa. I have no sporting ability what so ever and my love of cycling came out of a mid life crisis. He helped me to achieve far more than I ever dreamed was possible. Blair was a great mentor, motivator and friend. The program Blair organised, enabled me to pick a motel or a camping ground in the late afternoon, phone up and book a bed and simply know that I could ride to it, wether it be 50km, 80km or 100km away. Day ten was the first morning that I actually got out of bed feeling tired. To have the fitness to ride happily for up to 16 hours a day and the speed to be able to hold a wheel like on Ninety mile beach and the stamina to back up day after day made a massive difference. As part of my training, Blair had me record amongst other things, my sleep every night during training on a spread sheet (Above). Apart from the first night in my tent and only four hours sleep on the ferry, every other night was 7 hours sleep in a bed. This made a massive difference.
Training started at the beginning of September. Up until I left on the 21st of February I had ridden 7224 km and climbed 127430 vertical meters. Lost 6 kilos in weight and took my Strava time for climbing Mt Cootha on a Tuesday evening from high 11 minutes to 9 minutes flat. I am so lucky that my wife, Jill and family supported me, as this was a big chunk of family time.
The combination of fitness, a good nights sleep and good weather made for a really enjoyable event.
The support that I received from the Lifecycle community was amazing, especially the Wombles and the Tuesday night Cootha crew. When I started cycling, I ended up in an amazing group of people who identify themselves as "The Wombles". There does not seem to be an identifiable process to become a Womble, but once you are in, it is like an invisible Tattoo, your in for life. The number of Lifecycle people who have come up to me since the event and said that they were watching my tracker is really humbling.
Lifecycle is more than a bike shop. It is a community. As the world changes it becomes harder and harder for these shops and the associated communities to exist. Although you can now buy everything cheaply and have have it delivered quickly over the internet, the extra we pay our local bike shop is a fraction of the cost of the true benefit we get from being part of the community. Everything that I could buy from Mark and Blair at Lifecycle, I did.
The bike I used is a Salsa Cutthroat. This bike was designed specifically for the Tour Divide a 4418km event from Banff in Canada to the Mexican boarder. Although the bike was ordered in May 2015, the world wide release was in February 2016 and my bike arrived one week before the event started. Obviously this was very stressful to say the least,however the bike turned out to be perfect. It was fast on seal, faster on gravel and ok on single track. Although I was very conservative with the gear I took, including plenty of warm clothing; a cooker, meths and dehydrated meals for emergencies; a first aid kit and tool kit that erred on the side of "peace of mind." I took back ups of; lights; reading glasses and an extra gps computer bike. Even when fully packed bike was still light compared to many.
I lost my first pair of glasses in Mangakino and one of the arms broke off the very cheap back up pair on the Waikato River trail. More than one person commented when they saw my glasses sitting crooked on my head that perhaps I had taken the weight saving a bit far!
The perfect bike for a Brevet event is the bike that some one else is riding at any given point in time.
The combination of a Brooks Cambrium saddle, Assos knicks and liberal amounts of Sweet Cheeks Butt Butter meant zero bum issues at all.
The aero bars gave me sore knees if I used them too much, but watching the speed increase by 3 km/h every time you got down on them was nice. They were also good to mount feed bags, computer and the light on and made eating or taking photos while riding much easier. The woodchipper bars were brilliant and combined with the aero bars meant zero wrist issues at all.
The bags are all Revelate from Alaska. They worked really well. Basically the tent, mat and sleeping bag in the front bag on the handle bars. Clothes in the rear bag. Food, tools, cooker, mug, toiletries, first aid kit, Steripen, spare tubes and spare batteries in the main compartment of the frame bag. Phone, wallet and Cue sheets in the small compartment on the frame bag. Camera in the small bag into front of the seat post. Eat as you go food, in the gas tank bag and the feed bags which mounted on the aero bars.
Apart from my phone, and cameras, everything else ran on AA orAAA batteries. I had a solar powered cache battery that enjoyed the best view from the front of my bike, travelling the 3000km, but refused to work when needed and went in the bin at Invercargill airport.
I used 2 x 10 Sram XO gearing with 28, 42 at the front and Praxis 11 - 40 cassette at the back. Perfect gearing. The wheels were XTR and were light, strong and faultless. The Teravail Sparwood tires were like trendy Jeans, they were worn out from new and as such were fast on seal, faster on gravel and like soap on wet single track, which was pretty much ideal for the course. As the bike had no suspension, I ran the tires tubeless with Stans at 22psi for comfort. No punctures or problems.
The main source of Type Three Fun last time was getting cold. The Goretex Pro jacket, Ground Effect three quarters rain pants, Sealskin merino lined water proof socks and waterproof mitts were absolutely brilliant. Apart from my Knicks and bandanna, all my other clothing was merino wool. Warm when wet, comfortable when hot and dosn't smell ....as much. The Specialised 2FO shoes were fantastic. They were a size too big to allow for my feet swelling, flexible enough to walk in and super comfortable to spent two weeks in, but man did they stink. After Ollie Whalley, the event leader had his shoes stolen from outside his Motel in Whanganui, I had them in the room with me every night and some mornings I would wake up and think "What is that smell"!
Although I shovelled huge amounts of food into my mouth. I never really had a good appetite, so often, had to consciously force myself to eat. My standard fare at a cafe was pot of green tea, vanilla milkshake, bacon and eggs, two pies and one or two cakes. Sometimes I would eat the lot and have to get more pies to take away, but mostly I would have a pie for later. Pies were the perfect food, they travel well, are full of fat and protein and other than the service station ones are usually delicious. I learnt to avoid big supermarkets because they just take so much longer to get around. I would buy Tortilla bread; an avocado; canned fish; salami; fly cemetery biscuits; dried fruit, nuts and lollies from the pick and mix, canned creamed rice, juice and or milk and a couple of pieces of stone fruit. Sometimes bananas and never muesli bars and definitely never OSM bars.
The Cue sheets were a fantastic aid to the Garmin Etrex gps. You can see I had added the Motels and camping ground phone numbers before the event. A guy called Erik Westra must have spent hours doing the cue sheets. We are all really grateful for the effort that he put in. Unfortunately Erik broke his wrist badly coming into Havelock, had a trip in a helicopter and did not finish the Tour, or should I say, has not finished the Tour yet..... He did a brilliant job, as the whole course fitted onto both side of four sheets of A4. They were invaluable for me to work out the pinch points like how far to the next town with a campground or Motel and the Ferries and making sure I was riding the parts I was looking forward to, like the Timber Trail in daylight hours.
All thanks must go to the Kennett brothers for creating and organising such an amazing event, of which "the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts”. The fact that it started out as a bike ride is lost in the friendships gained; the sights we saw; the experiences we shared; the people we met; the wonderful spells of solitude; the real pleasure of shoving large amounts of any food you desire into your mouth; the random acts of kindness; learning small parts of the history of our amazing country; the great feeling of being cheered on by total strangers who know your name and by family and friends who tracked you down as you went past; that indescribable feeling as you ride along that hundreds, maybe thousands of people are watching your dot; that unique smell of honeydew and beech forest in the midday heat; the birdsong at dawn; the eerie shapes in the pre dawn mist; the perfect stretches of single track; blasting across the suspension bridges feeling like a nine year old and just making us realise what an amazing country NZ is.