Wayne’s Tour Aotearoa 2023

Riding on the bike is mostly easy.  Turn those pedals and enjoy moving along generally much faster than walking and with much less effort that running.  Not being wrapped inside a car is good too as you move through the world and feel part of it and breathe in unfiltered fresh air.    That’s a lot of what the TA is about.    But when some force of nature, mechanics, or biology begins applying a bit of friction to the system, that ease can seem to slip away.  The weather can turn, part of the bike start failing, you start to feel sick or low on energy for example.  There are infinite possibilities, and over 3000kms you’re likely to encounter multiple unexpected challenges.   Weather and wind are highly likely to hit you first and I’ve covered them elsewhere.  At least that’s what chose to hit us.   Cyclone Gabrielle started it off bringing a threat that we might not be able to start at all.  And when we did anyway, there was tha...

A week or more ago I might have been feeling a little smug, if I’m honest, about the the good luck we had had with the weather since Wanganui. We could see through the various channels that other riders were battling some horrible stuff in St Arnauds and on the coast a in the days before we arrived on part of the journey.  We weren’t unsympathetic of coarse, just glad that, as we travelled through, we seemed to be avoiding the badness.  We encountered a medical issue and delay at one point which got resolved, but weather didn’t seem to be a problem.  Part of me entertained the possibility we might get all the way down the coast and across to Bluff without getting wet. Dumb, I know.  Not just because of the place, but also the time.  The West Coast is notorious for rain and in this day and age weather in New Zealand and the world is a bit mental. Soon enough the forecasts were out for not one, but two wet and potentially stormy fronts coming through.  We bec...

Okay, so this should be a relatively easy day. About 100km mostly downhill, but, granted, with Von Hill in the middle which is a little bit gnarly.  We arrive in Queenstown the night before without a boat to Walter Peak organised for the next day.  All sorts of amazing investigative work by Wayne G sadly yields no ticket and we decide to get some sleep, get up early and appear at the boat in person after a decent breakfast somewhere.   The next morning having ordered breakfast, Wayne G runs to the boat and does some more sleuthing.  There’s a charter leaving at 10 we might be able to get on if the customer is okay with it.  Wayne watches his phone while eating breakfast.   The phone eventually rings and he ducks out to take the call.  “..Sorry guys, the charter is not prepared to take you.  Best bet is to keep trying the Earnslaw. “ A few minutes later at about one minute to eight another call.  The same lady asks how far away we are because ...

  I’m travelling home to Christchurch by Intercity bus.  We think of the bus as a slow and relaxing form of travel, and it is.  Since you’re not driving, just sitting back in a comfy seat for hours at a time, you do get to do little more than survey the passing landscape and sights and punctuate that with the odd stretch and refreshment or station stop. However here in the bus, you are still kind of separated from nature and the environment around you to a degree that you aren’t on the bike.  One proof of that: the cows don’t take any notice of the bus let alone you.  As you pass them in the bus, there is no reaction at all from farm animals most of the time.  Compare that with being on the bike, where every cow and other farm animal seems to notice you as you pass, often even when they are far from the road.  And they don’t just notice you, they stare at you for ages.  To them you are a curiosity.  In fact, as you can tell, the feeling is mu...

There’s a saying attributed to various people going around that “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothes”.  That’s true when walking, and can be when cycling, but really, weather can be a real challenge on the bike, right clothes or not.   It affects traction, momentum, energy use, body temperature, bike functioning, route selection and many other things.  In fact a strong head wind is arguably a much greater challenge that any road ascent on the TA. We discovered that on day one cycling down Ninety Mile Beach.  For some 50+ kilometres, we got a seriously stifling Sou’wester into our faces that almost cancelled out our pedalling.  It was hard to ride faster than 10kph at many points.  Then, on the last day from Mossburn to Bluff, Southland decided to blast us with some bad weather to finish.  The morning rain was okay, not too heavy, but the wind was gusty, strong and multidirectional which made for slow and sometime hazardous riding. ...

I’m  The West Coast Wilderness trail is a pretty raw product right now.  Thirty kms in, Kumara accommodation was okay, but options for coffee, etc are thin on the ground.  From there, there is 80kms of, granted, lovely off road riding in a beautiful and historic part of New Zealand, but for most people it is aimed at, I would imagine there is a lack of hospitality they might hope for to accompany their expedition.  Even the controversial, well patronised Cowboy’s Paradise looked empty and desolate when we passed through, probably suffering from COVID and recent bad press.  The work done on this trail is impressive though, and as I’ve already said, the landscape is amazing.  It’s worth doing if your focus is the riding and you don’t mind carrying food, or cycling long distances like 80k without the trappings of civilisation.  Hopefully over time, the trail will return to its reportedly more vibrant state as the country recovers from a disruptive few yea...

One of the most fun things about the TA, at least at the start, is the diet.  A lot of the careful food choices typical of home go out the window when you’re using thousands of calories a day and your priority is energy.   Pies and milkshakes are popular for sustenance and some important nutrients and shops and hospitality services in the know have both on hand for the riders coming through.   I remember noticing the visible glee on one or more shop owners as the riders arrived and the pies began disappearing. Of course there’s also an abundance of electrolyte drinks and powders people use and try to replenish at 4 squares & bike shops.  I tried a dairy electrolyte drink for what might be the first time after Wayne G mentioned that a sport coach he knew recommended them, and I was indeed impressed with the boost they gave me at times.  I did read somewhere that the heart needs calcium for contractions and magnesium for de-contraction, so it’s good to ge...

Storm gone from Haast, it was up early aiming for Wanaka.  At 150km it would be our longest stretch yet, but would take out of the West Coast at last, and into Otago.   TLDR we nailed it.   Haast Pass was no doddle, but we obviously had it in our legs and made it to the summit both feeling pretty good.  What another gorgeous environment! We got up early this time and ate a breakfast we had bought the day before.  The ride started with 50 undulating kms to Pleasant Flat before the ascent to Haast Pass.    Speeding down from Haast Pass and into tail winds, we finished that leg with lunch at the Makarora Country Cafe 4kms into Makarora.  The place was crowded from a bus that arrived at the same time, but we managed to get a pie, milkshake and bits and pieces to fuel us well for the remaining 90kms of the day. Views of Wanaka for the next 30kms or so were amazing, but it was over The Neck, the point where you can see both Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea th...

Three areas of responsibility:  body, bike and mind.  Lose or critically damage any of the three and the show’s over. Of course you start the TA with your bike in the best condition possible.  Some even have brand new bikes.  Most have at least done things to their bikes to match them better to the job at hand. In that regard, most people have hard tail mountain bikes and many have gravel bikes, trying to strike a balance between fast (my gravel bike adds at least 5kph over my mountain bike) on the considerable proportion of pavement in the TA, able to handle the gravel and cycle trails that constitute a big part of the remainder and still good for the a few gnarly challenges like the Maungatapu.  Many trade the last one away and just hope skills and/or hike-a-bike will get them to the end. Mine was the best bike I had for the job, a full suspension XC bike.  I changed the chainring to 34 teeth for the pavement, put some good general tires on it (Vittoria M...

Cockpit is an obvious term for the front of the bike, handlebars and controls.  Although there’s a bit of variation amongst riders, there are also a few common elements.  Most on the TA have Aerobars, raised forward-pointing bars that you can lean your forearms on to tuck your body in and lower wind resistance.  I think they originated in Triathlon, so they’re also called tri-bars.  They give you alternative hand and body positions to help avoid stiffness and RSI.  A useful bonus from using these is also to give you more space than just your handlebars offer for gear and devices.  I have my sleeping gear (tent and bag) strapped to them for example, a simple solution that avoids mounts and harnesses for those things. Many, like me, have a bike computer mounted between the Aerobars and others mount watch and or phone, or just paper copies of guide books and/or maps.   If you don’t have Aerobars, you need to manage handlebar space another way, and things ...

Being a Software Developer, my tech is a big part of my life.  On the TA, I took a Garmin 1040, a Fenix 7 watch, my iPhone, rechargeable headphones and lights - back and front.  To keep things charged I also carried a light but long-lasting power bank and a little charger for non-tenting evenings.  My Restrap top tube bag carried my power bank when riding so my phone was always charged or chargeable.  It was a great setup.  Even when tenting I always had enough charge in the 10k power bank to keep everything going. The 1040 is for navigation mostly.  Turn by turn directions courtesy of the TA GPX files here .  I also use it for some performance and pacing stats and to warn of rear approaching traffic detected by the radar in my rear light.   The Fenix is overkill in some ways and I hardly use it.  The Apple Watch I left at home would be more useful really, as it has better paywave and integration with my phone.  I got the Fenix because t...

 A bit of a quiet spot to be stuck to be sure.   Waking up on March 17th, the weather was rubbish as advertised, but we got ourselves ready to leave anyway in case it cleared, or we felt particularly brave later.  At a cafe we grabbed breakfast and rang ahead for accommodation.  First Makarora, then Lake Hawea.   No room anywhere.  Meanwhile the lightning came, and the thunder.  The weather forecast apps couldn’t make reliable predictions on what the weather would do over the day.   We finally decided staying put was best and checked we could keep last night’s room, which we could.   Then just a case of maximising our rest day, ready to do double tomorrow and a big climb over the crown range the day after.

 “It’s not a race” and “It’s your own ride”.  Two mantra often heard re and on the TA.  There is no prize for being first, second, or any place to arrive at the end, and you can choose any way to get from A to Z as long as you keep to the core rules.  They are basically the rules of Brevet including doing it in the allotted time, 10 to 45 days in this case, being self supported and collecting the control photos.  There are others. Another phrase I just heard again today is “It’s about the journey, not the destination”. These phrases belie the unspoken truth that the TA is at least partly about how quick you do it for many participants.  That’s okay I think. One implication of “It’s your own ride” is that you might have your own expectation how long you want to take doing it within the rules.  You also have your own sense of where the happy balance lies between getting there and seeing stuff.   It is only recently that the upper limit on time has b...

Tired and backside a little sore from the beach the day before, we still managed to cover a bit of distance on day two.  Broadwood has a popular store for riders to grab a pie.  The pie was a case of over promise & under deliver, something we were still sensitive to early on in the project, but was energy giving nonetheless.  From Broadwood it’s up over a sometimes gnarly piece of off road to get to the Rawene ferry. We just missed the boat and had an hour to connect with fellow riders.  I love that Rawene ferry trip which we’ve done before, but couldn’t believe how cheap it was for us riders - something like $1 each.   Off the ferry: rain.  That made the off ramp slippery, and a couple of riders stumbled alighting.  With a cafes, etc closed in Rawene we bought a few supplies at the 4 Square (I never realised how critical 4 square is to this country) and set off for Omapere some two hours away.  We would be staying there for the night.  T...

Stumpers Hotel in Hokitika was really good value and a comfortable well equipped place to stay.  Their restaurant is nice too.   Thanks  Hokitika Cycle & Sportsworld  for giving my bike a bit of a tune before we headed for our next stop Hari Hari.  That meant finishing off the West Coast Wilderness Trail to Ross which had a good store with Venison and Mushroom pies.   From Ross it was 46 non-eventful kms to Hari Hari.  We pulled out of our pre-booked accommodation at the Hari Hari Hotel after looking at it, which we had never done before, as the room they had given us was sorely in need of cleaning and tlc.  Instead we got a room at Glenalmond up the road a bit.  Much more comfy.  

Reefton to Kumara via Greymouth for our 24th day.  What a sight for sore eyes is Greymouth and finally hitting the coast.  That little town has never looked so good to me.  It was a lovely day too which added to the experience. After lunch, we grab the control photo of the Greymouth Bar and head out onto the Wilderness Trail.  Our booked bed for the night is at Kumara about thirty kms along the trail.   The first part of the trail is coastal and we had a remarkable experience when a walker passed us about four kms in.  I happened to recognise the walker as possibly the only friend we know to be living in Greymouth.  She flatted with Jan 34 years ago and we had hardly seen her since.  It was incredible to happen to meet her as we passed through.  We chatted, and I took a photo of her and sent it to Jan.  Look what we found! 🤣 We carried on at a steady pace into a river and forest section of the trail.  It took us about an hour and h...

With a day’s semi-rest under our belts (only 30km yesterday til my riding partner got injured), we set out again for Maruia, Springs Junction & Reefton.  The hills, farms, bridges and rivers familiar from the day before, we sped past those.  Several bees smashed into my helmet as we approached ground zero and we made our way easily back up the beautiful Maruia Saddle climb.  We even found Wayne’s expensive glasses where he had collapsed the day before which was more than a bonus.  To Springs junction after the saddle is so-so to be honest.   The sealed part is dull and the non-sealed was not as delightful as Maruia Saddle itself.  The Marui Cafe was closed, it looked like permanently, and even Springs Junction was quiet and lacks a cafe these days.   The road over to the west coast is sealed forest road till Black Point, but from there, or maybe 5km before, it really is nice.  Reefton was a sight for sore eyes tho and we set up tents at the ca...

We split the the ride from Taumarunui to Pipiriki into two days, still being knackered from the Timber Trail to Taumarunui marathon the day before.  Plus, two younger riders Matt and Ian had synced with us for a couple of days which was always worth making the most of.  The people side of the T.A. is gold.  The first leg was okay. A nicely paced ride through manageable climbs and some interesting back country farmland to our DOC hut in Whakahoro.  Two shepherds on horseback surrounded by packs of sheep dogs.  Beautiful houses in lovely landscapes, the odd hipster quirk. There’s a nice little reward at the end of the climbing part of this journey in the form the Owhango Blue Hill Cafe , a few kilometres detour left at the top.  A couple of dogs chasing us livened up the detour. Arriving in Whakahoro, we were hungry and went straight to the Whakahoro Cafe which the TA guide book had promised would serve dinner for people who preorder on arrival.  Sadly t...

My riding buddy got a humble bee sting today that taught us both a hard lesson or two.  His adrenaline spiked big time according to the doctor which is why he actually blacked out on the trail as we were in one of the remotest spots.  With absolutely no phone coverage, he stopped riding up the hill, started losing mental focus, collapsed on his bike, got up and wandered around a bit, and then lost all consciousness and toppled forward leaving me to quickly catch him before his face hit the gravel track.  Very scary.  A group of motorcyclists with support vehicles drove us back over the thirty kms we had just cycled to have him checked out by a doctor and cleared to ride again tomorrow. A bee sting!?  Who would’ve thought?  Not an anaphylactic reaction either, just an adrenaline spike combined with the effects of a raised heart rate climbing a hill.  The decision to press the SOS button on my EPerb was much easier than I ever thought it would be.  ...

  I remember a time when I felt sympathy with a tinge of condescension toward those who experienced saddle soreness on the bike.  Biking even twenty-six or so kms to work as I did on 2019, and usually in work trousers, never seemed to cause me problems “there”.   Bring on 2022/3 and the long distances for the TA 🙀.   Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve had to resort to nappy rash cream.  Yep.  And there is hardly a soul on the TA who doesn’t talk about saddle soreness at some stage.  For the first week, it seems like it could be the biggest issue for most, even over the fatigue of long consecutive daily rides.  Getting on the bike each morning is a delicate affair and both morning and evening include time dedicated to butt-taming.   Legion are the reasons and remedies put forward.   Bike fit, a [insert brand here] saddle, vaseline, butt butter, stand up while riding, are a few.  A few do manage to avoid it somehow, but they don’t really se...

 Maungatapu goat track today. I can’t believe 4 wheel drive vehicles drive up that road let alone people on bikes.  Simple gravel undulations to get there, then suddenly a steep rocky track rises to the right chilling the spine.  Some eight kms of usually very rocky and mostly steep and uneven surface taking you 700 metres up.  I biked as much as poss, getting about 360 up I think before losing my stamina and even nerve in places and hike-a-biking quite a bit.  Down the other side was fairly strenuous at times too varying in steepness but often with same chunky loose rocks.  My bike was perfect for the descent. The two legs beforehand were nice, Picton to Havelock and Havock to Pelorus.  Views out to Queen Charlotte were gorgeous and the weather was perfect to enjoy it. Some nice cafes both places too.  Passing through Canvastown after Havelock, I got to see where my Nana grew up.  I tried to find the cemetery where she was buried in 2007, bu...

Don’t eat tons of deep fried seafood just before bed.  That’s a rule I’ll be trying to keep to avoid last night’s sleeplessness, everyone in our group who ate the Ocean Pot meal for dinner where we stayed had sleep problems that night.  It’s a pretty cruisey ride from Eketahuna via Masterton to Martinborough though.  So the ride was still good and we made good time.  The landscape is low hilly farmland.  Yummy the Salmon Benedict brunch at Trocoderos Cafe at Masterton and lovely the company - Rei, Kirsten, Bill, Wayne G and me - eating together.  No problems to Martinborough which was still buzzing a bit on the Sunday at the end of the Martinborough Festival weekend.  A great Pork roast at the Pukemono Pub for $25 and back for a bit of socialising at Martinborough Top 10 before tucking into our cosy cabin beds to sleep while it rained outside.   Actually, I got some tax stuff done too, some packing and this journalling.  Boring. Oh, and we me...

Not the most exciting landscape between Palmy and Eketahuna, but not totally boring either.  To Pahiatua, rise out of Palmy from Fitzgerald St and undulate through hill suburbs to the south for some 10kms.  A 300m climb, a gravel stretch and a bit of downhill hill later, about 30km to be exact, and you’re in Pahiatua.   After a yummy lunch at the Bakehouse, it’s off for a cruisey second ride on to Eketahuna, kiwi country.  This takes you through rural hills and farms, all sealed.  It rises gradually much of the way, but is pretty gentle.  I took the opportunity to break free from Wayne G for a bit and raise my average speed, just for the day.  Eketahuna is cute and friendly on a Saturday.   The Inn is comfortable and accommodating and we have a lovely social dinner and a good night’s sleep. 

Up a bit late and into the car, there are a few things to see driving from Ahipara to the start of the ride.  A famous dairy at town whose name I forget :( for one.  No photo for not having a camera ready as we whiz past.   Not too many signs of damage from Gabrielle. A fuel station that we desperately needed for Sonne’s trip home.     Arriving at the Cape, we have three main tasks: set up bikes and bodies (gear, sunscreen butt butter, etc), walk to the lighthouse and take a control photo, and collect/set satellite trackers.  Wayne hires an official one.  I brought my own Garmin which had been setup and tested and just needs turning on. There are a few nerves and for me a bit of trepidation at what’s ahead along with wondering if we have missed anything, but mostly the same momentum toward getting pedalling that carried us to this place. Also a bit of awe at being at the top of the country for the first time ever. Setup tick, walk tick, toilet tick, tr...

It was about March 2022 when I decided to do the Tour Aotearoa, a bike ride the length of New Zealand, from Cape Reinga at the top to Buff and the bottom.  Cycling being a significant part of my life, I have long considered this to be the kind of thing I’d like to do.  When I heard some years ago that the TA existed, it stuck and last year I took the leap and signed up.   January 2022 my wife Jan & I had walked the Milford and I met Wayne (yes, same name) on the walk.  Over a group dinner one night, I mentioned I was keen on doing the TA and Wayne responded that he’d like to do it too.  Recalling that conversation, after I registered, I called called Wayne, told him I’d signed up and asked if he still wanted to join me.  Surely it would be better with company.  He did, and signed up.  Two significant steps taken, I decided to carry on in the same vein and try to keep doing things that would make it hard to pull out..and more likely for us to c...