Tour Aotearoa Part 2

I just finished the Tour Aotearoa (TA) on Sunday and it was a remarkable once-in-a-lifetime experience! It took me 30 days (29 riding days) to complete the 3,000+ km bike trip from the top of the North Island in Cape Reinga all the way down to the bottom of the South Island in Bluff. As noted in my last post, Ginny joined me for the North Island part of the trip and I carried on on my own for the past two weeks to ride the South Island. It wasn't nearly as fun riding without Ginny but there were plenty of other riders along the route so I didn't feel like a total lone ranger. In fact, the social aspect of the TA was one of the things that I really enjoyed as there were literally hundreds of other riders doing the same thing as me. It was really fun to share the experience with people who had traveled from all over the world to challenge themselves on the TA. While the solo traveling was challenging at times, it did allow me to push the mileage a bit more than when I was with Ginny. Some people find riding every day to be a grind but I mostly enjoyed the cadence of riding 6-8 hours a day and then doing the same thing the next day. In fact, now that I'm finished, I'm wondering what I'm going to do every day. 

I have done many bike trips over the years but this was the first trip that I've done where the route was set and I didn't have to plan it out every day. This was a bigger advantage than I anticipated as it reduced the daily stress of route planning. Furthermore, the route was designed to minimize busy state highway sections and maximize quieter back roads and off-road sections. There was considerable discussion and trepidation among riders about one particular off-road section called Big River which runs through an old mining area on the South Island's west coast. There's a state highway alternative to riding Big River but I decided to give the rough track a shot and I'm so glad that I did. Without a doubt, it was the trip highlight as the scenery was spectacular and it was invigorating to ride such a challenging track. At one point, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience as I started to see the best lines to ride which I had previously struggled to see. I'm still not much of a mountain biker but I gained a lot of confidence on Big River and was really proud of being able to do the route on a fully loaded gravel bike. I was also managing a slow leak in one of my tires so that added to the drama for the day. With the sun setting towards the end of the day, I finished the difficult single track section and took a break to patch my tire properly. It took me a bit to get it fixed but then I was on my way to ride the last 19k to get into town for a shower and hot meal!

Further down the west coast, we got a couple days of wet weather which is fairly typical for this part of the country. I had mostly been camping on the South Island and decided to continue to camp despite the weather. One of my fellow riders warned me at dinner that a serious amount of wind and rain were forecast for the night so I might want to reconsider staying in my tent. I stayed the course though as the tent was already set up and I thought it would do fine in the storm. I was sorely mistaken! From inside the tent, I could tell that things were getting blustery and the rain was picking up as the night wore on. The tent was holding fine until a really heavy gust blew through at around 2am and totally collapsed the tent on top of me. Ugh! I had actually discussed this scenario with Ginny on the phone so I had a plan B in place already. I quickly grabbed my sleeping pad and bag and hightailed it to the hotel nearby. They had a communal room where I was able to get a little bit of sleep so that I wasn't totally destroyed for the next day's riding. 

One benefit of bike touring is that you can pretty much eat whatever you want since you're burning so many calories every day. While it's nice to have carte blanche to eat as much as you want, my diet has not been especially healthy as there are limited food options, particularly anything with fresh vegetables. For quick energy on the road, I'm eating energy bars and gels, trail mix, and peanut butter and bananas. Towards the end of the trip, I came down with a cold and I suspect it was due to my poor diet, limited sleep and cold, wet weather. Being sick was just one more challenge that I had to overcome to finish the trip. So now that the trip has finished, I look forward to catching up on sleep and eating much better (and probably riding my bike a little less). And of course starting to plan the next bike trip. Ginny and I are thinking a trip through Taiwan, South Korea and Japan might be a good candidate for next year.   

Dawn at Lake Rotoroa

Some of the only greens that I ate in the South Island!

Maungatapu Saddle which was a tough climb heading into Nelson 

Lake Rotoroa during the daytime

A beautiful swimming hole along the route

One of the many water crossings along Big River

Just starting out on the Big River track!

Riding a gravel road south of Murchison

This was one of many sections of Big River where I had to walk my bike

Old Big River mining shack 

Very cool wood carvings in Ahaura, on the west coast

View from Cowboys Paradise on the West Coast Wilderness Trail

Makawhio River in Glacier Country on the West Coast

                                                        

                                              Honey and a book lending library - what a great combination!

Riding out of Walter Peak, south of Queenstown

Haast River early in the morning just as I was hitting the road

Someone started hanging bras on this fence many years ago and it's become quite the tourist attraction

Huia mural in Winton

At Stirling Point in Bluff, having finished the TA

At the lesser known Bluff sign