8am to 9pm, 210 kms

Alex adds some air

Day 3 (around 210 kms)  from Sheffield to Blackball was hopefully going to be a bit easier, given that most of it was on sealed roads. We decamped from our pine needled paradise and headed out for Springfield in search of pies.The food at the Springfield Cafe is always good, and there weren’t so many of us that the staff were completely overwhelmed as we experienced on the last KB. Luckily we all remembered what we ordered and then shot next door for more provisions for the road. As we were about to leave Jonty asked if I would share my “Sour Snakes” with him. I meanly replied that he could only have one, so he decided to go and buy his own. We said we would carry on slowly and he could catch up. 5 mins later there was no sign of Jonty so we decided to carry on. The road was fast and at some point we started on the Porters Pass. This was a pretty steep climb for the tarseal and I think we took the time to stop a few times to air up my leaking rear tire and oil Andy’s chain. It was spitting lightly so the steep descent was a bit scary for us guys with glasses on who were experiencing about 10 metres visibility. After the rain cleared and we picked up our usual tail wind some time later we stopped for a snack at the top of a big climb.

Matt appeared over the horizon and hot on his tail was Jonty ! Up until  that point we didn’t know if Jonty was in front or behind us. It turned out that I had bought the last
packed of Sour Snakes in the shop, and Jonty had turned the wrong way for a while and was headed to Christchurch!  Luckily he ran into an old buddy of his who confirmed his error. Its a small world. It was nice travelling across the divide, but the descent down the Otira Gorge reminded me why I bonked when doing the KB from the other direction. It was bloody steep, especially on a rear tire that has been leaking a bit of air.

Eventually we hit Arthurs Pass and indulged in some over priced pies, chips, chocolate milks and the usual confectionery. We were half expecting to catch up to Nathan Mawkes who we had been leap frogging pretty much from day 1. Nathan tended to ride a bit slower and take a few more rests. No sign of Nathan although we met Mark Watson whose partner Hanna was doing the event, and we also met Ollies girlfriend. We were approached by a lot of people who were interested in what we were doing which was cool.

Before long we were on the road again and heading for Jacksons.

We managed to snag some junk food there and were pleased to hang a right and hit some less frequented roads. Apparently this move eluded Thomas Lindup some many hours earlier and he had ended up riding to Kumara and back ! The roads in this area were smooth and fast. Even the gravel was nice when we got to it. The best time of the day to be riding is the evening, but we enjoyed our relatively early finish at Blackball at around 9pm. It seemed like everyone was there. Dave Sharpe and the single speeders, Nathan, even Thomas in his bright yellow puffer jacket, looking like a demented Big Bird – apparently bivvying in a hedge somewhere since the room rates had gone up since our previous
stay.

Although the kitchen was closed at the Blackball Hilton the chef whipped us up some very nice sandwiches, and even managed to build one acceptable to our resident vegan who was doing way better with his eating than on the previous Brevet. A beer and raspberry and coke later and it was time to wash our spare shorts and prepare for the next day. Unbeknown to me poor Andy was up all night with a bad belly. Was it the chicken pie or a hard day ? We never knew, but Andy stayed on the next day until he started to feel a bit better.

 

 

 

200kms, 7.30 to 11.50 pm

The Otututu River

Day 4. About 200kms. I’d finally eaten my way through the 6 cheese, salami and bean toastie pies I had made in Blenheim on friday night, so I would have to pay more attention to my diet. Matt and I decided we would head off a bit early from Blackball as there was no doubt Jonty and Alex would catch us, and poor Andy was still in his Hilton sick-bed. If we had known how long the day was going to be we would have risen even earlier. It was a beautiful morning on fast rolling west coast roads. We headed for Ikamatua and on route we rode past the Pike River turn off. At the Ikky store I got chatting to a local who knew my Nana and the infamous Aunty Murtle who passed away last year aged 105. I thought about hiding all the sour snakes in the shop to wind up Jonty but apparently he was into more healthier things when he made his purchases. I was more impressed with his diet than anyone else I came across the whole time. When we all caught up at the Brevet’s end Andy told us a story of how, when he was doing his shop at Ikky, he was sitting outside refueling and he watched a train slow down and stop opposite the shop. The driver jumped out, brought a chocolate milk at the shop and hopped back into the cab and was on his way.

We cruised up the lovely quiet country roads into the old Ghost town of Waiuta were my mother went to school. Theres not much left these days so after a quick look at the accommodation which was all locked up we hit the Waiuta trail proper. Before long Matt and I came across Thomas who had discovered that his latest puncture was proving difficult to fix since his tool bag had sprung a leak and his tire levers were awol. Matt kept going and I lent Thomas mine until he had at least beaded the rim. While he worked on his wheel a Bellbird tweeted vociferously less than a metre from our heads. I have never been so close to one in the wild.

It was easy to see that a heap of work had been done on the Waiuta track. There were no more of the treacherous creek crossings that we had experienced last time, but unfortunately the track was wet, and once again our semi slick tires were as good as useless with a full load on. We rode and walked for several hours until eventually Alex, Jonty and then Thomas caught us near Big River. We decided to have a bit of lunch and Thomas pulled out a flask full of whiskey! Big River was a lot more fun and from memory there was a bit of competitive descending going on which resulted in another flat for Thomas.

Before long we had exited the bush and hit the shops at Reefton for more pies, choc milks and supplies. Not sure why but we seemed to spend around 2 hours mucking about in Reefton.

The Rahu saddle was the next stretch, but it took a little while for Thomas to find his legs. Eventually his legs and sense of humour returned and from that point on the day just got sillier and sillier. Sparking up the cleats on the descents was the new cool thing, after Jonty demoed brushing his teeth while riding. After descending the big hill into Springs Junction there was a strange encounter between Jonty and a very wolf-ish looking cat, which he proceeded to stroke – with a piece of cardboard, so he didn’t get ring worm !

The next piece of road had us ending up on some tarseal where a new game started. The idea was to be the last person standing still wearing their sun glasses. We had already stopped to put on our lights so it was getting pretty silly. I can’t remember who won in the end, I wasnt playing.

Hoodlums on the road

It was a shame because when we hit the Maruia Saddle it was pitch black, apart from a near full moon, and the silly games continued,  with Thomas, whose legs had returned in full, attacking Jonty til the summit . I was riding sensibly with Alex who didn’t actually have a proper head light with him. The last 30 kms into Murchison seemed to take for ever, with more little pinch climbs than any of us remembered, but the road surface was the best kind of gravel there is, as someone else suggested, like fine talcum powder. We rode for quite a while with our headlights off, under the light of the moon. It was pretty damn cool.

Thomas

We hit Murch at 11.50 and I went about finding the Camping Ground we booked from Reefton. I went around to the office. Rang the number and listened as the phone went off in the house and I heard the guy stumble out of bed !  The keys were in the doors and the lights on. Excellent.

We were very disappointed to find that we had to pay for a hot shower, but once again Thomas impressed with his ingenuity by putting hot water from the hand basin into his camelbak and inverting it for use as a camp shower. The last I saw of him that night he was walking around like a skinny sasquatch wearing a jersey upside down on his lower torso while his bike pants dried… hanging off his aero bars, over the heater in his cabin. Hmmmm. Luckily he had a cabin to himself.

200kms, a big climbing day. 8am to 11pm.

Day 5, around 200 kms, Murchison to Pelorus. We all managed to roll out at 8 oclock with a brief brekkie stop at the cafe at Murch. The lady behind the counter was one of the friendliest we had met. Its refreshing to meet nice people when your butt hurts, you are tired, are about to wolf down a greasy pie and they talk to you like they are genuinely interested in what you are doing. We headed up the Mangles Valley at a reasonable pace but some how dropped Thomas who was having a “I dont like mornings” moment. We had decided to give it a bit of stick on this day, and it was likely that it was going to break apart a bit when we hit the Porika track which was a seriously heinous push. In fact, looking at the altitude map, it appears we had around 2000 metres of vertical climbing on our plates for the day, a fair bit of it actually walking. I was amazed to see Alex ride about 60% of the Porika, even with a knackered knee and tight achilles tendons. Apparently Dave Sharpe cleaned it all but for one dab.

We caught Nathan Mawkes part way up the Porika, and Peter Maindonald on the decent. If there was an award for the most improved rider from the previous Kiwi Brevet it would go to Peter. The first one took him 9 days. This time he was on a 5.5 day schedule and he was armed with some serious kit. A carbon forked rigid 29er and all the accoutrement’s. I am so impressed at how these rigid 29ers descend, he wasnt giving away much to me, if anything on my 26 inch fully.

The piece of road from the road’s end to St Arnaud, although tarseal, seemed really hard. Aparrently it was false flat. It certainly messed with our heads, as we had been looking forward to it for ages, and imagining a fast downhill descent finishing with pies and chocolate milk! We fueled up at St Arnaud and rolled over Kerrs Hill, through Golden Downs and eventually got onto 88 Valley Road. We passed the two single speeders Stephen and David as they dealt with a recurring puncture. This stretch also seemed to take a long time. It was hot with a head wind, and a fair few climbs that seemed to have skipped my memory banks form doing it in the opposite direction in 2010. Plus my arse was in agony. At this point the Team Voodoo Lounge contingent had been whittled down to myself, Jonty and Alex, who never complained although he was obviously in pain.

The navigating of the cycle lanes after Wakefield was not a lot of fun, but better then mixing it with the 4.30 rush of traffic as people made their way in and out Richmond, one of the biggest growing towns in NZ. We were pleasantly surprised to meet Chris Burr on the trail and he advised us on where we could find a nice place for Pizza and Beer!!! YUM. But before we got there a car pulled over on the side of the road and some kids jumped out and offered us fresh Banana and Chocolate Muffins! It was awesome. We have no idea who they were or who they were supporting but it was surely appreciated.

We eventually rode into Nelson, after a warning from Chris about how cyclists were public enemy number one. He was later to be proven correct with as bigger displays of moronic behaviour as I have seen in any boganised area in New Zealand. The Pizza and Beer were awesome and we were also met by my Cuz, Paul McNabb who had been watching our approach online. I did a quick grocery shop while waiting for the Pizzas and we took off, probably less than an hour after we arrived. It was probably around 5 or 5.30 pm as we headed up the Maitai in search of our next destination, maybe Murderers Rock on Mangatapu, or Perlorus.

The new alternative trail to the Mangatapu track was well worth the deviation, as it was rideable, and dry! Unfortunately Alex got a sidewall cut that we had to sort out with a boot and some duct tape just before the caretakers house. I was happy to be using all the crap I had in my tool kit. Duct tape, valve stem tool, and a few other things all came in handy at different times. It was a coolish night so the climb was a lot easier than it would have been during the heat of the day. As we approached the summit it was well and truly dark and we had a quick stop to send a text to Matt to tell him where we thought we might be camping, and to put on some more clothes for the long descent down onto the Pelorus side. This was less fun than it might have been as we had to form a sandwich formation with Alex being the meat, as he had no lights. After the descent the next 13km gravel segment to Perlorus seem overly hilly at that time of the night and I think we were all pretty damn happy to stop there and bivvy up. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the official tent camping site, which was just as well as it turned out to be crap. I found a dry spot in the bush and we slept the sleep of the dead, and were only awakened briefly by the arrival of a late night addition to our camp. Nathan had caught up, with Thomas in tow. Thomas carried on, to who knows where, while Nathan settled in with us.

Around 120 kms I think. 7.30 to 1.10pm

Alex climbs

A nice bay, not sure which one

Another  pretty bay in Port Underwood

Bandolero Bill

Voodoo  Lounge Proprietors. Thanks heaps!

Thomas understands the importanceof getting the hole-shot

Nutrition

The Voodoo lounge comes with a freezer, fridge, toilet, showers and a small kitchen, along with a TV, and a garage with ample room for bike tinkering. This year I did a big fry-up at about 5.30 on the morning of day one, cooking in the garage, baked beans, bacon and eggs. I can’t recall what Matt ate. But it wouldn’t have been the bacon, ditto for Jonty who also has hi ethical and religious standards in relation to eating dead pigs. I think it set me up well for the day, and I also had 6 cheese, baked-bean and salami toastie pies secreted on my person. These lasted me 3 days and were a welcome change from muesli bars, and more muesli bars. Carrying two full water bottles on my bike and 3.0 to 3.5 litres of water on my back at all times meant that I never run out of water either, while I observed plenty of other people who seemed to be skimping in order to save a bit of weight. I also had a spare half bottle on the back of my rack which came in handy a few times at the end of a long day, for some of my ridding buddies.

I do have a bit of a fear of the “bonk” so I pretty much ate constantly the whole time. Standard stuff that I learnt from the previous Brevet. Pies, chocolate milks, muesli bars, and way too many lollies. In fact my tongue still hasn’t recovered from the lollies. I think it was the Blackballs I bought at Reefton that did the damage. I always had two bottles of Powerade (from Gas stations) in my cages, and the Nuuns tablets in my camelback. No wonder I didn’t get any skinnier.

Camera bag attached to back pack

Storage

The late addition of two cut down water bottles attached to my handlebars were great for storing my wind breaker on the left, and muesli bars on the right. Easy access all the time was a bit of a theme for me this time, and I didn’t want anything on my back except water and the day’s maps. Next time I think I would look at a vest, instead of a full jacket. The weather was so good I had no need to even get out my rain jacket, and arm warmers and a vest would be a pretty good combo. A Revelate Gas Tank could have replaced all my little zip-tied add-ons a lot more cleanly, but they were lying about the shed, and they were free.
Photography

I reckon if you are going to have so much fun, and go through so much beautiful scenery it would be silly not to take a few photos. My camera from the 2010 Brevet died after some water exposure on my daughter’s Duke of Ed trip, so sourcing a new one was at the back of my mind. I spied a mint one for $29 at Cash Converters one day so snapped it up. Its no use having a camera if its not accessible so I built a system that allowed me to access it with one hand while it was mounted in its case on my right lapel. It had a safety cord and was very easy to extract from its case, and turn off and on one-handed. Think about this if you are shopping for a camera. One-handed operation is a must. I have a better camera at home, but the on button is too far to the other side, and every part of its surface is a button or a slide or something that turns something off or on. Too gadgety by far.

Getting connected

Connectedness

I spent a fair bit of time setting this up. My idea was to do a quick blog when we had some down time or when we were doing our text-in locations. For the most part it worked, but I am guessing with a few delays. These days, with an Android phone all you need to do after you take a photo is to press-hold on it and you are given a list of ways of sharing that image, from Twitter, Facebook, email, Blogger etc etc. I had an email-to-blog address that would send anything to my Blog and at the same time also post it on Facebook, and Twitter. Plus if I tweeted (txted) anything, the tweets would also go to my twitter feed, my blog, my facebook and the Kiwi Brevet twitter feed. For the less technically inclined people I had their email addresses designated in my blog settings so that they would automatically get my updates in their email in box. There is a limit of ten people on this.
Body

My body went great. Not even a bonk, no sore knees or muscle strains, a slight numbness in my right fore-foot, probably a result of some last minute cleat surgery but my butt was not that flash. I am not sure what the problem was with my nether regions, but I reckon it was even worse than last time, despite having good quality chamois cream and shorts, and having well and truly gotten used to my saddle. Maybe I need to try one of those big fat Brooks saddles? Most people who used them seem to think they were great. Not everyone, but the majority.

 

Click for a blow-up

Bike

The bike was brilliant. Faster rolling 29 inch wheels would have been better, but you travel at the speed of the people you are with, and 9 times out of 10, you end up at the same place each night. Speed is rarely an issue. Comfort is. The Superlight is a great bike to ride and with aero bars and a Freeload rack on the back I cant imagine a set-up that would suit me better right now. I have to admit, the new 29er Santa Cruz Superlights look awesome. I had a small slow leak on the rear Stans Raven that I needed to add air too a couple of times. In the future I might sacrifice some wheel resistance for a tire with more grip, as the Raven was pretty hopeless in the Wharfdale track and through the Waiuta, both tracks being quite wet. These should have been the best parts of the Brevet, but for many they weren’t. Carrying a full load obviously doesn’t help either! Everywhere else they were mint.

My bike is essentially my cross country race bike with aero bars and rack attached. 23.5 pounds in race trim, but 39.8 pounds loaded, without any full water bottles on board. If you add up two 750ml water bottles and a 3 litre camelbak, you can see that there is a lot of weight in carrying your water. I was scared for my 28 hole wheels at times, but I am sure there are guys fatter than me riding on them more aggressively than I was.

Wharfdale – Photo from Andy

The course

It was great, and doing it in reverse was a fun way of letting me enjoy it again. I suspect the original direction (counter clockwise) is the more natural one for the flow of the trails. Good weather and tail winds the whole time were the order of the day. Thanks heaps to Simon for thinking it up and holding it, as he promised would at the end of the first one, every two years.

Write it down this time, 1st to 9th Feb 2014. You know who you are !