Te Tawhio o Whanganui

Happy New Year folks. Hope you have some big adventures planned for 2013. If not, you should do yourself a favour and check out the Tawhio

This a cycle touring challenge where riders choose their own route between set locations and then share the overnight stops in the same towns along the way. It completes a loop around the Whanganui catchment - quiet roads (and some tracks) and awesome scenery are guaranteed.

It's on the 2-5th Feb and starts/finishes in Whanganui. No entry fee.

Tour Divide Win for Ollie!

Kiwi Brevet veteran, Ollie Whalley, has just set a new Tour Divide record. His time of 16 days and 2 hours for the 4,420 km MTB ride from Canada to Mexico is truly amazing. And he managed to ride most of it with a really nice Canadian chap by the name of Craig Stappler. Double win!

Really looking forward to his account of the trip. In the meantime here's part one of an article from Colorado's Mountain Flyer - http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/2012-tour-divide-part-1-the-northern-half.html
and there's some great audio coverage here http://mtbcast.com/site2/

Nathan Mawkes, who also cut his teeth at the Kiwi Brevet, is still out there and hammering along at an impressive pace. We expect him to finish in about a week. Good luck Nathan!

Big Rides around the World

Couple of bits of exciting news for cycle adventurers. Mike Hall has just set a new world record for riding round the world. Check out the details here:
http://road.cc/content/news/59544-mike-hall-smashes-round-world-record-time-91-days-18-hours

And on the 8th June, this years Tour Divide kicks off at either end of the North American continental divide. Kiwi Brevet veterans Ollie Whalley and Nathan Mawkes are starters. Good luck guys!
You can follow their blue dots here:
http://trackleaders.com/tourdividei.php?name=Every_Man

Hopefully there will be some coverage here to - http://tourdivide.org/ and here http://mtbcast.com/site2/

Arthurs Pass Pics

A few great images from Mark Watson (thanks!)

Report from the 'KB' Lanterne Rouge

"Hi Simon

I realise my trip was a little different to the full ‘KB’ – after leaving Hanmer on day 2 I was hoping for Hurunui or beyond. My rear derailleur had other ideas, somehow rotating 180 degrees upon itself and jamming the pivot solid, breaking the chain in the process. Eventually fixed the next morning at the bike shop in Hanmer using a large hammer....

My trip through the Wharfedale was a combination of naivety and brutality. My bike & gear were too heavy & ungainly and I ended up on the biggest hike-a-bike experience I’ve ever had. Over Arthur’s Pass the next morning I was in big trouble mentally, missing my family (my 22 month old daughter especially), yet somehow I didn’t want the riding to end. By Arthurs Pass village I realised that I’d hold the slowness record for KB by a long way unless I improved somehow and by Jacksons I’d decided to become a roadie to make up time. Maybe I could catch up to the others in front of me?

The discovery of my (up til then unused on the trip) MP3 player provided a useful distraction from dark thoughts and I continued – determined to get back to Blenheim under my own steam. I sincerely did not want my ride to end with a Bus trip back to Blenheim! I made a decision (helped by your text message) to skip some of the off road tracks to gain time and also ensure I didn’t end up even more of a basket case. Gear wise I didn’t have a lot of excess items, it’s just that the items I did have were not the lightest. My preparation hadn’t included jungle/hike-a-bike rides, so the weight aspect had gone un-noticed (in hindsight a mistake).

My final night was spent at Havelock – I’d suffered from ‘food anxiety’ after misreading maps & the 41km I had thought as the road distance from Nelson turned into 77km. Eating fish & chips at emergency speed at 9pm at the Havelock Pub while rocking out to the band that was playing seemed a great way to spend my final night.

Reflecting on the experience now shows it wasn’t all bad. Along the way I’d met some great people (Jackson’s Pub owner was fantastic & very funny, among others), discovered my talent for very bad singing to my MP3 player (I’d sometimes forget to stop singing when I rolled into a town) and totally enjoyed the food experience (think I entertained/horrified a few people at Pubs & Cafes).

I’ve learnt so much – not only about unsupported cycle touring/brevet (this was my first) but also about myself. Already I’m determined to have another go – this time on my hardtail (140mm of front & rear travel on what I was riding probably didn’t help either), with less/lighter stuff.

So thank you. What you started back in 2010 has inspired and motivated a large number of people – myself included.

See you in February 2014.

Cheers

Graeme"

Share the Kiwi Brevet experience

If you are interested in sharing your experiences from the 2012 Kiwi Brevet then please use this form to send us your high-lights! None of the questions are compulsory, but they will all be published. If you have an online presence/blog/site then you could include that link in the bottom box.
Form here: http://tinyurl.com/kiwibrevetexperience
Results here: http://tinyurl.com/kiwibrevetexperienceresults

Congratulations!

I was really impressed to see almost everybody make it round the entire course. It certainly sounds like it was harder in the clockwise direction, although the weather gods were on your side most of the time.

The following people finished (an asterisk denotes a rider finishing the Kiwi Brevet for the second time):

Alastair Brown & Martin Harry
Alex Revell
Andrew Carman
Andrew King (most disturbed digestive system)
Andy Gilbert & Tony Little (tandem finsihers, and still talking to each other)
Bill Fry (started with zero training)
Charlotte Ireland* & Tim Collinson
Christopher Gilbertson*
Craig McGregor (Rapid Adaptation award for his sudden transition from road brevets)
Darren Tatom* (most stylish tan lines)
Dave Sharpe (most esoteric text-ins)
David Kleinjan (single speed, with bonus style points for chopper flag)
Dean Johansson
Geof Blance ('Hard-arse' award for back-to-back brevets)
Hana Black
Jeff Lyall* (Voodoo Lounge team captain)
Jimmy Finlayson
Jo Smith
Joel McFarlane-Roberts* & Clair Graydon
Jonty Ritchie*
Julie Williams & Thomas Ekholm
Karin Pehrson (first woman to finish on a CX bike)
Lance Griffin (still smiling while recovering from the Tour Divide)
Matt Gerstenberger* (most improved appetite)
Matthew Kemp & Kerrie Noonan
Michelle Cole & Joshua Kench
Mick Brown & Owen Hughes (best time-lapse photos & most broken spokes)
Mike Revell (the only grandfather?)
Nathan Mawkes*
Ollie Whalley* (first to breach the minimum time limit, by half a day)
Pat Hogan* (biggest bonk on day 1)
Paul Becker
Peter Maindonald* (most improved - failed to make the 8-day cut in 2010)
Richard Davies
Scott Emmens
Stephen Butterworth (single speed)
Thomas Lindup* (bonus for most extra distance covered)
Tor Madsen

Only two people pulled the pin along the way, and Graeme Head took a few short-cuts after losing a day to a broken derailleur near Hanmer, but carried on round to Blenheim. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, several people pulled out in the week prior to the brevet.

The trip reports and photo albums from finishers are coming in thick and fast - there are a dozen posted in the right-hand column already and they make for great reading!

If you are Wellington-based and want to catch up for some tall tales, there will be pizza at Revolution Bicycles in Northland this Thursday (the 23rd Feb). Thanks Jonty.

Thanks to everyone who helped get this show on the road:
My wife, Sarah and bros, Paul and Jonathan for putting up with me.
The Pattersons for land access through MacDonald Downs Station.
Pat Hogan for organising the SPOT hire.
Jeff Lyall for a bunch of work to make the blog more interesting.
Andrew for doing the cue sheets (in a style which kept you on your toes).
John Randal for the daily previews.
Nathan Mawkes for the altitude graphs and reversed google map).
Mondo & Lisa for having me to stay in Blenheim.
Duncan for hosting the briefing in style.
Cycle World for opening early and collecting the SPOTs.
Dave King for getting the SPOTs to us pronto after his brevet.
Various locals who sent through photos for the blog.
Scott, Matthew and Louise for organising the SPOT tracking technical stuff.
And all the riders who contributed to the $3,264 raised for Project K (and chipped in for the Leaderboard cost).

The third Kiwi Brevet will be in 2014 - you have two years to find the perfect saddle. The start will be in Blenheim at noon on the 1st of February. We'll be heading in an anti-clockwise direction.

Pedal on!

Simon