Day 1 – Blenheim to Molesworth Cobb Cottage 121km
The day began at 6am in the Motel with a quick and nervous breakfast, followed up with a quick packdown of the stuff I wasn’t using into the bike box, which the Motel had kindly agreed to store for me until I returned.
Top Town Cinema (where the briefing was being held) took a bit of finding – I was rather relieved to see I wasn’t the only late arrival (7.20am, supposed to be 7am). Found Simon & claimed my Spot Tracker - all good. Lots of people who obviously knew each other, then there were a few like me who didn’t know anyone else & were just sitting quietly waiting for briefing to get underway.
The briefing was, well, brief and informal. That made me feel better. After figuring out the SPOT tracker I linked up with the other Aucklander, Paul Becker for the ride to Seymour Square. I found a good cafe on the way & stopped for sandwiches and coffee as a second breakfast, also to add more sandwiches to the already overstuffed backpack I was carrying.
Seymour Square – this is it!! Nervous anticipation, mixed with the relaxed banter of the guys who had done it before. An amazing array of bikes – some with creative DIY attachments as the rider had sought to overcome the logistical challenge of carrying sufficient food, water & supplies.
Photo call from Simon, a quick countdown and we were off! Led by Simon in a ‘controlled start’, we were off round the streets to Blenheim, before taking to the cycleway through the park and out of town.
At the top of Taylor’s Pass (anything with the word ‘Pass’ in it meant a lot of climbing), Simon pulled over and managed to photo most of us as we went past – we were now on our own, free to ride at our own pace.
What a pace it was – I quickly found myself near the tail end of the field – a bit of a shock I guess, as I’m usually mid pack in other races. A quick photo, food and nature stop after Taylor’s Pass descent and I was at the rear of the field, with only Paul for company.
The ride up the Awatere Valley was pleasant enough, but it was getting both steeper and warmer. At some point I rode away from Paul, only to have him haul past me again when I stopped for food. Think I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing and also had a sneaking suspicion I had too much weight on board the bike.
The serious climbing started around the 35km mark. By now I was counting down to the ‘clean water’ stop at around 50km. At a small flat spot on one particular hill, there it was – lovely mountain stream. A lot of the other riders had stopped & were eating in the shade. By the time I’d half finished the first sandwich, 90% of them had left. The other 10% followed soon after, leaving me feeling a little lonely.
Telling myself ‘that they’ll start coming backwards to me as they blow up/burn out’ I kept going. A few more stops and sure enough, I started seeing a few people again - although then I’d need to stop for food, so I’d lose them again.
Heartbreak Hill (there is always one) happened late afternoon & was the most significant climb of the day. At the bottom of the hill there was a Farmer & crew doing fencing, then the hill just stretched straight past them into the distance. It wasn’t long before I started walking, catching up to other riders doing the same.
Some time after I passed a guy not looking very well in some shade at the side of the road. He waved me on, just suffering a bit from heat. (note to self – there is plenty of water in the river that we follow for a bit – MIOX it & you’re fine. Only carry 4 litres not 5!)
“Molesworth 10km’ read the sign. Woohoo! Hmmm. 14.5 km later I rolled into the Cobb Cottage camp. Paul & others had set up at one end, so I pitched tent next to them on some lush grass, found the river for wash & quickly got into the eat, hydrate, get ready for tomorrow, sleep mode that would become normal over the course of the next week. Paul did a great job of quickly orienting me around the campsite, so I was able to settle down to dinner with the others quickly. The guy who I had seen under tree rolled in, to a round of applause from us. Ranger came by and sat with us for a chat - great guy – they get cars going over banks, motorcyclists falling off, a lot of 4WD club people being inconsiderate with their vehicles, they first aid a lot of cyclists for heat stroke & gravel rash & they’ve had 2 heart attack victims already this year. Water is drinkable here without treatment, and the DOC longdrop is well cleaned & cared for (and that was the toilet report).
Bed around 8.45ish, as it got dark.
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