The excitement is building

Hard to believe that that the final countdown to the starting line is here. There's a mixture of excitement and what the heck was I thinking......

Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement and donations to the Breast Cancer Foundation. You can still donate to this great cause here.  It's been suggested that I should keep biking for every $ raised over my target. Thankfully, there's not much below Bluff!

I'm looking forward to seeing the start line with 100 others on Sunday with a further 80 starting on the Monday. I'm flying up to Kerikeri on Friday, have an early morning shuttle up to Cape Reinga on Saturday morning and starting 7am on Sunday. I'll be camping overnight on Saturday at Taputoputo Bay about 5kms away.


I'm looking forward to meeting other riders, be it at the start line, riding along the way or at destinations. 

Most of Sunday will be on 90 Mile Beach. The beach is actually only(?) 88km long and I'll be biking 80km of this, with the ride timed for the low tide. The beach is notorious for a nasty head wind, although forecast looks okay at this stage.

https://www.metvuw.com/

Likely destination for the day will be Ahipara at the southern end of the beach, although there's an outside chance I could push on if I'm feeling good and have avoided a prevailing head wind. 

I'm booked on a 3pm charter ferry across Kaipara Harbour on Tuesday to Parakai / Helensville from Poutu Point which is about at the 350km mark, so will need to reach Whatoro or even perhaps Dargaville by Monday night.

How long will my tour take?  I don't really know bit guessing something in the mid 20 days+ and will also be affected by such things as head winds and wet weather on certain sections. Under the rules I can't complete earlier than 10 days (no chance 😂 - this would be 300km a day) and no longer than 30 days when not so coincidentally my SPOT tracker subscription expires. The other 10 rules are below....




11 RULES FOR RIDING THE BREVET


  1. Do it all yourself, under your own steam.
  2. Follow 100% of the course (side trips are fine, of course).
  3. Carry all your own gear (i.e. no domestiques, unless you are part of a team). 
  4. This event is a brevet, not a race. It is not about finding the fastest rider. Riders must not complete the course in less than 10 days.
  5. Riders must finish in under 30 days (that’s 100 km per day).
  6. Between 9am one day and 9am the next, every rider must spend at least one block of at least six hours not travelling. In other words, the maximum time any rider may spend riding each day will be 18 hours (between each 9am-to-9am period).
  7. No support vehicles of any kind meeting you along the way (the odd meeting with friends or family is OK).
  8. You must have a Spot Tracker and be signed up with MAProgress.com. This is for your safety, and so that we know that you are following the course.
  9. When on public roads, follow the NZ Road Code.
  10. There are 30 photo control points on the course. At these places you must take a photo to prove you were there, and to collect a visual album of your journey.
  11. Leave no trace. We remind all riders to respect the environment and not leave ANY waste behind them. If you have not been schooled in this department then please do some research.

The course:








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