Day 13 - the mighty Mangatapu

I'm in Nelson which is a bit further on than I had thought I would be when I boarded the ferry in Wellington this morning.

The fundraising for the Breast Cancer Foundation is getting close to $5,000, sitting at $4,878. A huge thank you to everyone for your support for this great cause.

It was one of those magical days to be sailing across Cook Strait and biking through the Sounds.
After stocking up and swapping my SPOT tracker batteries I headed up and across Queen Charlotte Sound Road towards Havelock. They are doing a huge amount on this road to repair the damage done in the storm a couple of years ago. While riding the first section I came across one of the front riders from the Sounds 2 Sounds  event coming the other way having started at Ship Cove early in the morning. The S2S event is another one of the three brevet events the Kennett Brothers have set up (including the TA event I'm on).

It was another very warm day, the first in a while that I have seen, so a milk shake in Havelock went down a treat.

While biking from Havelock to Pelorous, I contemplated the options for the day. Either take a slightly earlier finish for an easy day or alternatively have a big day with a late finish and do the Mangatapu to Nelson.

I ultimately decided to take the easy day and finish in Pelorous.

Unfortunately the camp ground was fully booked. I could have backtracked  just a little and pitched in some flats, but decided to push on the basis I could pitch the tent by the side of the track if needed.
The Mangatapu is one of the climbs that is often spoken about by TA riders. It normally involves a couple kilometres of pushing your fully loaded bike up a steep and somewhat rugged track which pretty much proved to be the case for me.
On the way up I passed Murderers Rock. In June 1866 the Burgess gang killed 5 people there in two separate attacks.
The downhill is also spoken about in hushed tones. However  this seemed alright to me, possibly aided by fully opening up my full suspension for the first time on this trip.

It was getting dark by the time I hit the last 15kms of the Matai Valley Road into Nelson. I was okay with this as I have ridden the road multiple times before as part of the Coppermine Trail loop and knew it was a smooth fast quiet run into town..

Not sure what tomorrow holds as yet.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 21 Haast to Wanaka slightly longer version

Image
Yesterday started with a fairly flat 50km ride up to the start of the Haast Pass climb.This was going to be a bigger day at approx 150km to Wanaka. It's now noticeably darker in the mornings with sunrise after 7.30am vs 7am st Cape Reinga. It's also noticeably colder in the mornings. After a misty start the weather was spectacularly good and the scenery remains outstanding. I saw a couple of other TA riders for the first time in a few days. I had last seen this couple at the start of the Timber Trail in the middle of the North Island where we had shared accommodation. The Haast Pass is a fantasticly scenic ride and a decent climb. However I was soon wheeling it down the other side to Makarora for coffee. From Makarora I rode alongside Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. I finished the day off with 30kms along the Hawea River and Wanaka Outlet trails to Wanaka arriving about 7pm. Wanaka was buzzing with life, prob boosted by the A...
Read more

Day 24 - the big finale Mossburn to Bluff

Image
The last day! Today's objective was to get to the finish line at Bluff, which I did relatively easily by about 3.00pm. I started early at 6.45am while it was well and truly dark. I was mindful that I had 140km to ride and the forecast was a tad average, although this was to be the first and only day with no climbs. After 15km my back tyre was a tad soft. I had a go at pumping it up, but that only lasted 2km so I replaced the tube. I've not had a lot of fun fixing punctures with this bike. I've done a quite a few over the years but I've struggled to get these tyres both off and back on and today was no exception - and it did take quite a while today to fix. I was really grateful for the tail wind today as it would have been a long hard day otherwise. However, the large number of Sounds 2 Sounds riders I stayed with last night and also passed in the early morning going in the opposite direction were less enthusiastic about what was a head wind for them. Today's ride w...
Read more

So how was my gear looking back?

Image
So how was my gear looking back? Bike Giant Trance 29.1  full suspension  - my steed for this trip, also being what I have in the garage. Generally the preferred steeds are either 29 hard tails or gravel bikes.  I was happy with my bike on the trip. I had the suspension locked for most of the trip, although I half opened it on a number of trails such as the Timber Trail and Bridge to Nowhere, and fully opened it on the Mangatapu descent which was a blast. Tyres - 2x  Vittoria Mezcal 2.25   - good reviews for this fast rolling tyre. Tyres worked well and rolled nicely. Only issue was a cut in the rear tyre going into Arapuni, which ultimately caused some ongoing issues right through to the last day **Aero bars  Profile Design Sonic Ergo 43A   - to rest my hands.  Existing handlebars are 35mm which are too big for aeros. So have fitted  BBB bar ends  as bull bars  onto the handlebar. Have used a gel/cork handlebar tape. Seems to work...
Read more