Sunday 3 January 2016

WHY?

As a Kiwi lost in the land of OZ, I needed to re unite myself with the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand that is. I knew about the Tour Aotearoa and it intrigued me but at the time it was apparently full. This was a bit disappointing to find out but I have a little thing that I tell myself “if you don’t ask you won’t get” so I emailed Jonathan Kennett and after a carbon Offsetting for my flight to get to the event and a donation to the New Zealand Kidney Foundation I was in. That was back in June of this year so much has happened in the meantime which I will detail in the upcoming posts.   Once the event has started with the  first wave on the 21st of February 2016, the second wave on the 22nd and the third and final Ave on the 24th ( I'm in this one)  you can follow all the riders here http://touraotearoa201516.maprogress.com/

You can also find out more at
http://www.touraotearoa.nz/ or
https://www.facebook.com/groups/touraotearoa2016/
https://www.facebook.com/TourAotearoa/?fref=ts

The reason I started this blog was to document the shenanigans and obsessing over gear and bike leading up to Tour, the solitude and sense of adventure during the Tour and the relief of reaching Bluff after 3000kms on the bike. Maybe some of you out there are interested in doing something like this, maybe just need a laugh or are just really bored and have nothing else better to do than to read what I have to say. I will be doing my best to post something albeit small every evening after a long day in the saddle. 
WHAT?

What is the Tour Aotearoa you ask? Well, in February 2016 three hundred riders will be undertaking 3000kms from Cape Reinga to Bluff. This is a brevet style bicycle event which will incorporate many of the recently built New Zealand Cycle trails. Some of the basic rules around this type of event are:
  1. Do it all yourself, under your own steam.
  2. Riders must carry all their own gear, sleeping gear, clothes food etc.
  3. No outside support (deliveries only to public addresses, no support from friends along the way,   no support vehicles of any kind meeting you along the way).
  4. Follow 100% of the mapped GPS course.
  5. Between 9am one day and 9am the next, every rider must spend at least one block of at least six.   hours not travelling. That is, the maximum time any rider may spend travelling along the course will be 18 hours.
The Tour Aotearoa is an organised event and is not a race but for some it will be a race, for others it will be a race against themselves and for all it will be an amazing challenge.


 If you want to know more check it out at http://www.touraotearoa.nz/