Greeted by a sky seemingly on fire and a mild morning, thirty-seven riders milled around the top of the South Island making last minute adjustments and quiet chat. There wasn’t much left to do, liberating, except wait for seven o’clock to arrive and roll south.

Photo from hikebikecake.com – check out the other riders and rigs there too.

With little fuss we were off and I hung around a bit waiting for the bunch to clear the bottleneck, easily repeating my GSB technique of starting right at the back. For the flat section to Collingwood (almost thirty kilometres) the no-drafting rule did not apply, I joined a small bunch. But I’m hopeless at riding in a bunch and someone’s squeaky bag was doing my head in already; I made up a reason to stop and let them go, leaving me in peace – and dead last.

A short, firm beach section – good to catch up to and ride with Amanda a bit.

Optimistic.

Back on the sealed road to Takaka, it was tolerated and the traffic didn’t get too close. I didn’t need to stop, but there were others’ bikes about and a bakery – I was sure a couple of pies were in order already. Out of town, Rachel (riding buddy from two excellent West Coast rides a few months before) and I headed for the long singletrack up the historic Rameka Track. Again happy to hang back and conserve energy, twas a thoroughly enjoyable climb. Hana caught up to us and up we went tail-end Charlies. Many of the stream crossings required a dismount, but it was fun to try and clear as many as possible. Near the top I went past Rachel and found both, a lot of energy to speed up a bit, and a lot of people just in front.

Rachel not going to Bluff at the start of the Rameka.

Familiar from late-September, once out of the Rameka the climbing continued on gravel from Canaan Downs before all that altitude was lost on the highway – annoyingly missing the shuttle through the roadworks by seconds, but that just gave a chance to eat and chat to Geof and Ken. Down at sea level, it was a long gradual climb up the very pleasant Motueka River valley as the afternoon warmed considerably. I chased down a getting-back-into-it roadie and had a long chat about what madness we were up to before he turned for home.

Turning right up another valley, it was soon time to cross the Baton River – a time to get wet, cool feet and find some others to chat too. Bit surreal to see (heard it well before) a big, old International flatdeck truck come around the steep, rocky corner loaded with irrigation pipes and then ford the river. Sweating over the small saddle, twas soon time for a pleasant downhill to Tapawera and refuelling at the pub. A large group had congregated and many were a bit caught out with how hot it had suddenly got, me included. But nothing a lot of food, cold drinks and some rest didn’t fix.

Heading south, naturally, the gradient stayed easy along cycle trail and highway as the hot afternoon gave way to a warm evening.

Quaint to see old machinery making wee square bales.

Through a farm section, the course turned sharply uphill to follow a pylon road over the hills. Walking seemed just as fast for much of it, so I got those muscles properly active for a bit. Once on the ridge and out of private land, camping was allowed and suitable spots were found. There was still daylight remaining, and preferring to sleep lower I kept going. I caught up to Amanda again – she had a camp spot in mind that sounded far better than my “I’ll see what I’ll find on the side of the road after the next farm” approach.

The descent over in ten or so minutes, we negotiated some large cattle as night gathered and we whizzed along the valley floor to the main road. The short section of highway was quiet and safely ridden before we got to the start of the Porika Track and the excellent camping spot Amanda had scoped out online – definitely some advantages to doing more research, but generally I was happy to not know too much beforehand and having more to discover along the way.

Strangely for the first night of such an event, I slept well – contented with a good day, easing into the adventure to come.