Sounds 2 sounds 2024

Day 1 of the Sounds to Sounds. It was a pretty dark looking trip out on the boat to the start at Ships Cove. Two boats packed full of boomers in bright orange Ground Effect Jackets. There were some very big rains that morning with thunder and lightning, during the Ships Cove Queen Charlotte Sound part. My first exposure to really heavy rain in a Bikepacking event. At least it was warm rain.

Ships Cove Jetty

There was some superb bush along that route. In particular the first leg to the Kenepuru saddle. I was very happy that we had the option of NOT riding the Queen Charlotte track proper. It annoys me that it's promoted as a family ride, it's not. It's a demanding saw-tooth profiIe and while I would have been happy to ride it if it was compulsory, like everyone else in our wave, I didn't. It would have been a wet slippery push for a lot of it.

The final single track into Anakiwa was lovely as always, and as I was approaching the Outward Bound Course HQ (which I attended in 1984) I saw an area labelled "Bike wash". Wow. A bike-wash in a Bikepacking event. I was very happy that I didn't have to wash down my muddy bike with sea water which I was planning on doing. A quick stop in Picton and on to Blenheim KFC for fries and burgers. I had ridden briefly with Mike Metz and Scott Pitkethley on the singletrack from Ships Cove but Scott's mad skills on his Canyon Gravel bike left me in the weeds, and Mike's off-road prowess is well known.

Heading to the Awatere

The Awatere Valley was lovely until a bit of a cold snap blew through at about 7pm. I stopped to put on a few more clothes and eat one of my KFC burgers. I caught up to Scott and Mike at 9:20 pm at Upcot Station in the Awatere for a pre-paid farm dinner, breakfast and lunch. Very rustic shearing quarter rooms but all the stuff you needed with a loaded fridge, and a kettle to make multiple cups of tea.

Awatere Valley

199kms.  3,425 m climbing

Day 2. Into the Molesworth. Breakfast was at 5am the next morning. It was superb with bacon and eggs, sausages and typical farm fare, and almost all grown there. I didn't have any room for the pre-packed lunch they supplied as I was already well equipped.

There was snow all around the hills and my hands were so numb I could barely operate my shifters. Couldn't tell if it was the cold or the 2 litres of water in my camelbak vest cutting into my brachial plexus nerve.

The Molesworth and Awatere roads were in great condition. Jollies pass, not so much! When in Hanmer I saw a chat from Matt, from Aussie, he was in the cabin next to me the night before the start in Picton. He had to replace his brake pads in Blenheim, resin pads are not a great idea for bikepacking, especially if there is rain. I decided to check that mine were all good before I left Hanmer. They were. There was a nice tailwind as I left Hanmer and then some pretty creative meandering to avoid the nasty main road. Sometime in the early evening there was a rapid 10 degree temperature drop and I had to put on some more clothes. Scott and Mike were ahead of me and had stopped for the night but I kept going until I got to Amberley Holiday Park. Quite a bit short of my goal of Christchurch. I was super glad to discover a manned 24 hour gas station. I paid for a tent-site but given its proximity to the main road I did a sneaky sleep on the kitchen floor and snuck out at about 5 am the next morning and went back to the gas station for a coffee to go! Check out this crazy noise I heard while riding along. I had to stop and check it out. I reckon it's Wapiti.

248 kms. 2,819 m climbing

Day 3. Amberly to Geraldine. Going into Christchurch saw a slight but very cold southerly wind which was dealing to my hands again. I think I had 30 kms on the others at the start of the day, but you all end up sleeping in the same place by and large most days anyway, unless you are going hard-out. It wasn't the most exciting part of the course and I swear I was on my aero bars at least 50% of the time. A 60 minute break in Chch central for some hot food and I was on the road again. My 90 year old friend, Bruce Arnst came out to see me again later in the day, as he did in the Tour Te Waipounamu. He's still riding bikes himself. Climbing out of the Rakaia with no shoulder was probably the scariest part of the course as the cars and trucks gunned it up the steep incline, inches away. I managed to buy a patch of dirt to sleep on at the Holiday Park at 8 pm. A pretty early night but nice to have some amenities and catch up with some of the first wave riders.
260 kms. 1000 m climbing

Downtown Rangiora

Day 4. Geraldine to Ohau.
There was a good bit of climbing early on and I was caught by Susie Bates, who was doing parts of the S2S, off the grid, on the way to supporting her partner in the Prospector MTB stage race. She was great company as we grovelled up the grunty gravel climbs. The nasty headwinds we experienced going into Tekapo were something else. We met Scott at a cafe. He wasnt too happy with the windy conditions, but ever hopeful, I suggested that they might die down. I talked him into carrying on to at least Twizel and hopefully Ohau. We got some seriously crazy sidewinds as we rode alongside the canal but it settled down and we had a pretty good run into Twizel and Ohau on the fun trails of the Alps to Ocean Course. We treated ourselves to cabins and a beer at Ohau at 10 pm.
212 kms.

Day 5. Ohau to Alexandra.
Poor Scott, I put a hex on him at Ohau by suggesting that Lezyne screw on pumps and tubeless are a bad combo. He promptly tore off his valve stem as he aired up his front wheel which had been losing a bit of air each day. I carried on. Another typically cold morning which saw me taking quite a while to get up to speed. My shocks decided to stop working not far out of Ohau. The Omarama saddle was a bit of a walk for me but the 31 stream crossings on the other side were pretty uneventful. No surprises there. I started by riding them but eventually I decided to take it a bit easier and just walk most of them. I got to Gilchrests store at Oturehua just before closing for a resupply. It was fun to ride the Otago Rail trail, having some great memories of riding parts of it with my family in 2007. Somewhere along the Otago Rail trail Scott caught me, having had a few punctures through-out his day, and we rode into Alexandra around 8:30 pm. Time for a resupply and a cabin where I briefly caught up with friends Susie and Gaz who were doing the Prospector MTB race. I probably should have carried on but I didn't want to ride the scenic Dunstan trail in the dark and there were limited options for camping at the other end by the time I started looking for them. 188 km. 1,798 ms

Alexandra to Coal Hill
I set off at 5am. Scott started later and did the sensible thing and got a new tube at Clyde.... which he punctured. This theme was to continue. I surmised, glass or a thorn in his tire, masked by being tubeless and not masked by changing to a tube, which continued to puncture on it.

The Dunstan trail was fun. I'd ridden it before with my wife in the other direction. The Nevis climb was awesome at 1273 metres. An even steady climb the whole way. My 22/40 low ratio was perfect making it completely rideable.

It was a very cold wind while riding up it though and a very long long drag out into a head wind on the way out on the Nevis road. I stopped on the main road to try and book a cabin and got a text from my 83 year old dot-watching mum. You seem to be going the wrong way Jeff! My GPS line was the same colour as the state highway and I had turned the wrong way as I came off the hill near Garston. Doh. I stopped at Athol for a big pub meal and waited for Scott to see if he wanted to get a Cabin at Te Anau and share a shuttle back from Milford the next day. Shuttles are super expensive and only 1 of the listed companies was interested. Wrangling this stuff while riding with patchy cell coverage is a challenge. Finally I left Scott on the rail trail when he punctured yet again. Thank god, he was hammering just to keep warm and I couldn't match his pace. I think it was about 4 degrees. He bivvied in a bird shit spattered little A-frame on the Rail Trail. I took off again with no cares other than a need to keep eating and drinking in order to power my dynamo lights. I had plans to make it to Te Anau (I was dreaming as it turned out) but bivvied in a shelter at around 2:30 am near Coal mine hill. I had broken one of the rules of the event by not stopping for 6 hours, but I had to get to Milford Sounds in time to be picked up by my shuttle. 218 km, 2,896 ms climbing

Alexandra early morning

The Dunstan trail

The Nevis climb. Glad to have a very low gear.

The Nevis Road

Coal Hill to Milford sound.
The last day. I had organised a shuttle to pick me up from Milford Sounds so I just had to get there. It felt like the longest day of my life. It was taking so long to get to Te Anau with all the cute little riverside trails I had to traverse. Milford was so damn beautiful but I was counting down the kms and it was very slow progress. The wind was brutal with a predicted apocalyptic weather bomb in the forecast. I hardly took any photo's for fear of not making it in time. There were tunnel closures to think about too. I was nearly taken out by two morons in cars who had crashed the lights to the Homer tunnel and the massive 900 metre 16 km descent had my uncovered knees screaming with the cold from the wind chill. I should have stopped to put on leg warmers but I was in reptilian mode.

I had done 218 kms with 2,900 m climbing the day before, then rode another 190 kms into Milford. I think I needed a different approach. Maybe to finish at Milford and get a shuttle the next day when there are others there? But then again the sandflies might have devoured me by that time.

Its a really achievable course with potential for a spirited run or a very relaxed credit card pub/cabin crawl kind of ride. I finished in 6 days 11 hours and missed very little scenic stuff with the limited amount of night riding I did. Would trade again, a very cool and achievable course.

190 kms, 1600 ms climbing

Milford Sounds

https://sounds2sounds2024.maprogress.com/

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