Thursday, 16 February 2012

The Southern Kiwi Hunt 25 Feb

The bike is packed! Tomorrow, after work, I'm off to New Zealand where I'll participate in the first ever Southern Kiwi Hunt 1200km unsupported randonnee.

I will be tweeting where ever I can, so if you want to know how I'm doing against schedule, here is the plan:

Control Km Control Closes My Depart Time In Hand
Christchurch 0 25/02/12 07:00 25/02/12 07:00
Hororata 72 25/02/12 11:48 25/02/12 10:53 0:55:00
Geraldine 182 25/02/12 19:08 25/02/12 16:40 2:28:00
Lake Tekapo 270 26/02/12 01:00 26/02/12 00:17 0:43:00
Omarama 358 26/02/12 06:52 26/02/12 05:46 1:06:00
Wanaka 471 26/02/12 14:24 26/02/12 13:35 0:49:00
Haast/Lake Paringa 615 27/02/12 00:18 27/02/12 00:16 0:02:10
Franz Josef 760 27/02/12 13:02 27/02/12 10:13 2:49:05
The Wafelbakkers! 860 27/02/12 20:25 27/02/12 18:58 1:27:43
Greymouth 930 28/02/12 03:53 28/02/12 03:43 0:10:20
Oxford 1137 28/02/12 22:07 28/02/12 21:15 0:52:35
Christchurch 1202 29/02/12 01:00 29/02/12 00:56 0:03:54

The full workings can be found here: SKH Schedule.
The weather forecast mentions rain quite a bit.  This might turn out to feel like two Bryan Chapman Memorial (BCM) 600s, back to back.  And that is after me promising never to do a BCM again!

I can draw strength from the following:
  • I have cycled in NZ before,
  • There are two bag drops (had none on PBP), 
  • PBP has 8000 meters climbing, the SKH is only 6000 more!
  • It is 30 km shorter than PBP
  • I have a 'secret' control
  • A 7AM start means less sleep deprivation than on PBP
  • Stunning scenery, even in rain, even in the dark
  • Have always been lucky on west coast with beautiful sunshine
  • I've kept my weight down
  • And have been spin training
And just a few things I'm not so sure about:
  • Haven't done anything above 200km since PBP last August.
  • There could be a head wind going south
  • Am I the only rider?
  • Will I be able to carry enough food?
  • Where will I find water? Rivers?
  • What is the average distance between 3 star bus shelters (3 star means good enough to sleep in)
  • Will I finish in time?
  • Will I get round?  
This ride really is above my station, and there will be no Ray, no Mel, no Pete, no Hummers, no YACF familiar faces, no Willesden crew.  I don't know of anybody else doing this ride.  There are quite a few unknowns.  But I am very excited and have been looking forward to the challenge.

Check out the @swarm_catcher tweets.
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