Day one and the 3,000 km TA has begun,
The 6km ride with 200 meter climb that I had planned to ride up from the campsite to the start of the TA I found I did not need to do as Ruth's Sister in law Clare and her sister Kathy are also doing the TA and they have their husbands travelling along in their motorhomes so I was fortunate to be offered a lift up the hill and as keen as I am on ridinng my bike I'm never going to look a gift horse like that in the mouth,
It was a 4:30 AM start this morning to allow time to pack up my tent and get myself organised for the ride. I'm aways keen to have time on my side and I guess that's why I'm never late!
A casual walk out to the lighthouse and the obligatory pics before back to the carpark and final preparations before Shane gave a briefing and at 7:59, a minute ahead of the scheduled start we were underway. Even though we were starting at 200 metres elevation and 85 km's of the ride was on the flat beach we still climbed over 500 meters.
We rode the 15 km's to the turnoff to the Sand Dunes (that people surfboard on) this took us on to a 3 km downhil gravel road before the 2 km ride down the sandy stream to the beach proper. Once we got there we turned left and the next navigation waypoint was 81 km further South.
The riding on the hard sand was fantastic and never before have I ridden for so long without a change in riding surface, cadence, speed and gradient. You simple lock in your spinning and carry on. There was a slight headwind that wasn't too bad and it wasn't too hot which was just as well. We made it to the "Bluffs" the only change in the beach and coastline in the whole 81 km beach ride. We had a quick bite to eat there before pushing on - always mindfull that if you dilly dally too long on the beach you end up running out of "road" and there's the stories of people who simply can't make the end of the beach before high tide pushes them up to the soft unrideable sand! Fortunately that was not the case today although for the last 10 km's the headwind got up and brought the speed down,
Tonight I'm in a cabin at the Ahipara Camp and Shane from Maprogress had laid out a good bike washing station which is really important because after 85 km's riding on a sandy beach meant that sand was ineviably through the drive train. After the bike wash I removed the chain and gave it a good lube before putting it on the bike. This is only the fourth time I have lubed the chain in close to 2,400 km's. I was introduced to "Chain-L" lube by Chris Brand my South African European riding buddy and I think I have finally nailed it. The result being that I am very impressed with Chain-L as a lube.
Looking forward to a shorter easy day tomorrow.
Ps. 9:30 PM and it is persisting down outside! Quite pleased to be in a cabin and bit the tent.
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