Ride for MMN 2022 – Te Tauihu Traverse

On 27 Feb 2022 I embarked on a 1130km self-supported bike-packing ride around Te Tauihu, the Top of the South Island of New Zealand. Following a figure of eight route that started and finished in the village of Hope, the ride took in a mix of gravel roads, singletrack, high mountain passes, beech forest and coastal stretches. It involved ab a total of 15,190m of climbing.

I completed the ride in eleven days, spending an average of 7 hours of cycling each day. My longest day involved riding 165km in just under 10 hours. Having never ridden more than 4 hours in a day until last July, the fact I now consider that a short day must mean I got something in my training right!  

During the ride I was blessed with amazing weather which meant my rain jacket only saw the light of day on one occasion and that I got to see this amazing part of NZ in almost perfect conditions. I was also able to stay in some truly remarkable locations, especially camping around the Marlborough Sounds.  

The ride was not without its challenging moments, be it some savage 20% hike a bike sections of 4WD track, some serious cross and head winds in the Awatere Valley and some fairly punishing climbs. However I came through the ride pretty unscathed despite getting a knee niggle on day 2 and some back pain on some of the tougher climbs in the first half of the trip and a rather painful backside at the end of the last few days. After a few days rest the only real impact has been an increase in the weakness in my hand affected by MMN. Clearly I hammered my immune system a bit more than usual, but after my regular IVIG treatment I recovered well.

Ride for MMN 2022 – The Route

Date	Stage	Distance
27 Feb	Hope to Okiwi Bay	97km
28 Feb	Okiwi Bay to Havelock	75km
1 Mar	Havelock to Rarangi	78km
2 Mar	Rarangi to Cape Campbell	86km
3 Mar	Cape Campbell to St Arnaud	169km
4 Mar	St Arnaud to Murchison	74km
5 Mar	Murchison to Reefton	121km
6 Mar	Reefton to Blackball	84km
7 Mar	Blackball to Westport	124km
8 Mar	Westport to Murchison	103km
9 Mar	Murchison to Hope	142km