I had very little sleep last night in the bivvy. It was comfortable enough, but there’s plenty of nerves keeping me up. It rained but luckily stopped by the time I was up (4.45am). 

The TA was to start at 7am. After lugging myself and a very heavy pack up the the hill from campground, I was already feeling pretty exhausted. Not good! I had 3L of water and plenty of food for 90 Mile Beach, as there is limited water and nowhere for food. That added at least 4kg to my pack- so suddenly I’m carting over 12kg on my back. 

Shane from maprogress was at the start with our spot trackers. Keep it pointed at the sky at all times! I slipped it into the top compartment of my pack, hoping the other bits and pieces don’t accidentally trigger the SOS button. A quick event briefing then we’re off!   Bluff here we come…

The first few km was mainly down and up, but I was in trouble already. Hills I would normally fly up had me grinding or walking due to the heavy pack, which brought my average speed down to 11km/hr. 

The turnoff to 90 mile Beach is along the shallow Te Paki stream, which is really fun to ride, but my average speed was still low. 

I was looking forward to the beach, thinking that I’d make good time on the flat. How wrong was I?  The sand is hard…but it’s sand nonetheless. The rolling resistance was not helped by the fact we were riding into a stiff headwind. There were a few other riders, but no one seemed interested in forming a drafting group, so we were fighting the wind all the way. 

90 Mile Beach is actually 80km, but was named by the approximate distance a horse and cart would traverse its length. They didn’t account for the extra resistance of the sand. It’s a very pretty place, for about 5min. After that it turned into mile after mile of mind-numbing beach. My average speed kept dropping. With rest breaks to relieve the legs and crotch, it was now below 10km/hr.  I was expending a lot of energy just to keep cruising speed at 11-12km/hr.  At this rate, I would either run put of water or get caught by the tide and have to camp out in the dunes. 
Luckily, the sand started to harden up after 20km, and my cruising speed picked up to 15-17km/hr, but everything was hurting now. I stopped every 2-3km to relieve the pressure on my shoulders and crotch. 

By the time I reached Ahipara, the tide was starting to push me onto soft sand, and my legs were done. I bonked about 2km out, so lay on the beach. The locals driving past thought I was nuts. ‘Want a beer bro?’ (I’ll never ride the final 2km). ‘How ’bout a cone?’ (I might just lay on beach till the morning). I don’t do beer or marijuana, but it was nice gesture. 

When I arrived I headed straight for the local fish and chip shop and started stuffing my face…salt, grease, carbs…perfect! What more could a man want. 

One of the wonderful things about TA is the friends you make.  Cam (one of the other TA riders) and his friend Mike, who lives in Ahipara, pulled up and offered me bed for the night. YEESSS!  Thank you so much. Nothing like a hot shower and comfortable bed to make one feel whole again. Mike and his housemate Leanne may have saved my tour, offering to send some of my stuff back to Wellington. The pack will be much lighter tomorrow. I will update my packing list later to show what I ended up with- half the stuff was redundant.