The Timber Trail is a 85km ride through the Pureora forest, which is one of the last remnants of original native forests which were milled by early settlers. Much of the trail is on the original tramline used to move timber, until it was stopped by a conservation protest. 

It’s a nice single track, but starts with a big climb up to 1000m. I figured that once I get to the top, it would be  an easy ride. Wrong! 

In most circumstances, it would be. The track is grade 2-3. However, fully laden with a pack, food/water, and a good collection of saddle sores and legs that had done 800km, it was not the easy cross country ride I imagined. I burned a huge amount of energy going up and then descending the first hill. Everytime you hit a bump on a unicycle, you have to unweight and correct your balance, which burns a lot fuel. A bit like a jet- you can cruise quite efficiently, but as soon as you accelerate/decelerate or correct your position, you’re burning extra. I had an enormous breakfast and packed a huge amount of food, but after I got through the big climb/descdnt, I was making mental calculations on how much to burn. What worked this morning for a 10hr ride  was not going to work for 12-14hrs, and my average speed kept dropping.

Luckily, I passed two mountainbikers from Tauranga who gave me some energy gel/jubes, and the two bike packers also from Tauranga, who gave me some energy bars. Thank you Tom, Megan and the other couple.  I burned every bit of fuel to get home! 

I’ve figured out why I keep miscalculating. I am packing twice as much as I would normally eat, but am probably eating three times as much. What looks like an enormous amount of food doesn’t look so flash at the end of the day. 

Riding the country is not just tough on the body, its hard on equipment. My unicycle started making various noises…which had me worried. What if my bearings blew apart on the middle of nowhere? Or the seat/wheel explodes into shards of carbon fibre? 

There were various squeaks- the clicking from Day 1  turned out to be the plastic guard on my shoe hitting the crank. No problem. There was a clink which worried me all day but turned out to be my tools rattling in the bag. A few creaks from the cranks (generally ok), and a high pitched squeak (which could be my bearings)
I had been messaging my friend David Stockton (unicycle guru who built the strongest 36″ wheel in the world). The plan would be to get the bearings greased in the next big town, and hopefully replaced when I get to Wellington. 

Anyway, both rider and unicycle made it through the timber trail, then another 24km into the next town (Taumaranui). I was running on fumes by then, as had been out riding for 14hrs.