Adventure Race X Ten - Traveling the Length of New Zealand Leaving No Rock Unturned!
The pitter patter of rain echo's through my tiny sleeping quarters as I force myself out of bed this morning.
Today we will race our bike's 40km's from Lake Brunner and then run 50km's through the Taramaku Valley to finish in Lake Sumner.
This is day nine, and for last 8 days I have ridden 700km's, run 40km's and paddled 102km's, with 21 more day's to go.
By the finish, I will have road raced over a quarter of New Zealand's main highways, run over and through its young mountain ranges and swallowed enough of its class three rivers and lakes to fill a swimming pool.
This is the Mizone-Endurazone, a 30-day stage race from the small town of Bluff at the southern tip of the South Island to Cape Reinga, at the tip of the North Island.
Fellow Canadians Norm Thibault and Marg Fedyna and I have joined 75 athletes to race each other across one of the most breathtaking countries on planet earth.
We were all racing solo but make no mistake about it without our precious support crew's we would have never even started the journey north.
Yvonne Visser was Norm's support and massage therapist for each of us.
Her knowledge and incredible hands kept us going day after day.
Marnie Kent was Margs support and her enthusiasm and local knowledge was wicked.
My awesome friend Babe supported me and her daily smile was all I needed to push onwards.
With over 3000km of road and mountain bike cycling, running and paddling we knew we were in for a dozy as we picked up our registration packages in Bluff.
Race director Greg Carlyon and his incredible crew had pieced together the ultimate adventure course.
Most days started out fast and furious on road bikes, as someone was always feeling good.
Roadside transitions enabled our support crews to load us up and send us on our way in a new discipline.
Most times this was a run through the wilds of New Zealand or in one case up, over, and into the crevasse's of the Franz Joseph Glacier.
If it was paddling then it was always extreme.
Crossing big lakes like Whakatipu or Rotarua fighting brutal headwinds and chop or the big waves of the Tasman Sea.
Then there was the rivers! Like negotiating the upper Waikato River with its class three drops and waves in 20 foot long surf skis and down riverboats.
The mountain biking usually involved long distances over gravel roads but occasionally we hit some Indiana Jones style single track complete with giant ferns and river crossings.
Every day offered something new.
Like day 9 when I found out that their mountain runs are rarely on trails but rather tracks, which are just unknown valley's between two mountains.
These unmarked valleys littered with huge boulder fields and freezing waist deep river crossings were your only way to the finish line.
As we made our way north, colder sections were replaced with high mountain jungle runs where we slipped and slided over tropical plant roots and negotiated dark mining caves full of water.
Off the Coromandel Peninsula, we paddled alongside penguins and dolphins.
These awesome sea creatures took the pain out of battling giant swells and the daily ruthless, nor westerly winds.
After 4-12 hours of racing your day was hardly over at the finish line.
Finding a hotel, fueling up and cleaning a days worth of crud of your bikes was what greeted us after each day.
Two rest days were also scheduled but these brief rests only allowed our bodies to stiffen up and make the following day harder.
After spending a month tackling New Zealand's harsh landscape, we arrived at Ninety-Mile Beach for a final 20km run up the coast to the base of the lighthouse at Cape Reinga.
This sacred Maori Land, where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans come together, is believed to be where dead spirits leave from.
We were not dead, but we were glad that the racing was, and the beer drinking could begin!
Today we will race our bike's 40km's from Lake Brunner and then run 50km's through the Taramaku Valley to finish in Lake Sumner.
This is day nine, and for last 8 days I have ridden 700km's, run 40km's and paddled 102km's, with 21 more day's to go.
By the finish, I will have road raced over a quarter of New Zealand's main highways, run over and through its young mountain ranges and swallowed enough of its class three rivers and lakes to fill a swimming pool.
This is the Mizone-Endurazone, a 30-day stage race from the small town of Bluff at the southern tip of the South Island to Cape Reinga, at the tip of the North Island.
Fellow Canadians Norm Thibault and Marg Fedyna and I have joined 75 athletes to race each other across one of the most breathtaking countries on planet earth.
We were all racing solo but make no mistake about it without our precious support crew's we would have never even started the journey north.
Yvonne Visser was Norm's support and massage therapist for each of us.
Her knowledge and incredible hands kept us going day after day.
Marnie Kent was Margs support and her enthusiasm and local knowledge was wicked.
My awesome friend Babe supported me and her daily smile was all I needed to push onwards.
With over 3000km of road and mountain bike cycling, running and paddling we knew we were in for a dozy as we picked up our registration packages in Bluff.
Race director Greg Carlyon and his incredible crew had pieced together the ultimate adventure course.
Most days started out fast and furious on road bikes, as someone was always feeling good.
Roadside transitions enabled our support crews to load us up and send us on our way in a new discipline.
Most times this was a run through the wilds of New Zealand or in one case up, over, and into the crevasse's of the Franz Joseph Glacier.
If it was paddling then it was always extreme.
Crossing big lakes like Whakatipu or Rotarua fighting brutal headwinds and chop or the big waves of the Tasman Sea.
Then there was the rivers! Like negotiating the upper Waikato River with its class three drops and waves in 20 foot long surf skis and down riverboats.
The mountain biking usually involved long distances over gravel roads but occasionally we hit some Indiana Jones style single track complete with giant ferns and river crossings.
Every day offered something new.
Like day 9 when I found out that their mountain runs are rarely on trails but rather tracks, which are just unknown valley's between two mountains.
These unmarked valleys littered with huge boulder fields and freezing waist deep river crossings were your only way to the finish line.
As we made our way north, colder sections were replaced with high mountain jungle runs where we slipped and slided over tropical plant roots and negotiated dark mining caves full of water.
Off the Coromandel Peninsula, we paddled alongside penguins and dolphins.
These awesome sea creatures took the pain out of battling giant swells and the daily ruthless, nor westerly winds.
After 4-12 hours of racing your day was hardly over at the finish line.
Finding a hotel, fueling up and cleaning a days worth of crud of your bikes was what greeted us after each day.
Two rest days were also scheduled but these brief rests only allowed our bodies to stiffen up and make the following day harder.
After spending a month tackling New Zealand's harsh landscape, we arrived at Ninety-Mile Beach for a final 20km run up the coast to the base of the lighthouse at Cape Reinga.
This sacred Maori Land, where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans come together, is believed to be where dead spirits leave from.
We were not dead, but we were glad that the racing was, and the beer drinking could begin!