84.5 miles, 577’ climbing — easiest riding day?
Lodging: Lands End Boutique Hotel
The Mossburn Railway Hotel was fabulous — full of character and excellent food. It was also full of TA cyclists. Today was the last day to finish (30 days from starting) and make the “Tour Aotearoa Hall of Fame” for the brevet. All the cyclists on a similar pace, many of whom we have have barely seen for a couple of weeks, were congregated at this hotel since lodging is scarce and this was the best place to stage for the finish.
By 5am, we could hear people rising, packing their bikes outside by headlamp. We held on until after 6am, then had coffee and toast and packed our bikes. We headed out at 7:15 with predawn light and headlights. We were on a roadside gravel trail for several miles, then fast, quiet paved roads with barely any climbing and no headwind. We made it to Winton, our half way mark, in good time, navigating a detour and stopping at a cafe for coffee and full breakfast. For some reason our service was very slow (25 minutes for coffee, longer for our meals) , but it was tasty and worth the wait. We saw a lot of fellow brevet riders there and sat with Mark “hyphenator” from Wellington.
Our ride continued on pavement and gravel, all good with low traffic. We snapped pictures of a southland character for our checkpoints and turned onto a long gravel cycle path, a little more exposed to the wind.
The last several miles were into a headwind with a few climbs, but we felt a drive to the finish. This part of the route was shared with Te Aroha hikers, the equivalent route for those on foot, some of whom have taken months to walk the length of New Zealand.
We rounded the corner to Stirling Point, the waypost for the southern end of New Zealand. Fellow brevet riders who had recently arrived cheered us in, and we congratulated each other. We took pictures of each other, for hikers at the end of their journey, and even for some tourists. Our lovely hotel was just meters away with a sea view room. After cleaning up, we greeted a few more brevet riders as they completed their journeys, then had dinner and picked up finisher medals at the restaurant overlooking the tip of the bluff. Views of the cliffs and the sea are amazing.
It felt odd to have finished with the easiest riding day at the end and the hardest probably being the first day on the beach. We will add reflections on our journey soon. First we are rearranging our gear to do some non-bike travel, starting with a few days on Stewart Island.