3000km of self-supported bike riding over some of NZ's great back country roads and trails, in a fraction under 20 days, although I did miss the Big River section due to river levels.
This was my first "serious" Brevet type ride. I found the years (four decades really) of tramping, cycling and multi-sports I have done were a major help in preparing for this. I had about 10 months of "specialist" preparation before the event and have to thank the people who offered advice on preparation, gear etc, as this was a major help. Special mention to Phil Brownie for his help and advice.
Since then, I have had a number of people asking my advice on Brevets, so here's how i did it!
Bike used - 2014 Specialised Epic Carbon Comp full suspension MTB, with clip-on aero bars.
- Rear Gear bag - 20L Kathmandu drybag on a Thule Pack n Pedal tour rack. This carried my spare clothes, sleeping bag, jandals, some spare food and other bits n pieces. It was reasonably difficult to get into, so i tried not to carry anything i may need during the day. At 1.64m tall, I had no room for a seat bag, so used the Thule rack
- Front roll - Stealth Bike Bag - custom made to 170mm dia (about mid way between the two sizes Stealth offered at the time. This had my tent, sleeping mat, parka, wind vest and spare clothes, warm gloves, hat etc that I may need during the day (clothes were in a plastic bag to keep dry). I secured this to the bars as per normal, plus strapped it up to the aero bars and it never moved.
- Front Top Tube bag - Stealth Bike bag - custom made, a bit bigger than normal. Had my battery pack, toilet paper, sunglasses, small tin of chamois cream, hand sanitizer, batteries for Spot tracker etc
- Rear top tube bag - Stealth Bike bag - their standard small top tube bag, but made with zip opening the other way. Carried puncture stuff, chain lube, Brooks saddle spanner, small set of snips, some cord etc.
- Stealth feed bags (2) either side of the stem. One had scroggin/dates in it (full, it lasted about 3 days) and the other had a third water bottle - not used much, but essential when it was used!)
- Fork mounted racks - Blackburn Outpost cargo cages, with Salsa Anything bags. Cages were clamped onto forks with two stainless steel hose clamps (rubber between clamp and fork - but still wrecked the stickers on forks). One of these had my Jetboil with some coffee and food in and the other was "spare" for carrying food. It carried a 1.5L water bottle down 90 mile beach on the first day, and that was needed!.
The above set up worked faultlessly. None of the bags / racks moved. The bike was great. I had no hand / foot numbness at all. The aero bars definitely helped with that, as the change in position took all weight off the hands, and bought different muscles into play.
(see seperate gear list for gear details as well)
Training - I had done Challenge Wanaka (iron- distance tri) in Feb 2015, so had a good base level of fitness. Basically, I built up my milage on the MTB over winter, until I was comfortable doing 100+kms and took part in a few of The Flahute Presents mini-brevets. Then, from about September on, I did 2 and then 3 day (approx 450km) trips about every 2nd weekend, with one 5 day trip about three weeks before TA (700km)
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