Over the weekend Team Abletech — Marcus Baguley and I — did our first fully loaded ride and test of our equipment in preparation for the Tour Aotearoa.
We started our ride from Wellington, heading up the Hutt River valley, and camped overnight at the top of the Rimutaka Incline.
The test of bikepacking bags, clothing, tents, sleeping bags and cookers was a resounding success. We started the next morning with hot filter coffee — so with that necessity sorted it felt we are now totally prepared. A chaser of hot porridge set us up well for the ride down the other side of the incline and past Lake Wairarapa to the south coast.
The south coast requires traversing a number of sandy tracks which Marcus AKA ‘the sand whisperer’ was very adept at doing, while Jules and I pushed our bikes!
We were rewarded with a very welcome tail wind when we rounded the Pencarrow Heads and started heading north to Eastbourne where we enjoyed a slap-up cafe lunch.
The review of our bike and equipment set-ups is a resounding thumbs up — with few minor tweaks we are ready to go — now just our bodies to get well tuned!
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