Toku Haerenga Tour Aotearoa 2016

Toku haerenga translates to my  journey. It was a very private trip shared with about 250 riders, thousands of dot followers, immersed by half the population of New Zealand and thrust on the wider world by the power of the web, so as I say a private and very personal journey.

One of the interesting aspects of Tour Aotearoa (TA) looking back was the the Facebook forum, it was a wealth of knowledge, lively debate and a meeting place for a group of people I now genuinely call friends.

Somehow all of this had to fit

Traveling to the start for me was part of the journey flying to Auckland around midnight, was meant to arrive around 10 pm but flight delayed, this became a real pain as I had no fuel for my stove and was going to by at the shops but they were now closed more of this later.

So I spent  the night in the terminal chatting  to Sam Davidson  and an ever growing crowd of TA riders till 6 in the morning  when we caught the bus up to Waitiki Holiday Park.  It may not of been the cheapest way to travel but I would do it again, it was easy and got to meet some great people many of whom I rode on this epic odyssey, anyone that was on the bus will remember our conductor the shrinking violet Kevin Searle. 

Arriving at the Waitiki Holiday Park the great unloading and assemble began and like many the destination for the day was Tapotupotu campsite.  So before I had even set off disaster struck and the buckle on my seat pack snapped, so with cable ties and string and no fuel I set off for Tapotupotu.

So glad I did it was an amazing place to spend the night coming down to the beach was everything you see in the pictures and more.

That night I was given free fuel and fed thanks to Erick and Greg I soon realised this was just a cunning plan to shed some weight which I was more than happy to carry 🙂

Finally the day I had spent the last year plotting, planing and preparing for was here

Well the next couple of days !!!!

The Road to the Tour Aotearoa

7 days out from the start it’s just about to start

Ride eat sleep

Repeat

For the next 3000 km

             

Well the training is nearly done 4500 km ridden to take me to a place where I am ready for the ride to start. It has been a real up and down journey and its not over yet, I have overcome so many little challenges and some not so small.

Every pay day on the way to the start there has been a something more to buy, something that’s broken or needs replacing or upgrading and if you change just one thing the knock on effect ripples through the whole system.

Sore knees, saddle sore and sore muscles are just a few of the things that have not gone as planned. I gave no regard at the start of my training to the fact that I am 50 now, but aging may not be an excuse for not training hard but I can assure you that I no longer recover as quickly as I did and have to build up slower,  this is not an issue if you have good systems in place to take care of yourself.

Oh and every 1000 km is equal to 1 kg in weight loss so far which has been a nice bonus

So what I now have is this to carry for the next 3000 km

  

So 26 kg of bike and gear and food and drink!

None of this would be possible without my wife’s support

 

 

1x 2x 3x Crazy Gearing

So my crank is too long, easy just change it for a shorter one! Yea right, I have sent my self dizzy looking at 10 speed set ups. You can go 1x, 2x, 3x, extended range, compact ratio, boost and much more. I was able to keep it simple in one respect as Shimano  is the tool of choice, as it works with the rest of my gear and of their ranges I really was looking at Deore and  SLX  nothing above or below so firmly in the middle of quality and price.

Deore is what I have a now and to be fair it works well and I have not had any issues with how it works or looks, but I do know there are quality and weight savings to be made with SLX so I guess price/value will be my guide coupled with gears that will allow me to climb rather that sprint.

After much research on ratio’s I decided on and ordered a 36/22 Deore M627, great value and would give me a nice spread of gears with a 11-34 cassette with the option to move up to a 11-36 if needed.

Within hours of ordering I had changed the order as I found out that it comes as a Boost version which moves the chain line 3 mm out to correct for the 148 Boost system as I am not looking to change the whole drive train, I decided to keep clear. 3mm is not a lot but why make it less than ideal when you are buying new?

So I ended  back at my first choice, the M672 SLX 40-30-22.

The price was right and effectively gives me one more gear on the road for down hills and the same ratios where it counts for climbing, and its lighter, so in the end I win.

I think!

Training Underway

Well riding not so fast up that hill,not long but tough going. Was out for 76 km the sun was really hot, but not to much wind so was good news,

Time is marching on and training time becomes more precious by the day, think that the bike is now set  and good to go, the pack list is almost fixed

The Big Five – Bike – Part Five

Fully loaded 2008

Fully loaded 2015

Because the everything now weights in 24kg lighter the bike can be lighter too, and I could easily go lighter still, but my wheels are over 2.5 kg lighter than on my old bike and they are 29ers now, before 26ers, this makes a massive difference in how the whole thing roles but I now get up hills I was doomed to walk. The frame and forks are lighter and hence feel much more lively and responsive, and riding out of the saddle is fun and not a performance in the Zen art of balance.

Gone is the Rohloff,  its heavy and when the flange fails as mine did you are left with a hunk of junk that requires to be sent back for repair, bomb proof my arse, great for touring in the third world or remote places. Well in the developed world it took 2 weeks to get back to me, I had to strip down and then rebuild the wheel, and remember Rohloff spokes are not a regular size on a 26er. I don’t know about you but I don’t have that much spare time or money, and it will happen when its most inconvenient, the law of sod demands.

When I pick up the 2 wheels the 1.5 kg heavier Rohloff wheel weights in more than my complete front dyno hub and rear 10 speed, my rims are 500 grams lighter each, yep they might not last as long but my knees are thanking me for the weight loss.

If I go overseas and feel I need to carry a little more I can still add a light weight rack if I need too, but I would have to be going very remote to make this a requirement, and as soon as you add another bag, along comes the fear of empty spaces and you got to fill it.

Its been a surprising and interesting journey so now let the fun begin!

 

The Big Five – Luggage – Part Four

Look how much I can carry!!! Big but not clever 🙂

I love fully loaded touring but have come to realise fully loaded does not have to mean heavy and lighter is better. However for versatility you cant beat a pannier seat up and it gives you, its never going to be as light as a soft bag system and as for durability of soft bags I can’t say but I have done tens of thousands of kilometers with my Ortlieb bags over many years with only two problems.

• I put a hole in one (which I repaired)
• Hard to dry if they get wet on the inside (they don’t leak, packing wet gear or rain while bag open)

Fully loaded 2008

When I first got the soft bags I thought I had brought junk, not as easy to pack fabric feels easy to damage. But I remember thing panniers were a pain with being just a large sack and hard to find anything you just have to learn how to live with them. Now that I have reduced the amount of kit that I carry or upgraded to a smaller package size I like them in the main, and if I was going really remote or very cold climate for a long time the change I might make would be to add a light weight rack and a small set of panniers the main reason for this would be to carry extra food and or bulkier warmer clothes, but and here is the big but to that.

On average I travel 5km per hour faster with no extra effort up or down hill. I tend to cycle 8 hour days this depends on weather light etc, but if we say 8 hours that is 40 km per day further traveled or 280 km per week

• So with panniers average of 15 kph, 120 km per day or 840 km per week
• With soft bags average of 20 kph, 160 km per day or 1120 km per week

Now I know sometimes I will cycle less and slower or faster but for me over the same road or trail or mountains about 5 km per hour is a big deal. Lets face it anywhere that there is little water or no food you will not be hanging around for long on a bike and its a matter of head down long days enjoying the world you are in but keeping moving to the next resupply.

Fully loaded 2015

So whats is the difference in weight

• Front and rear panniers and racks, saddle bag and handle bar bag  = 7.5kg
• Bar bag, pocket, tool pod, fuel pod, frame bag and saddle bag and fork mounts = 1.5kg

A 6 kg weight saving is massive, and for most people in the developed world losing 6 kg of body weight would make them feel great and much easier to move about and this is the same effect it has on your bike.

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Five – Cook System – Part Three

Cook systems, I guess this is one of those things that cause so much personal disagreement over which is best

MSR WhisperLite international

The blow torch or better known as the MSR WhisperLite international, I owned and used one of these for about 10+ years, really great stove. The stove has one heat setting which full on, you can make it simmer by getting the stove cranking then switching off, release the pressure in the fuel bottle and then re-light without putting pressure on fuel stove will burn more slowly.  During this time the stove was used more than 600 days and never missed a beat, burnt white gas petrol and kerosene during that time, white gas the cleanest and kerosene the worst but all works well.

After long term usage I decided that a stove that could not simmer and was really about mountaineering where boiling water was the most important thing  and not cooking up something tasty.

 

 

Trangia

So back to a Trangia a long term favorite that I used back in my hiking days, I would say if you cant cook in a Trangia its your cooking ability not the stove system. Yes its slow but I am a cycle tourist, who cares I do this for fun not haste. You can cook anything from bread and cakes to a morning fry up and most things in between. If I know I am camping without facilities for any length of time this is my go to set up, at around a kilo its quite light and totally reliable.  I know in some parts of the world fuel is no so easy to come by but not impossible either. With the simmer ring fitted the stove will simmer on a fill for at least 40 minutes which is really nice and any fuel not needed is stored in the stove. The wind shield is about as good as they come.

The Omnifuel

This was brought as a replacement for the MSR for trips when the Trangia was not the best option. In some ways I wish I had kept the MSR as there are so many things I can see could go wrong, I am sure its fine but am not convinced. Yes you can simmer or maybe boil less rapidly is more true and it lacks the shaker valve you get on the MSR.  The benefit of the stove is it burns just about anything, from propane to kerosene, but there are valves to change to make it burn well but in practice you can just run it on the same one and get by.  To combine this with the Trangia seemed a great idea.

The Omni Trangia

So I already have the pots and pans why not combine? Turned out to be a complete pain really heavy bulky and don’t touch the wind shield for the fear of your hand melting, and that was with the stove on its lowest output, great idea complete fail.

The Evernew Appalachian Set

So my latest and lightest is the Evernew Appalachian Set at 161g it weights next to nothing and will burn alcohol, wood and solid fuel tabs which is pretty cool. This is my stove set for fast and light and is so small its great. This for me came about because most of the campsites in New Zealand provide a well equipped kitchen so this gives me a complete system which I can carry and not worry about its size and weight if its not needed on the trip, but to be fare this is what finds its way into my bag most often. I added a 1 ltr Ti pot and now I have a 2 pot system which is so light and flexible.

 

The Big Five – Sleep System – Part Two

Like most people of my age my first camping sleep system was the ground and a sleeping bag or blankets, which is really simple and cheap. But long term this was never going to work the cheap synthetic sleeping bag was never going to last, but it got you out and that was great.

From there the addition of the close cell foam mat, comfy, warm, nearly indestructible and light , but lets be honest small pack size does not belong here.  But defiantly better than the dirt.So years later funds and experience led me to the self inflating air mattress and a new level of comfort.  So the Thermarest Prolite 3 was added to my bag. But at 660 g not light but still more comfortable but I found as a side sleeper I needed to use 2 totaling a whopping 1.3kg, but to me it was worth it. But hang on a minute I thought this was about reducing weight and bulk? Well that is the next stage.

The Exped  range of mats, my son brought the 9 cm Long and wide (LW) down mat OMG what a mat. As I have no intention of snow caving and the like, so I went for the UL7 LW and its fantastic. I can sleep on my side and its warm, not as good as the down but still enough for my needs and I have access to the down version if required. At 668 grams and the size of a not much larger than Nalgene bottle its a win.

Sleeping bag of choice for me is down its pack to weight ration is far superior to synthetic. I have to bags both light weight but one will go to about -10 C and the other will take about -2 C at a push but not pleasant. I went this way as I was getting too warm in my winter bag and then waking cold as I had unzipped to let me cool down before I got to sleep.

A nice addition to any sleep system is a pillow, yes you can use spare gear but I tend not to anything I would like to use as a pillow.My first dedicated camp pillow was from Thermarest fairly light but not a small pack size

Then I moved to the Exped much more compact pack size ( the Thermarest packs to about 1/3 of its open size) and for me I thing more comfortable.

What I have noticed is that with Exped down UL mat I can sleep in far colder temperatures  with a lighter weight sleeping bag.  So my system is now  1 kg lighter and has reduced in volume by over 60%. My  UL7 LW  fits on my front forks on right as viewed in this picture.

The Ortlieb 14L dry bag contains ( everything in red is part of sleep system)

• Sleeping bag 650g
• Exped pillow 108 g of awesome
• P/J swimmers 130g
• UL down jacket 260g

So with with mat comes in a 1.86 kg which for the level of comfort/warmth is quite light for winter usage I need to add about 600g to that weight. I guess if a ultra marathon race type looked at my kit they would cringe at my version of UL but this is for comfort for many weeks/months  not a few days

• Tent nest and pole
• Mosquito head net
• Jacket WP hi vis
• First aid kit
• Bowl
• Evernew Ti cook-set

The Big Five – Shelter – Part One

Shelter

The quickest way to save weight on your shelter is to get rid of it and take a credit card, but for me that is a problem.

1. Cost
2. Location
3. I really like camping

So I have had few tents for touring, my first tent was single skin cheap as you like and a great start 36 years or so ago, and it really started something.

Jump forward a few decades and I found myself in a Nallo GT,  a lot more robust and unbelievably more expensive, and 3.2kg great tent and still used.

But it had its problems 3.2kg is to much for a solo cyclist to carry, this tent will stand up to just about anything, I say just about as it was flattened at Castle point new Zealand in a massive gale. Testament to its strength that trees fell before it did and it was my fault for pitching on the sea front with a gale due. That night all the other tents on the campsite were destroyed and although damaged I was still able to use the tent which was impressive, has since been repaired like new by Hilleberg.

The only other problem I have suffered with this tent is condensation as it needs lots of ventilation and good orientation as it zips up so wind tight. Still if I was sharing the load I would carry this tent and be sure of warm dry nights with lots of space for gear.

So in my search for the perfect solo tent I next moved to a Marmot Limelight 2. This seemed to tick all the boxes, free standing stealthy green and much smaller, but the reality was it was nearly as heavy as the Nallo and actually as big pack size I was disappointed to say the least. So eldest son needed a tent for a year long outdoor education certificate and the tent moved on.

Well then along the Vaude Hogan and this was a great tent my only complaint of it was the vestibule is tiny and pitches inner first, about 1.5kg packs up nice and Small easy fit in a pannier and free standing nearly. The real problem with it is it now resides in youngest sons pack. I seriously thought about buying the same tent as a replacement as it is that good but I wanted the version with a bigger vestibule which I was unable to get for the right sort of money in New Zealand.

So the the current end game is out of China and is the Luxe Sil peak Mini and it is a great not so little tent, with a total weight of 1.4kg and a tiny pack size its great for me. 2.4m by 2.2m heaps of space for bad weather or getting out the sun, well made and has held up well. Can be used as a tarp, a tent with or with out pole but not free standing can be pitched quickly with 4 pegs but is better with 8 pegs. Without the pole and inner you have a 800 gram trap tent. The inner nest is for one only but the tent will sleep 2.

So its downsides are that it slopes being a Tepee style of tent and that makes the tent wall feel closes to you feet and head but has never touched. The other problem is that the mud wall on the nest is quite shallow and should be higher its never been a problem but had me worried when a stream formed under the tent in a storm. Luxe has since changed the inner with higher mud walls which I am sure is a good idea.

So my system is now  1.8 kg lighter and has reduced in volume by over 75% and at the moment have no reason to change as this tent fly fits on my front forks and the pole and nest in the Ortlieb dry bag(with other gear), and the  tent fly on left as viewed in this picture.

 

Change is Never Easy

Over the last few month I have been building and modifying Bagheera, from dynamo hub through brakes and gear changers, bags and handlebars, and even a new charging system.

So just as I think its right, the next iteration comes along, and changes everything and I have been riding more and writing less, which is good but I feel like I have not recorded this growing process so over the next few posts I intend to put this situation right.

I have a love hate relationship with springtime, weather is improving and I’m able to ride more but the garden wants more time as does the house, so at the moment feeling a little thin even if my waist line says different.

As I prepare for the Tour Aotearoa my weekly and individual mileage goes up, I am constantly trying to reduce weight of the kit I carry. I guess my approach to this is make a list of everything I could ever need, weight it, have an OMG moment and then go to the absolute minimum. Then comes the, this is meant to be enjoyable factor and slowly add back in what is really needed, till I have my acceptable comfort level.

I learned the hard way carrying to much may allow you to do anything and be ready for anything, but when the world starts to go vertical life is not much fun when you drag a loaded bike up a mountain because its to heavy to peddle. Now more than ever in my life lightweight kit is more readily available and is tough enough for extended use, the downside is it’s costs and you have to be a little more careful.

So I have gone from a 20kg touring bike to a  16kg bike and 40kg of food water and gear to 16kg. Yes there are differences and maybe some sacrifices but it works for me.  These are both fully loaded and neither bike is generally this heavy.

Totals Old 60kg

Totals New 32kg

So how have I done this, what has changed and do I miss anything and can I and should I go lighter…………?