February 20th - Nelson - Christchurch

This was my opportunity to finish the set. I was a bit apprehensive and felt quite unprepared, still with the help of Chris I was going to give it a go. This year (like last) the solo riders start 5 minutes behind the teams so I was hoping that I might be able to catch up with a team before Murchison. At the start line I discovered that
there were only 3 solo riders in the race. We rode through the neutral zone together chatting the others wanted to stay together. I suggested that we see how we go on the hills. One of the riders (from Wellington) had one of the worst support crews I had ever seen. They placed their car ahead and and infront of us - straddling the white line. They almost wiped themselves out near the old Wai-iti church. I decided then that I wasn't keen on sticking together. We had caught a team at Brightwater and could see another at the start of Spooners. We caught them at the bottom and I rode a steady tempo up the hill. At the top I had a 5 minute lead and decided to carry on - hoping that I could catch the Mike Foughy team that I figured was just ahead. Coming down Spooners my lights went out so I had to ride with the car just behind me until Chris gave me a torch and went ahead to find my spare. There was a head wind to Murchison and I wasn't really feeling that flash. I also wasn't eating or drinking and had an upset stomach so I was pleased to finally get to Murchison and use the facilities. I spoke to Jeff Julian - he thought that his team was about 10 minutes ahead so it was unlikely that
I would catch them now. At Springs I used the facilities again and started to feel better. I was unsure where the other solo guys were and so it looked like I was going to be by myself for a while - at least it was fine and dry. I carried on a steady pace and was able to eat and drink now and started to feel a bit better. There was a nice tail wind to the Hanmer turn off and then mainly a cross wind the rest of the way. With Chris's navigation skills we managed to get to the Square easily (where Hamish was waiting with a date scone) and recorded a time of 14:28. The speedo showed 30.4kph average which was pretty reasonable. Chris was a great help - it certainly paid to have someone who was familiar with the event and it was nice to have completed the set.