Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Fresh off the Tour Te Waipounamu, a 1,300-kilometer bikepacking race traversing the length of New Zealand’s South Island, this year’s winner and new record holder, Joe Nation, shares a detailed look at how his ride played out. Find his story with photos by Rob Dawson here…
Words by Joe Nation, photos by Rob Dawson
Since the first edition in 2021, I’ve kept a close and interested eye on Tour Te Waipounamu. The adventurous nature of the route Brian Alder has put together means that a more diverse skillset would be necessary to race up front. I thought my childhood of tramping and hunting paired with a background of gravity racing would be a huge help. I took my time with bike and gear selection, doing my best to strike a balance between safety in a potentially freezing high alpine environment and keeping it light enough to throw on my back using a harness and climb steep 1,000-metre vertical faces efficiently.
Following a six-month break from racing after the 2023 Tour Divide, I was itching to kick things off at Cape Farewell on Sunday morning, the northern most tip of New Zealand’s South Island and prepared to push hard for 1,300 kilometres to Slope Point on the southern coastline. Day one was intense. My good friend Rufus was setting the pace, and I was holding a 10-minute gap to him as we efficiently covered 390 kilometres and over 5,000 metres of climbing by 2 a.m. It was a big day that took us to the Boyle River on Lewis Pass. It was nice to have a bit of a cushion back to third place, meaning there was no rush to get in some food and into the bivy for four hours of sleep.
Day two was when the adventure started. Rufus held me in sight as we made our way up the Hope River singletrack, which was physical work requiring technical bike skills and upper body strength for lifting bikes over logs, rivers, and fences. I pushed hard for four hours, but I couldn’t shake Rufus from my tail. I was impressed but also a bit worried as it was an area I’d hoped to have an edge over him. On the steep 4WD push up to Lake Mason, we came together and chatted about how good it was to be sat in first and second but realistic about how early it was in the race. We hoped it lasted.
Next was the notorious Dampier Range hike. I knew Rufus had a sore shoulder from hitting a tree in the singletrack earlier that morning, and after throwing my bike on my back using my Restrap harness, I took off and created a gap over the next three por so hours, which took us up and over the mountain with little to no trail to follow at times. I knew I needed to stay out of sight, so I pushed hard into the evening and managed to ride the Craigieburn singletrack section and make it to Castlehill village at around 1 a.m. With massive resupply gaps, I’d remembered to fill a freeze-dried meal with river water an hour before my bivy zone.
Another four hours of sleep, and I was headed for a much-needed resupply in Methven. I knew I was a few hours ahead of Jakub Sliacan’s pace, who had won the previous edition of the race. This meant that if I maintained or increased the gap, I would miss the next vital resupply at Lake Tekapo. With this in mind, I loaded up with another 30 hours’ worth of food, including two freeze-dried meals. After some easy flat kilometres, I arrived at Mesapotamia Station and the crux of the route. Some hike-heavy vertical meters close to the heart of the Southern Alps followed. The views were stunning, and I was moving well enough to summit the infamous Stag Saddle well before dusk and was rewarded with one of the most satisfying descents of my life: a seemingly endless ridgeline topped with a serpentine trail that weaved its way down towards the valley floor. I would have loved to have been able to take more time to soak in the golden hour views of Lake Tekapo, the Godley Valley, and countless 2,000-metre peaks, but racing my way through this scenery also has a special appeal. I made it to Tekapo at 1 a.m. for another four-hour sleep, but the gap back to Rufus in second place hadn’t increased.
I left Lake Tekapo at 6 a.m., not willing to wait the extra half hour for a tantalising resupply. I had a gap and wasn’t willing to lose it. The remaining food I had wasn’t as wholesome as I’d have preferred, but a few bags of lollies later, I arrived in Otematata in the middle of a swelteringly hot day. There was a keen gathering of dot watchers waiting for me, and I made the most of a perfect resupply, with a bakery section loaded with filled rolls. From there, I made my way up the steep hike-a-bike of the Hawkdun Range. At 1,600 metres altitude and extreme exposure, it was definitely a place I didn’t want to have to overnight in. Although my energy and pace had decreased over the day, I made it into Oturehua before 10 p.m., where I was able to stay in a hostel for the night. The local pub was no longer serving food, so a cold can of baked beans on bread would suffice. This was my only sleep on a proper bed, and it was the worst by some margin. My nose was blocked with dried blood, my cracked lips were burning as I had lost my lip balm, and my room was far too hot and bright. Even in my fatigued state, I struggled to get any decent sleep.
An early night meant an early 3:30 a.m. start. The goal was to ride to the finish line. With around 5,000 metres of climbing over 310 kilometres, it was going to a big day. The first few hours were flat rail trail, and after my useless sleep, the monotonous riding and staring at my headlight turned my mind to jelly, and I struggled to stay awake. I told myself the sunrise would help, but as I made my way up and onto the Lammerlaw Range, I couldn’t help but take a 20-minute nap under an overhanging rock.
I woke with a startle and checked the tracking to see that “Relentless Rufus,” who had stayed in a hut on the Hawkdun Range, had still managed to maintain the three-hour gap. I was worried, because if I didn’t find my energy, I was going to lose this race with just 250 kilometres to go. I decided to focus on fuelling, and when I reached the next hut, I went inside sat down and force-fed two breakfast rolls. After sweeping the mess I’d made off the hut floor, I jumped on my bike and felt the power returning to my legs. It was at that point I knew the race was mine to lose. The conditions turned cold, windy, and wet, but I feared more for the racers coming behind me, who I knew would be struck far worse.
Finally, at 5:30 p.m., I arrived at the final resupply of Lawrence. Passengers of a tour bus watched me gorge myself while shivering on the pavement outside the Night and Day store, but I was far from phased. I knew the finish line was 150 kilometres away. With fresh carbs and motivation, I hit the final stretch hard and emptied the tank. Rolling into Slope Point at 2 a.m. the following morning was complete relief, seven hours in front of second-place Rufus and nine hours in front of the previous course record left me stoked. For a race with so many variables, very little had gone wrong. I was lucky with the weather, and correct preparation meant that the gear and resupply timings had worked out well.
I want to give a massive thanks to Brian Alder for organising the event and all of the station owners for allowing the racers to pass over their beautiful slice of country. This race lives up to the hype; it’s stunning and tough.
2024 Tour Te Waipounamu Results
1st – Joe Nation: 4 days, 19 hours, 1 minute (New FKT)
2nd – Rufus Wenlock: 5 days, 2 hours, 4 minutes
3rd – Lewis Ciddor: 5 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes
4th – Kurt Standen: 5 days, 13 hours, 40 minutes
Huge congrats to Joe and everyone else who has finished so far. There are still may riders out riding, and you can follow their progress here.
Further Reading
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