Tuatara Iti
2024.02.24
New Zealand - Otago and Southland
This article was written by Sharon and was first published in Daily Encourager.
Photos from John O’Malley Photography and Richard Pasco.
Photos from John O’Malley Photography and Richard Pasco.
The great gravel grind
“Brutal and beautiful” is how a first-time Tuatara bike-packer describes the gruelling route through hundreds of kilometres of loose, deep gravel on southern hills”.
Dunedin tour cyclist Kel Fowler was among 74 cyclists who departed Gore on February 24 on one of three Tuatara 2024 courses. Only 61 managed to finish.
“It was both brutal and beautiful,” Kel says of his 483 km ride over gravelly, hilly roads, dodging moving possums and rabbits, and coping with his body, which was refusing to cope.
“They put you up every stinkin’ gravel road hill that South Otago and Southland had, and every time they stuck you on a flat road, it was loose gravel or a headwind or had trucks.”
The Tuatara biennial event for adventure bike-packers who are self-supported starts and finishes in Gore and this year offered 1000, 500 and 300 km courses.
Kel rode the 500 km Tuatara Iti course on back roads from Gore through Lawrence, Milton, Taieri Mouth, Toko Mouth, Kaitangata, Balclutha, Kaka Point, Fortrose and Wyndham, back to Gore.
He and his trusty Crucial Custom Cycles bike climbed a total 6104 m uphill, although sometimes he didn’t know what the gradient was.
“It was both brutal and beautiful,” Kel says of his 483 km ride over gravelly, hilly roads, dodging moving possums and rabbits, and coping with his body, which was refusing to cope.
“They put you up every stinkin’ gravel road hill that South Otago and Southland had, and every time they stuck you on a flat road, it was loose gravel or a headwind or had trucks.”
The Tuatara biennial event for adventure bike-packers who are self-supported starts and finishes in Gore and this year offered 1000, 500 and 300 km courses.
Kel rode the 500 km Tuatara Iti course on back roads from Gore through Lawrence, Milton, Taieri Mouth, Toko Mouth, Kaitangata, Balclutha, Kaka Point, Fortrose and Wyndham, back to Gore.
He and his trusty Crucial Custom Cycles bike climbed a total 6104 m uphill, although sometimes he didn’t know what the gradient was.
“You’re so tired, you don’t know if you’re going uphill or downhill.”
Kel says the event was brutal for several reasons, the first being that his tour bike tyres contained too much air, which was a beginner’s mistake.
The second was food-related – “I couldn’t get enough food into me, I couldn’t fuel myself.”
His body reacted to the physicality and he couldn’t eat for about 36 hours. And endured cramps, which he’d never had in years of tour cycling. Fellow Tuatara riders offered magnesium, which cured the cramp but gave him diarrhoea.
So on his second day, he awoke in Milton to diarrhoea and a flat tyre. Having changed the tube, he pedalled 153 km to Ōwaka but took 18 hours, his longest day in the saddle.
“I got my appetite back that night, after losing it for 24 hours. I pigged out on potato chips, went to bed, woke up during the night and vomited up again.”
The Tuatara was also brutal because of saddle sore, which he’s never suffered to that extent.
“I rubbed the skin right off my butt”.
He applied chamois cream to heal it and prevent chaffing – “I was using fistfuls of butt cream, which is not normal.”
The second was food-related – “I couldn’t get enough food into me, I couldn’t fuel myself.”
His body reacted to the physicality and he couldn’t eat for about 36 hours. And endured cramps, which he’d never had in years of tour cycling. Fellow Tuatara riders offered magnesium, which cured the cramp but gave him diarrhoea.
So on his second day, he awoke in Milton to diarrhoea and a flat tyre. Having changed the tube, he pedalled 153 km to Ōwaka but took 18 hours, his longest day in the saddle.
“I got my appetite back that night, after losing it for 24 hours. I pigged out on potato chips, went to bed, woke up during the night and vomited up again.”
The Tuatara was also brutal because of saddle sore, which he’s never suffered to that extent.
“I rubbed the skin right off my butt”.
He applied chamois cream to heal it and prevent chaffing – “I was using fistfuls of butt cream, which is not normal.”
Kel also battled sleep deprivation. His shortest sleep was between four and five hours, and his longest was from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. That was the third night, following the previous day’s 18 hour stint.
“Because I’d overcooked it the day before – a beginner’s mistake again.”
He says Tuatara participants generally rode gravel bikes and slept in bivvy bags or motels.
“We carry all our sleeping and camping gear with us – and rely heavily on dairies.”
“Because I’d overcooked it the day before – a beginner’s mistake again.”
He says Tuatara participants generally rode gravel bikes and slept in bivvy bags or motels.
“We carry all our sleeping and camping gear with us – and rely heavily on dairies.”
Long distances between shops meant Kel didn’t find food or water for about 80 km between Curio Bay and Wyndham, or for 93 km of isolated coastal roads between Taieri Mouth and Balclutha.
The 55-year-old took a bivvy bag, food, tools, camp stove, full range of wet weather gear plus one warm jacket and mid-layer, which never got used.
This wasn’t because the weather was warm, indeed, he says the sun never really shone, but because the intense exercise created much body heat.
The 55-year-old took a bivvy bag, food, tools, camp stove, full range of wet weather gear plus one warm jacket and mid-layer, which never got used.
This wasn’t because the weather was warm, indeed, he says the sun never really shone, but because the intense exercise created much body heat.
Dodging wildlife
Dodging possums and rabbits in the dark before dawn caused problems and Kel would scream at them so he wouldn’t hit one and be thrown off his bike.
He says the possums were terrifying, whether dead or alive.
“It felt like there were hundreds of them on the road, all stunned by my lights and jumping in random directions at the last minute.
He says the possums were terrifying, whether dead or alive.
“It felt like there were hundreds of them on the road, all stunned by my lights and jumping in random directions at the last minute.
“The dead ones were more dangerous than the live ones because the dead ones’ eyes didn’t glow.”
When cycling fast in darkness on the Clutha Gold Cycle Trail between Milton and Waihola, he had to avoid thousands of rabbits running across the track, between his wheels.
“I yelled and screamed and prayed – and kept pedalling. I ran the gauntlet, so to speak.”
“I yelled and screamed and prayed – and kept pedalling. I ran the gauntlet, so to speak.”
Nasty hill sections
Kel says the hardest sections involved nasty hills between Clydevale and Lawrence, and then Fortrose and Wyndham. Near the end, it was too painful to get off his bike and he acquired a new skill.
“My butt and legs hurt so much that I’ve learnt how to pee stationary, without getting off my bike.”
This was fine because no cars were around. And other cyclists?
“Pretty much everyone passed me in the first five minutes,” he says. The 1000 km course leaders went as far north as the Otago Peninsula and overtook him again on the coast south of Taieri Mouth.
“My butt and legs hurt so much that I’ve learnt how to pee stationary, without getting off my bike.”
This was fine because no cars were around. And other cyclists?
“Pretty much everyone passed me in the first five minutes,” he says. The 1000 km course leaders went as far north as the Otago Peninsula and overtook him again on the coast south of Taieri Mouth.
Kel’s most demoralising time came between Toko Mouth and Kaitangata, when he was fighting 44 km/h headwinds on loose gravel. He was tired, cranky and hungry and all the signs were temptingly pointing north, homeward to Dunedin.
The road south flattened out and he thought he could cycle some quick miles, but just couldn’t because of the gravel and wind.
“I pedalled on and kept listening to my book. Tried to pretend I was anywhere else, doing anything else.”
At the start, his goal had been to finish the Tuatara Iti.
“After about 5 kilometres, I presumed I wasn’t going to finish. When I looked at the first hill and saw people older than me just flying up it, and thought, ‘screw it, I can’t ride this sucker’.”
Kel kept going and finished after four days’ riding, or 82 hours, 28 minutes. He was sixth out of nine on his course.
The road south flattened out and he thought he could cycle some quick miles, but just couldn’t because of the gravel and wind.
“I pedalled on and kept listening to my book. Tried to pretend I was anywhere else, doing anything else.”
At the start, his goal had been to finish the Tuatara Iti.
“After about 5 kilometres, I presumed I wasn’t going to finish. When I looked at the first hill and saw people older than me just flying up it, and thought, ‘screw it, I can’t ride this sucker’.”
Kel kept going and finished after four days’ riding, or 82 hours, 28 minutes. He was sixth out of nine on his course.
“I learned that I’m both stronger and weaker than I thought I was.”
Before the event, he’d thought he would feel confident for more than simply 5 km.
“Once I realised how hard it was, then it was quite amazing and interesting to realise that I just had to keep my legs moving, and if that’s all I did, I would finish. And eat and drink and slather the butt cream!”
“Once I realised how hard it was, then it was quite amazing and interesting to realise that I just had to keep my legs moving, and if that’s all I did, I would finish. And eat and drink and slather the butt cream!”
Beauty and encouragement
Amid the brutality came beauty and encouragement.
“Riding from Curio Bay to Fortrose at three o’clock in the morning and watching cowsheds wake up, the possums go to bed, sheep farmers wake up, school buses wake up and watching the lights of Bluff fade into the daylight.”
He is grateful for family and friends from around the world who called or messaged – “It was really, really helpful and almost better fuel than food.”
In Ōwaka, a Catlins Inn worker graciously stayed after closing time for his pre-booked guest. Three others were also waiting when Kel arrived in the quiet rural town at 10.30 p.m. that Sunday night.
“I felt like I’d won the Tour de France.”
Kel says the cost of food, accommodation and unpaid time off work makes the bike-packing adventure expensive, and he was sponsored.
Asked whether he’d ride the Tuatara again, his answer was succinct: “Definitely.”
“Riding from Curio Bay to Fortrose at three o’clock in the morning and watching cowsheds wake up, the possums go to bed, sheep farmers wake up, school buses wake up and watching the lights of Bluff fade into the daylight.”
He is grateful for family and friends from around the world who called or messaged – “It was really, really helpful and almost better fuel than food.”
In Ōwaka, a Catlins Inn worker graciously stayed after closing time for his pre-booked guest. Three others were also waiting when Kel arrived in the quiet rural town at 10.30 p.m. that Sunday night.
“I felt like I’d won the Tour de France.”
Kel says the cost of food, accommodation and unpaid time off work makes the bike-packing adventure expensive, and he was sponsored.
Asked whether he’d ride the Tuatara again, his answer was succinct: “Definitely.”
Started three years ago
The routes are all publicly accessible, so can be ridden whenever people like, however the February event takes advantage of stable weather for a group ride.
This year, the fastest known time (FKT) for the 1000 km course was 56.5 hours, while some people took 10 days to ride it.
Andy says those with the FKT were: 1000 km, Matt Zenovich of Invercargill; Iti 500 km, Paul Gough of Dunedin and Little Iti 300 km, Myles Gibson of Dunedin.
The next Tuatara gathering takes place in 2026.
This year, the fastest known time (FKT) for the 1000 km course was 56.5 hours, while some people took 10 days to ride it.
Andy says those with the FKT were: 1000 km, Matt Zenovich of Invercargill; Iti 500 km, Paul Gough of Dunedin and Little Iti 300 km, Myles Gibson of Dunedin.
The next Tuatara gathering takes place in 2026.
Footnote: Kel Fowler is married to Daily Encourager Hope Writer Sharon Fowler
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