[Closed] Ninety Mile Beach; New Zealand

I was talking to someone recently who'd done the Tour Aurotea (sp?). Apparently it's not ninety miles long, that designation comes from a Maori tradition that a day's walk was 30 miles and it took them three days to walk along the beach ...

I'd look at what bikes get used in the TA and go from there.

I rode Tour Aotearoa this year (which started on 90 mile beach). You'll need to time it with the tide, you can start 3 hours before low tide.

There's a water stop roughly half way at a hippy commune/caravan park.

Here's short vid I made:

Edit: To answer your question, 29er for the win. But a cross bike would be grand, it's all pretty hard packed apart from the stream down and even that is fine.

And a few snaps...

also rode it on this years TA, to be honest as beautiful as it was it was pretty bloody tedious by the end, started with a tail wind for the first two hours which somehow did a 180 so we had a strong headwind for the next four hours

it was about 65 miles

glad I’ve done it but no desire to do it again

Cape Reinga was a stunning place, would happily go back there and camp for a few days

note not to drink the water from the campsite, pretty certain I got Giardiasis from there which finished my TA a week later and am still suffering from now 🙁

Bike wise, my Surly ECR was perfect for the beach

^ What Steve said, I’ve no desire to ride it again and it’s pretty monotonous. Didn’t help I’d had 3 hours sleep and the most stressful day prior meaning I was almost in tears half way along the beach. Toughest day of the tour for me by far! Tick it off if your in the area but there are far nicer days in the saddle in NZ. (Walter Peak, Queenstown to Mossburn is next level awesome!)

which wave were you in Craig ?, I was in 5 and because I was so ill I packed just after the Coromandel so missed all the trauma the following week of the landslides around the bridge to nowhere etc

I was in Wave 3, started on the 14th Feb. So the boat had stopped running by the time we got there and I just made it through the bridge to nowhere before the landslides, DOC helicopters and all that.

The day before the tour started I had some self inflicted dramas though! Blog is a work in progress and it's a long read:

http://krag.nz/index.php/2018/04/01/the-chaos-begins/

I think I remember reading about your exploits on the FB page, also remember thinking I was glad to be on wave 5 so all those issues would be sorted out before we started....little did I know !

I’ll be starting again in 2020 and really hoping to finish this time

Smash it mate, all the best for 2020! I'll be out on the Rimutaka incline handing out lollies/beers so might see you there 🙂

I’ll be based in Petone if you are Welly way ?, almost certainly heading back next year, early Feb and hoping to do the Kiwi Brevet again, amongst family stuff

Nice, yeah I'm in Welly so I'll hit you up. Hoping to do the Kiwi Brevet again, but I have an 8 week old baby now and the TA was supposedly my last hurrah before bubs arrived but we'll see 🙂

Cheers everyone, so far. Did you do it in a day and in how long.

I was wanting to do the Twin Coast Trail too, was thinking of linking it up.

Any other thoughts? I want to rid in the landscape and see it this time, rather than get stuck in a forest for the day.

Whats the current situation with bikes on planes these days, the 1990's were great and you were welcomed with them.

"note not to drink the water from the campsite, pretty certain I got Giardiasis"

Same place same thing 10 years ago.  Good weight loss technique though. boak

Yep, done in in a day. Strava says 104km, in 5 hours exactly so roughly 20k/hour with 3 weeks worth of bike packing kit on board so you could knock it out way quicker.

Bikes on planes no dramas whatsoever, if you're flying internally Air NZ sell bike boxes at pretty much every airport (including Invercargill!) for $30.

just rereading your original post, keep in mind that to get to Cape Reinga is a days drive from Auckland

cheers, is it best to head north to south or vica versa; prevailing winds etc.

It will be nice to bring my bike to NZ, I still have my 1995 Rocky Mountain, that I did the 42 Traverse on complete with a plastic tiki glued to the headtube.

given that we had a tailwind to start with and a headwind to finish with I don’t think it’ll matter, more important is that there are suplies and camping at the southern end at Ahipara, nothing at Cape Reinga end

If you're short on time you can fly between Auckland and Kaitaia and then cycle or hitch a lift the rest of the way. It's what I did as I had to be at the start of the Tour Aotearoa the day after landing in NZ. Barrier Air provides the service. There were only two other passengers in the plane so enough room for my bike.

There is a bus service but the times wouldn't work out for me but that's another option of course. Think that may have gone a little further than Kaitaia perhaps.

Nice idea, but plenty of other nicer places to ride in NZ.

That sort of ride is probably fat bike specific too  ; )

I am digging the flight idea, just for the hell of it! I will be based in Browns/Rothsay Bay area.

My brother in law has a yacht and he sails to Great Barrier alot, maybe I could figure something out with him... drop me off at Tapotupotu Bay? Mind you just googled the road out of there....

Keep the suggestions coming, all appreciated!

drop me off at Tapotupotu Bay

That's where I slept the night before the event. The ride to Cape Reinga's fine. Don't worry about the hill. It's no worse than a headwind all the way down the beach!

If you do decide to sleep on the beach you might get bitten by those pesky sand flies. I was still a bit jet lagged and slept in a very lightweight bivvi bag. My back was covered in bites when I woke up.