By: Ben Webster
Why?
I get this question a lot around the adventures I go on and I always struggle to answer it. Is it freedom? It is escape? For mental clarity? Self improvement? Self discovery? Creating connections? Meeting people from different walks of life? To explore? Better my wellbeing? Balance? Being able to adapt? Finding my limits? Setting new ones? Is it to itch the itch? The joy and satisfaction it brings?
Depending on the day, type of ride and where my headspace is at, there are many different reasons as to ”why”. Some, more regular than others, but all purposeful.
Setting yourself a challenge and not being 100% sure what’s going to happen or even if you’re going to complete it, accepting vulnerability, overcoming it and finishing the challenge brings a sense of gratitude that I can’t explain.
Each adventure is it’s own unique experience, no two are ever the same, that’s why they are so special.
Anyway, enough of me waffling on, lets talk about the ride.
The plan was simple, ride up and between all the local ski fields in Wānaka and Queenstown, starting and finishing at Heatwave.
Treble Cone, Cardrona, Snow Farm, Remarkables, Coronet Peak, crawl home.
The idea came about when I was chatting to the brother Toby Roberts, he had a crack at it a while back. The seed was planted, the training was in motion and once I got the nod of approval from him to give a stab, it was on.
03:37
I woke up before my alarm, classic. I never sleep well before stuff like this. I remember my dreams being super vivid, being in and out of dream state and being awake most of the night. I decided to switch up my breaky choice for some reason, bad decision. Nearly a full box Weet-bix Bites with the chocolate bits in them. Turns out them little buggers soak up heaps of milk. No man should be having ½ a litre of milk at 4am.
05:00
I met Fionn and Alice outside of Heatwave, ready to roll. A bit apprehensive but above all, excited. The plan was for them to get some shots of me along the way and at the top of Treble Cone for sunrise.
06:45
Managed to get to the top of TC feeling okay, the legs were on, but a weird nausea was lingering. It was pitch-black with no sunrise, nice. Fionn and Alice still managed to get some sick shots nevertheless.
08:30
Rolled back into Wānaka and started to head up Cardrona Valley Road. I was still feeling nauseous and wasn’t able to eat anything. I was trying to work out why. Was I getting sick? Was it a combination of nerves and tiredness that I’ve never experienced before? I usually try and save listening to music until later on in the day but I thought it was necessary to pull out the big dogs for a mental boost. Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding, Gil Scott-Heron and a few others from that soul era. One tune that especially hit hard was Blue Monday People – Curtis Mayfield, It really massages your eardrums.
09:00
Heading up Cardrona I was still feeling off and trying to put my finger on why. Then it clicked - IT WAS THE F*CKIN’ MILK! The 4am half litre of milk, I was convinced. So I had a theory to try and shift it, I’d give it a bit of a nudge up the hill to try and transfer the uncomfortable feeling elsewhere in the body. That’s science, right? Anyway, it worked, relief, it’s on! I didn’t see a single soul up Cardies apart from a majestic hawk chilling on a post.
11:45
I dropped a care package at the bottom of Snow Farm the day before with coconut water and bananas. Nutrition is key on huge days like this. You’ve got to be aiming for at least 60-100g of carbs per hour and keeping on top of hydration, replenishing the salts. I had some catching up to do having not eaten much in the first 3 hours. I floated to the top of Snow Farm, legs, noggin, tunes, vibes, all in harmony.
14:00
After heading over the Crown Range I had my first proper stop in Frankton. Pulling up to a café for a long black extra shot & dash of cream, a ham & cheese croissant and a slab of cake sounded perfect, but I decided against it knowing the extra hour it would have added in the dark, at the end of the ride. Instead, it was the lovely Woolworths. Fanta a “Greek Chicken Wrap” and 12 gels, for later, was on the menu. Delicious.
That chicken wrap was horrific. I couldn’t even finish it. Wouldn’t even feed it to my dog and I don’t even have one. Should’ve gone to the café.
14:30
Remarkables was the next lump on the cards. My music choice by this point had changed dramatically, diving into the electronic genres. From techno, electro, house, garage, acid, break beat and all the sub genres in between. Call Super & Shanti Celeste’s set at Lente Kabinet Festival 2019 was supplying the goods for a bit. Absolute creamer!
Remarks was the one I was a little bit nervous for because the last time I went up it, it sucked! Low and behold, it sucked again. I was breathing out my ears at some points, especially when it changes from tarmac to gravel, it’s super loose and hard to get traction in areas, a real energy sapper.
Once I got to the top an old fella came over to me and ask me if I was professional, all the suffering went away, probably the nicest things anyone ever said to me. Then we started chatting about what I was doing and how he used to race back in the day. He told me, amongst other life lessons, how to judge how much sunlight was left by holding out a straight arm and using your fist to calculate it. 1 fist = 15mins of sunlight from a horizontal arm up to the sun. I didn’t quite get it but when the sun dropped later that day he was bang on.
16:00
After faffing around up remarks for a bit I received a message from Jez Gardener saying he’s finished work in Queenstown and keen to join me for a bit. Ma man. We met as I was rolling into QT. He planned to join me for Coronet and over to Arrowtown before looping back to his car. The next couple of hours flew by! I didn’t think that having a bit of company would have helped so much, chatting away about random stuff. Shout out Jez, hero! The descent coming down Coronet was a ripper, long swooping turns, smooth tarmac and an insane view. I got super lucky with the weather all day, no real wind and blue bird, pristine.
19:00
Final stock up in Arrowtown, said bye to Jez and up back up over the Crown I went. As I was spinning up the sun began to set, still, calm, tranquil. I remember this tune Tokyo Megaplex - Arcologies Remix syncing up super nice with the surroundings.
It’s funny where your thoughts can wonder to on long rides. Sometimes I have songs loop over and over in my head that I haven’t listen to in years. I think about past experiences in my life and new ones to be had. I can end up dwelling on mistakes I’ve made and how I could have navigated scenarios differently. I think about my family and friends back home in the UK and not having met my best friend’s kid yet; missing out on special moments. I think about having a family myself one day. I think about about why certain things annoy me and how I can change my mindset to prevent that. I think about what effect I’m leaving on this world. I think about how I can better myself and better other people around me. I think about the path of life I’m on and if it's heading in the direction I want it to be. I think about how to be successful and what being successful is. Riding bikes is like therapy to me, the best type of medicine, putting the world to rights in my own head. On this particular ride I was thinking about why I get embarrassed when people ask me about my adventures on my bike, why do I feel like I’m showing off? Why do I lack confidence around that? It’s something I’m working on.
In todays day and age people don’t seem to have time to work on themselves and reflect. We live in an era of information overload. That’s why I love riding bikes. It really strips life back to the bare bones. Simple, pure, my mediation.
From commuting to work to a Tuesday night CBK ride (shout out the boys), from dark cold winter rides to sunny Sunday café rides, from solo adventures to backpacking with friends. They all bring me satisfaction. Don’t get me wrong, some days are easier than others and my motivation can fluctuate, it’s not all always enjoyable. But at the end of the day it’s getting on a bike and riding it. Simple, pure, my mediation.
21:10
The last 2 hours of me heading up the Crown and back into town was the best I felt all day. Everything was ticking along nicely. The only major wobble I had was the first 3 hours, that god damn milk. I rolled back to Heatwave just after 21:00, with some big hugs from Fionn and Alice, ditched my bike in the shop and ended it with a beer and some chips. Perfection.
For those that care -
Distance : 306km
Elevation: 7,816M
Time: 16,15 Hrs
Special shoutout to Heatwave for creating a platform where people can express themselves through getting outside. Creating connections through run clubs, group rides and hosting talks and events at the shop. They have a lovely garment collection and the best long black in town in my opinion (they didn’t pay me to say that).
- Ben 😊