DAY 20 – Mossburn to Bluff

DAY 20 – Mossburn to Bluff – 143km / 6:41 total / 5:12 Riding time /27.8 kph average

So the final day of the tour dawned (for me at least and all my companions at the Mossburn railway hotel), and it was raining. Great! 

I fiddled around eating copious amounts of the continental buffet breakfast whilst I waited for the rain to pass then when I felt like I would not get too wet I set off around 7:45. Whilst I stopped a number of times to adjust my seat which had mysteriously slipped the rain stopped and then I was going, flying along the southland plains with a helpful northerly at my back as the sky began to brighten.

I was determined to achieve a number of things today. 1) Get to Stirling point before 2PM which meant I would complete the tour in less than 20 days 2) Pass Malcolm,Scott and Andy who had set off about 45 minutes before me. 3) Pass Anka who had set off 2 hours before me and was a wave 3 rider. 

The race was on, the bike position was aero, the sweat was increasing, the miles were being eaten up as I averaged around 26kph for the first leg.

I stopped to get the photo control point 29: a picture of a random southland local. This was well achieved when I managed to flag down a farmer on his ATV with his dogs on the back driving in a field to pose for my photo. He was the complete epitome of a southland local. Handlebar moustache, stubbies and work boots and swanndri. Brilliant!

As equally brilliant was the Magnolia Tree Café in Winton. It was the only one open but it was the best I had come across so far in the tour. The best for last eh! I gobbled down a king breakfast and gluten free brownie whilst still trying to enjoy them and raced back out to the bike. I had seen Anka leaving as I came into town and I was now 45 minutes behind her instead of 2 hours.

I was back in aero mode and flew past Malcolm and Scott and very soon after negotiating the boring 10k sections of straight roads was cycling the path around the outskirts of Invercargill. 

The challenge here was that the track was actually closed due to storm damage but I was in to much of a hurry to figure out where to detour so I just lifted my bike over broken paths and fallen trees and finally was on SH1 again heading for bluff. 

I absolutely gunned it from this point pulling my average to around 28kph and noting that I had miscalculated the distance to the end by 5k but that I was still going to finish the tour in less than 20 days. As I went through bluff I saw other tour riders milling around the shops and I shouted with emotion on the final little rise before the point. 

3000K later and it was done! I had done it. The bike had done it. The adventure was over after 3 weeks of touring. The emotions were mixed. I did want to stop and rest but at the same time I wanted to keep going, and I could keep going. There was still definitely very much life left in the legs and the mind.

I arrived at Stirling point in a great rate of knots and Anka had just arrived. I had made up 2 hours on her over 6 hours. 

It was 1:48PM. The tour was complete in 19 days 23 hours and 48 minutes. After chatting with Zac the single speeder I treated myself to a very good steak at the oyster restaurant at the point.

My ride back to Invercargill turned up and it was time to leave and meet my lovely host family who would look after me until I boarded my flight back home tomorrow (Monday). Life was about to return back to normality. I suddenly felt the most relaxed I had ever felt in the last few months and it was a great feeling.