Kia ora riders,
Less than five months to go now! Hopefully you’re sorting out your
gear and starting to cover a few miles – even if you’re just doing some fun
rides and commuting to work. Most important of all is to develop comfortable
contact points for your hands, bum, and feet. 3000 kilometres really is a long
way!
Reminder
of the rules
The spirit of this event is laidback, self-supported, and
respectful of yourself, others and the environment. It’s a low-key, but high
satisfaction ride. This is reflected in the rules. If you haven’t looked at
them yet, you may be surprised, so check them out here: http://www.touraotearoa.nz/p/
Photo
Control Points
Tour Aotearoa is a ‘dirt brevet’, and brevet’s have control
points. Historically, they have been places that riders stop and sign in with
officials, or text a message. On Tour Aotearoa, they are places where you take
a photo. There are 30 photo control points, all described here: http://www.touraotearoa.nz/p/
Note that the Giant Kiwi at Eketahuna has been moved 50 metres,
across the road, to a safer site.
Also, Tane Mahuta, the massive Kauri in Northland is under threat
of a disease called Kauri dieback. This disease can be spread by people – on your
shoes or tyres. There is a boardwalk leading to Tane Mahuta, and you must not
walk off this boardwalk.
Tracking and
Trackers – a message from Shane at MAProgress
We
at MAProgress are going to be extremely busy in February with almost 1,000
trackers out. To manage this demand we need to be organised early, and with
changes to our pricing we encourage riders to register soon so everything is
loaded and checked. Get in early to take advantage of the early bird pricing:
· The
tracking fee (which everyone pays) will increase from $45 to $60 on 1st
December 2017. From 20th January 2018 this will increase further to
$75.
· MAProgress
SPOT Gen 3 tracker hire will increase from $145 to $160 on 1st December 2017
too. This is definitely the easiest and best value option for you. You pick it
up at Cape Reinga and drop it off at Invercargill, we look after the
allocation, registration, batteries, updates, and everything else.
We've
had a number of people confused with the hiring of trackers. You can hire your
tracker from anyone – MAProgress, or SPOT NZ, or anyone else (of course, you
can use your own or buy one too).
But there
is also a tracking fee, which covers the cost of you actually being tracked on
the website. If you are hiring a tracker from someone
else (ie, SPOT NZ) then you’ll still need to pay the tracking fee to
MAProgress. There is also an additional process in the MAProgress registration
devices tab for you to follow:
1.
Click on "Enter details for a new device that
I own/have rented"
2.
Give the device a name
3.
Select "SPOT Gen 3"
4.
Enter in the ESN provided to you
5.
Tap the "Data source" box 5-times to enable via SPOT NZ /
trackme.kiwi
6.
Select "via SPOT NZ / trackme.kiwi"
7.
Click on "Save Device"
Rider Numbers
The Tour is now full and entries are closed.
|
Start Date
|
Numbers
|
|
10th February
|
118 riders
|
|
12th February
|
113 riders
|
|
14th February
|
115 riders
|
|
24th February
|
107 riders
|
|
26th February
|
111 riders
|
|
28th February
|
108 riders
|
Your details are on the riders list here: https://docs.google.com/
Please check your entry details and let me know
if there is anything missing. If you haven’t paid your donation to charity and
done your carbon offset by the end of next week, then I will offer your place to
someone on the reserve list.
We are a bit oversubscribed at the moment, but the
numbers should drop before we all start in February.
If for any
reason you have to pull out, please let me know. There are people on the reserve list who would really like to enter!
For more
information…
There are also two Tour Aotearoa Facebook pages, and you can ask
questions from other riders.
The TA coffee table book: http://www.kennett.co.nz/
The TA Official guide: due to changes in the course currently
under construction, we are delaying revising the 2018 edition of the guide
until December. We’ll let you know as soon as we can.
The next update will be in late October, at which time the course
will be very close to fixed.
Pedal on!
Jonathan Kennett
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