Kopiko Aotearoa

Kōpiko Aotearoa update 4 January 2023

Kia ora folks

Well, it’s only 20 days until the Kōpiko 2023 starts! This update is rather overdue. Aside from being flat out with other stuff, I've delayed this in the hope that various areas of uncertainty will become clearer – they haven't. So, as is usually the case to some extent, we forge ahead anyway, knowing that bikepackers are agile adventurers capable of dealing with unforeseen challenges as they arise.

Course conditions
Well, there will be no Covid-related restriction this year, so we are back to the original course, as described in the guidebooks. To the best of our knowledge, most of the course is looking good. There are just a couple of small closures to be aware of.
First, the walking track up to East Cape Lighthouse is closed due to storm damage. We don't know when it's likely to re-open, so at this stage, we'll be starting about a kilometre from the car park at the end of East Cape Road, where we can see the top of the lighthouse and the sunrise (more or less).

There's a toilet at the car park at the end of East cape Road, which is the best spot to unload if you are getting dropped off at the start, and a good place for eastbound riders to finish.

The second hic-up is the closure of Te Rewarewa bridge on the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway, from 9am – 3pm on the 25th-27th January and 30th Jan - 1st Feb. At those times, riders will need to take a 5-km detour that looks like this: https://tinyurl.com/3pjdxeb4

Here’s a detailed cue sheet for this section for west-bound riders (thanks to Chris Keen for the local knowledge):

11.7 km from Lepperton – Pass the velodrome on your right. You are now on the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway
13.1 km – Turn left (south) onto a path heading towards trees
13.5 km – Continue straight up Links Drive
14.6 km – Turn right at the T-intersection, onto Pohutakawa Place
15 km – Go straight ahead onto the path through the shrubs, and down the hill next to the highway
16.1 km – Turn right, onto Vickers Rd (and go past Mitre10)
16.3 km – Turn left onto Rifle Range Rd
16.8 km – Go straight ahead, onto Constance St
17.2 km – Cross to the path on the right-hand side of the street, to turn right at the intersection at the end of Constance St (i.e. Do not go onto the highway)
17.6 km – After crossing the bridge, stay to the right (don’t go to the traffic lights). Once on Devon St East, resume riding on the road.
18 km – Go straight at the intersection, onto Sackville St
18.4 km – Turn left, onto Barriball St
18.6 km – Turn right, onto Beach St
19.1 km – Descend the hill to the Fitzroy Beach car park, and then turn left onto the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway (the concrete path next to the car park). You are back on course.
20.2 km – This section ends at the start of the Te Henui Walkway (just before crossing the bridge and the mouth of the stream).

If you need to bypass the Te Rewarewa bridge photo control point, anywhere with a view of the Coastal Pathway next to the sea will do fine.


On the 5th of January, Jonathan and Paul will release a sheet of updates relating to the
course and service providers. That’ll be available on the Kopiko webpage and be included in the
guidebooks sold from that date.

If anything changes after that, we’ll post about it on the Kōpiko page -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/366075710744657

This is a great source of information in general. If you have a question, you can’t find an answer to online, post it here and there’s a good chance somebody will be able to help.

Start times
As usual, these will be the local sunrise times.
21st January:
East Cape – 6:07 am
Cape Egmont – 6: 21 am

22nd January:
East Cape – 6:08 am
Cape Egmont – 6:23 am

You best get to the start at least 20 mins prior to the start, to do your last-minute prep. When you and your fellow riders agree the start time has arrived, pedal forth!


General Info
Road rules apply on all roads (e.g., ride single file when other traffic is coming up behind you).
Take it easy on single tracks (most are two-way and all are shared with walkers).

Kōpiko Website:
http://www. touraotearoa. nz/p/kopiko.html
(you need to remove spaces from the above URL, blame FaceBook)

Course info: The guidebooks are available from https://www.kennett.co.nz/shop
The route GPX files are available from
http://www. touraotearoa. nz/p/kopiko.html
(you need to remove spaces from the above URL, blame FaceBook)

There are some minor updates to the information in the guidebooks.
E.g. Tiniroto Tavern has closed, but the Tiniroto Hall can cater for riders for $20 a night (with showers, toilets and kitchen facilities, and mattresses available on request). If you need it, the locals can also sort you out with dinner at $30 per head and/or breakfast items for an extra $10 per head. Contact:
Kirsty Playle
[email protected]
068637099

The Purunui Cycle Inn has closed. The Croft BnB in Tarata is reasonably close, and the Tikorangi Orchard Cottage BnB looks good, too.

Taupouri Cycle Stay, near Motu, is also closed.

Course alternative: The ‘alternative’ to the main route north of Motu is the Pakihi Track for those heading eastbound. This is a fantastic grade-4 single-track ride.

Kōpiko Distance: Approximately 1,000 km.
Brevet Time: 4–14 days. No more, no less.

Transport to/from the event:
If you are flying to New Plymouth or Gisborne, you might want to head there a day early, just in case your bike needs to wait until the next flight. Of course, you can organise your own transport, but here is a list of local transport operators who might be able to help.
Taranaki Transport: Taranaki Mountain Shuttle www.facebook.com/TaranakiShuttle/
Wither Transport www.witherscoachlines.co.nz/
Kiwi Tours http://kiwitours.kiwi.nz/
Gisborne Transport: Katrina at Cycle Gisborne www.cyclegisborne.com
or Cooks Passenger Service also take bikers between Te Araroa and Gisborne, daily – Ph/Text 021-371-364

Start numbers (on 3rd January):
There's a total of 100 riders signed up, so far. To see who’s starting in the different waves, check out the MAProgress site, here - https://kopikoaotearoa2023.maprogress.com/

No doubt there will be a few more to come, me and my friend Marilyn, at the very least. I enjoyed going West to East so much in 2021, and I'm really looking forward to checking out the scenery from the other direction.

Tracking: The tracking for this event will be managed by Shane at MAProgress.
The tracking fee varies depending on whether or not you have a SPOT tracker (and whether or not it is currently registered to a service provider). The details are on the registration page https://kopikoaotearoa2023.maprogress.com/event/register
For those hiring Spot trackers, they’ll be couriered out to you soon.


Peaking
Now the event is only two and a half weeks away, it’s time to be thinking about knocking off one last long ride (preferably a loaded overnighter) and a couple of very hilly, muscular endurance rides (e.g. many climbs with a cumulative total of at least 1000 vertical metres, completed in less than half a day). Then starting a nice big taper, lasting a week or two, is the way to start with fresh legs and a full tank of glycogen fuel.

Speaking of fuel, some hearty evening kai will be served up at the East Camp Campground on the 20th and 21st of January. The details of how to book a serving are now up on the Kōpiko page.
Looking forward to meeting some of you there, and lots of you out on the route.

Kia ora!
Simon Kennett
P.S. Marilyn and I are keen to use some extra gear at the start but haven't quite worked out how to get it back to Wellington. If you know of a vehicle that will be at the start and heading back to Welly in the following fortnight (with room for some excess camping gear) please flick me a text on 021 0753 051.