Riding out of Rotorua at 7am on day one there
was sense of relief. BMW’s organising team had
probably been on site at Lakes Lodge for the
best part of a month. Then the week ahead of
the competition the marshalling team had arrived
and pre-ridden the route, then flown back from
Queenstown while a truck returned their bikes.
Even us media types had been there for at least
half a week, and as much as we loved our lakeside
residence you get itchy to get going.
Sure enough, the route on day one took a
combined sealed and gravel road route, down to
Napier – adventure bikes are after all about 50/50,
road/dirt – Gelande/Strasse, G/S… GS. With 140-
odd bikes the riders were purposely spread out
in groups, leaving the Rotorua base at intervals –
even so, pretty soon most following (i.e. not lead)
riders were wearing a white outer layer of dust and
were getting acquainted with spacing themselves
out – kind of social distancing ahead of time.
Given the prolonged dry spell it was super dusty.
26 KIWI RIDER
However, the forests (apparently ‘jungle’ to the
German organisers) of the Huiarau Ranges were
still an experience for the visitors. If you come from,
say, Europe, New Zealand dazzles you with the crisp
clear air (when not choked with dust…) that means
when the sun strikes the flora, the greens – in fact
all the colours – appear as if in high definition. Add
a smattering of exotic native trees like Ponga and
Toi among the Beech and the effect is stunningly
beautiful. A family of Kuni Kuni pigs was found
trotting along the roadside at one point, again
something no European (at least) would have
experienced – so straight out of the gate old NZ
was impressing.
FIRST SPECIAL TESTS
The first special test of the day required each
team – one rider at a time – to ride across a shallow
river, ride along the far bank then return across the
river and ride up a modest bank to the finish, quite
a distance with a maximum time limit of