Dude got to the finish point of the TA inside 10 days. To avoid a DQ, he set up his tent at the spot, set his alarm, and woke up at 1 minute past 10 days to touch the sign-post that marks the finish. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluff,_New_Zealand
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I think part of the problem is that people want to celebrate “the fastest bikepacker!!!”.
I wish the online tracker thing didn’t exist. Then the organizers (or whoever) could choose to just post an alphabetized list of people who finished on a particular day (or some other sufficiently vague time frame). That way it could be more about finishing and less about winning. And anyone who posted a “But who won?” question on facebook would get banned.
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One way to handle that would be to say hey, there’s a lot of contingencies in bikepacking / ultradistance racing, so we do finishers in 12 hour blocks over a few days. If they want to tell you how long Strava says they took, they can, but for our records, they’re in finisher group 1,2,3,…
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Yeah that’s what they try to do with the TA. People are told constantly that it is not a race, and the spot tracker, which is not trackleaders.com, does not list the stuff by default, in time order. I think it’s alphabetical. The trackers are damn good tho if you are following friends or family. So many dotwatchers end up doing it themselves so it’s kind of viral.
TC: I get bummed out 85% of the time I click on this thread.
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Contains celebritys. Maybe if we keep the celebrities out of here (link) it will be a better place.
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Yeah U right.
It still bums me out tho,
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what if you worked out your bum frustrations behind a friendly retired rancher’s cluttered barn during a memorial day rainstorm in central oregon?
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OG Poopbarning!
You down with OPB?
Yeah you know me!
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FYI, the Tour Aotearoa started 5 hours ago at 7am. I think they are doing sub waves within the waves to spread it out. Someone is just about to finish the 88 km beach section. https://maprogress.com/tracking/touraotearoa/ Luckily not all the people who signed up made it through to the start. Only 680. Meanwhile, the organiser has also organised another event called the Kopiko, to start in a weeks time I think, to cross the country from Cape to Cape. This is a more low key event. 200 folks have signed up, was a bit underground, word of mouth. https://scontent.fhlz2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/69033757_2438689543073753_6791717645856014336_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ohc=KP9td1b_hMcAX_DG1TA&_nc_ht=scontent.fhlz2-1.fna&oh=19102d8a50de0a17662a96784d3b80d3&oe=5EBD9F53
The first seven waves of the Tour Aotearoa are underway, I’m not sure how many more there are. And the Kopiko started 2 days ago as well. They start from opposite ends of the island and cross in the middle. If we are getting the smoke from the Aussie bush fires, I wonder if Aussie will get the pong from Kiwi Bikepackers? Leader of the first wave came through town yesterday, Steve Halligan, so I met him on the way to the Ferry. He was looking very relaxed. There after a couple of folks underbiking on Raleigh 20’s. Apparently rocking 8 speed IGH and Dynamo front wheels.
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My Buddy Matt is smashing the Kopiko brevet, leaving Tour Divide Rookie Winner Ollie Whalley in his dust. People started at opposite ends and swapped car keys in the middle, or something like that. https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/kopikoaotearoa/?-39.248429,174.357486,9.41
Meanwhile on the Tour Aotearoa, these dudes on Raleigh 20s are underbiking to the extreme. I love these rigs. Check out the esky. Someone from prison Island will have to explain an esky https://www.raleighrally2020.com/
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I prefer the wonderful NZ term chillybin to the prison island generic trademark esky and it’s pejorative root
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True, but I think you have to pronounce it chullybun?
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TIL the origins of ‘esky’
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Oh damn, those twenty’s make me feel like doing something with the one I have sitting in the garage as an abandoned fixed gear project.
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Chellyben
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Chelly-ben would be Strine, cos they make the “i” (ih) sound an “e” (eh).
Kiwi’s remove all vowels, which makes stuff sound more like a “u” (uh) sound, hence chully-bun. When you hear native Strayan lingo, the two words, “he’s” and “his” are pronounced identically.
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Wtf. No. Maybe to your untrained ear, but no, they are totally different.
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