Report by Mat Fletcher

Day Four, Stage 7: Wanganui to Kakatahi – 45km

The morning’s stage takes the inland route back towards the central plateau. It was 3 big climbs, and actually climbs all the way up the Para Para road from sea level at Wanganui to Ohakune at 700 mtrs. We all assembled in the velodrome for the start and rolled out of there. It was raining so I got myself right on the front behind the lead car as I didn’t want to get caught up in any carnage. After the neutralized zone we were off and racing. I put a good turn on the front and no one rolled through. I then punched it and got away. A good result in GC is out the window so the least I can do for the remainder of the ride is to put some hurt on – even if it hurts me more than anyone else! 4 others came with me and we got about a 1 km lead on the bunch. The bunch finally start to work, and worked there way back. I was on the front again, and no help from anyone so I stab it again and got away. 3 other fellas came over and we were caught at the bottom of the first 5km climb. Already maxed out I thought that the climb would take its toll and it did. I got snapped off the leaders and grovelled my way up the hill. We formed a group of about 15 riders once over the other side and carried on. There were 2 more similar climbs and I suggested that we all make our way up best we could and continue and that worked fine. We had some more road works which no one fell off on so all was good. The final climb up to the finish was about 1 km in length. It was step at the bottom and then levelled out to about 4% grade. I was on the front and punched it about 400 mtrs out from the line and stayed away from the group which I was happy with. John stayed with the group ahead of mine so he did well.

Stage 7 results:
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Mat: +3.03. 40th in overall GC at 28.53
John: +0.32. 35th in overall GC at 1951

Day Four, Stage 8: Kakatahi to Ohakune – 52km

It was still raining at lunch time so we managed to keep out of it by hiding in our van. After a change of clothes and a feed I was feeling a bit better and preparing myself for the crippling climb up fields track. After a neutralised 3km the race began. We started to first big climb of 500 mtrs elevation. The road was one lane with on centre line. The surface was like corrugated iron and we had a head / cross wind. I did well up the climb and got popped just before the top by the lead 10 guys. I started the very windy and tight descent in the rain and a few of the front guys had crashed out because it was still wet. I cruised my way down the hill and let a few others past me. I was using them as my Navman – if they crashed or went off a cliff I had plenty of time to slow down and avoid the carnage. Half way down the winding descent I got stung on the arm by a bee. I grimaced a bit and though I’ll get over it. 1 minute later I had 2 more fly into my top and sting me on the back. I couldn’t get them, out at speed as the road was really bad so I had to stop. That made me lose touch with the second bunch in which John was in. I ended up with 3 others and we made or way up the next climb of 10km. When we got to the top the race was stopped in the middle of the road. There was a herd of sheep (spare the jokes) being herded down the road. Most of the guys got off their bikes and sat on the road trying to shelter from the wind.  It reasembled the TDF drug protest sit in!  Rather than letting everyone go together, they held us back in our respective groups for a timed start. They didn’t do this yesterday which I thought that they should have to keep things consistant and because I was in the lead group!  John’s group got set away and 3 of us were left to chase 1 minute. We picked up 2 more and had a really hard ride into a howling wind and rain by to Ohakune. We didn’t catch them but we didn’t lose anymore time. I took the bunch sprint so I was happy with that. We both made some ground in GC again today but I don’t think that there are any easier gains to be made because the people in front of us have at least 2 minutes better time. The stages today were short in distance but big in climbs and pain!

Stage 8 results:

Mat: + 7.08 37th in overall GC at + 36.01, 14th in grade
John: + 6.02 31h in overall GC at + 25.53, 8th in Grade