Tour Te Waipounamu rider: Kath Kelly
Kath is one of eight women currently signed up for the Tour Te Waipounamu bikepacking race. After spending her twenties “mostly drinking piss” she set her sights on the Coast to Coast multisport race in 2008. She quit smoking, took up paddling and riding and totally changed her life around. After doing a bunch of multisport races she realised she was most passionate about riding. Her first organised bikepacking event was the Tour Aotearoa in 2016 and she hasn’t looked back since then. I caught up with Kath to hear more about her riding background, race strategies for the Tour Te Waipounamu and what her training has looked like. She shares insights into a couple of her recent training missions, mostly in Central Otago.
Kath, 48 years old, is a mad-keen endurance athlete based near Roxburgh in Central Otago. She spent most of her time outdoors on the farm as a kid, when her mum didn’t have her inside doing housework and music practice! “I used to run behind dad on his horse when mustering stock many kilometres out the back of the farm.” She rode to school and back every day (8kms) on a Releigh20, right from the age of 5 years old.
In her twenties she spent a lot of time in the outdoors, mostly hunting and fishing. But “I did get on the booze a lot while doing so. Lets just say I worked hard and played hard!”
“I got on the piss for about 10 years and when I was 30 I changed my life.” She set her sights on the two-day Coast to Coast in 2008 and it really turned her life around. “I gave up smoking and really cut back on alcohol.” She was starting from scratch, learning to paddle and ride. “It’s the best thing I did – it completely changed my life.”
She went on to compete in several multisport races during the next few years, like the Goldrush, Red Bull Defiance and a couple more Coast to Coasts. She won her age group in the Longest Day in the Coast to Coast in 2019.
To pay the bills she has spent the last couple of decades working as an artificial insemination technician in the dairy and deer industries. “But my shoulder is starting to show signs of wear and tear and it’s time for a change,” she says. She also does massage in her spare time, and has recently started studying environmental management. Her main work season goes from the start of October until mid-December. “I’m stuck up a cow…nobody sees me for months.” She uses a smart trainer and Zwift to stay fit during these months. “This past season I spent 10 days off a bike during the season.”
Riding background
She first started riding when she signed up for the Coast to Coast around twelve years ago. “Biking has been my forte within multisport” Training for multisport events consumes a lot of time with so many disciplines and she enjoys the simplicity of riding and focusing on one discipline.
After the Coast to Coast she started doing a few mountain biking stage races, like the Pioneer. She also did the Cape Epic, an eight day stage race in South Africa. “I went too hard at the start and basically blew myself to bits. I had to pull out after the 6th day…Letting down a teammate and not finishing was the most demoralising learning experience i’ve had to date. I’ve since learned to pace myself better now.”
She rode the Heaphy with a couple of mates and then set her sights on the first Tour Aotearoa, in 2016. “We rode from daylight until when we felt like it. We completed it in 15 days. At the time we did it it was such an awesome thing to do. There were so many good moments and some shit times too.” Since then she has done lots of bikepacking, including some organised events like the Kopiko, and also a bunch of personal missions on bikes.
“I like the idea of riding the TTW on my own. You can stop when you want and don’t have to keep up with someone. Peg is quite strong on the flats and I cook myself hanging onto her wheel sometimes. I want to avoid doing that at all. If you take the burn in your quads to a level that you can’t recover from, you’re burnt for the rest of it.”
Favourite style of riding
“I love all types – from road biking to cyclocross to bikepacking, to enduro. I volunteer for Trans NZ – it’s such fun riding.”
Build-up to the Tour Te Waipounamu: Kath’s January training diaries
When I mentioned training for the TTW, Kath seemed to think she only started properly in January! She has done several bikepacking trips and training adventures during the last couple of weeks. Here are some photos and a few details from four of her January adventures.
Everest Challenge (3rd January)
She “kick started” her training by setting herself the goal of completing an Everest challenge in early 2021. “I can lie on my bed and look out the french doors at Mount Benger (the segment is 1000 metres of elevation and 10 km long).” This may have been her first official Everest….but she also completed a virtual one during the NZ COVID lockdown last year on her indoor trainer!
“I look at it now and I still can’t believe I did it. It wasn’t easy. It was more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge. If you put your mind to it, anyone can do anything.”
Otago Daily Times: Big Climb Knocked off
A big round trip from home – 280km & 7000m elevation (13-14th Jan)
On the two hottest days of summer so far (13th/14 January – 30+ degrees), I rode from home over to near Waikaia, then traversed the White Umbrella range through Argyle Station to the Waikaia Bush road. Then up to Potters Hut for the night. Then over the Old Woman range to Duffers Saddle, over to Clyde via the Hawksburn range. To finish off with I went home from Alexandra via the Knobbie range. (280 km round trip with 7000 m elevation). That was a really good training ride in probably the two hottest days we’ve had.”
I totally underestimated the 40 odd km length White Umbrella Range being largely tussock terrain. Good hike-a-bike training!
Cass Saddle scouting trip (18th Jan)
It took me 2.5-3 hours to get to the saddle and it took 7hrs to cover 35km at one point! The weather was chasing me and I had snowflakes falling at the saddle. I could see the sun shining on the Hamilton hut. I was worried that the Harper river may have been high from the thunder and lightning storms the night before. I made the decision to go to Hamilton Hut and check out the river crossing anyway, even if it meant turning back and coming back to Arthurs Pass. The river crossing was fine and the weather looked okay still. So texted Austin on my inReach to say I will meet him at Windwhistle (aptly named!) Then I had a massive tailwind from Lake Coleridge, where I was doing 45 – 65 km per hour (that was recorded on my garmin). As I loaded my bike onto the truck the rain began. Once again the weather Gods played their part!”
Ranfurly via Poolburn and Serpentine (26-27th Jan)
“Riding yesterday was baking hot with howling northerly winds. We rode the last 50km into Ranfurly without water. By the time I got to Ranfurly I was dehydrated and had a headache. Heading back to Oturehua I was hit with block headwinds for 30 kms. Finally turning SW for Poolburn Dam where I made use of the tailwind. Then coming back from Poolburn today, the fog rolled in at 1200 m abs and I had every stitch of clothing on. I was so frozen.” (285mk round trip with 4220 m elevation)
Riding the Tour Te Waipounamu
What’s your bike set up?
“I’ve got a 26 inch Scott scale hardtail, I’ve had it since 2008. “I’ve just had all the drivetrain and everything serviced a few days ago.”
“I’ve worked out how to carry my bike. I want to be able to lift mine on and off my shoulder…if there’s a 20 metre section of rideable terrain I want to be able to ride or coast it. I’m onto mark 3 of my shoulder pads!”
She’s a bit nervous about her bike breaking down. “Not many people ride 26 inch anymore so it can be tricky getting the right parts.”
Strategies for the race
“For a start I’ll try to get 4-5 hours sleep a night. If I’m not surviving then I’ll get more. Towards the end if I feel good, I might just bomb it. I thought of setting my alarm for 3am, it takes about 45mins to get organised and get going.” She has set herself a target of 10 days to finish the ride. “I’ve got to be back to volunteer on the Trans NZ Enduro. But I’ll need to put some plans in place if I’m close and just need to get it done.”
In the next few days she plans to sit down and study sleeping options. “I don’t want to sleep under a bush…I’ve got a bivvy bag. Ideally I’ll sleep in a hut or somewhere comfortable.”
“One thing I’ve struggled with in the past is turning up to a shop and buying the shittiest food…I just get heartburn.” She’d like to try and eat healthier this time.
In terms of light, she’s “just relying on a headlamp” but has found it to be limiting on recent training rides. “Even this morning riding on a good surface 4WD track it was quite slow [with just a headlight]”
What are you most excited for?
“The new terrain, seeing how far I can actually push myself – that will be new for me. I’m excited for the new experiences of what my limits are.”
What are you most apprehensive about?
“I’m anxious about the navigation. I’m happy out in the hills but I don’t want to be that person who makes a poor decision because I’m tired. I’d hate to get myself in trouble and look like an idiot and need to press the SOS button.”
Do you have any specific goals for the TTW? What do you hope to get out of it?
The goal is to finish! I would love to finish it in 7-10 days. I hope to find out how far I can push myself without blowing to pieces. Bearing in mind I will be overly cautious not to burn out. I think I will find a new level of pain and mental challenges that I have not experienced before. I want that feeling of satisfaction of completing it. Also, the buzz of being part of another inaugural pioneering event. Last but not least…. meeting more new like-minded people 🙂
- You can follow Kath’s progress on the MAProgress live tracking map. You can check out the route via that link now but the race (and live tracking) starts on 14th February.
- Learn more about the Tour Te Waipounamu (including some event history and what to expect from the route).