Peak to Pub 2023

Why did I decide to do this?!

It started a few months ago when Callan showed me https://www.peak2pub.co.nz/ . My interest was piqued. 

I was in! 

Nobody else was.

But it was too late. I had signed up and paid my money. I was doing it.

I better say what Peak to Pub is before I go on.

It starts with getting to the summit of Mt Hutt, an hour or so's drive east of Christchurch.

Then you run, in snow gear, for what seems like forever but is only about 50m or so.

Now you ski (or snowboard) 2km from the very top to the very bottom of the skifield.

You drop your skis and change your shoes, and jump on a mountain bike.

You hurtle 18km down the ski road, which is rutted, gravelly and usually muddy and icy.

Now you dump your bike and start running.

You run for 10 kilometres.

Then, just for fun, you have to swim across a canal.

Now you run for another two kilometres to Methven township.

To the pub.

That is a lot of logistics, for a start. I had to get me, my bike and my skis from Wellington to Christchurch to Methven to Mt Hutt. I had to figure out what to wear that would keep me warm enough on skis, protected enough on the bike, and cool and free enough on foot.  

Unusually for me, I began to plan. And I actually did some research. I read the tips and tricks on the Peak to Pub website. Dauntingly, Steve Guernsey the extreme sports legend had written them.

What had I done?

My first job was to get my bike off the wall of the garage where it was hanging, and brush the dust and cobwebs off it. My boss Roanne lent me a bike box. It looked enormous. My bike just barely fitted with both wheels, the seat, the pedals and the handlebars removed.

It just fits

Then I worked out my clothing. Ski boots and a change into trailrunners (with flat pedals not clippy pedals to eliminate another footware change). Polypro longjohns for warmth, lycra bike shorts for comfort and running shorts for decency. Merino top and running jacket for warmth but not too much warmth. Work gloves did double duty as ski gloves and bike gloves. Ski helmet and goggles would do double duty on the fast dusty bike descent.

A last training run seemed in order so off I headed to the Wellington Parkrun. I finished limping with a sore right Achilles. Oh no! It stayed sore all week. I nursed it along. It made me nervous. Could I even finish? Was this a dumb idea with a pre-existing injury? 

Oh well.

Thursday afternoon saw me and my friend Kara heading to the airport with a Forester stacked full of boxes and suitcases and ski bags. Check-in was relatively painless apart from the sting of a small excess baggage charge for the bike - it weighed 26kg all up. The wind was whistling through the airport and our captain warned us it would be bumpy taking off, and bumpy landing in Christchurch, and bumpy during cruise as well. Oh well. The takeoff was exciting but from then on it was actually pretty smooth.

Tessa and Toby met us in Tessa's Corolla wagon. She saw all our stuff and burst out laughing. Nope, no way that was going to fit. We left Kara with our mound of luggage and headed off to retrieve the van.

Kara and I were staying in our usual haunt, the Coachman Motel. It was nice as usual but Kara's single bed was missing a sheet. She figured out a solution.

Early start Friday morning. 7:15am saw us with Toby bundled into the van and en route to Mt Hutt. We dropped Toby at Methven and hurtled up the ski road. I was watching it closely for my biking tomorrow. The van was hammering along on the ruts and corrugations. Loose gravel everywhere. Snow and ice at the top.

Hmm.

The forecast was dubious so we both bought 2 hour passes to test the waters. The staff were great, and very realistic. They refused to sell Kara a multi day pass because of the deteriorating forecast.

We had a ball. Viz was okay, blowing in and out but mostly fine. We did laps of Fascination and Broadway which was to be my course tomorrow. I tried to take it easy and save my quads, but I would see the steep, wide, clear slope in front of me and I couldn't help but hammer down it fast on my "new" skis. With no queues we did lap after lap until our 2 hours was up. 

We eagerly went back to the ticket desk and upgraded to full day passes. Alas, that was when the clouds blew in and it clagged in top to bottom. Not much fun. We gingerly skied down by braille. I made the mistake of following blue dazzle paint only to discover that it marked the edge of the track, not the middle! But the warm cloud had softened all the snow, and Mt Hutt doesn't have guts and cliffs, so it was okay just making my way downwards until the base area loomed into sight, somewhat off to the right to where I thought it was.

C'mon Kara, visibility is fine

We did one more run to verify that no, we weren't having fun, and packed it in. Down the road we went and found Toby at our Bookabach. What a nice place! A proper crib, rather than a mass produced box. A modest 1870s cottage with a tacked on extension probably no more than 30 years newer. Full of quirky knick knacks and old photos and interesting pictures on the walls. Nothing was straight and none of the doors closed properly. 

Cute cottage makes the van look new and modern

Toby had got us cheese and crackers so we dived in. I got my bike back together again fairly painlessly, then down to the Blue Pub we trotted for registration.  (Methven has two pubs, that are imaginatively named the Blue Pub and the Brown Pub. Though we all agreed that the Brown Pub was more beige than brown). I got my little pack of a Bib, a transponder, a bin bag for my ski boots, stickers for my skis and my bike - and a $5 off voucher for the pub. Woo! 

Kara had intelligently ordered dinner while I waited in the queue, so just as I registered, our dinner was ready. Yum. Burger for Toby, cajun chicken for Kara, and Bangers and Mash (carbs!!) for myself. We wandered back home full and satisfied.

I did my last prep - I knew that everything had to be organized if I wasn't to turn up missing some vital piece of equipment. Then off to bed, sleeping well but with many uneasy dreams. With my injury I was more apprehensive than I'd been for any other event. Would my plans work? Would my equipment hold up? Would my body?

My 6am alarm awoke me and it was showtime. 

6am game face

I dressed in my carefully laid out gear. I double checked my gloves and helmet. Kara joined me and we set off.

I had made one major misjudgement - I had no breakfast, nor any food for the event itself! Luckily Angela's favorite Cafe, Primo e Secundo was open and serving a mountain of quite eggy scrambled eggs with coffee. And the 4 square was also open for gummy bears on the run. 

Then up the hill we set.

The mountain was closed and the road was closing imminently, so it was very much a drop and run for Kara. 

Bye Kara!

There I was, just me and my gear and my thoughts. I found where to stage my bike. I changed shoes. I sat with music and introspection and got my game face on.

The briefing was clear and professional - everything we needed to know with little in the way of over explaining. The wind was too strong for the main lift to run, but they could get us halfway up on a shorter lift and that was our abbreviated ski run. Then it was time. I started my Garmin watch as I got on the chairlift. It told me my heart rate was already over 100. 

We decanted at the top, dropped our skis and headed down a cat track for our le mans start. 

AND WE ARE OFF

I was absolutely hopeless running in ski boots and got to my skis dead last. No worries - the timing doesn't start til you cross the start line. But no, not a great idea because I was tangled up with all the people who could bike and run - but not ski. What I thought was a speed run was an obstacle course, dodging sprawled bodies, people going in all sorts of random directions, falling sliding people... it was actually quite fun trying to go fast through the commotion of limbs and bodies.

Bottom of the ski run. Skis off. Run up a short slope to a few guys with a trailer taking all the ski gear. Find my sneakers. Change footware. Ski boots in my bin bag. On my bike.

The ride down the hill was incredible. 100% concentration and going as fast as I was comfortable but no faster. SO MUCH FUN. The road was wide and the competitors around me - both slower and faster - were all considerate and we kept each other safe. No hairy passing manoeuvres, and it was very easy to get around people going slower than me. Spray paint on the ground alerted us to the larger potholes and corrugations, and the tighter corners. 

Down we go. Spectacular.

The only properly scary time was for another competitor who went wide on a corner and got into the loose gravel. I watched as both her wheels fishtailed and her bike slapped gently from side to side. She got closer and closer to the armco barrier and I thought, she'll lose a bit of skin if she slides along that, that'll be uncomfortable. And then the armco ran out and the consequences of failure got remarkably higher as she teetered along the edge of a fairly sheer drop. But, she got it all back together and under control and was soon hurtling along at full speed again. No harm no foul. I stopped preparing to pick up the bits and pieces and got back to my own full speed hurtling.

Near the end of the bike section

Soon we were onto the seal and riding towards the main road turnoff. About 100m before the main road we diverted into a paddock to drop our bikes and start running. I felt pain as I ran even with my bike as a zimmer frame. I seriously considered pulling out and DNFing right there and then. But oh well - let's see how the first km or two go at least.

Off we went, into a creek bed. I wasn't expecting this! We had a mix of sand and gravel, boulders, huge rocks, fallen trees, bridge underpasses and weirs to navigate. It was such slow going, the numbers on my watch did not move very fast at all and I seriously wondered how long this would all take and if I could complete it. I had to pick slowly through the obstacles, it was mostly okay but if I put the wrong sort of weight on my right leg I would scream in pain.  I scared one competitor who I could tell by her frightened face looking back at me was sure she was going to be doing some splinting and emergency evac. I reassured her that it was only because I was dumb and stubborn and everything was fine.

"Fine."

Luckily for me we were soon out of the river bed and onto the roadway. I was much happier here. I was very slow. But I could get into a cadence and listen to my music and go to my happy place. The kilometers slowly - slowly! - but surely! - ticked up on my watch.

Then I was on the top of the canal... and heading to the canal swim.

Well, it was no better and no worse than I was expecting. The water was cold, but I was hot - I certainly didn't get chilled on the other side soaking wet. I had ripped off all my top layers early on and was running in just my bib on top - I was able to leave my spare clothes there in a bin that they took back to Methven so that was a really nice touch. My 'water resistant' headphones cut out whenever my head went under but they survived unscathed and kept working fine. Yes, I had to actually swim, a few strokes to get to the other side where there was netting and a strap to climb out with.

Canal swim

Two and a bit km to go! Through a gorgeous 'enchanted forest' with little signs and painted rocks and things left by elves and pixies and fairies. Lovely. Then back onto the main road into town and the end was in sight.

I heard Kara and Toby cheering me on as I reached the finish... to see a bouncy castle inexplicably blocking my path. Yes - I had to clamber through a bouncy castle to finish. For a second I thought I'd be stuck in there! But I made it out with the biggest grin and sense of accomplishment ever.

And done

Whew! How did I go? In terms of placings - not great. Third to last in fact. My run was very, very, very slow, 9min/km pace which is more like a fast walk really. But I'm still stoked. I didn't know if I could actually do this, and I can. And it was fun. And now I have unfinished business.

It was very clear, to Kara's chagrin, that there would be no skiing on Sunday and Monday. The forecast certainly confirmed that on Sunday morning! So we had a Methven day. I packed up my bike, putting the extra things like pedals and tools into my suitcase to get it under the weight limit. Kara and I headed to the Hot Pools - they were amazing. Can recommend. We had both lunch and dinner at the Dubliner pub just down the road from the Blue and the Brown - and it was delightful. Kara stayed home for dinner (still full from lunch!) leaving Toby and I to chat about all sorts of things over delicious stew and steak and dessert.

Toby's first Affogato

Monday we hurtled to Christchurch. I went to work. Kara took the van to Rangiora to see a long missed friend. Toby had a migraine, alas. Then home time.

You need a mountain of luggage for Peak to Pub!

What an incredible weekend. Thanks so much to Kara and Toby and Tessa for helping out and getting me to and fro. It was very emotionally challenging for me as I really didn't know whether I could make the logistics happen and whether I could physically achieve it. I'm so so glad I did. But I have unfinished business. I'm already planning for 2024. Who's joining me?