Welcome to the November newsletter for the Tuatara 1000 and Tuatara Iti!
Firstly, I hope you are following the Tour of Southland this week and getting a taste of the views, hills and most importantly the weather. There are a couple of 2021 Tuatara veterans out there this week, along with a couple more who have signed up for the 2022 Tuatara. We wish them all well.
Meanwhile we are completely full and as such have had to make a couple of subtle changes to ensure 2022 can be a success. The details are in this newsletter, please read it carefully.
Friday night briefing
Due to current Covid restrictions we are limited in the way we can gather, however we will be in touch closer to the start with a location where we recommend you can get dinner from and a location to collect your spot tracker and other start line goodies.
Start Line Timing
To work our way through the current Covid restrictions and to make life easier for everyone on the road, we are implementing the following starting order and times. Please note that times mentioned are briefing times, briefing will not take long, and it is best that you arrive ready to start your ride #dontbelate (also don't be mega early)
1. Tuatara 1000 – Touring with a sense of urgency
a. Briefing begins at 6:45am
2. Tuatara 1000 – Anti Clockwise Brevet
a. Briefing begins at 7:15am
3. Tuatara 1000 – Clockwise Brevet
a. Briefing begins at 7:45am
4. Tuatara Iti – Short course
a. Briefing begins at 7:45am
All briefings take place at the Trout Statue, this is also the start line.
Tracking Registration
This is now open through Maprogress. There are a couple of key points to note when registering for your tracking device.
1. Please read the registration conditions
2. Please read and familiarise yourself with the Great Kiwi Gravel agreements
3. If you are hiring a tracker to be shared, please include all of the riders names
4. Please select the correct ride name.
a. Iti – this is the short course
b. Urgent – this is the Tuatara 1000 race category
c. 1000 Clock – Brevet mode, riding Clockwise from Gore
d. 1000 Anti – Brevet mode, riding Anti Clockwise from Gore, the official direction.
Please sign up for tracking as soon as you can, this will help Maprogress sort all the devices earlier. Generally, makes life easy for everyone.
Direction
If you are unsure about which direction you would like to go, please consider this sentence an encouragement to ride clockwise. In doing so you will lighten the load on service providers, get the meet all of the other direction riders coming towards you throughout your adventure and actually increase the positive impact on the community by spreading the bikepacking presence out over the whole week.
GPX and Cues
We will be sending final completed GPX files in the new year. For now, please use the Maprogress tracking site for all your planning needs. Please note, this current map is not to be used for navigation. We will be providing the GPX in a number of formats and files sizes along with a spreadsheet of Cue. If you require a special format of data for your device, please let us know.
Accommodation
By now we hope you have your accommodation sorted for the Friday night in Gore. Once you have signed up with Maprogress (choosing your direction) you can get into booking your accommodation and scoping out places for resupply.
Film Crew
All things being well we are planning to create a film of the 2022 event. This is an exciting prospect and is requiring lots of logistic work up front. While the crew are out on course they will be at times checking in with you to see how you are doing, capturing fantastic moments as you adventure your way around Southland. Please note that as this is an unsupported event, they are not there as a support crew.
Sponsorship
We are excited to share that there are some very kind companies out there who are supporting the film project and your adventure. Please support these companies as they have chosen to support us.
Ground Effect Clothing and Julbo NZ are kindly supporting our film project.
Real Meals are kindly providing a freeze-dried meal for each rider. They make the best real meals that are then freeze dried and packed for your convenience. Please check them out!
Thanks
In the meantime, we hope your riding is going well, your gear lists are happy, and you are excited about a week (or less) adventuring in the deep south.
If you have any questions please get in touch.
See you soon
Andy + GKG team
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