Man, what a weekend!
Just did the 106km Rainbow Rage on Saturday, then rode the Queen Charlotte Walkway on Monday, just got back at 2am.
Will post some pics and a story soon, but while this online newspaper is current, here’s the front page of the Nelson Mail today:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3224226a6007,00.html
You can’t tell how steep that is 
, I was hanging on till my hands were numb!
Ken
A 4 wheeled unicycle, complete with chilli bin and stereo 
:
Four wheels, four riders. That’s one wheel per rider…works for me.
Re: Rainbow Rage
Wow, thats a long haul! Congrads for sticking with it!
Re: Rainbow Rage
Usually when you see the words Rainbow and Queen in the same sentence, its talking about something completely different.
Awesome stuff Ken, not a bad time either!
I can scan the article and post it on here if you want, as soon as I saw the paper I was like ‘hey I know that guy’ 
Nice going, again an excellent ride by you. Sounds like there was some good climbing as well. Good on ya.
Well, here’s the highlights of Ken’s weekend adventures:
Thurs 17 Mar
-Catch the ferry to Picton, decide to be adventurous and hitchike to Nelson.
Fri 18 Mar
Sat 19 Mar
The Rainbow Rage! Luckily the headache and flu was almost gone. We arrive fashionably late, but had just enough time to collect our racepacks, attach numberplates, and tighten my nuts.
The ride started in St Arnaud- a small town in the upper half of the South Island, and cuts across the most direct route to Hamner Springs, through the Rainbow Valley. It was a very pretty ride but also very flat and not that technical. In fact, it was more like a road ride on gravel than a MUNi ride.
I was somewhat undergeared with Coker/150’s and plodded along, trying to enjoy the view and watch all the funny contraptions people were riding (see above). There were a number of tandems, etc. One guy rode on a one pedal for most of the race after losing his crank. The most impressive thing was the guy in his mid-80’s who rode the Rainbow Rage
It was a very scenic ride, with a river on one side, as we snaked around the Rainbow Valley. A couple of river crossings but nothing too strenous. The were two big descents. The first dropped off down Island Saddle (the big climb of the day) and into the toughest part of the course, which was very flat but for which I will call the never-ending-road-from-hell. It just kept going on and on and on…I thought it would never finish.
Eventually it did and took us into one of the sketchiest high speed Coker descents I’ve ever done, a steep 6km of high speed gravel road to the finish! Pure white knuckled, jaw clenching fun!
Didn’t get any prizes, which included a Pot of Gold (complete with a solid lump of gold). It is the Rainbows end after all!
Sun 20 Mar
Hamner Springs hotpools!!! Nothing like a smelly sulphur pool to ease achy muscles
Mon 21 Mar
I get back to Picton and ride to the Queen Charlotte Walkway. Apparently rates as one of the best singletrack in the country so I was keen to see what the fuss was all about.
Maybe after riding 25km to get there (it looked like only 5km on the map- doh!), I probably wasn’t in the best shape to ride it, but I was a little underwhelmed with the Queen Charlotte Walkway. The first few kms I did was just like any other singletrack anywhere in the country. Not bad- but not great either.
Another quick 25km ride back to Picton and then a ferry trip back home!
Ken
Pete- you don't have a spare article (or two) you could mail to me by any chance? Got to keep the sponsors happy :pThe start of the Rainbow Valley
Going further into the Rainbow Valley (taken from my Unicam):
Sure I’ll see what I can do…
FYI:
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINES
354 words
21 March 2005
The Nelson Mail (NZ)
1
English
© 2005 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
By SIMON BLOOMBERG
Saturday’s Rainbow Rage was just another day at the office for Nelson’s top mountainbiker Tim Vincent.
The Swiss-based professional won the 106km ride from St Arnaud to Hanmer Springs in 3hr 49min 5sec. Vincent’s partner Sandy Kunz also made light work of the steep hills and head wind, winning the open women’s section in 4hr 28min 10sec.
But for most of the 1500 cyclists, the Rainbow Rage lived up to its reputation as an adventure ride. Many of them found it a lot tougher than Vincent and Kunz, including 84-year-old Alan Dean of Christchurch who completed his sixth Rage in 9hr 53min 29sec.
This is the last time I'll do this because that wind just about stuffed me,'' Dean said after arriving at Hanmer Springs. There’s one word for my condition but mother won’t let me use it.’’
Dean was awarded an OBE (over bloody eighty) by organiser Mike Gane for completing the ride.
He added afterwards that he would need to ``do a fair bit of crawling’’ to his wife after spending most of the last three months training.
Even some of the younger riders found the going tough.
One stubborn individual lost his crank, cycling the last 79km with one pedal, while Nelson’s Mark Morris broke his collar bone when he was knocked off his bike after 10km but still completed the event.
Then there were some riders with masochistic tendencies who made their lives even harder by using unconventional bikes.
Wellington’s Ken Looi completed the journey on a unicycle in 6hr 47min 42sec while Nelson’s Dean Rainbow, Dan Kellahan, Craig Keown and Andy Selwood took 9hr 24min 58sec to finish on a home-made double tandem.
Nelson’s Aaron Reardon and Brenda Clapp also suffered more than most, winning the men’s and women’s single speed sections.
Although Blenheim’s Aaron Tuckerman finished second, he was fortunate to escape unscathed after riding the last 30km- including the final 6km downhill at speeds of around 70khm- with a broken bike frame.