The Six Corners Challenge is a self-supported bikepacking challenge connecing the six rideable corners of Golden Bay in 36 hours. Riders get to choose their own direction, just as long as they hit every one of the corners. Stella managed to complete the ~460km in under 29 hours, read about her experience below!
The weekend started with an alarm at a delightful 5:20am on Saturday, a quick scramble into my gear, scoffing down some breakfast and rolling out the door just in time to join the sea of bikes congregating in the middle of Takaka. With a quick briefing and a vague shout of “go” we were off, I made a quick detour into the bushes of the local park to stash a bag of food for later before joining into a line of blinking red lights snaking its way out towards Tōtaranui. As we hit the first proper climb to get over to Tōtaranui I felt some envy towards the people powering past me on their light gravel bikes but these feelings were quickly resolved as we started heading down the hill and I was able to fly past all the gravel bikes timidly picking their way down the loose gravel road.
With daylight in full swing and the first corner ticked off I was filled with excitement for what lay ahead. At the turnoff to the Rameka track I parted ways with the other riders who had opted to head up the Cobb first then back down the Rameka track. To me going up seemed to be the logical decision given the slow technical nature of the track in either direction. Shortly after starting the grind up a rather steep gravel road towards the singletrack, the first shower of the day decided it was time to make an appearance. Initially I was unbothered, it wasn’t a downpour or anything crazy and I was more than warm enough slogging up the hill. It was once I hit the single track that I realised the little shower was doing a great job at getting the roots and rocks slippery enough that they needed that extra dash and hop to get over them. It was mostly enjoyable to have some technical sections to challenge myself on even if it was rather exhausting. Near the top I misjudged one hop up a rooty drop and ended up falling sideways into a tree. I quickly gave myself a checkover, told myself off for being a silly goober and got back on the bike to arrive at a misty second corner.
After a quick refuel and water topup at the Canaan Downs, it was a nice roll along the tops to get to the main road and the peak of the Takaka hill. From here I started seeing a train of people who had hit the Cobb as their first corner all chugging up the hill as I bombed down the road. This quickly flipped and I was the one chugging it up the hill as I turned up the Cobb valley. The ride started pretty peacefully beside the river and I was stoked for a cruisy and scenic climb up the valley but after passing the power station I discovered the road had another side of it yet to show off. The road quickly cranked up the hill and it was a slow haul 800m up into the clouds, I now see why people wanted to hit this climb first! From the top there was a quick descent down to a rather ugly dam holding back the Cobb lake but once I turned around to head up to the Trilobite hut I was taken aback by the stunning hills and bush, definitely wanna come back and spend some more time here one day! Once I hit the hut I had to dodge the sandflies while I quickly tucked into a rather sweaty burrito, but I didn’t let that put me off; the kick of the red onion was exactly what I needed at that moment.
As I left Trilobite Hut and embarked on the journey out of the Cobb I realised I was making pretty damn good time, I was even ahead of my target pace which was rather unexpected. For the whole descent I was flip-flopping between pushing hard to make it to Takaka by 7pm for a hot meal or sticking to my original plan and food drop. Eventually I decided it would be silly to blow out right before nightfall so I rolled into Takaka around 7:30 but to my surprise the fish and chip shop was only just closing up and they let me sneak one last order in! This stop ended up being an extended break as I took a full reset, oiled up the bike, had a quick stretch and topped up with some goodies from my stash bag. It was here I had a bit of a mental reset and thought about how the ride had been so far, I’d already done about 200km and a majority of the climbing and I was surprisingly feeling great! Maybe the legs' cries for help were just being shunted out by the fish and chips and the buzz I was feeling about to ride into the night, either way I was on a high. I was soon rolling out of Takaka chasing a couple blinking red lights which I chose to chase down in favour of having a chat with some other riders. I soon caught up and discovered fellow Wellingtonians who I’d seen around before. This was a massive start to the night, being able to have some good chats and reflect on each other's choices through the day. I soon left them as they ducked into their accommodation for a rest and some food and I was rolling across the flats up to Cape Farewell (my fourth corner). This was a pretty uneventful section, although I did stop to use a toilet at one point and shined my light straight at a ginormous cluster of sleeping sandflies, I quickly opted to use the longdrop in the dark out of fear of waking them from their peaceful slumber.
Leaving Cape Farewell it was time to start up some podcasts for the night to keep me entertained as I stared at a dimly lit circle of gravel road for the next however many hours. I had a quick chat with another rider who had already smashed out 5 corners and just had the Heaphy to go, absolutely bonkers effort from him! This was fairly short-lived and after the turn off to Anatori I was alone with my podcasts, just waving at the occasional rider who zipped past in the opposite direction. I’d heard a lot of chatter about this being a slog of a corner to get to as it’s 50km to Anatori from the turn off and there’s endless little ups and downs. I think having my expectations set low was beneficial as I just got stuck into it. I was potentially pushing a bit harder than planned as I got consumed by the mission vibes of riding through the night. This definitely led to me getting pretty hungry but feeling pretty sick of constantly eating food. Finally I rolled down the last hill into Anatori, pleased to have hit the 5th corner and completed the first half of the trek to nowhere! I knew I needed to get some proper food onboard before the ride out of Anatori so I parked up on the side of the road for a good feed. My second sweaty burrito was not such an enjoyable experience as I was properly struggling to keep food from coming straight back up.
The whole way out of Anatori it became a balance of eating enough to fend off the bonk while not pushing my gut too far and feeling even worse. The tiredness really started to settle in on the return leg, I was still listening to my podcasts but I couldn’t tell you what they were about. I was just listening to people talking. The moon tried to make an appearance between the clouds but it was not winning that battle, I managed a few glimpses of some silhouetted estuaries but nothing near the views of this apparently beautiful area that I was hoping for. Around 5am I made it back to the main road and headed for the turn off up to Brown hut. This was definitely a pretty big low, feeling tired and unsure if I had it in me to get through another 100km. My hope was that the sun would come out and all would be well for the last few hours. When the sun came out it potentially did the opposite, making me realise just how grim I felt and pushing motivation to an all time low. I had to do something about this otherwise I was gonna deteriorate FAST; I pulled over, scranned a whittakers slab and queued up some techno bangers. This was definitely the move as I was soon blasting and bopping my way up towards the Brown hut with unrivaled motivation. I came to the realization that what I’m doing is damn hard but I can do it and prove I can do damn hard things.
Having ticked off the final corner there was just one last leg back to Takaka, so doable! I decided if I gave it all I had I could make it back in under 29 hours which would be an unreal achievement. As I sped out of the valley I passed the Langford Store just as they opened and I couldn’t resist stopping for a cold drink. I downed two cans of coke and an icecream (a pretty naughty breakfast) while having a lovely chat with the store owner. From there it was smooth sailing, I was squeezing every last bit of energy outta the legs while constantly checking the time and watching the kms tick down. With an effort that I’m unbelievably proud of, almost perfect weather and zero issues with the bike, I pulled up to the Roots Bar in Takaka at 10:54am for a total time of 28 hours and 54 mins out riding!