The TA starts at Cape Reigna, the northmost point of New Zealand, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman sea. This confluence is marked by a patch of churny sea, with waves crashing into each other from every direction (pictured). It holds spiritual significance for the Māori people. We took a shuttle up to the cape in the morning. I was quiet on the drive, enjoying the texture of two kiwis (Ian and the driver Keith) shooting the shit. The first main segment of the tour is 80 km of beach riding. You start around low tide so that firm, ridable sand is exposed. But it’s still sand. And we started relatively late in the day. And we had a tough headwind… The sun set. The stars came out, many more than usual. And…we were still riding our bicycles. We rolled into camp around 11:30 pm, much later than expected, soggy and sandy. —- (Day 2 did not get recorded, as the sea mist and sand bricked my phone for a bit there. I was half hoping it wouldn’t make a recovery.) The day started with more beach riding. Even though we started well after low tide, we had no headwind, which meant we were cruising and probably didn’t need to worry about high tide. With just 10km more of beach riding, the wind picked up, and we slowed way down. The sea crept closer and closer, pushing us toward soft, unrideable sand. The reality became clear: if we didn’t make it to town before high tide, the ocean would force us to wait the day out in the dunes. We kicked into high gear, so to speak, and the snack breaks sort of stopped. We were no longer riding on the beach. We were riding our bicycles IN the ocean. It was going to be a close one. The swash was now forcing us into the soft sand on its furthest reaches. We zig-zagged in and out, avoiding the swash and chasing the backwash back to ridable sand. Just as it was starting to look dubious, there it was! The beach access road. A local cheered for us as he skrted by on his 4-wheeler. We’d made it!