Te Mata Peak 5,000

A notable milestone of perseverance and endurance was reached by local cyclist and Ramblers Cycling Club member Jason Kelly on Tuesday 30^th April 2024 when he completed his 5,000^th recorded full climb of Te Mata Peak. This climb is an iconic Hawkes Bay ride and is about 5.4 kilometres long from Simla Avenue to the top Te Mata Peak car park with approximately 360 metres of vertical climbing. Reaching his target in style, he completed eight climbs on the day to record another quarter Everest climb of over 2,212m and take his total record to over 5,000 Te Mata Peak climbs.

It is said a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step and so it was with Jason’s cycling climbs of Te Mata Peak. His first recorded climb was a single one way back in August 1998. Since then, he has done a bit of cycling and if you have seen a cyclist on the peak road in recent years, odds are it was Jason.

Over the twenty six years, the total completed climbs slowly increased with the COVID period providing time to up the ante and push the total ever higher at an accelerated rate. This includes the completion of 28 climbs in a single day for an Everest plus challenge with over 10,000 metres of vertical climbing ridden in 2020, multiple half and quarter Everest’s, and over 1,000 climbs ridden in the year ended 31 March 2021.

Despite, or perhaps because of, accidents, road closures, poor weather, cyclones and other challenges, a goal of 5,000 climbs became a realistic target with regular efforts seeing the total continue to steadily rise towards the target.

Other cycling achievements including riding coast to coast of the USA in both 1999 and again in 2011, in 2018 a virtual (indoor) Everest 10,000m+ ride and riding the complete Tour de France One Day Ahead as part of a New Zealand amateur team.

All records are there to be broken so for anyone keen, if you plan on doing around 100 climbs a year (about two climbs per week), it will only take you fifty years to complete 5,000. But note that by the time you read this, Jason’s tally is already beyond 5,000.

The numbers to 30 April 2024 are:

 

As a keen glider pilot and member of Gliding Hawkes Bay, Jason’s future plans are literally up in the air with soaring goals high on the list of what’s next.

31 March 2021 – a taxing year

Starting the 2021 calendar year, my ability to complete 1,000 Te Mata Peak climbs within 12 consecutive calendar months looked challenging, especially as I was away in Omarama for gliding for the first half of January and did not complete my first peak climb of the year until 15^th January. By late January, the numbers started to look plausible so a target was set of at least 1,000 full Te Mata Peak climbs in the year ending 31 March 2021.

 

Completing three peak climbs on 05^th February saw me achieve the milestone of my 3,000th recorded full Te Mata Peak climb since August 1998.

 

The total climbs completed accumulated nicely with 1,000 climbs in 365 consecutive days completed on 07^th March as this “rolling year” included the 2020 COVID19 lockdown periods. The target to 31 March was then stretched to a minimum of 1,052 full climbs.

 

Despite a couple of days of wet weather with no climbs, I hit a total of 1,042 climbs since 01 April 2020 on 28 March. This then left three days to maximise my total for the year. The weather forecast was initially for rain each of the last three days of the period. This turned out to be correct for the 29th morning but despite the forecast, the weather cleared in the afternoon long enough for me to complete three further climbs. Up pre-dawn on the 30^th, seven climbs were completed in the dry. The last day of the year dawned with heavy overcast and forecast showers and rain. Given that it was dry early, I set out and completed four climbs without getting a spot of rain. This completed 133 climbs for the month, 271 since 01 January 2021 and 1,056 for the year ended 31 March 2021. Stretch target surpassed!

 

Total recorded climbing of all riding for the year ending 31 March 2021 was 521,471m or 10,000m per seven days.

 

Looking at the numbers for the year ended 31 March 2021:

 

a. Total days Te Mata Peak climbed during the year: 276 out of 365 (75.6%)

 

b. 1,056 total peak climbs completed being:
48 days @ 1 climb
61 days @ 2 climbs (Double Peaks)
36 days @ 3 climbs (Triple Peaks)
49 days @ 4 climbs (Quadrapeaks)
18 days @ 5 climbs (Pentapeaks or COVIDs)
24 days @ 6 climbs (Hexapeaks)
15 days @ 7 climbs (Septapeaks or ANZAC Specials or Half Valentines or Quarter Jason’s)
14 days @ 8 climbs (Octapeaks or Double Quadrapeaks)
4 days @ 9 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
4 days @ 10 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
1 day @ 11 climbs (Mount Cooks)
1 day @ 16 climbs (Hors catégorie (HC))
1 day @ 28 climbs (Everest 10,000m+)

 

c. Average climbs per day Te Mata Peak climbed: 3.8

 

d. Least number of consecutive days to complete 1,000 peak climbs: 355 days

 

e. Least number of non-consecutive peak riding days to complete 1,000 peak climbs: 224 days @ 4.46 climbs per day

 

f. Most number of consecutive days with no peak climbs: 22 days

 

g. Most consecutive days of Te Mata Peak climbing: 62 (actually 31 March 2020 – 31 May 2020 inclusive)

 

h. Most peak climbs in 90 days: 347 (actually 02 March 2020 – 30 May 2020 inclusive)

Cycling 2020 - The Year of Te Mata Peak

 

Cycling 2020 - The Year of Te Mata Peak

Jason Kelly

My cycling plan for 2020 was to target around 300 complete Te Mata Peak climbs for the year. With the Gentle Annie (Taihape – Hastings) ride scheduled for late March and the National Cycling Championships soon afterwards, the training plan to start the year was to work towards a peak of Te Mata Peaks before the Gentle Annie and then ease off for the Nationals and the rest of the year.

The cycling year started typically enough for me with an early morning ride from Omarama on 1^st January with the first Te Mata Peak climbs not recorded until 14^th January. The number of Te Mata Peak climbs slowly increased with a peak of six in one day being recorded in late February and early March.

However, once COVID19 hit New Zealand, this saw events postponed and the imposition of a Level 4 lockdown in late March. As such, the original plan was abandoned and Te Mata Peak climbs continued almost daily. With the lockdown rules and guidelines being literally made up as lockdown progressed, riding was limited in area and ultimately the specified maximum distance advised as 10km from home. This distance easily encompassed the top of Te Mata Peak so repeats were in order to get time and distance.

I had no specific goals in mind but with only work and cycling to fill my days, plenty of time to think. It soon became a daily game to pick a Darwin Award winner for the animal(s), person or people mostly likely to remove themselves from the gene pool due to being total oblivious to everything around them and walking randomly in front of cars and bikes.

The words from Les Miserables also came to mind and a re-worked version of the prologue drafted.

COVID19 NZ - Work Song Lyrics (to tune of - Les Misérables - Original London Cast - Prologue Work Song )
Locked down, locked down	Citizens
In your family bubble	Yes, it means we're free.
Locked down, locked down
In your family bubble	Jacinda
	No! It means you get
1st New Zealander	Your limited ticket-of-leave
The mind is strong	You are a kiwi.
It's cosy in our bubble
	Citizens
Locked down, locked down	We've done no wrong
there's four weeks to go
	Jacinda
2nd New Zealander	You stockpiled from the supermarkets
I've done no wrong
Sweet Jacinda, hear my prayer	Citizens
	We bought all the flour
Locked down, locked down	We were close to running out
Sweet Jacinda doesn't care	And we were hungry
3rd New Zealander	Jacinda
I know she'll wait	You will go hungry again
I know that she'll be true	Unless you learn the meaning of the levels.
Locked down, locked down	Citizens
The government's forgotten you	I know the meaning of those 33 days
	A slave of the levels.
4th New Zealander
When I get free	Jacinda
You won't see me	Twenty eight days for a start
'Ere for dust	The rest because we could
	Yes, fellow kiwis.
Locked down, locked down
Don't look 'em in the eye.	Citizens
	We are New Zealanders
5th New Zealander
How long, O Jacinda	Jacinda
Before you let me free?	And I am Jacinda
	Do not forget my name
Locked down, locked down	Do not forget me
You'll always be a kiwi	Citizens
Locked down, locked down
You're standing in your bubble.	Locked down, locked down
	You'll always be a kiwi
Jacinda	Locked down, locked down
Now bring me the citizens	You're standing in your bubble.
Your time is up
And your Level 3 has begun
You know what that means.

Other means to keep my mind occupied while riding were to name the number of climbs – 3 times was Triple Peaks, 4 times a Quadrapeak, 5 times a COVID, 6 times a Grand COVID, 7 times an ANZAC Special (being 2 + 5 = 7, first done on ANZAC Day) and 8 times a Double Quadrapeak.

While the news media was focused on flattening the COVID19 curve, my attention turned to my Te Mata Peak cumulative climb curve. With near ideal riding conditions for most of the Level 4 and subsequent Level 3 lockdown, this ended up being as below.

Over the seven week period, 246 Te Mata Peak climbs were completed with the maximum being 10 on one day. With the total number of climbs being substantially more than planned, the possibilities for a huge total for the year were wide open. However, I did not want to set an unrealistic target and so just planned to see what happened. 

Once lockdown was over, events were rescheduled with the Nationals in mid-July and the Gentle Annie in late November. As such, Te Mata Peak climbing was reduced in preparation for the Nationals. The total Te Mata Peak climbs recorded for the year totaled 486 prior to the July Nationals held from Waipukurau.

Held in wet and cool conditions, the road race at the Nationals saw me knocked off and out in the final sprint. This resulted in me being battered, bruised and unable to ride for a few weeks. As such, the Te Mata Peak tally did not move again until August and finally reached the 500 mark for the year on the 22^nd August. 

Having had time to consider options and plans for the rest of the year, I decided to ride the Gentle Annie (see The “Not so Gentle Annie” – Tandem style http://jasonscyclingstories.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020-gentle-annie-cycle-ride-from.html) on a tandem with fellow glider pilot Abbey Delore and look to complete a total of 732 peak climbs for the year – being an average of two climbs per day as 2020 was a leap year A further goal was that if my injuries recovered well enough, to complete an outdoor Everest climb (8,848 metres of climbing in one ride on one hill) to complement my 2018 virtual Everest climb completed on Zwift.

By the time of the Gentle Annie, I had surpassed my base goal of 732 peak climbs and an Everest challenge seemed achievable. As such, I reset my schedule to include a day of 28 Te Mata Peak climbs (Everest 10,000m+ challenge) and to reach a total of 932 climbs for the year – being a neat 200 over the initial 732 targeted.

Thursday 17^th December was chosen as the Everest 10,000m+ day (see Everest 10,000m+ challenge - http://jasonscyclingstories.blogspot.com/2020/12/everest-10000m-challenge.html) and 28 Te Mata Peak climbs completed to take the yearly total to over 900. The Strava profile is below.

Peak climbing for the year was completed on Boxing Day as I left that evening to go to Omarama. The final tally for the year was 932 Te Mata Peak climbs as targeted.

The graph clearly shows a slow start, the COVID19 lockdown period, the reduction towards the Nationals then some flat lining while I could not ride before picking up again with a near vertical spike on the Everest 10,000m+ day and a gentle arc to finish the year.

 

Looking at the numbers for the year:

a. Total days Te Mata Peak climbed during the year: 274 out of 366 (74.9%)

b. Average climbs per day Te Mata Peak climbed: 3.4

c. Maximum number of Te Mata Peak climbs in a Monday – Sunday week: 46

d. Maximum number of Te Mata Peak climbs in a rolling seven day week: 52

e. Maximum number of Te Mata Peak climbs in a calendar month: 157

f. Total vertical climbing on Te Mata Peak: 322,472m

g. Maximum number of Te Mata Peak climbs in one day: 28 (Everest 10,000m+ day)