Back in the early part of 2022 I signed up for the 2023 Sounds to Sounds event. At the time I registered I felt excited and then a bit sick at the enormity of the challenge ahead.

I had never ridden more than a week consecutively. I was not sure what bike I would use or even if I owned a bike I would use. I had zero bike packing experience and only one bag – a front roll used on trips like the Old Ghost Road or Paparoa. Would I even like bike packing?

I decided to start where I was. No bike, no bags, no idea but fairly sure I could work all this out. The bike was easy enough. I did some research on the route and it came down to a choice between a gravel bike or a 29” wheel hard tail mountain bike. I love my gravel bike but on some sections I will be more comfortable and confident on a mountain bike. I didn’t own a hard tail 29” mountain bike so more research into options. So much fun building up my virtual list and shortlisting bikes. I ended up with a Canyon Grand Trail 9 – aluminium frame, fox front shocks and Shimano XT drive chain. Nice and light with a good low gear for the steep uphills.

Canyon do direct to consumer ordering so my bike went from Germany to the States to Australia and finally to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Bike sorted and now onto fit, tweaks and customisation. That will be in the next post coming soon.