Davidson’s strategy was to ride non-stop until he reached Blue Duck Station, more than 600km into the course.
He said around 80 per cent of the challenge of this kind of racing was mental, with riders fighting themselves and their bodies rather than other competitors.
“If you’ve got a good attitude and a good mindset going into it and you can keep your head in the game, that’s when you can push through and do what you need to do.”
Regardless of where riders were in the field, he said the experience was physically and mentally taxing on everyone.
“You face some real demons in the middle of the night, or when you’re in a deep dark hole, when you’ve hit the wall and you’ve got no energy left - it gets really, really hard.
“You can hallucinate, you can do all sorts of stuff.”
To help steel himself during the race, Davidson kept his mind preoccupied with other activities.
“I’d speak to cows, I’d sing, I’d talk to myself,” he said.
Once he got to Blue Duck, second-placed Halligan, who had rested earlier along the course, was around two hours behind, and after a two-hour sleep, Davidson awoke with Halligan around 2km ahead.
“I was like, ‘Okay, sweet, that’s not far, I can catch him and I’ve probably got a little more rest in my bank, so let’s go for it’,” he said.
Back on the road, he caught up to Halligan and the two rode together for around three and a half hours, making conversation with an ever-present tension as both waited to make the decisive move for the win.
The full field of starters for the 2023 Renegades Muster.
Davidson’s moment came when Halligan had to stop to rest again near Ōhakune, and he used his remaining energy to make sure he wouldn’t be caught.
“As soon as I turned the corner, I just put the hammer down and thought, ‘Right, now’s my chance, I’ve got to get away from him because otherwise, it’s never going to happen’.”
He rode as hard as he could to Ōhakune and managed to maintain the gap from Halligan all the way to Durie Hill.
Davidson said he got into bike-packing because riders saw parts of Aotearoa people did not know existed and the racing satisfied his competitive streak.
“It’s an incredible experience, and I never thought I’d like it, but I just got hooked,” he said.
The bike-packing community was also a big part of what kept him involved, as there was camaraderie through the shared experience of the courses.
“Regardless of where you finish in the race, everybody in the race can understand and you’ve got that shared camaraderie with everyone else, which is just an awesome experience.
“Every time there’s a race on, you see the people and it’s like meeting old friends again.”
He took part in the first edition of the muster and said he’d be back for another go next year.
Event organiser Peter Maindonald said 82 people entered this year’s race, with 78 making it to the start line.
Of those 82, 38 riders had made it to the finish line by mid-morning Wednesday.
Maindonald said the attrition rate last year was around 40 per cent, but so far it looked like this year’s edition would halve that.
Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.
