With thoughts of Patagonia on his mind, Trevor Voyce, of Nelson, pulled out of the Longest Day Speight's Coast to Coast title, but blitzed the field on the first day of the two-day team section with Australian Matt Blundell.
Voyce received a call from Nathan Fa'avae about a month ago asking if he would be interested in joining his Sea Gate team to contest the 500km adventure race, beginning in North Patagonia next Saturday.
"It was just a little bit tight for recovery," he said.
"So when a two-day opportunity came up in a team, it was perfect opportunity to sharpen up."
Blundell gave Voyce the perfect start for his 33km alpine run, heading a tightly bunched leading group of 40 riders into transition.
Attacking from the start Voyce quickly began to open up a handy lead, which led to initial concerns that he had gone out too fast but then, finding rhythm, he began to sprint-push himself. At Goat Pass, he learned this tactic had earned him only a 4min lead.
"That just wasn't enough by my standards," he said.
"So I upped the pace on the way down and managed to get a bit more of a lead."
Conditions for Voyce kept improving as the cloud cover at the beginning of his run burned off.
"It was great on the way down," he said.
"My legs warmed up after chilling off on the pass and I managed to run really freely down the valley."
Voyce planned to put his feet up last night in preparation for what he termed "a bit of a bike ride" later today.
But with river levels low, Blundell's expertise will be called upon for the 67km kayaking stage, while for Voyce the bike ride over the latter part of the course will be less than easy. Christchurch streets are still severely quake-affected, opening up a greater opportunity for puncturing or technical failure.
Despite the significant lead, Voyce is aware of the dangers posed by the Steve McKinstry and Daniel Busch combination in second place"Dan's an exception paddler," Voyce said.
"Not taking anything away from Matt, but they'll have a good duel on the water, that's for sure. They're both in top form.
"I haven't seen Christchurch since the earthquakes, so it could be a bitof an eye-opener."
Team honours today will add to his already impressive record on the course that has included second in the Longest Day in 2009 and sixth in 2010.
Leading the women's team section are the Wanaka Physio pairing of Simone Maier and Ginny Rutledge, who hold a 3min 28sec lead over Kelsee Hamilton (Hokitika) and Nakia Randle (Dunstan).
Rutledge is already a five-time winner of the teams' section, while Hamilton has the race running through her veins.
She is the seventh member from her family to compete in the event. Her father, Duncan, is competing in the event for the 17th time, while her cousins, Daniel Honey and Zak Neale, are placed second in the secondary school boys section going into the second day.
