Day 17 - Sunday 14 March 2010
Dist: 85 km. Av. Speed: 22.7 km/hr. Cal: 1508. Ride Time: 3 hrs 44 min
Luxury! Today I was upgraded to Business Class… before I left the (interesting) Feilding camp ground I had a play with my seat position because I just haven’t been able to get totally comfortable. I moved it forward 10mm, tilted it down about 5 degrees and dropped it about 10mm… instant luxury! It was like moving from Cattle to Business; brilliant!
I celebrated with breakfast in downtown Feilding at Sage Café, the same place I had dinner last night. I’ve decided to end the cooked breakfasts and go for the low GI muesli and fruit option. Today’s version was fantastic.
To get out of Feilding via the back roads I briefly had to head north, then swing east which put the wind on my back again. The road was reasonably flat and I made good time to my first stop in Ashhurst. This is obviously the route of choice for Sunday morning cycle training out of Feilding because I passed (going the opposite way) lots and lots of groups out on the road. It was amazing to see Mt Ruapehu from one of the high points on the road which makes you realise just how small this country is. Another highlight was the ghostly wind farm ‘sculptures’ on the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges overlooking Ashhurst and Palmerston North. Very cool.
The Manawatu country towns all seem really well looked after - there’s no sign of graffiti and the streets are very clean - and Ashhurst’s Fusion Café has wonderful apple and rhubarb pies.
The next leg was a mad dash through the Manawatu Gorge to Woodville and in to the Wairarapa. I had a strong tail wind through the Gorge which pushed me through at around 30km/h so the seven km ‘high accident’ stretch was over in a very short time and without incident.
At Woodville I needed to turn south so unfortunately the tail wind was now a cross wind so I slowed a bit but still cruised along OK. I was looking for a scenic reserve to stop for lunch but must have missed it and ended up at the Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka - oops! It turned out that the Brewery was the start/finish for the annual Bush Cycle Tour today so I pulled in and made myself at home amongst all the roadies. It was a beautiful afternoon and they had a band playing on the lawn and food and of course, beer. But no Tui girls! I spent a couple of hours lounging about on the grass but didn’t win a spot prize so carried on to Eketahuna - or Eke (Eckie) as the locals call it.
The wind - and the road - had swung a bit since I stopped so the last 30km dropped my average speed for the day considerably but I still got to Eke about 4:15.
The camp ground here is just a field by the river with a cook house, two cabins and three power outlets. It’s only $5 for a tent but there’s no manager on site so I’ll just have to leave the money with somebody else if nobody shows up by the time I leave tomorrow. It has the best hot showers yet though!!
I walked in to town to see what was available for dinner with very low expectations after observing the main street as I arrived. It seems that Eke missed out when all the other towns around the region were being spruced up for some reason. However I was pleasantly surprised to find the rough looking café/craft shop (from 1978) with the creaky floor did a wonderful sausages, eggs and chips, with a salad and the lettuce was diced in strips - not broken and tossed… superb!
I’m going to change the plan slightly tomorrow and ride on through to Featherston instead of stopping at Greytown. This’ll make Tuesday a shorter day which will give me two short days in a row so that will be my taper for the Rainbow Rage on Saturday. I might also take a different route that uses more back roads to get me off SH2 as much as possible.
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