Naseby to Cromwell (via Otago Central Rail Trail)

Day 31 - Sunday 28 March 2010

Dist: 129 km. Av. Speed: 21.8 km/hr. Cal: 2101. Ride Time: 5 hours 53 min

Well, well, well… so I’m biking along the Otago Central Rail Trail about 20km north of Alex minding my own business… I’d just spun up in third to top gear and clicked into second top, the speedo climbed up to 33 and I assumed the tuck, ready to clock up some cheap ks down the gentle slope with the slight tail wind… when out of the blue I hear a shout, “hey Sammy” - the voice had gone past me quickly so I looked over my shoulder to see the grinning face of the big man inside, Sander Vlade Meijer! What an awesome surprise. The cunning sod had been texting me to see if I was on schedule and I’d assumed it was so he could arrange leave to join me from Winton to Bluff, but oh no, he had another plan. He’d driven all the way up from Invercargill, got on his bike at Alexandra and cycled up to intercept me on the trail. Fantastic mate - what an amazing surprise. I’m stoked.

Up until then the day had gone pretty much as expected, although the chilly three degrees at Naseby (2000 ft above worry level) when I left at 8.15 wasn’t in the plan. There was nothing open in Naseby at that hour and the sign on the café door saying that it “opened at 9ish” didn’t instil a lot of confidence, so I shoved down a One Square Meal and my usual cup of Barley Grass and headed off, hoping to find sustenance 20km away in Wedderburn.

I joined the Rail Trail about half way between Ranfurly and Wedderburn, almost at its highest point, and pedalled west as the sun rose above the mist and started to thaw my finger-tips, nose and toes.

The trail looked like great biking with nice scenery and I started to count, and try and scope the demographic of the ‘punters’, collecting data for our own section of National Cycleway. I gave up after 40 in the first half hour.

I stopped at Wedderburn for food but the pub was still shut. I got chatting to a group of three couples in their sixties who told me that their hire company alone rents out 600 bikes per day - that’s not a typo, 600 every day! They also told me that the most popular user was women over 60, and I can confirm that with what I observed over the rest of the day.

Wedderburn is the middle of the trail so it’s a drop off and pick up point and hence quite busy, but the only nourishment I could get was a cocoa from a vending machine and two ginger nuts. That was until one of the nice ladies in the party of six offered me a couple of chocolate digestives - superb.

So it was off down the trail again toward the next wee town, saying “good morning” to cyclists about every two minutes as they toddled along in the opposite direction. It quickly became apparent that I was ‘speeding’ and definitely not doing the ‘typical’ Rail Trail experience. I asked one group if they were cyclists and they all laughed, saying things like they hadn’t been on a bike in 20 years. It was obvious by the skill level of some of the other punters that biking was pretty foreign to them too. So it was a bit of an eye-opener for me, who thought that the Rail Trail was for cyclists and probably males in their forties, to find out that the market is actually non-cyclist women over 60!

Drama at Idaburn. I finally found food at the general store here and was pleasantly surprised to see that they sold some biking bits and bobs (mainly spongy seat covers) so I bought two tubes so I could replace the one which has had a slow leak for the last couple of days. That was fine, I pulled the wheel off, dropped the old tube out, went to put the new one in but discovered it had a Schroeder valve so the stem wouldn’t fit through the hole in my rim which is made for Presta valves - doh! So I threw a patch on and put it all back together but the patch didn’t work and I had to stop and pump it up every 20km or so.

I finally found a good lunch café, The Muddy River, in Omakau about 2pm and received a text from Sander asking how I was getting on - I didn’t twig. So after and average plate of muesli (I missed breakfast remember) it was back on the trail and down the decline to Alex and on to the trail head at Clyde - or so I thought.

It was only about 10 minutes after lunch that Sander intercepted me and after a bit of a “how’s it going - what a surprise - awesome mate” we cruised off and before we knew it we were in Alex looking for a tube (no luck) and then in Clyde (no luck) so we went for coffee at ‘The Bank’ but it was just closing, soooo, the only alternative left was the pub!

We sat outside chewing the fat and enjoying the late afternoon sun and a coldy for a while before Sander retraced his pedal spins back down the other side of the river back to Alex and I braved the highway along the side of Lake Dunstan to Cromwell for the night. It was a pretty easy and picturesque ride along the lakeside but it felt very strange to be back in traffic again after three days on gravel.

Cromwell Top 10 wins the prize for the most expensive cabins in New Zealand - a 3m x 3m box for $50 per night! I’m in my tent.

Cromwell looks really nice, with it’s wee mall with the stream running through it and piped music - it even has a bike shop so I’ll be chasing a tube with a Presta valve before heading over Nevis Pass, supposedly the highest road in New Zealand, tomorrow.

The Otago Central Rail Trail is now on my must do list for all Kiwis - it’s great.