Renwick to St. Arnaud

Day 21 - Thursday 18 March 2010

Dist: 98.5 km. Av. Speed: 16.2 km/hr. Cal: 1075. Ride Time: 6 hours 04 min

Well it had to happen eventually!!!! Nearly 100km to cover - over 6 hours in the saddle and battling a head wind for 5 of those! The day started really well; crisp and calm and the ladies in the superette were talking about frost on their tomatoes.

So Joris and I cruised away from Renwick fully stocked with food about nine, not in too much of a rush, just enjoying the sun. We’d been pedalling through the grape vines at a nice touring pace for just over an hour and making OK progress when all of a sudden out of the south came the wind! It went from dead calm to about 12 knots in a matter of seconds and our speed dropped from 25km/h to 15, then to 10 within about a minute.

We’d been told that this wind was expected but probably not until mid afternoon - it had arrived early! I quickly did the maths on distance to destination vs. likely average speed. It wasn’t good news. The 100km of highway from Renwick to St. Arnaud up the Wairau Valley climbs about 700m over its length so it’s not a steep grade, but it’s steady and definitely noticeable on a bike.

So it was just a day to knuckle down and get it done, nothing fancy, just slog it out. There aren’t even any cafes or shops on this trip to break the journey and the road is dead straight with just slight bends every 5 or so km. Rest stops were frequent and the distances between them not very impressive.

Our lunch stop was just out of the wind, on the side of the road. Not long after lunch we came across a young Swiss lady cyclist ‘enjoying’ her picnic on the roadside too so we stopped for a chat. She’d come from Blenheim so had an even longer day ahead of her than we did. She compounded her ‘degree of difficulty’ by carrying about 25kg of gear! She was only about 5’ 5”, on a mountain bike without cleats and had two very full panniers on the back plus a full size tramping pack layed across them. And then to top it off she had a 75 litre pack on her back. A tough rig to haul up the Wairau Valley on a windy day.

So we offered her a ‘tow’ which she gladly accepted and for the remaining 60km Joris and I drafted each other for five minutes at a time with our new Swiss friend tucked in as close as she could behind us. We still had to take a break about every 20 minutes and it was a bit depressing to find that we’d only covered around five km between rests. It did help pass the time though and eventually we arrived at the Tophouse saddle that leads into St Arnaud.

We checked in to the Travers - Sabine Lodge at 5.30 and headed directly for the spa to soak the weary muscles. Food was the next priority so we wandered over to the lodge next door for dinner where I polished off a massive plate of lamb shanks and veges. Our Swiss cycling mate was in the restaurant too so she joined us and we discovered that all that gear she was carrying was just for three days! She’s heading up to Nelson tomorrow.