Day 22 - Friday 19 March 2010
Dist: 00 km. Av. Speed: 00 km/hr. Cal: 1000 (in). Ride Time: 0 hours 00 min
What an awesome sleep. I didn’t wake up until 8.30 which was brilliant. The lodge supplied us with a good hearty breakfast but Joris was suffering without a caffeine fix so we went in search of coffee at the café down the road before starting on the day’s chores.
The job list included washing clothes, changing road tyres to MTB tyres, fixing the broken spoke and lubing our chains. Exhausted after all that exertion we had to struggle back to the café for lunch (and more coffee for Joris) before the next big task which was getting the washing in! There was also quite a bit of prep work to do to sort out what we needed to carry for the Rainbow Rage tomorrow and how best to carry it and what we’d get the support vehicle to take around to Hanmer Springs for us.
For those who don’t know, the Rainbow Rage is a 105 km mountain bike race/adventure ride from St Arnaud to Hanmer Springs via the Rainbow Road which traverses the Rainbow Station and Molesworth Station. I decided to enter this event because it’s a great short cut to Canterbury from Marlborough and it’s one of New Zealand’s classic mountain bike events so it would be good to experience it and tick it off the list.
For the race Joris and I will be joined by two Cantabrians, an old friend of mine - Frankie (a first timer) plus her work mate Pete who is a Rainbow Rage veteran and MTB legend. Frankie’s husband, Kim will drive the support vehicle, transporting us to the start line then taking all our gear to the finish at Hanmer.
Good luck for the Rainbow Rage!! Enjoy the ride and the spectacular scenery. Would love to be down there in amongst it. Looking forward to the next update. Buttz.
ReplyDeleteHey Mark - well done on the grind from Renwick to St Arnaud! Proud of ya. Ejony the "Rage" TnS
ReplyDeleteCheers Buttzy and Tim
ReplyDeleteAs you'll read, it was brilliant. Pete has biked just about all the back country roads and tracks in the South Island so we might have to talk to him about some kind of adventure next summer! We'll have to put some 'points in the bank' before then though :-)
Have you had that new MTB out since Dargaville Tim? Check t for rust after 90 Mile Beach - mine is showing a few signs.