Kurow to Naseby (via Dansey’s Pass)

Day 30 - Saturday 27 March 2010

Dist: 91 km. Av. Speed: 15.3 km/hr. Cal: 1248. Ride Time: 5 hours 54 min

A tough day in the saddle! Note the average speed - the calories are nonsense. Today was all about persevering several long climbs, it’s the longest I’ve spent (by far) in the small chain ring and the time I spent in the granny gear would be quadruple what I’ve spent in it for all the rest of the tour combined.

The trip down from Kurow to Duntroon was uneventful, apart from seeing two other cycle tourists - dressed in black and riding two abreast - bloody mad. I stopped and looked at some Maori rock art, the first time I’ve done anything ’touristy’. Duntroon has several historic buildings and one café, The Flying Pig, where they “don’t make fluffies any more due to the amount of breakages and the mess”, and they charge city prices.

There’s a lot of new dairy in this area with massive irrigation schemes that have turned the normally parched brown terrain into what looks like the Waikato.

Duntroon is the turnoff to Dansey’s Pass which is the route over the ranges to the Maniototo, and curling country. It’s a popular drive on weekends for those who want to ‘drive a road less travelled’. I saw about six vehicles in four hours.

The pass starts at around 150m ASL and gradually climbs via a series of false flats up to a camping ground. After the camp, the gravel and the fun starts. It quickly rises to 440m, drops to 350, rises to 500, drops to 340 then just when you’re feeling a wee bit jaded the real climb starts, a 40 minute continuous grind in bottom gear up to the saddle at 900m.

There was no view to enjoy at the summit because I was up in the clouds but it was too cold to linger anyway and there was a brilliant 300m drop down to the Dansey’s Pass Hotel to enjoy. The dampness made the road surface very predictable and the bike tracked perfectly in the corners so it was 15 minutes of big fun until I rounded a corner and had to brake to enter the 30km/h speed limit approaching the pub.

Dansey’s Pass Hotel has the equal best (with Mangatoroto) green tea and their infamous open fire was hard to get away from but I had another up and down 18km to get to Naseby for the night.

The temperature can’t have reached double figures today, especially on the south side of the ranges and the Birchview Campground in Naseby feels like a Canadian ski area campground. Naseby has put itself on the map by marketing itself as New Zealand curling capital and is also one of the most popular mountain biking areas in the South Island. The Royal Hotel was chokka!

My legs are getting a bit weary with all the climbing over the last two days and my ‘pressure points’ are starting to show the early signs of wear and tear so I’m looking forward to a ‘flat’ day tomorrow on the Otago Central Rail Trail. The section I’m doing from Wedderburn to Clyde drops about 500m over 50ish km but I think I’ll carry on the extra 20km to Cromwell if I make good progress so that I have a shorter day on Monday over the Nevis Pass, the final big climb of Le Tour.

Fairlie to Kurow (via Hakataramea Pass)

Day 29 - Friday 26 March 2010

Dist: 124 km. Av. Speed: 19.4 km/hr. Cal: 2145. Ride Time: 6 hours 23 min

Wow… can this country get any more stunning? I have another “must do” for all Kiwis - The Hakataramea Pass. It’s just fantastic and if you can do it on a bike, then even better. I hope the photos do it justice. The most impressive landscapes to my mind were at the northern end near where the Snow River meets Grays River and also just over the pass as you drop into the southern catchment and the headwaters of the Hakataramea River.

Aside from the amazing scenery, today was really tough! There was a strong nor-wester blowing which meant the first two hours and the last hour and a half were just hard work. The middle three hours were awesome though.

Today’s post is going to be a bit different because I’m toast and I need to get to sleep. There’s a bit of a climb and a southerly forecast for tomorrow so I’ll need to recover as quickly as I can.

So I’m just going to list all the things that were great about today. Here goes…

The muesli breakfast at ‘Eat Deli and Café’ in Fairlie.

Burke’s monument at the top of Burke’s Pass.

Reaching the top of Burke’s Pass.

My iPod.

Turning off SH8.

Looking up Hakataramea Pass and feeling the tail wind on my back at last.

Watching my speedo climb from 15 to 30+ with no extra effort.

My iPod.

The chicken wrap I had for lunch from Eat Deli and Café.

Resting for lunch, a tiny spec in the massive valley.

The awesome cloudscapes (for you Doreen).

Finding the right turnoff up the pass.

Filling my water bottle from a clear mountain stream.

Reaching the saddle of the Hakataramea Pass.

My iPod.

The brilliant view from the top looking north and south.

Blasting down the gravel descent at 45k with a tail wind.

My iPod.

Finally hitting the sealed road again.

The fact that everyone waves to you down here.

Seeing the “Kurow” sign seven and a half hours after leaving Fairlie.

The two cokes, bowl of fries and mixed grill for dinner - hey, I earned it.

The friendly welcome by the locals in Kurow.

That my EEEPC is still working after 50km of corrugations and potholes.

Washing and drying my clothes after three days being smelly.

My iPod.

My bike - it rocks.

Off to sleep now…

Ashburton to Fairlie

Day 28 - Thursday 25 March 2010

Dist: 107 km. Av. Speed: 21.7 km/hr. Cal: 1805. Ride Time: 4 hours 55 min

What an interesting day… clear skies and cool air greeted me as I stepped outside the cabin just after dawn (that‘s dawn with a small d). I’d turned the heater on full blast and turned my room into a dryer to get my clothes ready for the day’s ride.

Breakfast was at a nice little side-street café called Nosh - and they did a very good one.

As I headed away from the café I notice the two women who’d been tenting at the same campground as me, cycle past on their way south too. I thought about catching up and saying hello but as I followed about 75m behind and watched their road craft I decided against it. They were dressed mostly in black and grey and riding right out in the left wheel line. When they came to the Ashburton River bridge which is narrow and busy they pedalled straight across, ignoring the cycle lane/footpath on the left hand side. They only went about 2km before they stopped to remove some layers and as I rode past (within about 1m) they didn’t even notice me. Hmmm an accident waiting to happen. I didn’t see them again.

I veered off SH1 asap and turned inland toward Geraldine at good pace on the flat road with no wind at all. My progress was slowed after about 20km however when I hit gravel again, but this time it wasn’t fresh so it was quite manageable. The 30km route from Winslow to Arundel is basically two straight lines - one is 20km long and the other is 10km and it passes through classic Canterbury Plains irrigated farm country. It was a really picturesque ride with almost no traffic, blue skies and the distant mountains lightly dusted with snow from last night’s southerly squall.

Geraldine arrived in just over two hours as I’d managed an average speed of a shade over 25km/h. My timing was perfect because the staff at The Village Bistro in the town centre were just putting out the tables for lunch and it looked like an ideal venue to stockpile. I enjoyed a very nice lunch and the staff were even kind enough to ask if I’d like to take some bread away for the rest of the journey.

It was hard to leave Geraldine (more terrible puns sorry), I could have sat there enjoying the sun all afternoon, but there was 47km to go, 400m to climb and a forecast head wind to confront. The road shoulder deteriorated to almost zero after Geraldine making it a bit dicey with so many campervans on the road. The only minor incident was at some road works; my lane got the green light to go so we progressed through, but the phase wasn’t anywhere near long enough for a bike, yet the impatient idjits coming the other way decided to come anyway. It would have been alright but I was engaged with the roller driver who was giving me arm signals describing the highway ahead. When I looked back at the road a sedan was coming straight at me and not looking like veering out of my way, I swerved and glared but he didn’t falter, however the driver of the Nissan Terrano behind him got an earful and a crack on the wing mirror - which probably hurt my hand more than the mirror.

The breeze had started to fill in by now and the road was getting progressively more lumpy so the average speed took a bit of a dive as I slogged over the Kakahu Hill and into Beautiful Valley and Cattle Valley. It took an even steeper dive going up the pass toward My Michael but I was relieved to see a sign saying ‘Farm Barn Café - 1km’… a lifesaver!

I’ve noticed an increase in the general friendliness of people today - they seem to take just a little more time to say hello and seem genuinely interested.

After loading up on carrot cake I flew down the drop in to Fairlie and the Top 10 camp ground.

I’m tenting tonight because it’s nice and warm and calm, so after setting up ‘home’ the next job was to change out my road tyres for MTB tyres for the gravel grovel over the Hakataramea tomorrow.

Dinner was an colourful experience as I inadvertently acted out a scene that could have been from a Fawlty Towers episode. It was one of the clutsiest things I’ve ever done. I hope it’s not anything to do with turning 50! It went like this… I’d ordered the blue cod (because it’s supposed to be amazing - it was rubbish) and was filling in time until it arrived by reading a few maps and planning my tomorrow. I got so engrossed in the map that I failed to notice it had caught fire from the stupid table candle - why did I need a candle, I was by myself? By the time I smelled the smoke about 1/5th of the map was gone, the flames were about 6” high and the table was covered in an amazing amount of ash. Talk about doh! I calmly grabbed another brochure and quickly smothered the flames before the waiter came back but there was no hiding the ash (or the smell of burning map) and he busted me in the act of cleaning up. He admitted that he’d never seen that happen before and I replied that I’d never done it before either. I was laughing away to myself but I don’t think any of the other restaurant patrons even knew what had happened.

So I consumed the cod in about five minutes and left, quitting while I was ahead.

Told you it was an interesting day…

Diamond Harbour to Ashburton

Day 27 - Wednesday 24 March 2010

Dist: 114 km. Av. Speed: 22.6 km/hr. Cal: 2035. Ride Time: 5 hours 03 min

I’m not sure if my alarm woke me or if it was the unfamiliar sound of rain on the roof. I know it was dark and not particularly tropical, and given the chance I’d probably have stayed in bed and rested my quads, still stiff after Richard’s ‘wee’ billy goat run in the Port Hill yesterday.

However Ashburton beckoned and there was re-packing to be done before setting off. And by the time I had my cargo organised the sky had become light and the rain had stopped so I wandered up the path for breakfast with Ann and Jim. From the breakfast table we watched the Diamond Harbour Ferry sneak across from Lyttleton and drop Richard off at the Jetty. It was time to get moving.

We said our goodbyes and thank you to our hosts and pedalled off up the slope to the west. The road from Diamond Harbour to Charteris Bay was slowish going as we struggled to get in to a rhythm due to the rollercoaster profile. Once we hit the flats we gathered speed and motored on to Teddington before being confronted by the infamous Gebbies Pass - another favourite training hill for Christchurch cyclists. After grunting up to the saddle we raced down the other side and conveniently discovered the Blue Duck Café - great berry fruit muffins!

The next stretch was as flat as the Canterbury Plains (because it was the Canterbury Plains) and we weaved our way via back roads towards Leeston. We were confronted with an amazing array of odours over this stretch, from cowshed effluent pond, silage, pig farm, horse stables and finally cauliflower paddock!

We nailed the 30km to Leeston in just over an hour so rewarded ourselves with a hearty lunch before tackling Richard’s final leg to Rakaia. The journey started really well as we kept up a good average speed and then got even better when we were overtaken by a monstrous Canterbury 4x4 tractor cruising along at about 30k… hmmm, what could we do… it was creating just too much vacuum behind it to let a chance like that slip by. So we pedalled hard to catch up, then enjoyed an effortless ‘tow’ for the next 10km - awesome! (next time we bike 90 Mile Beach Shari, we need to borrow a tractor) But we paid. We eventually hit the gravel and it became a bit dodgy at that speed, fully loaded on road tyres so we were forced to back off to a more manageable 18k. Unfortunately I’d made a poor route choice here and although shorter it was definitely slower because of the gravel. It probably wouldn’t have been too bad except that the gravel was brand new and down here they use Rakaia River stones (ie 20mm marbles).

After a bit of a slog - I got my revenge on Richard for the run - we eventually arrived at SH1 and the dreaded Rakaia River Bridge. 1.6km of narrow, fast potential danger! Our strategy was to wait for a long gap in the traffic and go like mad, two abreast so cars wouldn’t try and overtake and squeeze us against the rail. It worked out pretty well and sure got the heart rate up.

We found Richard’s father as planned and after a quick beer together I pedalled off to tackle the final 30k to Ashburton and Rich and his Dad headed back to Christchurch.

I was aware a southerly front was forecast for sometime in the afternoon but there wasn’t any sign of it along the dead straight, dead flat, busy and dead dull stretch of highway to Ashburton. Luckily the light nor-wester was still behind me and I made good speed because after checking in to my cabin and jumping in the shower, the southerly squall hit. It lasted just long enough to allow me time to get organised, then cleared so I could walk across the road to Robbie’s Bar and Bistro for a big old roast dinner.

Thanks for your help and company today Rich. It really does help having someone to talk to, a pacemaker and a drafting partner - as you discovered behind the tractor! You did great mate… C2C 2012... The list is growing… ha!

Rest Day (sort of) - Christchurch to Diamond Harbour

Day 26 - Tuesday 23 March 2010

Dist: 20 km. Av. Speed: NA. Cal: NA. Ride Time: NA

An hour long run from ‘Sign of the Takahe’ up Sugar Loaf Hill and back followed by a cycle up Evans Pass probably isn’t exactly a rest day but never the less it was excellent to experience a couple of Christchurch’s more infamous training spots. Richard and I went for the run in the morning; it was a spectacular trail as it climbs and spirals up the Sugarloaf through open grassland and native bush full of the sound of bellbirds.

The views are tremendous in all directions and it was amazing to be able to look north and see where we’d come from on Sunday, then swing around to the south and see all the way to where I’ll be going tomorrow.

After lunch it was time to pack up all my gear and get it sorted for carrying on the bike once again. It’s been four days so it was a bit of a mess. It didn’t take too long though and soon we were heading up the 11% grade over Evans Pass to Lyttleton to catch the ferry to Diamond Harbour.

The ferry only takes about 15 minutes so I was at Ann and Jim’s Diamond Harbour Homestyle B&B in good time. My room is the old wheelhouse of the wrecked coastal steamer SS Breeze, and my bed is one of the bunks from the same ship. It’s very cool, with a fantastic view across the water to the busy port of Lyttleton.

I was made very welcome here and enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal with my lovely hosts. Thank you so much, it was brilliant

Rest Day - Christchurch

Day 25 - Monday 22 March 2010

Dist: 00 km. Av. Speed: 00 km/hr. Cal: NA. Ride Time: NA

For a rest day, it was actually really busy… the first task was to take my bike in to R&R Sport for a service and to grab a bike box to transport Joris’ bike. We got that organised then delivered the box and surgically placed Joris’ disassembled bike into it ready for his flight back to Wellington.

The next thing on the list was lunch and a catch up with Meg in the city centre. You’ll know her husband Keith, he’s the one posting all the ‘stirring’ comments on the blog, but unfortunately he’s away coaching volleyball at the secondary school national champs at the moment. Cheers Meg, it was nice to catch up with you.

The airport was next, to drop Joris off and then it was time to organise my own gear, pick up my bike from R&R then catch up with Monique and Richard Hurst-Long. Thanks for the wonderful meal Monique and the great night’s sleep.

Maintenance on my bike included new pedals, another new spoke nipple, new derailleur idlers, new brake pads and truing up both wheels and aligning the disc brakes.

Hanmer Springs to Christchurch

Day 24 - Sunday 21 March 2010

Dist: 139 km. Av. Speed: 30.1 km/hr. Cal: 3340. Ride Time: 4 hours 36 min

An early start was exactly what we needed (not) to back up after yesterday’s race! However I was up at first light to change my tyres back to road slicks for the trip into Christchurch and swap out yet another broken pedal. Thanks Pete for the loan of your pedals for this leg - they go fast mate, I couldn’t hold them back!

After the others arose we scoffed some breakfast, organised some lunch and packed up Kim’s wagon with all the gear Joris and I didn’t want to carry for the day. I hope that’s OK with the rules adjudicator?

Again the weather was perfect for cycling and Joris and I were expecting to make good time to Christchurch as the road drops about 350m over the 140km. However we surprised even ourselves with how good we felt and just how fast we could travel with no gear as we rolled out of town before the traffic started.

Our first stop was in Culverden around 30km down the track and we reached it in just over an hour, working really well together in tandem to keep the average speed up over 30. The rest of the crew had a big nosh-up in Hanmer before they left and they caught us just as we were tucking in to our date scones, so they joined us for a quick break at the café.

The next milestone was Weka Pass for lunch, then out on to SH1 at Waipara and south toward Christchurch. The highway was pretty busy as people returned to the city after the weekend but the wide shoulder felt safe enough.

Our average speed was still way up there but took a bit of a knock as a slight cold head wind kicked in for the last section of SH 7.

We called in to say hi to Rangi in Leithfield, just as he was pulling a tray of savouries out of the oven. Thanks Rangi, it was good to catch up with you and Nicki.

The final push into Christchurch down Marshlands Road was a wee bit slower due to the traffic and the fact that we were running out of legs, but we still got to Joris’ accommodation just after 4pm happy with an average speed of just over 30km/hr for the day. I think that must be some kind of record for a Hanmer - Christchurch two-man time trial on mountain bikes with handlebar bags!

The riding was awesome today thanks Joris - I was worried it was going to be a really tough day after yesterday but it was a blast. Thanks for joining me since Wellington, it’s been really fun and you’ve been a huge help getting me almost a third of the way down the South Island already.

Thanks too, to Kim and Frankie for the pickup, bed and dinner tonight - your hospitality is greatly appreciated.