Rode from Karamu, near Hamilton, all the way to Mokau on the western coast just two days ago. This was our longest day with over 3000 ft. in elev. gain, which seems to be every day, and 92 miles behind us. The last 35 miles were in the rain. Rough day and tiring. Not to mention that the backpacker's hostel was closed indefinitely. We stayed in a small hotel called the Whitebait, which is named after the fish they catch to fry up in the river adjacent to them. The room was more like a jail cell; no heat etc, etc, but it was dry and a place to rest my head.
As far as the ride goes, well is was beautiful as one would expect, but with all the hills/mnts. you lose the shoulder with every ascent, and sometimes the descent as well. I've already made mention to the speed at which everyone travels, breakneck; well it becomes a bit crazy when you have tripple tractor trailers zipping past you at 120km and 2 feet to your left, with all their wind pushing you around on the descent with no shoulder and the natural wind having its way with you. Let's just say your thankful every time you reach the valley floor. Even so, I still feel safe and am pretty happy to be down here on my bike.
The last couple of days were spent riding down into New Plymouth, 52 mi. and now Stratford, our shortest day of 2o some odd miles. The weather is supposed to take a nasty turn for the worse for the next bit and while the rain wasn't much fun, the snow will be even worse. I know, toughen up. But instead of holing up and waiting it out we're looking into taking a bus down to Wellington in order to spend some significant time in the wine/mountain country.
Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. After a semi-long day riding we had a nice dinner in town and threw back a few beers. What a great way to spend the day. Picture update: lame, not sure if I'll get any on this, has taken over 10 mins. just to upload one, and the one you're now getting is only of a goat :(
No comments:
Post a Comment