Jack Daniels Remaining: 860mls
Km's covered: 50km
The journey today would take us from Arthur's Pass on an
undulating ride to the West Coast and down to Hokitika. Upon rising on the 3rd
day, the weather again proved to be an unknown quantity. It was raining, it
even hailed and I think sleeted a little. However, there was no wind (yet) so
in my book that was good enough. I kitted up, as did Alex and the eternal
freaks of nature Richard and Shawn. Paul would be Sam’s “Bang bus buddy” today
and they would depart after us and play what became the daily ritual of the
bang bus leaving after the riders and eventually catching them to pick up those
who were done for the day. Off we set. The first 10kms or so was fairly
standard mountain climbing. Enjoyable – even with the rain and hail (thanks Paul
for the loaner of your spray jacket). We then came across the gradient 16%
decent which was a little dicey, including an viaduct very high over the river
which had head-wind, side-wind, tail-wind and up-wind. It was freakish and a
little scary being blown around. We passed under tunnels reminiscent of those
on the Tour de France. This was possible the one of the very few moments where
my mere $1,000 cyclo-cross bike being superior to the boys $4000+ road bikes –
disc brakes on a wet, windy, 16% decent are a real winner. The road eventually
flattened out, and became following the meandering <xx> river. Km’s
passed by pretty well, until I felt something loose under my left foot. My foot
came loose from the bike – I assumed an issue with my cleat until I looked down
and found the whole pedal and crank still attached to my foot but not the bike!
Shit!
So I pulled over for repairs, and not a half bad spot for a
mechanical issue either…
After about 20 minutes repair work (never leave home without
your allen keys), I was on my way again, having taken the opportunity to refuel
again I was feeling pretty good. The weather was all over the shop – sunshine
one moment, rain the next, hail then next, back to sunshine…. And then… the
wind. The wind REALLY picked up in the valley heading due west to the coast –
and it was relentless. The van had already passed me a short while ago, and
after 50km’s when I realised that I was using most of my energy just to stay
upright on the bike, I decided to call the van back for a pick up. I was
demoralised and my poor relationship with headwinds continued. As I pushed off
again waiting for the bus to come back I kind of felt at ease with my decision
when I saw the water from a pond, being blown off the pond and raining down on
the surrounding ground.
Eventually I was collected and we high tailed it for
Hokitika – we passed Alex (who looked spent but to his credit pushed on). We
met up with the other two in Hokitika. This was to be our overnight stop, but
upon noticing not much going on in town (coupled with the “who the hell are
you?” looks we got at the local pub) we grabbed a quick feed and made the two
hour drive to Franz Josef – I drove and spent most of the time keeping the very
un-aerodynamic bang bus straight on the road. Thanks also to Sam for asking me
to check out the amazing views, even though a small truck was coming in the
opposite direction… ;-)
Hokitika... has the "H" factor, but not the "X" factor...
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