The ride here was nice. Mostly a gradual descent, but there were some nice rollers in there and the winds got pretty intense sometimes. I really was hating the bike and thinking wistfully of mine, sitting there in the bike shop with no one to ride it. But, since gravity was on my side for this stretch, I made good time relative to the group overall. Passed lots more sheep…it’s really hard not to “baaaa” back at the cute little babies, but I’m pulling it off so far. There was another venison farm. Some horse country. And more beef, but the cows are in a distinct minority. Nice streams along the side of the road. A large part of this section reminded me of the central coast in springtime, but in between the rounder mountains – which are larger than most in the central coast – you’d catch glimpses of these jaggy, snow and ice covered peaks off in the distance. Truly spectacular scenery to behold. Kept pedaling through the winds and one finally comes over a small hill, at the crest of which you see the lake. Kinda wild – it’s like two Lake Tahoes right in spitting distance of one another between Queenstown and here. While waiting for the others to arrive, I got to watch some kiteboarders taking advantage of the killer winds.
The town is much smaller and everything was pretty much closed because it’s off season and Sunday – besides the internet cafe I’m in. But it seems like a really nice town. The Kiwis have a nice sense of architectural style. Somehow more simple, making the towns more elegant than most of the ski towns I’ve been in at home. We’re staying at the Archway Motel (http://www.archwaymotels.co.nz) – good hot shower. It was a nice walk down the hill from there to town. But now it’s time for dinner…so I’m off ’til the next internet outpost I can find.
. This hill was a 2km, 1080 meter climb. I just looked at the switchbacks from below and decided that I wasn’t doing it, especially on the fat-ish tires. Helen joined Karsten and I in the van. We drove up to the lookout point – picked up Dave on the way, but Imogen, Katherine, and Malcolm, plus our guide, Jenny, made it to the top. And that was the warm up for crossing the Crown Range. The next few miles were a steady, but not at all steep climb, so I did that with Jenny, Imogen and Malcolm. Imogen was almost taken out by racing BMWs at one point. I had an embarrassing little spill – first time in ages – but no serious damage. Then the real climb began…another few thousand meters I’m told. We were pretty high up there at the top and it was windy and cold. Imogen and Malcolm made it about 2/3rds of the way and Katherine gets the Ironman award, making it all the way to the top. She did this in the other direction on the last trip…there’s a short overlap between Wanaka and Queenstown on the two tours apparently. Anyway – when all of that was done, we were all ready for lunch. Since we were late and it was cold, everyone opted to skip the downhill to Cardrona Valley where our soup was waiting for us.
