Sharon’s Blog

Leaving Arrowtown, we had a nice rolling ride past the golf course, some more farms, some Kiwi style “subdivisions,” etc. That lasted for a few miles. Then the climbing that wasn’t supposed to be on this trip began . 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.