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The start of sunrise
Just can't get enough of these things!27/3/09 = The Galeforce Ride to Lake Tekapo
Woke up early for usual reason and was just in time to see final stages on sunrise. Shuffled out to road to watch it properly. Missed the red of sky, but orange stage was pretty impressive anyway. Had porridge breakfast and watched morning news; so nice to be staying in a little house. Made lunch then, got changed and set off on journey at 9:20. Quite warm and no signs of rain even though news forecasted it. Fingers crossed. Cycled the tough 8kms back to Mt Cook turn off - steady incline all way - and then looked forward to it getting easier. It wasn’t to be. Hardest bit was still to come. Knew there were hills and possibility of rain, but nobody said anything about wind!......
Cycled up lots of so-called 'rolling hills' - this cycling book needs re-editing - which were actually steep hills. I would class a rolling hill as something you can both roll down and up; definitely did not 'roll' up these. Hills took us passed the beautiful Lake Pukaki again; so impressed by how blue it is...really quite remarkable. Didn't notice wind at first, was
more of a breeze. Then legs alerted me to strength of wind by punishing me with a deep burn in each. Looked up to see all trees and plants backing off as wind blew at them. Was not a breeze...was a developing wind.
Wind around us soon turned into a full on headwind, blowing us back determindly as our weak little legs tried to move round, until eventually, only effect of us pedalling was keeping us on bikes; were barely oving forward at all. Laughable really...and we did laugh trying to get up those hills and then trickling down them. Was all v.funny until came away from Lake Pukaki and shelter of mountains and emerged into flat, barren Mackenie Country. Oh no...! There was nothing at all to guard us from wind. Nothing. No hills, no building, no trees, barely even any plants. If wind can laugh, am sure it was laughing at us as we pulled out into that. Wiped smirks straight off our faces...instantly.
Breeze had turned into headwind, which in turn now felt like a gale. Am sure I saw Dorothy and a witch fly passed us. Tried to pedal forward, but every time legs
made it round, we seemed to move back 1 rotation. Literally was 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Macs that were keeping us warm now filled with air like parachutes, also conspiring to pull us back to Twisel. Hard pedaling, really, really hard pedaling. Only made it worse that were trying to ride through such a barren, non-descript piece of land. Nothing to look at, nothing beautiful, could only think about wind. Us and wind. The only thing we could see was miles and miles of long, straight, grey road. Never seen a road as long and straight in all cycling we have done. Couldn't even imagine what end looked like, let alone see it. Everytime looked up it was as depressing as the last; seemed to be moving nowhere on this awful road! Funny that had worried so much about rain this morning; never even thought what damage wind could do!
Pedalled for what felt like hours. Was like Scooby Doo running on the spot and not getting anywhere. Irony was, road was totally flat. On a normal day, this journey would have been a dream...probably one of the easiest cycles so far, but this was not
a normal day and this ride was shaping up to be one of worst. Wind really is cruel. Not just a physical battle, but worse, a mental battle. Looking up and seeing same thing after so much hard work = so painful. After 2 and a half hours, were still cycling with parachute, against gale on that same strip of grey road. Mentally weak at this stage. Was midday anyway, so decided to stop for food and recoop. Could see a small group of trees in distance, so pedalled to them to get whatever shade they could provide us with. They were only 100, maybe 200ms away, but it still took ages to get to them. So infuriating. That was the other added thing that made the whole journey bad; had no road signs to let us know how much further we had to go, they never do, but usually work it out because usually cycle approx 15kms per hour. But, today, in these conditions, no way we were cycling 15kms per hour and had no idea how many we were doing, so had no idea how much further we had to go and how long it would take. Mental
torture really.
Sat in front of huge fern trees and they actually did a brilliant job of protecting us. If could have wished for anything right then, would have been a line of fern trees on either side of road, all way along it. Wouldn't have wished for wind to stop, because wouldn't want to be defeated by wind, just needed a little help, that's all. Ate sandwiches and silently prayed that we were close; really needed to be close. On a normal day, cycling at a normal speed, we would be another 1 1/2 hrs away...but this was not a normal day. Got back on bikes after 20mins hoping wind may have calmed a little. Fern trees gave us false sense of security...wind hadn't changed!
Was a constant battle and moved tortoise style for several more miles...miles I blocked out and would care never to remember. Do remember being excited by a bend in the road. Was just a bend...didn't change anything and didn't lead into anything different, but maybe a slight change in direction might move wind away from head? It did. Didn't help much, but wind moved a bit more to side of us. Legs
moved a little easier round pedals and body moved a little quicker up and downhills until best thing of journey so far = signpost for Lake Tekapo...15kms. Confirmed that we were moving lot slower than usual, but maybe just another hour and a bit away. Continued with battle, but after an hour passed, started to get worried. Why aren't we there yet? Couldn't even see any signs of a lake. Kept going and saw another sign: Lake Tekapo 5kms. Oh no! Had taken over an hour to do 10kms. Just need to get there. Physically tired, mentally exhausted, but worst of all = pain in bum (I mean of the physical variety...not the way a kid can behave sometimes). So, so painful, actually burning. Was willing bum to go numb just so wouldn't feel pain anymore. Pain.
The last 5kms were torturous, but at least they were the last...that's the only good thing I have to say about them. Can't express in words the joy I felt when first saw town...such, such joy. Saw i-site almost straight away and immediatly pulled in front of it. Stepping off that bike was best feeling of relief felt in a long time.
I actually made the out loud ahhhhh sound, not a joyous one like when you drink a really nice cup of tea, more like that sound mixed with the scream of pain sound....like putting blistered feet into a hot bath. Bum not numb like had wished for, but at least part dead. Good job I have plenty of natural padding in that region...thanks Mum 😊
Deb enquired about a hostel and couldn't have been more happy to hear that cheapest one was also closest, at just 30secs away. Oh yes! Pulled up outside, journey finally over, just as rain started... suppose could be thankful for that. Small mercies I guess. Locked bikes up - no more biking today! - and went into cheap $22 motel. Basic, but alright...even a shed would have looked good at this stage. Collapsed onto bed; not on bum though...no touching or sitting on that area for at least an hour...had to roll onto side. Such a nice feeling to lay down. Such a wonderful feeling. Body tingled as it started to come back to life piece by piece. After 10mins thawing out, pulled self up and off to kitchen. Couldn't believe my eyes when
I saw it. There it was...just like I had wished for only 5mins ago in room....a big tub of free hot chocolate...the good kind too. Thank you Lord. Made the most beautiful, milky hot chocolate ever, using extra chocolate. Instantly better, so much better that had to make a second and drink that straight away too. Love you hot chocolate.
After 20mins focus time of coming back to life, had to get on and plan serious stuff. Only 2 days left before return bikes and way more than 2 days away. Needed to decide what to bus and what to bike. Turns out, didn't have much of an option with buses. This is what we had to do:
*spend tomorrow in Lake Tekapo seeing sights, which wanted to do anyway
*next day, get up v.early and cycle 90kms to Geraldine = longest journey so far
*then, get bus from Geraldine to Christchurch on same day at 3pm.
-V.tight for time with such a long cycle. Needed to pray that wind would either be non-existent or behind us that day!
Once sorted, went to visit famous Church of the Good Shepard. Was only 10mins away = all we could
face today. Was a v.pretty and tiny little church built in the most beautiful location, sitting right out and looking onto Lake Tekapo. Stunning. Inside, had a massive window at end of church so could look straight out over lake. Beautiful. Wondered round church, saw famous sheepdog statue, then went to look at more important things = food! Both wanted something really tasty after awful pain of cycle, so looked in few restaurants. Didn't really fancy anything. Can't believe what we did end up getting...beans on toast! Ha! But the treat was the lump of cheese we got...not had that in a while.
Posted some photo CD's home to Mum, blogged on internet until 7pm, then returned to motel for yummy dinner + even yummier cake...extra treat.Made beans on toast straight away = always a winner, then got tucked straight into caramel cake with a cup of tea. Can take the girls out of England, but can't take England out of the girls! Lovely, lovely, lovely cake! Watched some good T.V. and then a good film came on sky called Disturbia. Watched T.V., drank tea and ate cake...what more can you ask for on a chilled evening? Maybe ate
a little too much cake, but it did have to be eaten. Stopped scoffing at 10:30 and headed off to bed totally full from tea and cake. First time in a while that didn't have to wake up early in morning, so thought would stay up for a while and enjoy it. Didn't happen, body so tired and drained from ride, that as soon as head hit pillow, fell straight to sleep 😊 Even slept through other people talking in room.
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