TA Day 21 - Springs Junction to Greymouth

 80 miles, 2920’ climbing

Lodging: Copthorne Hotel Greymouth, an aging hotel with rust and peeling paint whose desk employee thinks it’s a fancy property

A little rain

Today turned out to be one of our easier days of riding although we anticipated it to be one of our hardest. We headed out onto a climb through the forest on pavement, quickly needing to adjust our layers for light rain. After several miles we were in beautiful rolling hills until we reached the town of Reefton where we joined Sam and Keza at the Broadway Bakery, a charming place on a charming Main Street. Immediately the conversation turned to whether we were taking the Big River track or not. Many consider it a highlight of the TA, but it’s known to be treacherous in the rain, and we had already been riding in light rain for a couple of hours. With regret, we decided to take the paved bypass. A storm system is coming in, and maybe we will get back this way some time. Of the riders we saw, only Sam opted to go up the track. Hopefully his ride will be good and ahead of the storm.

A couple days ago, our proprietor told us that people left all kinds of things behind: charging cables, clothing, false teeth. On our way out of Reefton, we saw a woman stopped at the side of the road, waving something in the air at passing cyclists, and asking if they’d left it behind. I hoped against hope that she would be waving a set of false teeth in the air, how bizarre would that be? But it was sunglasses. We hope they were reunited with their owner.

Our ride into Greymouth was straightforward. We toook our checkpoint photos out at the inlet before checking into our room. It’s one more day until the big downpour. We plan to ride to Hokitika tomorrow, and we expect some light rain.