44.4 miles, 1886’ climbing
Lodging: Glen Almond Lodge
Rain
It rained buckets overnight, and it was windy, too, classic west coast weather for the South Island. By morning, it was lighter, so after a cafe breakfast we put on all our rain gear and hit the road. We kept our heads down and pedaled hard into a headwind until we reached a forested area which shielded us from the wind. Because of a cycle trail closure, we were on the shoulder of the highway all day. Fortunately traffic was light, there was a small paved shoulder, and there was a grass shoulder, too, all of which made the ride seem pretty safe.
We saw Tony, Graham, and Andy, three friends riding together, as we all left our hotel and outside the grocery store in Ross where we all took a snack break.
It was raining hard enough in Ross that we booked a hotel in the next small town, Harihari, for the night. Lodging is very limited along this stretch, and we got their last room. We took our checkpoint photos at Lake Ianthe as the rain lifted, and Harihari almost seemed too early to stop. But the rain was coming down again as we arrived, and the lodge is charming, so we are pleased to make it a short day.
Hope you are more visible than the photos indicate? Very bright rear lights preferably mounted on helmets are a good idea on the highway. If going in and out of shade, or on poor weather days as a driver at 90-100kph cyclists (we have ridden TA too) are very hard to see sometimes.
ReplyDeleteYep, we definitely have blinking lights
ReplyDeleteWind and rain and riding with trucks does not sound fun, but you made progress. Hope today’s easier. Xoxo
ReplyDelete