An update from The Rear Admiral

The GOTF suggested that I may like to write this update. Tell our readers about the ride from Hanmer to here in Twizel. Well, I decided not “to look a gift horse in the mouth”.After all it offers me the opportunity to throw in a couple of other observations.

The first observation is these damn hills, or more lately, mountains. The GOTF underplays the terrain. “There are a few hills today but they will be a piece of cake’ Yeah right, as we climb gradients that put the bike in peril of toppling back over our heads, I have wondered what planet this guy is on! He has control of the power level and when I yell “give it all the gas you can”, he retorts with “we need to manage the battery” then about 2 or 3 kilometres from our destination he decides to throw caution to the wind.

Secondly, I don’t like heat or wind and he is well aware of this but in recent days we have had gale force head winds and scorching hot temperatures. Not only has his assurances of “ pretty tame conditions”, been total fabrication but he has managed to combine the worst weather with the most unfavourable terrain.

Then there has been the dust on these gravel roads in the south. It covers our gear and us and by the time we get to our destination I feel disgusting, covered in grit.

Enough of the grumbling, there have been a few good bits, starting with a glorious downhill run from Hanmer to Waikari. We stayed on a farm in their cute Ardern Cottage. They bought in and raised merino lambs to a year old. They were shorn and then sold for meat. We learned that sheep were still considered a lamb up to a year old as they still had their baby teeth.

Our next stop was Amberley where we stayed in the local hotel. The bike spent the night in the garden bar which we hoped would be secure. It was! In the morning we were up early in order to try and get ahead of a forecast norwester gale. The GOTF headed down to retrieve the bike at 7am but came back looking a bit sheepish. “I guess I should have asked about retrieving the bike, it is locked out there and we can’t get at it”. An hour and a half later we finally were able to retrieve the bike and ended up riding the last section of the ride to Oxford in horrendous cross winds. We got blown off the road onto the grass shoulder a couple of times. I was not impressed.

When we finally limped into our tiny home about 5km west of Oxford we were given a great welcome by the hosts, the Griffiths family. We got free range eggs and all three of the children, Cory, Kyle and Phoebe took the Rear Admirals seat for a test ride.

From Oxford it was on to spectacular Rakaia Gorge before a pretty cruisy 81km onto Geraldine which I thought was a gorgeous town. Even better, we had a day off! We had a coffee at Barker’s and I would have loved to have stocked up on some of their products that we don’t see in our local supermarket. However, I had to beg to get my toothbrush included in my gear so no chance of some nice condiments.

While in the supermarket a local came up and asked if we owned the tandem parked outside ( are we that obvious). In our conversation he told us that him and his wife cycled around the South Island, for their honeymoon! I asked him whose idea that was – you guessed it, it was his.

Our ride through to another Farmstay near Fairlie, was another rare good one. Along the way we stopped and talked to a group of senior cyclists. Two were riding the Sounds to Sounds and the third was a local who was riding with them for a few days. We agreed to meet up for coffee at Pleasant Point and found out that the local was heavily involved in the creation of Alps to Ocean and latterly, the Central South trails, both of which we were to ride on.

The farm stay was well up in the hills and again we got to meet the family, Rachel and Henry and their three kids Lily, Sophie and George. The two girls were keen to show us there lovely ponies Darby & Ace. They also had a sit on the bike being to small to go for a ride.

Fairlie to Tekapo turned into a bit of a nightmare. The ride up to the top of Mackenzie pass went ok but once over the top the wind kicked in. As the wind got stronger it got hotter and to make matters worse it was a head wind for the remaining 40km into Tekapo. The GOTF started muttering about the battery and I got the distinct impression from the whiny tone of his voice that we were looking at the prospect of running out before we got to Tekapo. Being the navigator, I could see the terrain for the remainder of the ride and we had a couple of hundred metres to climb up to Tekapo. I let my feelings known to him. I was sure whether the sweat I could see on him was due to the heat or his knowledge of his fate if the battery ran out. He started complaining about a headache, ostensibly due the dehydration but I knew that it was the mental gymnastics he was going through to work out how he could avoid disaster. Needless to say, we arrived at Tekapo exhausted. Every time I visit Tekapo I am impressed by the scenery but underwhelmed by the village.

The forecast for today was again pretty grim but when we checked it again this morning it looked like we had a weather window that would get us to Twizel in reasonable conditions. It turned out to be a great ride, some amazing scenery and the weather was good. What a difference a day makes!

The last three days have also involved a lot of fine and thick dust. Each night we have arrived at our destination feeling as though we have been in a flour fight. Poor old Bob has suffered really badly with the dust getting into his fur. I took pity on him and gave him a bath and a blow wave, The hand basin had a layer of sediment on it when I took him out. He also has a new set of sunnies after his other were finally blown off in yesterdays gale. He looks like a new bear tonight.

I am really excited as tomorrow is my last ride for a while. I get four whole days off. The GOTF is being joined by well known Kerikeri resident Rod Brown. Rod is a fit 85 years of age and took pity on me and agreed to ride the 250km from Omarama to Clyde. It includes a mountain pass but I don’t want to say too much more. The last thing that I want to do is give him an excuse to back out.

Part of the modus operandi for our ride was to be out of our comfort zone (at times) in order to try and garner donations for vulnerable children who don’t get to choose how their lives pan out. Don’t feel sorry for us ( we chose to do this) but if you are inspired to help, do so by donating to The Bald Angels: https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/the-angel-tandem-two-70and-year-olds-riding-7500km

A brief video on the last two days