Christchurch to Hari Hari

Usually after a rest day I take a little while to get going. Today that was not a problem.

Rolling out of Rob and Donna's the day didn't look so good, but the radar showed mostly clear once I was out of Christchurch.

When I'd been planning this crossing to the west coast I'd thought it would be tough to make it over Porter's Pass and get to the first campsite, 100km away. Springfield, well before the pass was my contingency.

The ride to Springfield was a very easy constant climb, but slightly boring, until about half way when I started seeing the mountains I was about to cross. Though small at first overtime I started wondering how they managed to build a road through.

If it was slightly later in the day when i reached Springfield I may well have stopped as it was pretty cold and raining slightly. Ahead where I was going I could see the mountains and some blue sky so I pushed on.

Before I got to the pass there was some very light hail but the pass looked pretty good.

The climb started, 400m in 4km. I knew it was going to be tough, so I was a bit surprised when I could handle the start no problem. 8-10% was low enough that i could remain seated some of the time. Then it started to ramp up. It passed 12%, and reached 15% near the end. But I made it in one go!

After the obligatory photos I had an undulating decent to my planned camp. 

While Porters Pass had been tough, I was feeling great so at the turnoff I stopped and had a look at my options. The next spot was only 10km away so i headed on.  Amazing scenery and great legs saw me pass that camp as well, with 20km to the next.

I was starting to fade, but with only 10km I decided to push on even further and stay in Arthurs Pass. I arrived, looking for a chocolate milk for recovery and settled for a hot chocolate.

Soon after getting into my tent i heard a clacking coming from where my bike was. A Kea was having a go at whatever it could get is beak at. I put my bike inside an enclosed shelter.

After that the Keas had a go at my tent, thankfully they just tugged at the guy ropes and did no damage.

Distance day 145km total 3468km
Ascent day 1800m total 38,500m

I barely got any sleep. The Keas were pretty bad, trains and trucks weren't great but the couple of mice that snuck through the hole were terrible.

I spent a long time trying to force them out, but it always seemed like I missed some as after a while I'd hear them again.

The morning was cloudy, but it burned off very quickly. It was still just above freezing but that changed very quickly.

I set off and had a pretty easy climb up to Arthurs Pass. Ahead of me I had almost 1000m more descending than climbing so it should have been an easy day, my lack of sleep combined with yesterday's effort and a head wind made me struggle.

The descent didn't muck around. Almost right from the beginning I was on the brakes to control my speed. I stopped at a lookout over the Otira gorge.

Apparently this viaduct reduced the gradient to a very reasonable 11.3%. Also not many people have gone down using strava as I have a top 10 time. It definitely felt very steep heading down as I was hard on my brakes to avoid hitting the ute in front. I did think about passing a couple of times but I felt like I was getting a little fast for the conditions.

Eventually the road flattened off, which was when I noticed the headwind. I was glad the scenery passing through the valleys was so good as otherwise the going was tough.

When I start feeling like this my general remedy is to find something more tough, usually something I have to concentrate for. In this case when the opportunity to cut 10km off by going 10km on gravel I barely hesitated.

This was also a good way to test out my new tyres on gravel, as visually they look a lot thinner. They handled it fairly well, although the gravel was probably the best quality I've had. It still have me the confidence that it could at least handle some tougher stuff.

Eventually I rolled into Hokitika, where I met 2 cyclists on the backpackers I was staying at. One heading north but the other is heading south!

Distance day 90km total 3558km
Ascent day 650m total 39,100m

Today I could either do a massive day and reach Franz Josef, or do it in two days. The cyclist I met heading south was a Dutch woman, Merryl, who planned to do it in two days. It would have been interesting to see how my body coped with another big day, but an easy day was probably a good idea.

We set off, going at an easy pace. The ride was generally easy undulations, with a few bigger hills for variety. I didn't have any trouble, but Merryl's knee was giving her problems.

About halfway through the ride we met two Dutch women. They were towards the end of a two month trip, and where tackling Arthurs Pass the next day. While we were chatting another two guys rolled up. Definitely the most cyclist I've seen in one spot.

Throughout the day we had patches of sun, and a few drops of rain, but otherwise just very ominous clouds.

We reached Hari Hari early afternoon. If i'd was by myself this is when I'd have continued on, but I would have likely struggled to reach Franz Josef.

We're staying at a backpackers, although with the lack of facilities it barely counts. Tomorrow it's meant to rain, but I'll likely push on regardless just to get to a better place.

Distance day 72km total 3630km
Ascent day 500m total 39,600m