I started my Alps to ocean ride today. I got a shuttle to the Mt Cook Village and after a huge breakfast and a couple coffees with an awesome view out the window, I went over to the museum/MtCook Center and looked around. Not much new there for me so I just took off on my bike. The weather was bright sun with almost no clouds as I left the village. That did not last long. Before the village was out of sight clouds blew in over the mountains and it started to rain. The wind picked up to a gusty 30-45mph blow right in my face. I hate headwinds. The rain stopped and then it started to snow. The snow lasted about 15 minutes then the sun came out again. A few minutes later it started to hail. The high wind was blowing the hail into my face and it hurt like hell so I had to stop and go hide behind a sign until the hail stopped. I rode on taking pics here and there then it started to rain again. The wind got so strong I could barely make forward progress. I was riding in granny gear on a flat road. I kept pushing on because there was no other choice available. After about five hours of really hard riding I made it to Twizel a small mountain community and I checked into a packpacker place called High Country. Nice people running it. We talked for quite a while.
I also went to the laundry mat to dry out all my clothes. I was soaked when I got here from sweat and rain and snow. It was near freezing at 34 degree fahrenheit weather or 2 degrees celsius. The only reason I was not cold with all the wet clothes on was that I was working so hard to overcome the wind that I was sweating all day long.
Still a good day despite the hard work and weird weather. Tomorrow I do it again. I hope the weather is better.
A few pics
No comments:
Post a Comment