7th Feb 2011 - High Winds and Rain (so we do the laundry)
About 40kms, or 25 miles, in an afternoon of cycling from Tinwald Domain Holiday Park to Rakaia Holiday Park. Overnight the rain and strong winds kept us awake. At the moment the rain is tumbling down very heavily. The bloke in the kitchen says, in a phrase I've heard so many times and with what lack of evidence, 'we need the rain'. Well it has rained a bit most days recently tho' this is the first good soaking for a week or so.(Later....) We hung around waiting for the rain to stop and at 1pm set off to see what it was like - creep a bit nearer to Christchurch. The air is pretty cold, drizzle and the occasional flurry of rain drops makes me feel that the heavy rain could well return.At Rateia we decided that we would do best, given that it's close to 4pm, to book into the local Kiwi Camper site and do our washing, etc, rather than plough on in the drizzle and get to Christchurch in semi-gloom or darkness. I think we're both suffering from a poor night's sleep. An additional bonus of an early finish is the opportunity to do some washing - I looked at my best shorts, being warn today, and I can see that a mix of sun lotion and sweat has rather smeared them. Basically, we're looking more tramp-like than usual.At the campsite a lady, doing laundry too, said she always felt sorry for cyclists - such a tough job. Of course, it would indeed be much too tough for someone who never cycles to start doing 50 mile rides with baggage. But for a regular cyclist it is pretty easy really unless the road or weather is bad, or you try to go too far too fast. My legs have toughened up so that I can pretty much pootle along for hours on end with mostly a pleasant sense of exertion and fresh air. It is important to take your time - no knees will cope with churning too high a gear over several weeks. So we spin our legs, like Lance Armstrong, and take the hills gently. Obviously if the wind or the gradient is with us we hurtle along at, why, speeds as high as 30mph! We are, of course, regularly overtaken by locals out on lightweight bikes for a quick spin. But most are not doing big distances.Of course, most people are, to varying extents, overweight but cycling decent miles does mean that you can eat cream cakes and beer and still lose weight. If that isn't enough to get people on their bikes I can't imagine a more compelling motive.Tomorrow we will, finally, reach Christchurch.... The picture is from Tinwald, the previous evening, drinking a very acceptable beer called Matson's Black. Brewed in Christchurch - we'll go within a few streets of the brewery tomorrow (but I don't think they do tours).
About 40kms, or 25 miles, in an afternoon of cycling from Tinwald Domain Holiday Park to Rakaia Holiday Park. Overnight the rain and strong winds kept us awake. At the moment the rain is tumbling down very heavily. The bloke in the kitchen says, in a phrase I've heard so many times and with what lack of evidence, 'we need the rain'. Well it has rained a bit most days recently tho' this is the first good soaking for a week or so.(Later....) We hung around waiting for the rain to stop and at 1pm set off to see what it was like - creep a bit nearer to Christchurch. The air is pretty cold, drizzle and the occasional flurry of rain drops makes me feel that the heavy rain could well return.At Rateia we decided that we would do best, given that it's close to 4pm, to book into the local Kiwi Camper site and do our washing, etc, rather than plough on in the drizzle and get to Christchurch in semi-gloom or darkness. I think we're both suffering from a poor night's sleep. An additional bonus of an early finish is the opportunity to do some washing - I looked at my best shorts, being warn today, and I can see that a mix of sun lotion and sweat has rather smeared them. Basically, we're looking more tramp-like than usual.At the campsite a lady, doing laundry too, said she always felt sorry for cyclists - such a tough job. Of course, it would indeed be much too tough for someone who never cycles to start doing 50 mile rides with baggage. But for a regular cyclist it is pretty easy really unless the road or weather is bad, or you try to go too far too fast. My legs have toughened up so that I can pretty much pootle along for hours on end with mostly a pleasant sense of exertion and fresh air. It is important to take your time - no knees will cope with churning too high a gear over several weeks. So we spin our legs, like Lance Armstrong, and take the hills gently. Obviously if the wind or the gradient is with us we hurtle along at, why, speeds as high as 30mph! We are, of course, regularly overtaken by locals out on lightweight bikes for a quick spin. But most are not doing big distances.Of course, most people are, to varying extents, overweight but cycling decent miles does mean that you can eat cream cakes and beer and still lose weight. If that isn't enough to get people on their bikes I can't imagine a more compelling motive.Tomorrow we will, finally, reach Christchurch.... The picture is from Tinwald, the previous evening, drinking a very acceptable beer called Matson's Black. Brewed in Christchurch - we'll go within a few streets of the brewery tomorrow (but I don't think they do tours).