Still More Wind. . . .

View from our room in Hokitika as I write this. 

If I'm talking today about Day 3, and we just finished Day 7. . . am I ever going to catch up?

Day 3 ride info from Christchurch to Hanmer Springs:  NZ Day 3 Christchurch to Hanmer Springs

Route map from RidewithGPS:  NZ Day 3 from Christchurch to Hanmer Springs

I try to ride 100 miles once each month.  Since we were going to be in New Zealand for most of the month of April I looked for an opportunity to turn one of Brian's tour rides into a 100-miler (a "century" in cycling parlance.  A century is 100 years, a 100 mile bike ride is a "century". . . get it?).  

There were several candidates:

Day 3 79.5 miles and 3,033 feet of climbing

Day 4 85.1 miles 6,126 feet

Day 9 83.4 miles 4,453 feet

Day 12 79.5 miles 3,428 feet

Day 13 88.8 miles 6,731 feet

Each option required I add 20 miles, or less.  I didn't want it to be too hard in order to avoid causing worry for Brian, the tour operator, having me be out there for an extended period waiting for me to finish.  That eliminated Day 4 and Day 13 as the climbing stats would make the ride longer.  

Day 3 took it over Days 9 and 12 simply because I could get it done and out of the way earlier in the trip.  And both of those days had some issues in my head that made them less desirable.  Day 12, for example, is an out and half-way back kind of thing that made it funky (again, in my head) to add 20 extra miles.  

Plus Day 3 was an easy adjustment to the planned ride for that day by simply starting from our hotel in Christchurch instead of driving out 30 minutes to the official ride start near Saltwater Creek.  By simply changing the start location in the RidewithGPS map it came out to a convenient 105 miles.  And with only 3,000 feet of climbing?  Perfect!  

I even etched out an alternate route on Brian's suggestion that took a detour away from a busier road and added about 5 miles. 

When I left the morning of April 9th my plan was to do the 110 mile route with the slight detour Brian had suggested.  I figured that I could do the additional 35 miles in 2 hours and meet up with the rest of the group about the time our two routes intersected. 35 miles miles, 2 hours, 17.5 mph average, flat terrain. . . no problem.  

I have noticed reading through some of my earlier descriptions of some rides I've done as "my worst day ever on a bike".  I've had a few of those.  This one only happens to be the most recent.  

Prior to this one, my last worst day on a bike was the Dead Swede Hundo in Sheridan, WY, in June 2025.  100 miles, 50 of those miles (the middle 50) straight into a block headwind of above 30mph sustained and well over 40mph gusts.  Couple that with a poor tire choice and terrible fueling and I had done the slowest century I think I'd ever done to that point.  7 hours 39 minutes riding time, 8 hours 2 minutes total time.  

And that was with 7,575 feet of climbing.

April 9th?  7 hours 43 minutes moving time, 9 hours 6 minutes total time.  With just 3,274 feet of climbing.  

A ride that distance, with just 3,000 feet of climbing should have taken 5 1/2 to 6 hours riding time max.  I was easily two hours slower than I should have been and it is absolutely the slowest century I've ever done.  It was ridiculous.  I almost quit at least 3 times.  It was so stupid.  

What happened?  Can't blame the bike too much.  Granted it's not my bike (it didn't fit me exactly like my own bikes--something I talked about in an earlier post), it had slow tires, it just isn't the same.  But that didn't create anything more than a few minutes difference. 

Still acclimating to the time change, etc.?  Probably a little bit.  I've not felt particularly on point since I've arrived here.  The first 25 miles were flat, little wind yet I was still struggling to make 17.5 mph.  On those roads (trails, actually) in those conditions, I should have been able to easily run 18.5-20.0 mph.  But every time I looked down. . . 16.5 mph, 17.0 mph,  16.0mph.  It drove me crazy.  

I will say something complimentary about the bike trails in and around Christchurch.  I was able to ride the first 20 miles without sharing the route with a single automobile.  The trails are in good condition, not overrun with nitwits absorbed in their own little worlds.  It was great.  I don't know how extensive the trail system is throughout the city, but in the direction I went, big thunbs up.  👍

That plan to do 17.5 mph for the first 30 miles and 2 hours?  Forget it.  I wasn't going to be able to do 25 miles in that time and I had to adjust the route from the planned 110 miles to the initially conceived 105.  And even then I missed the group by about 5 minutes. I knew that because I'd come across Brian Farrant at the side of the road and he made me aware of the gap.  He'd been waiting for me to show up as I was now the last rider of the group.  Right after I saw Brian, the wind picked up.  

A lot.  

And the wind grew stronger as the day wore on.  Right after I saw Brian at mile 27.4 the day became a struggle.  

That 5 min gap Brian mentioned?  It was not coming down.  I was not seeing anyone on the horizon.  Usually I can spot a few people up ahead and can target them to give me some motivation.  And usually that results in more speed.  Not this day.  I was drained.  I didn't have any strength.  My mind was not in a good place.  I finally spotted Sarah-Lin Aamodt and was able to catch up to her.  No one else was in sight at that point.  

Finally, at about mile 42, the group had stopped at one of the tour operator's normal pit stops for water and fuel and I was able to catch up.  But as soon as I got there they all left.  

From mile 43 to about mile 51--Waipara Flat Road--I was in a terrible state.  The first 4 miles were into a fierce headwind.  The road was super busy and the shoulder was minimal.  Then it headed more uphill in a shallow steady climb that may as well have been Mt Everest. I could NOT keep up with anyone.  I was in the smallest gear for a modest climb and I was dragging ass.  

I did make it to the top, slowly and pissed off and it was the lunch stop.  It couldn't have come too soon and I was in a sorry state mentally and physically.  I ate some and tried to regroup knowing that I wasn't even half way done yet.  Coming up that hill and losing contact I was thinking there was no way I wanted to continue.  Or, if I did, how the hell long was it going to take?  

But after lunch continue I did.  I started off with Linda and Patti Baumert, both on e-bikes.  They let me lead them out but after two miles I told them to just go ahead, I wasn't going to be able to keep pace.  So they did!  😂

Wind in the face.  No one around ahead or behind. . . I came upon a crossroad of O'Carroll's Rd and High Street and the Hawarden General Supermarket at mile 57.2. . . just a little market serving the rural community.  I stopped and went in for a RED BULL!  A Red Bull had saved me once in 2017 on a horrible day in the Pyrenees, and a time or two since then.  I had to do something.  I don't really like Red Bull's but there's no denying the boost that it is capable of giving me.  

And it worked.  It took a couple of miles but I re-found my strength and felt like I could pedal with some authority.  About that time, or not long after, the route turned WITH THE WIND at mile 60 for a short, fast 6 mile run that was a total blast.  At 68miles though?  Back into the wind.  I can't describe how much it sucks riding into a strong headwind.  Maybe that's the sole problem with this ride and the Dead Swede last year.  Wind.  Maybe it just sucks the life out of me and my mind gives up.  

By mile 75 my boost had run its course and I was losing touch again.  A group of 4-5 went up the road without me. . . I couldn't keep up.  These were people I ride with all the time and should have been able to keep up with without any problem.  Not this day.  

At Culverdeen at mile 84 the "short route" riders were done.  I still had 20 miles to go.  The only person that rode with me was John Engstrom.  I would have gone on whether he did, or not.  I was glad when he said that he'd go along too, just for a sort of bit of company.  

In Culverdeen I should have had another Red Bull.  I had a Coke instead.  Coke's don't work for me like the Red Bull can.  I don't know if a second Red Bull would have helped, but the Coke did little.  

I was ok until about mile 92 and the wheels came off again. I had to send John ahead of me because I was holding him way back.  It wasn't fair for him to ride my pace, even though I'd warned him I was going to struggle the last 20 miles in.  

And struggle I did.  Same as before.  Every little bump up felt like someone was grabbing my shorts from behind and stopping me from moving forward.  Cramps had been rearing up in my thighs a bit earlier and they were beginning to nag at me again.  Slowly, slowly, tenth by tenth of a mile we slowly made it to the turnoff towards Hamner Springs.  It was only 5 more miles!!  

Garmin computers generate a stat showing the number of climbs in a ride, at what mile they start, how long they are, and the average gradient.  The last climb was right at the very end up to the hotel in Hamner Springs.  I don't remember the exact data of the climb but it showed to be about a half mile with an 8% pitch.  Feeling as I had all day I was dreading it.  When it finally arrived--it was almost nothin'.  Suffering avoided and mission accomplished.  Sheesh what a day. . . .

I didn't take any photos this ride.  Linda did. . . I'm not in any of them:

Linda somewhere on the road.

Cloud formations I guess? 

Front to back: Linda Lasswell, Patti Baumert, Roberta Kitowski, Bob Burleson, and Larry Matz

More Wind

 I thought yesterday was bad. . . .

Today was worse for wind.  It was, of course, a headwind.  For almost the entirety of the 50 miles ridden.  

Strava: NZ Day 2 Strava

Route (we cut it short by 3-4 miles due to treacherous wind conditions): NZ Day 2 Halswell to (almost) Akaroa Wharf

An interesting ride around what is a caldera as shown in the map, below (and can be seen in the Strava and RidewithGPS links):

Info on the Banks Peninsula Volcano from good ol' Wikipedia:  Banks Peninsula Volcano

You may, or may not, have noticed that the first 30 miles of the ride were pancake flat.  The last 20 miles contains the entirety of the 4,100 feet of climbing.  It was a tough ride either way, flat had headwinds, climbing was more calm but, well, it was climbing.  In some exposed areas there was a heavy crosswind that can sometimes be a little unnerving.  I don't remember any headwinds on the uphills. . . that woulda added insult to injury.  

A short clip to provide a hint of the winds dealt with throughout the day to varying degrees. 

That clip was at the end of the climbing and there was just another 3-5 miles downhill to the beautiful little town of Akaroa. Only 2 of the 14 participants of the tour chose to ride down with the crosswinds shown in the video.  I was NOT one of the two.  They did make it, though.  No problems. It was treachersous just standing there at the top of that hill.  Fortunately, Brian had shown up with the van shortly after Wende Hargrove and I arrived at the top and we could shelter behind the van out of the wind. 

Akaroa was an amazing little town.  Beautiful.  It is a bit isolated.  There are roads to areas south of the town, but there aren't any services per se.  Everything else is a solid drive north off of the peninsula. 

Some of the town's history:  Akaroa Information

And some shots of the day's activities, closing out with some outstanding ice cream in Akaroa. 

Cecille Taylor caught me by surprise at the start of the ride (we'd been driven about 30 mins outside of Christchurch to start the ride).

We were riding along Christchuch Akaroa Road (that flat 30 mile stretch before we started climbing) and from a distance we saw this bull standing on top of a little rise right next to the roadway.  Turns out that it wasn't a real bull.  Still photogenic, though, yes?

Most of the time the sheep run away when you call to or approach them.  Not this one. He looked up and walked on over.

Linda on the first climb of the day just after a quick bite to eat in Little River.  I don't think this is the Little River from which The Little River Band takes its name. . . they're Australians.  I'll have to check into Little River Band history. 

Note that Linda's riding on the left.  Should I say something about that?  OK.  

Riding on the left is not a big deal.  Now.  The first day, during the shakeout ride, yeah, just had to concentrate out of fear of screwing up and turning right head-on into an oncoming car.  

Rule:  Ride Left, Wide Right.  

At cycling speeds it's a lot less of a worry.  It's easy enough to slow down and think it out.  Driving could be a different story. . . I won't get the chance to experience that this time around. 

Not sure why someone would put this sign up in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road--it says "Where's Tiger Woods?"

The entire crew eating ice cream, very good ice cream, at the end of the day's ride in Akaroa.  

A couple of local buddies on Akaroa Wharf. 

My daughter said this is an "emo" shot. 

Justin Smit, a friend of mine from work, gave me this t-shirt as a retirement send-off.  

Wind

 OK. . . we've been here and riding since April 6th.  We've had 6 rides to date, including today's from Cape Foulwind to Greymouth.  Today's the 11th and I've not written a word until these.  

I guess it's time to get off my butt and say something.  I gave out the link to this blog to a few people.  I imagine maybe a few have checked in only to find one measly, boring entry, maybe checked a few more times since then and then gave up becuase there's been nothing new.  

Building suspense I suppose.  

Right.

Christchurch was lovely. . . super clean, feels safe.  Except for the earthquakes.  I remember hearing of earthquakes in New Zealand, but we didn't realize how common they are until we visited the earthquake museum in Christchurc commemorating significant quakes in 2010 and 2011.  Turns out that New Zealand experiences a magnitude 7 or above earthquake every 10 years on average.  I didn't check to see if there's been one since the last in Christchurch 15 years ago. 

2011 Earthquake

Brian Farrant delivered the bicycles at noon on Tuesday.  We got them all measured out and as close as possible to the bikes we ride at home.  That said, rental bikes are never the same as having your own bike.  My bike's an old Scott something-or-other, aluminum frame.  It fits.  It's OK. I can tell there are some gltiches as my right knee hurts a little bit off-and-on and it never feels spot on.  The Continental Gatorskin tires aren't what I'd normally choose to ride.  It will do.

Linda has a Specialized Creo e-bike.  She chose an e-bike due to physical challenges she's had over the last 18-24 months that have limited her training time.  Addressing those health issues has meant a myriad of medications that have had a clear impact on her training capacity.  She's just lacking that little bit of "oomph" that she used to have.  I know she CAN have it becuase I think back to when she first started riding her Specialized Roubaix S-Works.  She was flying on that thing when she first got it, for that first year until she had the shoulder surgery in October 2024.  She's really not been able to get back to her normal state since then.  It's coming though.  

The Creo's heavy--it's an e-bike after all.  Except for the too-long cranks it fits her pretty well.  Ideally she'd have 155cm cranks--on the Creo, they're 165cm.  She works much more efficiently with the 155's.  It's been cool having her on the e-bike though, because it narrows the speeds between us.  She's hyper-disciplined about not using too much power, usually running it in the lightest setting so she makes sure that she's working hard enough to make a difference.  She is super consistent with her approach.  

Sound pretty exciting so far?  

Winds picked up in Christchurch on Monday night and continued into Tuesday.  Gusts were probably in excess of 40-45.  

After getting the fits done we did go ahead and ride.  The rain held off, leaving only the wind to deal with.  It was a short out-n-back from Christchurch to Kaiapoi and back:

Christchurch to Kaiapoi

See if this Strava link works:  https://www.strava.com/activities/18008097588

I'll post the Strava links for each ride completed.  If you're successful accessing the Strava links, look for the little right-pointing arrow as seen in the lower right corner of the screenshot, above.  It will take you to a cool little "aerial" ride-through of the route.  In the upper right-hand corner of the map, set the map type to "satellite map", looks much more interesting.  

Oh, and by moving your cursor over the map a progress bar appears at the bottom.  At the right end of that progress bar you can increase the speed of the animation--it helps quite a bit with the boredom factor.  

Turns out that I don't have any photos of that first ride.  Neither does Linda.  There wasn't a lot to look at anyway.  

Christchurch has some incredible bike trails.  Unfortunately, the route given didn't utilize them as well as could have been done.  This was reinforced a few days later when I used some trails to get out of town all the way to Kaiapoi (and beyond) that we did Tuesday and I wasn't on the roads a single kilometer or mile or whatever.  

It's taken a few days to realize and accept the fact that I feel no safer on New Zealand roads than I do in the US.  The drivers are no more or less courteous than at home.  I was kind of hoping for better.  Not sure why I thought that would be conceivable.  The feeling of vulnerability is exactly the same as at home, just on the left side of the road instead of the right.  They go by just as fast.  Just as closely.  

That's the other thing--we've spent a LOT of time on heavily trafficked roads.  We always seem to be on the main road from point A to point B.  I don't know if the secondary road network just doesn't exist, or what.  In France, for example, you look for all roads designated "D", e.g. D902. . . by-and-large the "D" roads are less heavily trafficked and they are everywhere.  You still have to pay attention, look at street view on Google Maps and look for heat maps on route mapping software, but it's easy to find safe, beautiful cycling routes in France.  Here?  I've not looked, but I figure that the tour operator must know the roads better than anyone, right?  

Wall art in Christchurch in embraced and it is everywhere.  There is some truly impressive work being done (to this non-artist's eyes).

Brian Farrant, far left, owner of NZ Bicycle Tours, dropping us off at Rydges Latimer Square in Christchurch and giving us our first of many advisories. 

I suppose I can go in and edit some, or all, of these photos down to be more presentable.  Just showing a small number of what's all over town. 

New Zealand South Island Bike Tour with NZ Bicycle Tours 04/07/2026 thru 04/23/2026

 I guess I'd better get serious about this right off the bat.  Even if I don't have a lot of anything interesting to say (yet i will probably say way too much about it).

As I write this we're taking a bit of a break after arrving in Christchurch around 10:30am local time.  After arriving we checked into the hotel and the group of us headed out to the nearby downtown area to eat lunch, look around a little, and go to get some supplies at the ol' grocery store.  

Cool thing here?  They speak English!  Except we've been greeted by several people that say something that clearly means "hello" but we can't figure out what it is they're saying.  Probably something in Maori.  We'll have to ask Brian Farrant, the tour company operator, what it is that they are saying.  

All-in-all. . . feel pretty darn good after flying all night and somehow missing out entirely on April 5th.  We left SFO at 10:45pm 4/4 (probably took to the air about 30 mins after that) and flew all night to arrive at 6:58am on Monday morning, 4/6.  I haven't bothered to try to time out how that happens with flight duration, the time zones and the International Date Line, etc. 

Linda and I left a good bit later than we originally intended.  We thought we'd leave about 10:00am, ended up leaving at 1:00pm.  We arranged to meet with Linda's cousin Barbara Maske in South San Francisco for an early dinner.  Actually Barbara is Linda's mom's cousin. . . so whatever that makes Barbara to Linda.  In any event, we had a good time with Barbara and had some excellent Chinese.  Barbara lives just 1.5 miles from my Aunt Helen's house (I still refer to it as Aunt Helen's house despite Aunt Helen having died several years ago now).  My lovely cousin Marisa lives in the house now. 

I lost track of time and planned on being at the airport to return the car we'd rented and get situated at 6:30, three hours before the flight's departure.  The only problem with that was by being there at 6:30 we were FOUR hours early, not three.  

Given there was absolutely no problem with the rental return, no problem with checking in at United, no problem with the security checkpoint/TSA, we were three hours and 45 minutes early.  I think that wiped me out because by the time the flight was boarding I was already feeling exhausted.  My eyes hurt, my head ached.  It wasn't a good sign. 

Somehow, though, once on the aircraft, I settled in ok.  Total flight time was about 13 hours 20 mins.  I actually slept. On an airplane.  According to my fitness tracker, I slept 5 hours, including almost 3 1/2 of that in deep and REM sleep--better than at home.  Which only raises in my mind the believability of what this fitness tracker's showing.  So, actually, I was rather pleased with myself. . . it wasn't as bad as I'd feared going in.  

Movies?  28 Years Later and Becoming Led Zeppelin.  And I finished the rest of ep. 13 of season 2 of The Pitt.   

Got to Christchurch, Brian Farrant met us to courier us all over to this hotel--Rydges.  It's an ok hotel.  Nothing special, but super clean.  Very nice.  Tomorrow is the official start date of the tour.  Brian will be over here around noon to get all the bicycles set up.  

Weather's supposed to be poor tomorrow.  Probably a good bit of rain and it's supposed to be quite windy on top of that.  Brian's good about tailoring riding to conditions so we won't be doing anything stupid.  Brian is a lovely, even-keeled man.  We'll be looking foward to the next nearly three weeks.  

Photos?  I need my good friend Ray Aguilar's eyes--I should have just brought him with me.  I struggle with photo composition.  

Yeah, Flight 9817, 10:45 departure, 7:01pm PDT.  LONG wait.

L-R AO, Linda Lasswell, Wende Hargrove, John Engstrom and Cecille Taylor

Our first view of NZ airspace morning of April 6, 2026

It's hard to get a sense of how big these trees are--not tall, just big around, HUGE.  

Linda at the, uh, airport.  

09/13/2018 Rental Bike #2 Shakedown

 After the FRW "Napa Valley", a brand I'd never heard of, suffered a broken chainstay, I was provided with a Parkpre 990. I'd heard of Parkpre before, but it is not a huge brand.  Parkpre was founded in the USA, but later acquired by an Italian firm and moved to Italy--apparently still in production:

Parkpre

 When I first saw the FRW I was underwhelmed.  After riding it, I loved it.  I was disappointed the bike didn't work out.  After giving it up and taking the Parkpre, I was again uncertain.  Turns out the Parkpre was a lovely bike.  It did suffer a wheel problem, had to switch it out.  After that it was no problem.

Strava Route  

We rode out to Pesaro and then took a boat back to Gabicce Mare.  

Hotel Alexander, Gabicce Mare

Valentino Rossi's backyard moto track near Tavullia, Italy.  Gabicce Mare (and Tavullia) are very close the the Misano MotoGP race track. 

Yes, Tavullia loves Valentino Rossi.  

Sandro Marrai, one of our guides in the background.  Speaks perfect English, lived and worked for years in London (logistics expert).  Lives in Pesaro.  Lovely man. 

My 2nd bike--Parkpre 990. Turned out ok,  I liked it. 

They let me steer the boat.  Very challenging heading in a straight line.  I asked if they'd let me take it to the dock.  They said no.

Cap'n Dork

It wasn't a very big boat.  More like the S. S. Minnow.  I wonder how many know the S. S. Minnow reference.  

Had to bring the bikes, too.