Oliver & Lasswell Travel Blog: 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.

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.