Oliver & Lasswell Travel Blog: 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.