Monday 1/4/2010

Monday 1/4/2010
Back in the saddle again. The rest day was very beneficial and when we woke this morning, we felt like we could get back on the bike again to continue our adventure. The weather was very cool with clouds but no showers yet.

We left the motel at 8 am this morning and cruised down the hill that was so steep last Saturday. We had to ride the brakes most of the way down and that was the cause of problems later in the day. It was a great ride leaving Queenstown and we cruised along the highway for about 12 miles before the wall started. We had to ride from an altitude of about 370 meters to crest at a point of 1070 meters (elevation gain of over 2100 ft).

Leaving the main highway we turned onto the Crown Range Road which would take us to Wanaka. The first 2 km (1.2 miles) was very steep with 9 switch backs (see picture). Our Garmin GPS said that most of the grade was 14-19% and at one point I looked down and it read 20% grade. We did stop a couple of times up the wall but we were successful in reaching the lookout point. Along the way up we were past by several older riders who were on mountain bikes. At the lookout point they had assembled and we stop to chat with them (see photo). They are called the Queenstown Peddlers, most appeared to be our age, and they were out doing their club ride. Just beyond the lookout point was another road that would descend back to the valley. Half of their group had started up on the other side going in the opposite direction. They would cross at the top and then head down to the local coffee shop for coffee.

We still had a long climb ahead of us (about 6 miles) with the first 5 miles about 5-6% grade and the final climb of 14-16% grade. During the last mile we ended up walking a part of it and pushing the bike up the hill. It took us 3 hours to leave Queenstown and reach the summit. The weather had turn very cold and rain drops were starting to fall. The first 5 km of the descend was extremely steep which was complicated by some strong cross wind gusts. We developed some brake problems. Earlier in the morning when we rode the steep descent from the hotel, I had lost the use of the rear disk brake. I had adjusted the pads and everything seemed to be fine until the top of this highest summit. As we started down this steep slope I had to keep applying the brakes to prevent going too fast and in the process our rear disk brake overheated to the point that a plastic adjustment knob melted right off the caliber. Applying the brakes sounded like metal on metal and we inched our way down to a spot where Al (guide) was able to assist us and check it out. The rotor had turned colors because of the heat buildup but he gave us a clean bill of health and we continued down the mountain side into a beautiful valley with many sheep. We were riding through some cold rain drops but by observation of the road had missed the heavy rain. It was still very cold and we had not brought all our cold weather gear.

We stopped with everyone else at a historic hotel in Cardrona (see picture) and had a fabulous lunch which consisted a hot bowl of pumpkin curry soup with a cup of hot cocoa. It hit the spot and warmed us back up. We still had about 18 miles to go but it was almost all downhill with a wind to our back, perfect tandem cycling conditions, we got down in about 45 minutes. We checked into our room and are waiting to here if we might be able to take a side trip this afternoon to Milford Sound. (Update: Milford Sound trip will not happen because of low visability). A couple of other tandems had problems with their brakes overheating while coming down the steep hill and one had to be worked on to straighten out a warped rotor.

Summary: We are back at the base of the Southern Alps (see picture) and will cross over them tomorrow to get down to the west coast and wetter weather. Great ride with some very hard cycling in the middle. We got in at 1:30 which is a record for us. We were able to shower and relax. The facility here is a resort and very comfortable. Life is great.