Day 14- Rest Day at the Bach

After a recovery sleep last night where for the first half of the night I was aching in the legs and buttocks from my falls, the anti-inflammatories kicked in and I was able to sleep through to around 7.00 am. Good to have a sleep in after a succession of starts at 5.30 am or 6.00am.

The decision made last evening after our ride was to have a day of rest with a late start, trip to Reefton to do the washing and to have a lazy afternoon of rest!

So after a great breakfast we made for Reefton at about 

10.00am leaving Chris behind to do a few chores and to think about the bike riding for the days ahead on the trip.

Reef is about 45 kms from the Bach and based on the number of times we have traveled there we are almost becoming’locals’. At Reefton we had coffee and morning tea followed by a later lunch as John worked his magic with the laundry washing and drying!

We were able to catch up on emails and the like with limited connectivity.

Again we saw a steady steam of TA cyclists coming through the town for lunch mainly. All looked pleased after completing the morning ride over the pass near Chris’s Bach.

After completing laundry and shopping for the days ahead we made our way back to our new home for a restful afternoon with many having an afternoon nap!

After the shocking ride yesterday, Chris has offered to have me use his spare mountain bike and I took it for a test ride which seemed to go well. The 8 km ride along the road to the Bach was ideal to do the test ride. I transferred the various bits and pieces to the reserve bike.( eg lights, Garmin, drink bottle holder etc)

Hopefully this bike will make a difference when we get on the tougher roads in the days ahead.

We had a terrific 3 course meal this evening with Rob cooking whitebait ( entree) and risotto (main course) and Chris providing apple tart with yogurt and muesli topping. All very satisfying after our rest day

After dinner Chris took us through his GoPro movies he has made on the trip which provided some fond memories of our past ventures… the only issue for me was watching the Big River movies where I had a terrible day yesterday…. It will give me some nightmares tonight I am sure!

Anyway all of this makes for great memories of a wonderful time in NZ with a great bunch of blokes.

Today being a rest day there are no photos.