Day 12 - Ōwhango to Pipiriki

Today was one of the hardest days of riding for me!
The only day which was harder was practice the Big River ride last year!
The day started with an early wake up at 5.30 am to be ready for the bus trip to the Blue Duck camp for the start of the ride.
This took above an hour so we were away on a 40 km ride at 9.00 am. We thought this would leave us plenty of time to meet the 3.30 pm jet boat to take us to our accommodation at Pipiriki.
So the start was in cloudy weather in the mid teens but as the day wore on the clouds lifted and the temperatures too!
The first part of the ride was fantastic good and I was coping reasonably well. The track started to deteriorate during a long climb of about 10 kms which had a total ascent of about 650 metres!
It was slow going for me and it involved a lot of water with my bike!
We reached the top of the climb at about 1.30 pm and after a quick bite it was the long descent to the Whanganui River.
The early part of the descent was quite good and steep but required some skill in navigating the right course on the track.
Then it got quite hard with several muddy spots . At one point I managed to do a flip off the track over the side and fall about 10 metres into some ferns. Luck was on my side and I had not injuries and the bike was ok. Hauling it back on the track was a bit of an effort which was done so o could continue on my way.
The next issue was the 7 bridges which were quite narrow and required us walking the bikes after taking off the front box. It was a real pain to do this particularly as we were now under pressure to meet the jet boat.
Finally at about 3.15 we reached the “bridge to nowhere “ which gave us a chance to reach the boat. After a quick photo we finished the ride at the jet boat mooring, arriving shortly after the allotted departure but with Stephen arriving before both Chris and I it was okay for the boat to wait a bit.
To say I was glad the 40 km ride was over would be an understatement!
We were on the bikes for 6.5 hours and I was buggered!
The trip down the Whanganui River was a real thrill on the jet boat.
Several times along the way the driver stopped the boat to give us all a bit of history on the region.
We arrived at our accommodative at the Pipiriki camping ground at about 5.00 pm .
This is very comfortable place for us all after a long day. Showers and a bike clean were first tasks after a drink and ice cream.
The dinner tonight was a hamburger and salad to refuel for the days ahead.
Unfortunately there is limited internet connectivity so I can’t send this blog off in the normal day of ride timeframe it will be done tomorrow.