Day 18- Canvastown to Wakefield
Last evening I had a look at the proposed route for the day on the Maungatapu trail and looked at the gradients including one huge ascent and descent and said I would go by car with Ian on the road. Steve agreed with me!
The lady who owned the pub also was saying the trail was very difficult which also put me off.
On this basis as Chris and John were to do the trail they were to leave early at around 7.00 am and Steve and I could have a welcome “sleep in “.
So we were up and about at 7.30 am and after some mucking around with the bikes we were on the road to Nelson.
The road into Nelson was quite busy with trucks and cars but we made good time getting there by around 11.00 am.
We had coffee and muffins at the River View cafe which is a road bikers meeting place for coffee. I reckon there might have been 50 or so cyclists there having coffee and something to eat.
After coffee we had to search for an optometry shop for Steve to undertake some running repairs on his glasses. This was done at Spec Savers in no time at all.
Steve and I then unpacked the bikes from the trailer and proceeded up the road to meet Chris and John after their epic ride on the trail. We met them after travelling about 11 kms and they seemed ok despite the real challenges on the trail, particularly the steep downhill!
Good to see that they were all okay after this big effort!
We all then proceeded back to Nelson along the same route we had taken to meet them. The downhill was delightful!
Along the way Chris met up with a friend, Marsh who joined us on the ride back to the River View and to have lunch.
Marsh was an interesting guy, who was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand. He now lives in Nelson and rides regularly. In earlier days he competed in the cross island challenge with Chris and produced the bib of the Challenge to prove his credentials. He and Chris competed in the same year and trained together.
After a lovely lunch we then left Nelson for the 30 plus km ride to Wakefield. Most of this ride was on the Taste Trail which goes through the wine growing and fruit bowl areas near Nelson. Certainly very pretty country although it looks pretty dry!
The tempo in the afternoon was around 25 degrees and for most of the run into Wakefield we had a tail wind….. hooray!
We arrived at the hotel at about 4.30 pm after doing about 55 kms… feeling ok. I am sure Chris and John were feeling the effects of the big 80 plus ride and after climbing in excess of 1000 metres! A great effort!
The hotel we are staying at at Wakefield is very comfortable and the shower was delightful.
Another good day of riding with fine weather and a tail wind!
Today’s pictures:
The route for Steve and I took…. The shorter version!
Nelson has a lot of hanging baskets in the street… they look great!
These bike racks are incredible… we should do this in Melbourne
Meeting John ( on the right) and Chris on the trail…. Pleased to see they are okay!
At lunch at the River View…. Great food and coffee
Arvo tea with an ice cream
Steve at the Wakefield hotel
