I woke up and watched Arran heading off up the hill to Omarama saddle just before 5.00am. OK time to get up. Mixing my complan for breakfast and packing everything meant I was away by 5.30am. Not paying any attention to the elevation graphs meant I had no idea how long this climb was going to be. Too steep to ride I trudged up, false top following false top. Man this climb was long topping out eventually over 1200 meters up. The weather was deteriorating and it got colder the higher I climbed. After an eternity I made the saddle and got on my bike. As I set off I realized the weather had really packed in, the temperature had plummeted and then it started to hail! The downhill I was looking forward to as a payoff for the uphill effort was a misery. Freezing hail stung my face and legs, the steep rocky downhill became greasy and treacherous and my hands were so cold they struggled to haul on the brakes. Mercifully the gradient eventually eased and riding became easier. Further down patches of blue sky started to appear and I begun to feel warmer and happier.
The GPX file on my GPS displayed the correct route as a blue line to follow. I had hardly bothered looking at it as the track seemed obvious down the valley. It was therefore a big surprise when I noticed the blue line come in from the side on my screen. I had inadvertently ridden a track parallel to where I was supposed to be. I had missed the Ida water race - bugger! I wasn't sure if the way I had gone was any shorter or quicker (the endless gates didn't make it seem a quick way) but it was very annoying. I vowed to closely follow the GPS blue line from now on.
A great meander along the Falls Dam lake edge followed and around a corner I almost bumped into another mountain biker heading up the valley to cheer on some fellow breveteers behind me. He told me Ollie Whalley was only 5 minutes ahead of me - that was a surprise! I powered off encouraged that I was doing well.
I made it to Oturehua and had a great bacon and egg pie in the local pub before heading up the rail trail to Omakau. The wind had picked up and I found myself battling into a very strong head wind. Some of the riding was through very picturesque tunnels and over dramatic viaducts which was a welcome distraction to the wind. I stopped in Omakau for lunch and was surprised to find Dave King inside the cafe working away on his laptop. An enjoyable burger and chat was relaxing. Dave told me I was 6th and that Ollie was about 15 minutes ahead. I was motivated now, wolfing down the food and heading off quickly with the realization that turning towards Thompsons gorge road would finally mean a good tail wind.
It was an effortless tail wind rush to the base of the hills. Dave had told me it was a big climb that started off steep. And so it was with me getting off to walk as soon as the gradient pointed up. A mountain biker passed me coming in the other direction. He told me with almost discernible glee that I had a looong push ahead of me.......hmmmmm thanks for that. I got my iPod out and listened to Delany Davidson sing of lost love and misery as I plodded up. Eventually it leveled off enough to ride and I enjoyed the undulating tail wind jaunt through the hills with the only annoyance being the endless gates.
Finally popping out over the last rise I was greeted by a spectacular view out over the plains towards Wanaka and the mountains beyond. Wow! it was very high up here and it all looked a long long way down. Around a corner I stopped to have a brief chat to a mountain biker brevet fan who was unexpectedly sitting on the side of the track to cheer us on. He told me a Jasper van der Lingen was in 6th place. He seemed surprised when I told him he was me especially after noticing I was on a singlespeed. I knew from past experience though that a singlespeed is not that much of an impediment and is arguably an advantage on brevets (less to go wrong) besides that they are just huge fun!
It was a superb and very long downhill followed by a tail wind scorcher all the way to Wanaka via the enjoyable if long Clutha river trail and Wanaka outlet track. I pulled into Wanaka a little after 7pm only to bump into Ollie. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him. He was a bit down having lost his money and credit cards on the track somewhere further back. He had managed to borrow some money from some Wanaka friends and was back in business though.
It seemed a little early to stop but Dave had advised against doing the next section - Roaring Meg - in the dark so I decided to relax and stay in Wanaka for the night. Accommodation was hard to find and I finally settled on an available 2 bedroom Motel room - expensive but it would do. I texted Paul that if he made it to Wanaka that night I had a motel room for him. I caught up with Barryn, Trevor, Tristan, Anja, Mark Wallace and Paul Chaplow as they rolled in. Anja and Tristan didn't have a place to stay so the three of us squeezed into my Motel room unsure if Paul would get there and make it extra cosy.
It had been an eventful day from the cold hail in the morning to the warm tail winds in the afternoon. I was really starting to enjoy this brevet and the big challenges were still to come - yee haa!!
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