TT2000 Write-up - Day 12

With being caught out by finishing shorter days early on the previous two days and only 350km to do on Sunday, I decided not to be in too much of a hurry to leave Geraldine.  I fluffed around for a bit and looked out at a slightly drizzly looking morning as I got ready, but by the time I was organised the day had cleared and was warming up fast.  A quick fuel up and I was on the road up the Inland Scenic Route.

Even though the big long straights could be tempting, I kept the speed down and just tried to enjoy the morning and the views.  I can't have been going too slow as I did eventually reel in a Royal Enfield and pass him - Yamaha power!

My first gravel detour was up the Western side of the Rakaia River to the big station at the end of Double Hill Run Road.  And man, was this a cracker of a road!  While there was the odd rougher patch and about 5 fords to negotiate, the road was generally pretty fast.  And the views weren't that shabby either...

At one stage I was clipping along quite nicely when the idiot steering the bike hit a pothole fairly hard.  The poor forks took a big whack as they nearly bottomed out and the little mudguard extension hit the bash plate on the bike (twice) and was torn off - I heard it go.  Bummer!  What's worse is that the extension put a lot of stress on the guard itself and it has cracked on both sides - I may need another one, sob.

@#$%^#^#!

At the end of the road I had a bit of a poke around before parking up to take on some water and check out the views.

Nope!

The ride out was just as much fun as the ride in although as is often the case it seemed to take less time.  One potential fly in ointment was catching up to a large stock truck on one of the faster sections but the driver as a good bloke and had looked in his mirrors so pulled over after a one lane bridge and waved me through - top man!

The video below has some highlights of the ride in.

Back on the seal again, I crossed the river and then turned off to sample Zigzag road - you'll never guess why it's called that...At the top of the hill I stopped again to check out the views across the valley.

Next up was a trip up to Lake Coleridge.  The road up to the power station was all sealed but the last little bit to the lake involved some gravel and a little winding climb up a hill.  And yes, there was a lake waiting at the end of the road.

On the way back out I missed a turn (Algidus Road) that would have saved me having to go back to the power station and some of that boring old seal.  My route now was to take me over Lydon Road and onto the West Coast Road which then could take me to either Arthurs Pass or Christchurch.

Lydon Road turned out to have the odd rough patch but still was an enjoyable bit of gravel that eventually took me to, you guessed it, another lake - Lake Lyndon.

More people not having fun

My next surprise was hitting the West Coast Road only a few k's up the road from the Lake - at the lake I'd felt like I was in the middle of nowhere but nope, pretty close to civilisation after all.  Here's a bit of Lyndon road.

The West Coast Road is a favourite so I even shot a little of one f the twistier bits.

Arriving in a hot Springfield I pulled into one of the cafes for a late lunch before starting on my convoluted route to Rangiora.

The convoluted route involved turning off SH72 and riding past another past TT checkpoint at Coopers Creek, skirting Oxford and taking more back roads (some even gravel) through Glentui and Loburn.  I even ducked down into Ashley Gorge to check it out but half of Christchurch was there so I didn't stop.

One highlight of the ride into Rangiora was catching and passing an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage.  I was flying I tell ya - must have been doing all of 95k's...

It was very hot in Rangiora (30 degrees) where I picked up some duct tape to hold the mudguard together before finding my motel and parking the Tenere in the shade of its own carport!  Fantastic day again - Double Hill Run was definitely the highlight even with the whoopsie taken into account.

More pics here.

TT2000 Write-up - Day 11

Saturday's ride started off early with the topping up of the Tenere in Kurow just before 8 and then pointing her up the Hakataramea Valley.

The road started off sealed before narrowing up a little and eventually turning to some nice fast gravel.  I had the camera on for a lot of it but there was plenty of fog around to spoil the view.

Soup's up

Some braking was involved when this poked up outta the fog

Sign has made a few enemies in the past

Towards the middle of the run the road got a little tighter and there was the odd rougher spot around a few small fords - nothing too tricky.  There was also a bit of wildlife to avoid (check the video) and a gate to deal with.

Eventually the fog burned off and there were some nice views out across the giant valley.

bye-bye fog

Tenere country

Snowy peaks for Dom

And then all of a sudden (surprisingly quickly it seemed to me) Hakataramea Pass ran out and I was on the seal of Haldon Road about 30 odd km from Tekapo.  A little of action from the pass below:

In Tekapo I stopped to for some pastry wrapped road kill and grabbed a sandwich for later on in the day.  I then headed West in the hope of riding Tekapo Canal Road up the Eastern side of Lake Pukaki but when I got to the turn-off the gate was closed and looking pretty locked to me - dagnabbit!

So, I had no choice but to turn around and head back to Tekapo and then try out Lilybank Road up the Eastern side of Lake Tekapo - so many lakes, so little time...

After an itty-bitty bit of seal the road quickly went to gravel which although fairly fast was also deep in places so picking decent lines was a pretty good idea.  There were also hikers and push-bikers to avoid too.  Not sure what they were doing up there...

I carried on up the road quite some way (and past a farm gate) before finally deciding to call it quits and turn back around.  Funnily enough the road was in similar nick going the opposite direction too.  And there was the odd reason to stop too.

Cool little island in the lake

Here's a taste of what the road was like by Tenere...

Back out on the main road again, I was fantastically early with only about 80km of sealed road to take me through to my night's accommodation in Geraldine - how boring!  So as I pootled along I tried to think of some possible variations I could work into my route.  I ended up pulling over at Dog Kennel Corner and whipping the laptop out of my topbox to take a peek at Mapsource and see what I could come up with.

It was fairly hard trying to do this on the side of the road without a mouse - a map would have been a lot easier I think.  So I gave up and carried onto to Farlie where I had a quick stop before leaving my planned route and aiming for Pleasant Point out closer to the coast.

It was a lovely Saturday and there were plenty of other bikes out enjoying the day as I trundled along at a very slow cruise.  I kept my eye out for a road turning off to the left that I had noticed on the laptop and I think I even got the right one in the end.

Cleland Road took me in a Northerly direction into Totara Valley before finally taking me back to the main road at Pleasant point.  Looking at the maps now, I should have continued North a little more as there looks to be a few interesting looking roads in there that would have taken me back onto SH79 to Geraldine.

At Pleasant Point I worked out that if I wasn't careful I'd end up on SH1 (and we couldn't have that) so I turned North as soon as possible and found some other back roads (all sealed though) to get me to Geraldine.

Even with these small diversions chucked in I was still a little early at the motel so after a lap of town I parked up at a cricket pitch and watched some high school cricket while making my sandwich disappear.  I'm not a huge cricket fan but it was hard case hearing the fielding team yell "catch it" every time an opposition player got his bat anywhere near the ball - there was a local Labrador present too and he looked set to join in if he got the call-up...

And so the day ended far too early with a lazy Yamaha rider sitting in his motel room with crappy sky movies on...better planning next time!

More pics here.

TT2000 Write-up - Day 10

Wow!  Ten days on the road.  Best take it easy then...

Days ten and eleven were planned as shorter days.  This was because I was a little unsure of how tough the gravel sections were.  In the end I need not have worried as there were no difficult bits and I could have easily combined the days - oh well, now I know.

So, with only around 330km to do I was in no hurry to get going so I started off with a leisurely pootle along the Clutha River to Clyde where I stopped for some brekkie.

After filling up both belly and bike I was back on the road again and turning onto SH85 which would take me towards Ranfurly before turning off to Naseby and then onto Dansey Pass - the main objective of the day's ride.

The ride along 85 was fairly boring and it was quite windy in places - it was great when the wind was behind me but for some sections it was blowing me around a little.

After puttering through Naseby I turned off to tackle Dansey Pass.  The first sections of gravel were nice, open and fast.  I was surprised at how soon I came across the historic pub - I had figured that it would be a fair bit further in.

Not far past the pub the road began to climb it's way up the hill.  The road wasn't too bad but a lot slower now with a few more corrugations.  Even with that strong breeze blowing it was fairly hot and the Tenere also needed it's fan every now and again.  At the top of the hill we both had a wee rest and a look around.

Naturally what goes up must come down and the road down the hill was fairly similar to the one I'd come up.  There was then sections through valleys with the odd little climb and descent again before the road finally reverted to tar seal and spat me out on SH83.  A little taste of the ride below.

My destination for the night was Kurow as the ride the next day was to take me through the Hakataramea Pass.  But to add a bit more riding into the day I had discovered a gravel road up near Elephant Hill (a TT2000 checkpoint from 2015).

To begin this leg, I headed East on 82 back towards the coast.  It was quite windy along this boringly straight bit of road and I struggled not to open the taps and just eat it up a bit quickly.  Along the way there was a sign welcoming me to Waimate - Wallaby country...

Eventually I turned off and made my way on a familiar road past the TT checkpoint at Elephant Hill and then onto the gravel Clarkesfield Road.  The road started off nice and fast again but eventually it narrowed up a bit as it climbed up a hill.  At the top it was time for a stop to look around.

After the wee breather I carried on up the road (passing a very sick looking wallaby on the side of the road) and eventually rode past a farm entrance and came to a gate...Ok, so maybe it wasn't the through road that Google suggested it was...

So rather than annoy anyone I did the old 180 and started back the way I came.  But this time instead off completely retracing my steps, I followed the gravel portion Elephant Hill Road (not quite knowing where it would take me) and eventually got back onto SH82 again.  40 odd km later I was back in Kurow and arriving very early at my accommodation a little disappointed in my planning.