As soon as you get out of the mud, there’s more mud. There’s always more mud. Just gotta keep on keepin on.
Cumulative distance: 680 of 930 miles
Cumulative climbing: 34,200 of 48,500 ft
Top Hut (Omarama) to Oturehua:
30 river crossings. 2 busted tubes. 1 meat pie.
Step 1: determine if river crossing is rideable (spoiler it is not)
Step 2: dismount bike and walk through river
Step 3: have cold wet feet forever
Step 4: re-mount bike and immediately get off again because there is another river
Step 4: repeat from Step 1
The one store in the one store town did not have the tube I needed, so the shopkeeper went home to her garage and brought one back!
I was warned about meat pies in plastic, but I just needed a pie and it was their last one – the pastry was nowhere near the quality of the other pies I’ve had, but it still hit the spot!
The morning was grueling, but a couple hours tending to the bike, drying my feet and eating gave me a second wind.
Oturehua to Alexandra:
After 4 hours to go 10 miles, going 40 miles in 3 hours felt GREAT.
A really incredible rail trail with some cool tunnels and stunning terrain (also almost all downhill).
