Wednesday 2nd March - 8pm
Well today was supposed to be an easy 54 mile ride along a flat coastal road from Oamaru to Timaru and I expected it to take about 4 hours at the most. How wrong can you be !
As I set off from the motel this morning the manager said “Watch that wind it’s going to be really gusty along the A1 today “ Gusty was an understatement and unfortunately the gusts were coming right at me all day almost head on from the north west. They were lovely warm winds but incredibly strong and on two occasions stopped me dead in my tracks, literally ! It became quite scary when the winds came from my side and blew me into the road and on many occasions I struggled to keep the bike pointed in the right direction.
Half way through the day I spotted the Studholme Hotel my Uncle and I stayed on the way down. The manager Sam had been great and had offered me a free room on the way up north if it fitted in with my plans so as it had not beed quite that convenient I thought I would drop in for a beer and a burger. As I turned into the road it was on a gust of wind actually took me from almost standing still to over 14 mph without me even peddling, That’s how strong the cross winds were today.
After a long leisurely and free lunch ( Sam is a star ) I mounted the old steed again and set off into the wind once more which had not let up one bit. It has actually taken me 6.1/4 hours to cycle what should have taken me 4 hours as my average speed was 10mph which is really slow. Instead of 54 miles the distance has been 62 as where I am staying is well north of Timaru towards Point Pleasant.
I am staying with my friend Jeannie’s parents Stuart and Dale. The house is really lovely and set in 50 acres. The living room is the size of a tennis court and the views are fabulous as you look straight out at a long mountain range in the distance. I am now sat with a beer and feeling pretty happy with my progress to date. I have a few niggles with my left hip and achilles tendon but hopefully a bit of rest will sort that. I think I may just do a quick 30 miler tomorrow afternoon rather than rest all day so I don’t have 100 miles to do the following day to Christchurch. If the winds are like they were today there is no way on earth I would make it. The forecast is actually wind and rain for the next few days so it’s not ideal.
Thursday 3rd March – 7pm
Rather than leave myself a 100 mile ride to Christchurch tomorrow in those headwinds I decided to forego my rest day and break the back of the journey so giving me a couple of easy days. After a good sleep and a long lie in I had a good chat with Stuart and Dale and Stuart took me for a look around the farm. They breed “Trotters” ( Not Dell Boys and Rodney’s ) which are race horses that you race sitting in a little light chariot behind the horse. They actually bread one of the best Trotters ever a few years back that won loads of races and there are pictures of his achievements around the house. I helped Stuart saw up a large pine tree that had been blown over an irrigation ditch in yesterday’s winds and took a few pictures before heading off at around 1pm. The aim was to get to Ashburton some 40 miles away leaving around 55 miles for tomorrow. After 7 miles the pain in my left Achilles tendon was too much and I stopped in a small town called Tenuka for a coffee and to decide what to do. Miraculously there was a Physiotherapists surgery 20 yards away so I popped in on the off chance. The receptionist was great and on hearing my plight she sorted me an appointment 10 minutes later.
The Physio “Colin” was a Scottish guy and he took a look at my left Achilles and my left Quad and diagnosed the problem. I could not recount it to you now but basically the muscles in my left calf and Quad had seized up and knotted and these in turn were straining the achilles causing the pain.
He then inflicted ten times the pain I was having on the larger muscles in order to stretch them out and release the tightness. He called it deep tissue massage. Frankly I call it bloody torture!! A grown man nearly wept today. You could hear my cries in Christchurch.
Anyway, after paying the very reasonable bill and thanking Colin and the receptionist for fitting me in I jumped back on the bike and peddled to Ashburton stopping only for a quick lunch. The wind has been a lot calmer today so I’ve averaged 13 mph. The road has been flat and straight all day with views of the mountains to my left and views of the sea to my right. I listened to Adel’s albums all afternoon and have felt really good and pretty fit considering I haven’t had a day off yet.
On arrival in Ashburton at 6pm I saw a motel in the same chain as the one I stayed at in Oamaru called the Bella Vista Motel. It is identical in every way to the last one and there was a feeling of deja- vu as I wheeled into the car-park. The Managers Heather and Evan Glass informed me that there were no rooms to be had in the whole of Ashburton due to the earthquake but when they saw my face fall they kindly offered me their spare room in their own accommodation for free. How amazingly generous is that ? I just can’t get over how friendly and generous Kiwi’s are. They put us Brits to shame. When people see and hear what I am doing many of them want to stop and have a yarn and offer advice and support. Everyone has been so generous it has been quite humbling really. I can’t thank everyone enough. If I was doing this back home I would probably just get kids throwing stones at me !
Anyway, I now lie on my double bed having had a lovely hot shower and you folks in the UK will be getting up to go to work about now. Wilmslow NPT will be just arriving at work to find handovers for prisoners in the bin and doing their best to get out of dealing ! ha ha. I am gonna head out for a beer as I only have a short 50 miler tomorrow to stay at a distant relatives place. It will be strange to be back at the scene of such devastation again. They are predicting another earthquake on or around the 21st March. I hope it doesn’t come to fruition.
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