The Race That Wasn't A Race That Was A Race

So that bad-ass chick I wrote about last time, Katie, well, she really is a bad ass. I found some of her race results online (after figuring out her last name) and man, she is one hell of an athlete. She seems to have either won or finished in the top 10 of her age division for just about every race she entered, whether it be a marathon or a pretty tough-sounding triathlon, for instance. Just to give you an idea of how fast she is: She has run a 3:15 marathon. The funny thing is, she told me I am what Canadians call a "sandbagger," but she's the sandbagger. I'm not the one who underestimates his ability, she is...

Yeah, so I ended up riding the same route Katie took, rather than the shorter route I could have taken, because the longer route was supposed to be much more scenic. Indeed it was. It was also a lot more demanding than I expected, but the ride was just about perfect. The sun was shining, there was very little wind, there were some fast flats mixed in with grinding hills, and the views of the coast were fantastic.

As expected, Katie took off early. She said she was going to leave at around 7:30 and when I looked for her bike at 7:33 it was gone. I initially left at 8:23, but, after cycling nearly 4 kms, I realized that I had left my two water bottles back at the backpackers (that's what the Kiwis call a youth hostel), so I had to ride back to get them. That little detour cost me 30 minutes, but I was happy that I noticed my bottles were missing before I was too far down the road. (It was actually a bit chilly out, for the second morning in a row, but, for the second day in a row, I knew the clouds would burn off eventually and the weather would turn spectacular.)

Two hours and 50 kms later (I made good time because the road primarily went ever so slightly downhill), at a place, or rather intersection, called Inangahua, I pulled off the road to make a pit stop at what looked like the only market in "town." As soon as I walked in, I asked about Katie and, sure enough, the guy working there told me that she had stopped in at around 9:30, bought a bag of lollies, and headed right back out. According to him, she was "on a mission."

I had a great little chat with the guy about the 140 km "race" to Punakaiki (her destination, not mine) that she and I were having that really wasn't a race... But it was. Or was it?

From that point on, there were only 90 kms to go, so, after doing the math, I figured the chances of me seeing Katie on the road were slim to none.

I rode on fast, nonetheless, because the road was wide open and favorable to fast riding, but after about an hour, I felt my left knee aching, so I decided to slow down. After all, I wasn't racing. Or was I?

Anyway, two hours later, I had covered a total of 100 km, so I knew I was getting close to the imaginary goal line. I also knew that there was no way I'd beat Katie there, considering her roughly 90-minute head start. Sure, she was carrying quite a bit of weight, but, based on the fact that she supposedly covered the first 50 kms in the same amount of time I did, I figured she'd still ride the rest of the way at about 20-22 km/h (whereas I was hoping to average more like 24 km/h), which meant she'd certainly finish before me.

Anyway, the last 40 kms turned out to be much more difficult that the first 100, because there were lots and lots (and lots!) of short, twisty climbs. As the climbs kept coming, I kept downgrading Katie's arrival time from 1:00 to 1:30 to 2:00 to even 2:30, but I was still expecting to arrive a few minutes before 3:00, so I just didn't imagine seeing her on the road. I kind of felt sorry for her, carrying all that weight on those climbs, but she knew what she was getting herself into. She can only blame herself for carrying a jar of honey with her, for instance...

I had no idea at which of the two hostels in Punakaiki Katie was staying, and it turns out I passed hers by 2 km, but I eventually found her and used the opportunity to buy some food, rest, and talk about the "race."

Apparently, to my surprise, I nearly caught her!

I'm guessing that by the time I called her hostel from the wrong one to ask if she was there, a good 15-20 minutes had passed, and, when I asked the lady on the other end of the line how long Katie had been there, instead of saying, "About an hour," she said, "She just got here a few minutes ago. She's really fast!"

Wow.

Sure enough, when I finally met Katie, about 10 minutes after I called, she said she had been there for about 40 minutes... Ugh...

But we weren't racing, so who really cares?

Unfortunately for me, however, my day wasn't over.

There was not going to be any food around until I reached Greymouth, some 45 kms down the road, so I made sure to get something to eat before I hit the road. For instance, I bought two $2 muffins and "stole" a slice of bread from the loaf that was just sitting there in the common room at the "wrong" hostel (which was right on the beach!), and I bought an ice cream at the visitor's center just down the road from there (after pedaling super slowly alongside Katie, who walked part of the way there with me from her hostel).

I figured that would be enough to hold me over, so off I went, at 14:15.

Two hours later, I arrived in Greymouth, and the first place I went was, you guessed it, Macca's.

I ordered a medium fries to get back some of the salt I had lost while riding (sweating) and made good use of the free Internet, especially to notify the family I was planning to stay with that I was nearly there. Of course, they didn't get the message, but that didn't matter. They welcomed me in, anyway.

So that's where I am now, about 8 kms south of Greymouth and then another 7 kms west.

I'm just chilling, not doing much, but at least I have a chance to catch up with this blog a bit, among other things.

I'm also trying to figure out my next move, since one friend of mine, a Dutch guy, is cycling toward me from the south, while two other friends, former students of mine from Japan, are arriving in Christchurch in exactly one week.

The tentative plan is to wait for Teun ("Toon") to arrive and then cycle with him over Arthur's Pass to Christchurch (a.k.a. CHCH). The problem with that idea is that we'd arrive in CHCH on 3/1, but my two buddies are leaving for Lake Tekapo that same day.

Yeah, so if we can arrive in CHCH on 2/28, I could then ditch my bike somewhere and travel with the two Japanese guys by bus for about 10 days, which would be pretty fun...

There are plenty of other options, as well...

Anyway, more soon.

I also hope to finally start adding pictures to the blog, perhaps tomorrow!

Meeting More Peeps

I'm now in Murchison. When I arrived at my hostel, The Lazy Cow, I was told there was another cyclist from San Francisco here. Katie is actually from Canada, but she's really cool. She's quite an athlete, despite the fact that she claims to not be a good cyclist. She says she's a much better swimmer and an even better runner. We're heading in the same direction tomorrow, so we'll probably ride together, part of the way at least. I'll probably give her a one-hour head start, but I think she underestimates her abilities. Granted, she is carrying quite a bit of weight, especially compared to me, but it only took her about one hour longer to get here from Nelson than it took me, and that route includes two substantial climbs. That tells me that she's a lot better on two wheels than she claims to be... After 50 km, I can actually take an exit stage left, since my destination is Greymouth and hers is Punakaiki, but if I follow her route, I'll only have to ride an extra 25 km and I'll be rewarded with fabulous coastal scenery...

I think I got stung by a bee today while riding, on my right eyebrow. There's little to no damage, however, so I'm sure I'll be OK. I just know that something flew into the gap between the bottom of my helmet and the top of my shades, got stuck, and stung or bit me. That's a first four me while cycling...

Great weather still, which makes for great cycling...

Tomorrow's ride should be mostly downhill from what I understand. I guess that means I should have a relatively high average speed. Today, including stops for food and to take pictures, for instance, I averaged about 22.5 km/h for the roughly 125 km. (I left Nelson at 09:20 and arrived in Murchison at just after 14:50.) Today's two climbs were nice, but I was disappointed that the second was so short (only about 2.5 km)...

Nelson

I rode the 110 km from Picton to Nelson yesterday. The first 35 km were pretty easy and I had some good company for most of it, as I rode alongside my French mate Sebastian, who I met in Picton. Seb and I were staying at the same hostel (or rather “backpackers, " as they tend to be called here), and, after chatting for a while, we realized that we had both worked at the same blueberry farm in Kerikeri. Small world, huh?

Seb is one of those super adventurous types who has decided to cycle around New Zealand even though he's not much of a cyclist and even though he's never undertaken such a journey. He is without a doubt carrying way too much stuff, including a laptop, a road atlas, and a book of some sort, to name a bit, but his amazingly relaxed attitude makes up for his weight disadvantage. Nothing seems to phase the guy and he's in no hurry to get anywhere. He's just about the epitome of carpe diem and I hope to learn from him. I consider myself to be a pretty laid-back person, but Seb puts me to shame. We're not staying at the same place here in Nelson, but we have met up a couple times already (once by chance) and might go hiking together in Abel Tasman National Park tomorrow. After that, we'll part ways, but maybe we'll meet again in France or somewhere else.

The rest of the ride here was much tougher after I took off from Havelock by myself (I can ride about 10 km/hr faster than Seb), since there was a lot more traffic to worry about and because about 30 km from Nelson there was a substantial climb to overcome.

Once here I decided I'd almost definitely stay for at least two nights rather than one, and now I think I will actually be here a third night. Today I'm just relaxing (farmer's market, Queen's Gardens, hiking, beach?), and tomorrow I plan to go by bus and water taxi to Abel Tasman.

I'm not so wild about paying to be transported to and in the park, but it's a much better option than doing a time-consuming bike ride to the park (it's about 50-60 km one way) and paying to stay at a hostel near the park entrance. I'm going for the day trip option, though, rather than, say, camping for two or three nights, since I just don't have the proper gear for a longer stay.

Besides, I only have about one month left in NZ, and there's a lot more of the country that I want to see, so I think it's better to not stay in any one place for too long.

With that thought in mind, I sometimes think I shouldn't have spent so much time up north, but there's no sense fretting about that.

Indeed, the only way for me to see a lot more of what this beautiful country has to offer is to stay here for much more than the three months I'm limited to at any one go, so I either have to figure out how to get a longer visa or come back some other time. That's simply one of the dilemmas you often encounter while traveling...

By the way, I finally had my right pinky X-rayed (from when I had my little accident back on January 12 and it turns out that my finger really is broken (there are at least two tiny cracks), which would explain why my pinky is still swollen. I'm hoping that in another two weeks the digit will look more normal, but the doc said I might have to live with a (slightly) fat finger. This is not the first time I've broken a finger (I've broken three others), but this is the first time I've broken a finger and was convinced that it was just badly sprained... That shows you what I know.

Heading South

Maccas is the best place for free Wi-Fi in New Zealand, in case you are wondering. And they have music playing via monitors playing videos. It's definitely a cool place to chill. Trust me.

This afternoon, just after boarding the ferry to the South Island, this guy said, “It's one of the roughest crossings in the world." So why did the sign say the seas were calm? Because they were. Not rough at all. I didn't trust him. But I was happy when he helped me to secure my bike in the belly of the giant ship. In Japan, on the ferries Jody and I took, the ship staff took very good care of our bikes, which came as no surprise (The Japanese are so friendly!), but here, well, we were left to fend for ourselves.

I met a pretty big group of cyclists at the ferry terminal today. They are going to be riding the same way I am, from Picton to Greymouth, but a bit slower, and then from Greymouth to Queenstown, whereas I plan to stop in Greymouth for about a week. I won't join them on their ride to Nelson tomorrow, since I want to stay here for a day, but I might ride from Murchison to Greymouth with them, assuming I can catch them by then, which is quite possible. I will be riding faster than them, but the advantage of riding with them would obviously be their company. I guess whether or not I cycle with them at all depends on if I do all or part of the Queen Charlotte walk here in Picton, since hiking the entire 71-km track could take 3-4 days...

I'm traveling extremely light again, although I think I might have a bit more weight on the bike this time. The biggest decision I had to make, once I finally made up my mind to bring my bike, was whether or not to bring a sweatshirt. I elected not to, since it would add a lot of weight to my bag. If it gets cold, which I think will be the case, I'll just have to layer.

This crossing takes about three hours and is really beautiful. I'm falling asleep, though... I'm past the halfway point of my trip to New Zealand, so perhaps I have spent too much time up north. I am planning to extend my stay by two weeks, however, if possible, which would give me more time down south.

Down south, I plan to ride to Greymouth, stay there with a family for about a week, and then cycle all the way to the bottom of the island, via Arthur's Pass to Christchurch and then down the east coast...

A Dutch guy I know will coincidentally be cycling from Invercargill (near the bottom of the island) all the way up to Picton at the =j time as I'll be cycling in the opposite direction, but maybe he'll ride to Christchurch with me...

For $7 NZD extra, I can get WiFi for this ferry ride. Unfortunately, there's no McDonald's on board.

I'm still really tired. I want to take a nap, but I don't want to miss the views...

I can already see the South Island, because it actually juts past Wellington on the west side, but before we arrive at the mainland, we have to sail through several sounds...

Are You Sure?

People don't know what they're taking about.

At least two people who I talked to said the bus to Kerikeri is small (true), but they also said that the bus will have a trailer for my bike (not true). The trailer is actually for everyone's luggage, whereas my bike went in the "boot." I'm just happy that my bike is on the bus and I'm hoping my bike survives the ride unscathed.

Mike, the manager of the hostel that I slept at last night (who was one of the two who told me about the trailer), told me it's about 100 km to Kerikeri, which it is, but he then said, "I suppose that would take you about a day." I think it would take me about 4 hours if I rode that without stopping, since I rode 83 km of the same route two days ago and averaged 27 km/hour. Normally, however, I would ride a max of about 50 km before stopping, but that time I just felt like getting to Kaitaia (which is 8 km south of Awanui and therefore not along my actual route) as fast as possible, since there wasn't much of anything to see or do along the way...

A lot of single-lane bridges... Not sure what's up with that. Surely they can build the roads in those parts so that they have two lanes...

John, who owns(?) the hostel I stayed at two nights ago, told me (when I talked to him on the phone prior to cycling up) that the road leading to the place was gravel (true), but he also said, "The first two kilometers are gravel, the next two kilometers are sealed, and the last two kilometres are gravel again." Dude, with the exception of about two sections of about 300 meters each, the whole thing is a bloody unsealed mess and is 6 kms, not 5. John also said something like, "It's really not that bad. Most of the gravel is gone because there's been so much traffic riding over it." Fat chance. Like I said, it was bloody awful. Funny how, the next day when I told him how bad it was, he changed his story: Yeah, it's usually not that bad at this time of year, but lately it's gotten quite bad..."

Guide books suck... There's so much non-touristy stuff out there, you know?

People ask me if I was prepared for all the hills, as if New Zealand is the only place in the world with hilly roads... I guess most people just want flats, so they don't have to make any effort. I actually enjoy the climbing, unless it's just endless, big climbs. Most of what there is here is just short ups, perhaps 500-1000 meters. In Japan, where I started riding, there are plenty of climbs that are a good 5-10 kilometers. Now that's climbing!

The truth about NZ

My lips are pretty damn chapped, even though I'm using chap stick several times a day. Maybe I need a better brand?

When I was still in Auckland, one guy told me to take a train through the suburbs to get up north. Thanks, but no thanks. I told him that was cheating. He is probably related to the guy who tried to talk me out of doing this ride in the first place...

I keep hearing stories from the locals about how bad this area is. High unemployment, gangs, and lots of drug use? Everything you don't hear in the travel guides. Makes me wonder...

One reason I had second thoughts about this ride was that just about everyone I talked to tells me that the drivers here are the worst in the world. Hmmm.

And to think that in some strange way I've actually enjoyed riding on the busy roads more than I've enjoyed riding on the side roads. I guess I feel like I'm going faster or something. Or maybe I like the company? That's probably it.

And on the rare occasions when I do go really fast (50+ km/hr), I feel a bit like a bad-ass cycling next to the cars. I know that is pretty ridiculous and bordering on naive, but I really did have such thoughts on occasion...

People are always telling me to watch out for the big trucks. My response: "Actually, they have to watch out for me. I can't do anything about them..."

Speaking of trucks: One time yesterday, while I was riding here, a truck passed me in the opposite direction and gave me the biggest blast of full-on, frontal whoop-ass that a truck has ever given me. Luckily, nothing happened to me, besides the fact that I got a bit shaken up (not stirred). That was intense.

I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment(s) so far on this ride, but now that I've experienced RAAM, I'm quite aware that what I'm doing pales greatly in comparison. The riders who finish that race make me seem like a wimp... But everyone has their own riding style...

The weather looks iffy for the next week or so, so it's good that I'm staying here. I think.

Funny thing... I did not plan to stop anywhere for more than one night on the loop. In other words, I have almost no clothes. One set. That's it. At least here I picked up some work clothes (that are anything but fashionable). Yeah, so I have to wash my one pair of underwear every night in the shower. Fun, fun. But they dry super fast. They are the best: ex officio.

Google it.

Talk to you later!