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)...
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