A DAY OF TWO HALVES

Tuesday 3rd March 2009

Day 3: Cob Cottage to Blenheim

Well the Doc Ranger told us it was only 100km to Blenheim - HE WAS WRONG!
The day started well - nice rolling down- dulating riding. (just as riding should be)
When we reached our 1st biggish hill climb we were greeted by some real life cowboys (Molesworth musterers) on horses & lots of dogs in tow... I found this extremely exciting given my love for anything cowboy!
After 50km into the ride & alot of up & down hills we had 20kms left before we hit sealed road, & as luck would have it we were lucky enough to come around a corner to find that the last 2okm of road had just been laid with fresh shingle! You have to be joking!
The going was very slow & very hard especially on the up hills & extremely dangerous on the downs...
The single was freshly graded & had not yet been packed down by cars so our wheel were sinking into it.
At the 70km point of the journey & an extremely long hill climb we finally reached sealed road - ahhhhhh ... what a treat!
The day was getting late & we were both starting to feel very tired by this stage but we though the turn off for Taylor's pass must be close so we headed down the lovely flat road passing rows & rows of newly develop vineyards.
Now 89km into the ride & there were the 1st tears of the trip (day3 - Not bad?) The tears were from me (not Scott in case you were wondering?) , they were tears of exhaustion & hunger - my world was closing in very black all around me!
We finally reached Taylor's Pass Road (95km) to fins the sign post telling us it was another 26km to Blenheim (26km on a loaded mtn bike is actually quite a long way when you are exhausted!)
We decided we were both to knackered to carry on as we were unaware of just how bigger pass Taylor's pass was so we decided to turn back & ride the 4km back to a reserve we had passed earlier & called the reserve home for the night.
Dinner was Rice Risotto tonight & we only just had enough gas in the cooker to cook tea - no hot drinks tonight! It was touch & go there for a while!

RIDE TIME: 5:45 hours
DISTANCE: 99km
AVERAGE SPEED:17.1km/ hours
TOTAL TIME FROM A TO B: 8.15
TOTAL ASCENT: 1145mtrs