All riders were so pleased that we pushed on yesterday and added maybe another 20 km;s to that days riding - Because today it was cold and there was steady rain. This meant our dry, hard packed, fast trail of yesterday along with a great backwind had become a wet soggy, sludgy track of today. This felt like it may have taken 5 kph off our cruising speed. Fortunately it was predominantely downhill with only 80 metres of elevation to ascend. After about an hour we arrived at Hyde to the sight of the van and Ian. Here I was able to put another merino layer on and change my gloves - yes, even a seasoned Kiwi rider does not always get the clothing side of things right. Another plus of having Ian accompany us on the ride - it really is quite a luxury.
This ride would be described as "Supported" in that we have a van, a good friend driving it for us and we have accommodation booked ahead which is quite different to an "Un-supported Bike Packing" ride that I'm more used to. Along with this I have six other riding buddies which also introduces another aspect and means that there is never a dull moment as someone is taking the mickey out of another member of the group.
Today it was Elio who was on the receiving end of the ANZAC humour especially when we were travelling over Dansey's Pass. Although a skier and used to ski mountain roads the Dansey's Pass Road was one Road Too Far for Elio. IN fact he was later searching the most dangerous roads in the world as he was sure it would have to listed. For the first time in the Aussies living memory they actually found Elio short of words other than something he mentioned about having a very tight sphincter for most of that section.
On the Pass we encountered a mob of about 2,000 Ewes and Lambs and when asking the farmer did he want us to hang back his answer was "how much time do you have"?! So for the next five km's John did a magnificent job of navigating our way through the mob until we met another random inexperienced farmer on the road in front of us in a 4x4 who tooted his horn then spun his wheels and a short while later stoppped! Why we don't know, Of course this meant John had to stop but then once stopped we couldn't get going again and began slipping to the left. All passengers followed Elio out of the van and we gently pushed which was enough to get John moving and as he couldn't stop it left us walking to the summit. What fun we are having.
Perhaps as much fun as the German cycle tourist who we had earlier met all kitted up in his wet weather gear riding over the Pass by himself. We had a brief chat with him, shared our apricots and greengages which he appreciated,
We are now settled in to the Heritage Hotel at Omarama for the night.
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