Canvastown to Wakefield

After a old school cooked breakfast of scrambld eggs, bacon, sausages and baked beans we headed away from the Canvastown "Trout" Hotel making our way along the busy State High Way to the Pelorus Bridge where we were meeting up with Wayne (a this year new friend of mine) - Wayne is a keen local biker from Nelson and is happy to say yes to "want to come for a ride invite" from me. Even when he knows it involves the infamous Maungatapu Saddle. It worked out really well as Ruth is still carrying her injury from last week and was not keen on having to push her bike up hills. Ruth was able to take Waynes van and her bike over to Nelson so it all worked out very well indeed.

After coffee at the Pelorus Bridge Cafe it was on to the bikes for the ride up the gravel road to the start of the track and right from the get go we had a 7 km 652 meter hill ride (push) up (and down). It started out not too bad however eventually the gradient and very rough and rocky surface made it impossible to ride and so push we had to had 

We a stop at "Murderer's Rock where five goldminers were murdered back in 1864 by a gang of five. One of the gang took the get out of jail free card and turned crown witness for his immunity while the other four went to the gallows!

A quick stop at the summit was cut short because of the cool breeze blowing over it but we find a loveky sheltered lunch spot just down the 22-24% gradient on the other side. There was probably as much walking the bike down these steep gradients goinf downhill as there was with the walking up.

I don't mind riding my bike uphill and putting in the effort to get to the when you are rewarded with a great downhill so it seems really unfair to put in a lot effort for no reward! And to think Wayne volunteered to come rid ethis with us - mind you he does hold the 40 - 50 year age group record for the Pelorus to Nelson race that used to be held.

Eventually after losing a lot of elevation we were on a gravel road we could ride and this took us down the Maitai Valley right in to Nelson and then it was on to the River Trail right through to the River Cafe where Ruth was waiting.

After a quick Muffin and cup of tea I was off to vist Ian Chapman in the Kensington Rest Home in Stoke. Ian is a friend from my Prostate Cancer Foudation involvement and now finds himself in care, It was lovely to catch up with Ian even with the social distancing that we practiced. It was good to see Sue, Ian's wife there as well as Sue had organised her daily visit to Ian for the afternoon today so that she could help Ian out to the entrance for our catch up. Ian and I had ridden the Marlborugh "Grape Ride" together a few years back and by coincidence he was wearing one of his Biking Tee shirts and was interested to hear how my ride was going. He would love to be out there once again on his bike I am sure.

By chance as I was hoping on my bike after lunch I noticed that a small hole was appearing in my rear tyre and after 4,000 km both the rear and the front were beginning to wear thin. Both Wayne and Ian had sggested I call in to "Village Cycles" in Richmond so that's where I headed to get a couple of new tyres. They were very helpful and knowing I was on a fixed schedule got the new tyres on there and then.

The time spent in the shop meant I was quite getting back on the trail for the 16 km ride in to Wakefield so it was about 6:00 PM by the time I made it to the Wakfield Hotel our accommodation for the night.

We had dinner this evening with six other TA'rs being riders we have been crossing paths with over the last few days. Like I said earlier - people that ride bikes in events like this are all Good People.