Day 12 - Milford Experience 4 - Ohau to Wanaka

[arcadiagt5]

I can too climb hills!

 There were a number of options for the trip from Lake Ohau to Wanaka but when I heard there was a pass to ride over I voted for that one. I haven't completed a pass climb yet and I wanted the opportunity without too much time pressure.

Ingelise and I both voted against the option that involved gravel. :)

So we started by riding from the lodge to the junction with the main road. A pleasant ride of about 23Km through a valley with a couple of smallish hills, some lake views, and mountains in the distance. You know, the sort of splendid morning I've been having recently.

After that we drove to about the base of the Lindis Pass to start the climb. From this direction the Lindis Pass is about a 700m climb over 12Km with some good scenery along the way. It wasn't as hard as I was expecting - most of the time I was at the bottom of the cluster but still on the middle ring in front. In fact I think I made the climb in a little over an hour which was at least half an hour faster than I was expecting. So I'm quite pleased by that especially as I was climbing into a headwind (not a strong one but still there).

And then the descent which was pure fun although the rough chipseal and headwind did dent my speeds somewhat. I'm guessing the surface is intended to deal with chains on tyres in the winter but it was still hard and bumpy riding on the small wheels of the trike.

At the bottom of the descent Rosco picked us up and drove to lunch at Tarras. After lunch there was some pleasant back country riding towards Wanaka but I was fading fairly quickly and called it at the junction with the main road just before the last hill.

And here are the stats:

Day	Max	Ave	Distance	Time	BJ Rank	Against
12	66.1	17.7	72.75	4:05:52	842	4746
		Totals	595.27	33:04:05

Oh, and the Clearbrook in Wanaka has to be some of the best accommodation I've ever seen for adventure tours. A spa bath, a washing machine, and a dryer in every room. :)

Note: descents are all the sweeter when you've earned them. :)