Day 16 - Milford Experience 8 - Milford Sound to Te Anau

[arcadiagt5]

End of the cruise, lots of downhills, and a fast century ride.

After breakfast the boat returned to Milford where we drove to the Chasm River for a brief walk and then to the top of the Homer Tunnel. This was followed by a long, fast, fun descent that led to a turnoff into the Hollyford Valley to continue the descent on gravel. Fortunately the gravel was hard packed with relatively few loose rocks so the ride wasn't too bad. A pretty ride through beech forests, well worth doing.

And I didn't have to ride back up the gravel either as we drove from there to the Divide. From there Ingelise and Rosco started the walk to the Key Summit whilst I had a quick lunch and started riding towards Te Anau. I wasn't really interested in the walk and today was probably my best chance on the tour to clock up 100Km in a day so I grabbed it.

The ride to Te Anau from the Divide is essentially riding down a valley with a tailwind, ie perfect conditions. There was some rain but not enough to worry about and the scenery was excellent - Beech forests again leading to valley views and eventually Lake Te Anau.

In the meantime Ingelise had opted not to ride again today so Rosco drove her straight to Te Anau before returning to support me. He caught me at about 90Km and I finished the century although I was tiring badly at the end. After dinner I basically fell over. :)

And here are the usual stats (I think this is the first time I've done a century in under 5 hours):

Day	Max	Ave	Distance	Time	BJ Rank	Against
16	69.4	21.2	100.39	4:43:39	770	4860
		Totals	781.04	42:39:51

Tomorrow we're staying in Te Anau but will be riding in the area in the morning.