Day 18 - Manapouri to Otautau
Mar. 21st, 2007 05:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arcadiagt5It was four seasons in one day...
Well, two in an hour and going from winter rains to glorious spring afternoon.
Fjordland acts as a rain barrier - the annual rainfall halves as you cross the mountains, and halves again as you cross Lake Manapouri. Today we got a dramatic demonstration of it in action.
When we woke up in Doubtful Sound it was raining, and it kept raining all the way back to Deep Cove and back over the Wilmot Pass.
But the rain was getting lighter and eased off almost completely as we crossed back over Lake Manapouri.
It started raining lightly again as we had lunch in Manapouri and I rode off with rain jacket on. Only to ditch it 10Ks later when I was sweating harder than the rain was falling.
After that the riding was simply glorious. Beautiful scenery, mostly flat, tailwinds, only one really nasty hill that was more than worth it in the end.
Between the late start and a 4:30 deadline (because Justin had to drive us to farmstay accommodation) I was only expecting to get 50Ks in this afternoon.
Then the target became 60. And then 70.
Justin picked us up shortly after 4:30 and drove us to Riverton where the farmstays were located and I crashed early after a great homecooked meal.
The stats:
As I said, a glorious spring afternoon. Well autumn if you want to be picky, but it sure felt like spring to me. :)
Well, two in an hour and going from winter rains to glorious spring afternoon.
Fjordland acts as a rain barrier - the annual rainfall halves as you cross the mountains, and halves again as you cross Lake Manapouri. Today we got a dramatic demonstration of it in action.
When we woke up in Doubtful Sound it was raining, and it kept raining all the way back to Deep Cove and back over the Wilmot Pass.
But the rain was getting lighter and eased off almost completely as we crossed back over Lake Manapouri.
It started raining lightly again as we had lunch in Manapouri and I rode off with rain jacket on. Only to ditch it 10Ks later when I was sweating harder than the rain was falling.
After that the riding was simply glorious. Beautiful scenery, mostly flat, tailwinds, only one really nasty hill that was more than worth it in the end.
Between the late start and a 4:30 deadline (because Justin had to drive us to farmstay accommodation) I was only expecting to get 50Ks in this afternoon.
Then the target became 60. And then 70.
Justin picked us up shortly after 4:30 and drove us to Riverton where the farmstays were located and I crashed early after a great homecooked meal.
The stats:
| Tour Distance | 992.51 | Distance Today | 74.04 |
| Total Time | 59:14 | Time Today | 3:34:04 |
| Average Speed | 17.01 | Delta | +0.26 |
| Max Speed | 70.1 | Delta | +7.2 |
| Odometer | 8928 |
As I said, a glorious spring afternoon. Well autumn if you want to be picky, but it sure felt like spring to me. :)
