Monday, March 8, 2010

Day 7 Hokitika to Westport ..138km

.There was no place for Monday-itis in the bunch for day 7.
We got underway at 7:50am from Hokitika. The weather was cloudy and still with just a hint of moisture in the air. It was a flat run over the 35 km to Greymouth with an average speed of 30.4 km/h.
Just before Greymouth we passed the Kumara Junction and crossed our first combination car/train single lane bridge. The rail tracks on the bridge could be disastorous for bike tyres, but we all navigated the hazard with no problems.
From Greymouth we crossed the Grey River and headed towards our scheduled coffee stop at Punakaiki (pancake rocks) 80 km from our start. I don't know if it was the tail wind, or thoughts of coffeeee but on the straights before Punakaiki we were sitting on high 30 speeds.
Those who hadn't seen the rocks before did an extra ride around the scenic walkway at Punakaiki.
After our stop the cloud cover started to burn off and things started to heat up.
There were several short climbs before the run into Westport which was our fastest finish yet! Our overall average for today was 29.4 km/h.
Pagey's stats for the day 10 road kills and 3 one lane bridges.
The post ride lunch today was baked beans on toast with melted cheese and fried eggs. Good riding energy food but I'm a bit worried bout the side effects!
Total k's for the last 7 days is 840!!!
Tomorrow is 158 km from sea level at Westport to St Arnaud at 700 metres.
It is my last day tomorrow as I fly back from Nelson Wednesday for my daughters school camp Thursday/Friday cycling (of course) on Waiheke. A big THANKS to Steve Ange and the guys for the experience of a lifetime!

The King Richard award for today, decided by a very secret ballot goes to Geoff, for dropping a complete muesli bar from his back pocket and not retrieving it. The offending bar was picked up by Tod and returned to its rightful owner. A second incident involved riding his bike into the motel room in order to get the best bed.

Thanks for the support from the Buller Bridge Motel in assisting us in our quest and raising funds for the North Shore Hospice.

Brian (AKA Dave)

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