The jewel: crossing the Crown Range…

Distance: 71.6km Ride Time: 6:37 hours.

Wanaka is on the shores of a lake, and there is only one way out, and that is up. So my legs got another early wakeup call this morning. The weather looked a little doubtful as I set off – a few dark clouds loomed ahead, and the wind had started to pick up. Once over the first climb the route turned south along the broad and beautiful Cardrona Valley. Before long a shower began to fall, and I wore my rain jacket briefly, before the sky cleared and the sun returned.

The road rose almost imperceptibly until after 25 kms, I reached the Cardrona Hotel. I stopped to admire the historic building, and enjoy a bowl of soup and a cappuccino before continuing.

By now the valley was narrowing dramatically, and the first climbing began. The road wound its way along the valley floor, crossing the Cardrona River many times. Still the going wasn’t too difficult, but I had been warned that the real climbing only started after the “unnamed” bridge.

And how true this advice was – after crossing the bridge, and with only around 3 km expected before reaching the pass, suddenly I was struggling on a 10% grade, and looking ahead I could see the climb becoming unrelenting steeper. It was too much for my legs, and when the grade hit 15% I could ride no further, and walked for some distance, until approaching the pass the grade eased a little and I could remount to finish the climb.

After a brief photo stop on the pass, I began the descent, and soon encountered a rider participating in the Tour of Southland cycle race. The finish was a little further down the climb, but he had continued to warm down his legs. He joined me on the decent, and we chatted about the race as we went down.

At the road closure, there was a long line of traffic banked up, but we rode down to the front of the queue and were allowed to continue through the closure. A little further down the road the stage had just finished, and there was a scramble of bikes, riders, crew and vehicles, even helicopters. I crossed the finish line and inquired about the awarding of the KOM jersey, as I was the only rider to actually cross the pass, and I got a sympathetic laugh but no jersey.

The race ambulance was just leaving, and I enjoyed a fast descent chasing it down the remaining series of switchbacks to the valley floor. It was probably the fastest I’ve ever descended on a loaded touring bike, but it was a lot of fun and at least first aid was at hand if anything went wrong.

At the valley floor there was only around 12 kms to go to Queenstown, but by now the wind had picked up and changed direction, so again the last few kms were the hardest. Eventually I reached the town centre and visited the iSite looking for somewhere nearby to stay.

Like tourist towns everywhere, nothing in Queenstown is cheap. I settled on a studio at the holiday park, but it’s by far the most expensive accommodation I have used on this tour. Never mind, the next two days will be freedom camping.