It’s been 3 days since we left Greymouth. We left the west coast on the train taking us through Arthur’s pass to Christchurch. There is one last trail I want to ride, the Alp 2 Ocean trail. Christchurch may be a nice city, but with 10 days left on our trip, I chose to get to Lake Tekapo as fast as possible, that means a lot of road riding, 280 km of hilly sealed road.
Long day on the road.
First stop out of the train is Lincoln, a charming university town with too many food and coffee options for our needs. I was really happy to enjoy a night in a real room with my own shower 🙂. Great breakfast/bakery option for breakfast and as always, a very good latte. The road is mainly flat or a false flat going to Geraldine, strong head wind, but a good ride. It’s awesome to find great coffee shops in the smallest towns along the way. We didn’t get lost that day, except when Google sent us on a dead end street, but that wasn’t my fault!
Kelsey digging into the free cheese samples!
Geraldine is this great little town, with an awesome cheese store (they let us taste every one of them 🙂) as well as a jam and a chocolate store, bakeries and coffee shops. With all the sampling, we left a lot later then planned!
Hill ride to Lake Tekapo.
Going to Lake Tekapo wasn’t a piece of cake! 1,150m of climbing on a 90km ride with a constant headwind and some wind gusts that pushed me off the road. It was an awesome day! I may be insane, but a road ride on flat terrain would be boring, so it was an awesome day! The views were amazing throughout the day.
Lake Tekapo.
Now, time for a glass of wine (or 2) to accompany the dehydrated soup and local cheese we picked up in Geraldine.
Anne-Marie is the owner of Liv Vancouver, the first female focused bicycle boutique of its kind in Canada. An avid cyclist & bike packer, she has ridden down the coast from Vancouver to San Francisco twice, among other exciting two-wheeled expeditions. She is now on a bicycle tour through New Zealand with her daughter Frederique & colleague Kelsey. Visit Anne-Marie’s personal blog here.