After collecting our bikes from the tree’s we were lucky enough to see the rain ease just enough for us to regroup and head off on our first leg of the day to Ianthe. Whilst our first 45km were through the beautiful countryside of NZ’s West Coast, all our riders were seeing were rear wheels, with water pistol like streams to the face, and like kids playing in the backyard this went for hours.
Quick stop at Lake Ianthe to refuel and dry off before setting off on our next 40km, which saw our riders tackle our first decent climb, Mt Hercules. The group quickly chewed this up some might say conquered (Ian and Steve) to a well earned lunch stop at the famous Old Whataroa school house.
As we set off to the Franz Joseph Glacier we met our arch nemesis once again “The Wind” however in a turn of events we were blessed with a tailwind that got us through to our tourist stop at the glacier.
Now the peloton had to dig deep and, as per Tim’s advice, save their meal tickets for the final triple threat, being the final 1,000m of climbing standing in between our riders and the final destination and home for the night being Fox Glacier.
On the speedy decent, we were all reflecting and strangely had the same thought that the day was reminiscent of old Captain Planet episode; Earth – representing the 138km ridden, wind – being the gail force gusts, water being the relentless rain and whilst we didn’t encounter fire in its physical form we all hold the fire in our hearts riding for the two amazing charities we are doing this for – AEIOU and Traction.
Photos from the day: CLICK HERE
Daily Video Highlights: CLICK HERE
