How to Break a Bike

Text taken from the club newsletter.

HOW TO BREAK A BIKE

Cycling through Molesworth and Rainbow by HANS WISKERKE

Some weekend trampers will recognize the pattern of looking forward to a good workout in the hills, and once the first climbs are done and the body feels hungry and a bit sweaty, the thoughts drift off to nice food, a good cuppa and a warm shower as a treat after the weekend. Things are quite similar for the typical long- distance cyclist, but when you’re cycling and camping for a few weeks, that shower is the one thing you’re missing most and doesn’t fit in your panniers. Back in ‘93 some cyclists put their heads together which resulted (after some detours) in 2005 in the website www. warmshowers.org. This site aims to link smelly cyclists to friendly hosts with a warm shower (or even a spare bed, tent site, etc.) using an interactive map, discussion forums and message service.

Supportive of the idea Mika and I signed up as hosts and have received some interesting visitors over the last few years, some touring within NZ while others were pushing the pedals all the way from Poland or France. Listening to their great stories it became apparent there must be a reason why these cyclists chose to come to NZ, so January 2012 I set out to spend a few weeks on the bike in the South Island. The road through Molesworth and Rainbow Stations was high on the bucket list, as this is only open for a few months each year. Alas Mika wanted(?) to work in Wellington so without the possibility to share the camping gear, a heavy bike rolled downhill to the ferry.

Keen to test the receiving side of the Warm Showers hospitality I had mailed two addresses in Blenheim and received two invitations, and ended up with a cheerful family where trampoline jumping with the kids was essential before the tacos were served. The local bike shop sold me a good-looking pannier to clamp onto the handlebar to improve weight distribution, and with sufficient food for two long days I continued over Taylor Pass towards the Awatere Valley.

Heading up the valley the smooth sealed road became rough, vineyards gave way to uncultivated slopes and the hilly sections became more frequent. The views were stunning, even more so when the green glow of the long grass contrasted with a purple and blue sky, but less so when this resulted in a downpour obscuring the views. More like a cold shower! The day’s destination being the DOC campsite at the entry gate to Molesworth Station I had expected some basic facilities and put up my tent in the drizzle. Once finished a friendly lady from a nearby campervan came over with a steaming mug of tea and some gingernuts—service extraordinaire!

Next morning the skies were dry and allowed some exploration around the campsite, including a lovely original cob cottage. Back on the bike the short climb to Wards Pass proved to be too stressful for the new pannier bracket—two bits of plastic had broken off making the intelligent clip-on system useless. Not wanting to return to Blenheim the problem was fixed with some lateral thinking and a sturdy strap. Then time for the great downhill into the wide Acheron valley—woohoo!

The road dropped down to follow the Acheron up to where it merges with the Clarence, followed by a flattish stretch to the foot of Jollies Pass. Actually really nice cycling—generally downhill, hardly any traffic and beautiful scenery (just try to look past the omnipresent power pylons). White gentians and blue borage cover provide some colourful accents to the tussock and the grey hills. Due to the lack of warm showers along this stretch of road I had planned to push on till Hanmer Springs. Although steep, Jollies Pass didn’t require the push-bike to be pushed and once over the crest a steep and rutted 4WD road led straight into Hanmer. Some good advice—do your shopping on arrival as the shops close quite a bit earlier than in Welly.

With two days of serious cycling under my belt the idea of a rest day was appealing, so under a cloudy sky I headed to the springs, only to find out they’d open at 10 am. Nothing wrong with a nice morning walk around the village, so two hours later I paid a few dollars to undergo a slow-cooking experience. Quite enjoyable at the start, but I decided against the lobster-scenario and got out alive with still many hours of daylight to go. While the clouds where disappearing I carefully looked at the altitude profile on the map and decided to pull out the pegs and leave Hanmer Springs. Today’s destination would be Lake Tennyson which involved crossing Jack’s Pass back to the Clarence and then another two hours up to the lake.

Let’s say getting up Jack’s Pass in a pre-boiled state with the January afternoon sun on your helmet wasn’t the easiest part of the trip, but it was nice to be away from the holiday village atmosphere. Once down the pass and cycling towards the lake, it appeared the road map was not sufficiently detailed to show all the little corrugations on the gravel road. Pretty uncomfortable and quite hard work, but eventually the turn-off to the St James MTB track appeared, followed by the side road leading to Lake Tennyson. That’s really a stunning place to pitch a tent—feels like cycling through alpine meadows to some remote pristine lake. Well, it actually is! Another great meal of instant noodles, fruit and chocolate helped to digest the day, which ended with the sun dropping behind the distant hills beyond the lake.

Heading north the road goes up to Island Saddle (about 1,350 m) so again a good climb but not too steep. Standing on the pedals every now and then the chain touched the front derailleur—probably hit by one of many rocks over the last few days? Before morning tea the bike made its way to the top of the saddle and some lovely downhill stretches brought me down to Coldwater Creek. Great cycling here—probably only two cars in the first three hours on the road so the main focus is avoiding the cattle. A downhill bike is likely their main event of the day, so they react with bulging eyes, unpredictable jumps or just plainly sprinting across the road.

As the road ahead zigzagged up another saddle before reaching the Rainbow Valley I decided in favour of a pre-lunch. Certainly I didn’t want to carry too much food back into civilisation. Another good climb, but subsequently the downhills started to take over. One essential stop at Rainbow Station gate to pay a gold coin and have a chat with the gatekeeper. Apparently quite a few days since a pushbike came through, as many people put the MTB on the 4WD to do the St James cycleway or whizz straight to Hanmer’s tracks. For the very keen ones there is however the yearly Rainbow Rage event, but that’s probably the only day per year it get’s busy with bikes on the road.

North of the gate the road gets smoother and eventually turns to tar seal, still meandering through the beech forests. This is where those black-and-yellow fellows live—not the Phoenix! One of those wasps ended up in a ventilation slot in my helmet—a short sharp sting made clear what the wasp thought of our encounter. Being sensitive to wasp stings this meant a few hours later a guy with an asymmetric face checked in at the St Arnaud’s backpackers, receiving concerned looks from the other guests. Pop a few pills (anti-histamines in this case), lie down and hope for the better. At least a warm shower and an opportunity to wash some clothing.

ABOVE: Upper Awatere Valley

ABOVE: Lake Tennyson

For the next day I’d arranged to ride to a Warm Shower (note the capitals) in the Nelson area which meant no more gravel roads. That was rather fortunate considering I had only one functional eye, the other still being blocked by significant swelling. With a few hundred metres to drop from St Arnaud to the coast it was a smooth ride, only interrupted by the occasional second breakfast, pre-lunch, and ice cream stop. Approaching Nelson a bit earlier than expected I decided to detour over Upper Moutere, avoiding the busy SH6. Going gently uphill I pushed the pedals a bit harder, heard a sudden bang and saw the bike giving way under me. Total surprise, mixed with fear of what might have happened if it had broken earlier, left me immobilised for a few moments, but eventually I concluded timing and location could have been much worse.

When informing my hosts for the night I was having some trouble to reach them, they even came around to collect the two half-bikes, the panniers and myself. Again great Kiwi hospitality (should I omit they were Dutchies?). Swapping stories with my hosts it turned out they even had a unicyclist staying who was touring NZ, together with some ‘traditional’ cyclists to carry the gear. A look at the remains of my bike confirmed the seat position would not be correct for uni-cycling so I abandoned that option. Better get reorganized and carry on at a later date (in the end the bike manufacturer provided a new frame free of charge).

The good news is that Mika and I are moving to Nelson late 2012 so I may just pick up the ride where I had to abandon in January. For those interested there will be an additional Warm Showers address in Nelson— you’re welcome even if not on a bike!