Queenstown to Wanaka

Queenstown to Wanaka- The Crown Saddle

Last night after giving a summary of the choices for today’s ride; Adrian suggested we all try the BIG climb and those who couldn’t make it could get a lift up with the van. It can take 3 bikes and riders so we figured we could manage. All the riders agreed some with reservation but all were in.

I managed to get some missing parts for my camera holder mount for the front of the bike before the ride. I figured that I would need it today and it sure came in handy. It allows me to take pictures as I ride without fumbling with the camera. All the shots posted today are taken with the camera mounted on the bike.

We set off at 9:30, a rather civilized time –not like the Sea to Sea- but it was cool. The early part of the ride was to be the easy part but turned out to have a lot of short but fairly steep hills in it. Then we came upon a detour, the start of which is shown on the first picture, and a very steep hill. Several riders walked a good part of it. This new route added 3-4 km to our trip. By the time we reached Arrowtown- a former gold mining town now restored so the tourist will have another place to spend their money-everyone was ready for a coffee or break. Many of the people we talked to in this town knew or had been on the HILL and so were telling us more about it and encouraging us. We toured down Main Street (2nd photo) after that and set out for the hill.

As we approached the HILL we could see cars snaking their way to the top. Well not really the top, let’s say until they went out of sight. Turing off of the main highway we saw signs –not recommended for cars with trailers, no heavy trucks-good in one way but another testament to how serious a hill this is. The Crown Saddle rises more than 600m above the valley in 3 stages over an 11km distance; 3km steep, 5 steady but not steep and then a final steepest section of 3.5 km to the top.

The front changer on the tandem was working fairly well and it was a good thing, we started at 3 gears from my lowest and switched between this bottom 3 depending on the grade. The sun was out; visibility was excellent as you can see from the pictures and there was very little wind. John, mountain man from Calgary led the way up. Riders were stretched out so we really couldn’t see anyone. Ton (nearly 72 years old), who thought that maybe he wasn’t in good enough shape made it all the way without stopping. Bernie thought that he had stripped his rear ratchet mechanism ended up taking a ride to the top then it seemed OK again so got a ride back down and then rode up on his own. He and John were up in about an hour; Rita and I didn’t stop either and took about 1hr 8 min. All the other took breaks as they came up. Only one rider took the van other than Bernie. So it was a great effort by all and a great confidence builder.

The route down is not as steep but is straighter so it would allow more speed, BUT there was a wind howling up the canyon of 40-50 km/hr. This means that the bike and rider are experiencing about a 100km/hr wind if doing 50km/hr going down. I had the drag brake on fairly strongly (this is a hub brake on the tandem which can be adjusted to a given setting and stays there). We hit 60kph on the first steep downhill, but after the road leveled out somewhat the bike seemed to slow down even when I released the drag brake. I was not in my highest gear and working pretty hard trying to maintain 40kph. I finally stopped to check that this brake was not stuck on. Finding it OK I finally realized that it was the strong wind doing it even on this fairly steep hill. All the riders experienced this disappointment in not being able to go as fast as the road would allow because of the wind. I explained to Rita afterward that this is supposed to be the reward after climbing a hill, the thrill of coming down.

In this case there was another reward in the form of a nice hotel/pub 15 km down the hill where we had agreed to meet up again. All the riders who came in while we waited were beaming. Dora, who doesn’t like downhill riding, was especially happy that she had made it all the way up and down without walking (although she did take a few breaks). The downhill on this side is 40 km of pretty much all downhill but the wind did not let up so it was work to maintain 30-35kph. The remaining 25km was very nice and all the riders rode in a straight line too.

Margaret and her assistants went to town looking to buy dishes/cutlery/pots and such since the kitchen here didn’t have any of these. The dinner minute was changed to accommodate the last minute surprises and we all had a great meal with enough to eat.

Everyone agreed that we had a great day coming over the highest pass in New Zealand, the Crown Saddle