BAC New Zealand - 2015
February 14 - Nelson to Murchison
I seem to be the last one to start the ride each day. I can't finish my morning routine in time. This is typical of me on previous rides. I don't mind riding alone. Sometimes I prefer it. The Nelson to Murchison ride was no exception.
The ride out of town had no tricky turns and I was following the route perfectly. After a couple of kms, a local cyclist caught up to me and asked where I was going. When I told him, he said to follow him. He led me onto the cycle path which bypassed the busy highway. We rode along it for several kms until we met my original route. He turned off shortly and went his own way. It was nice talking to him and we didn't have to struggle with our accents to understand each other. He had just started riding again after having cancer and being treated with chemotherapy. His goal is to start racing in some local races once he has reached proper conditioning. I hope that he got a better workout after he left me because I was not able to push him much.
So I was on my ride, a truly grueling experience. It was very long with a couple of hard climbs. Even though I had a couple of cafe stops, I limped into Murchison Motel very tired and sore.
Murchison is a very small town. It has a junction in the middle with buildings a half block in each direction. One of these buildings was the Rivers Cafe where we had dinner. Most of our group was there, primarily because it was the only restaurant in town. The riders who were not there were fixing their own meals in the motel. The cafe is a re-designed gas station. Inside, the seating area has natural wood furniture. We sat at a long table with several others. Ann had an Asian lamb salad while I had pasta with chicken in a cream sauce. The food was surprisingly good. It's good that I was going to ride the next day to work off the fat and calories.
Because we had no internet, we went to bed early.