I was looking forward to getting this last section of off road over with. I like off road tracks but not so much on a fully rigid bike with relatively skinny tires.
Steve and I set off together but he stopped for photos and I ended up catching up to John R. The route to Big River Hut was beautiful but hard work. Not for the first time I regretted not having lower gearing. There was a lot of loose cobbly rocks and short little rocky ramps but it was pretty much all rideable.
Crossing Big River was no problem today. After rain it can be tricky/dangerous and the Army had flown in wood for a bridge to make it an all weather bike track, but the bridge was not yet built. TA riders had raised $50k towards this and improving the track to Waiuta but I'm skeptical about track improvements. I've walked the Waiuta track before and knew it would need a fleet of Bobcats and a million dollars to make it rideable for me on my bike. Doing little bits doesn’t make any difference, and doing lots of work changes the nature of the track. And I'm quite happy to walk sections such as this; which is what I mostly did to be safe. I definately was envious of John on his full suspension rig, and Steve on his fat tyre hardtail.
John on the Big River track.
At Big River Hut.
Steve had caught and passed me, periodically waiting for me to catch up. John had also gone ahead but right before Waiuta I came across him after he had crashed. He was more annoyed than anything and was fine except it looked like he was having Hannibal Lector over for dinner and forearm was on the menu. As the end of the track was just around the bend we stopped there, where Steve was also waiting, and I broke out the first aid kit. I told John that I would ask him what the date was to check his mental faculties but I didn't know what it was myself. He immediately replied it was Wednesday the 14th March which proved he was more with it after a crash than what I was when in 'full health’.
1st Aid, Waiuta. (don't worry we tidied up all our rubbish before we left)
We stopped for lunch at Ikamatua. John was happy to ride the rest of the way to Greymouth at his own pace. Steve and I went on ahead and completely missed the Pike River memorial, which I was planning at stopping at. Also my right quad was becoming worryingly painful.
In Greymouth I finally bought some new socks to replace the ones that ran away in Tapawera. We stocked up on food and checked in to the Top 10 campground. As Steph was one of the owners she had organised free camping for all TA riders. Bonus! Sean and John C arrived shortly after and we all went down the road for a pub dinner. John C had had a similar quad problem to mine and gave me some good advice on how to treat it.
The Greymouth Bar.
Later that evening John R texted to thank Steve and me for patching him up and said he'd spent 2 hours in the hospital getting his arm cleaned and stitched up. He would be able to continue on which was good news.
Once I got back to my tent sleep didn't come easy as there were some people in town for stock car races staying here and drinking and shouting their opinions at each other. And of course when you're drunk your opinions don't amount to much “Bob's an idiot”, “Bob!”, “Idiot!”, “BOB!!” “EEDIOTT!!!”, “I luv you Bob”, “IDIOT!” etc etc.
