Day 17 – Last Day – Lessons in Risk

Day 17 – when I was doing my big push up into Milford Sounds – could have turned out extremely differently, and cost me my chance at glory because of a very very simple omission.

But it ended up in MASSIVE GLORY, beersies, a steak dinner and me sleeping with three hot young backpacker chicks 🙂

The Statistics

Today was a Big Day by every definition.

Not one was it one if my longest distance days, it was also topped off at the end by a massive 950 meter hill climb up to the Homer Tunnel. Starting off early in the morning (5:30am start), the temperature wasn’t as bad as I’ve had it some days, but dipped dramatically when I got to altitude and dropped into The Divide.

The Ride

I wasn’t planning on doing the last leg in one day: my initial thinking was that I’d cycle into one of the campgrounds within Milford Sound, and do the Homer Tunnel the following day. But, as always, Vic reckoned that if I left my stuff back in Te Anua, I was fit enough and hard enough to do the whole ride in one blast. She persuaded me to put my Big Boy pants on and tackle the whole thing in one day. Strip my bike down, leave my tent, clothes and equipment in Te Anua and take just my food, water and tools.

… (note the and tools bit – this becomes important)

I stripped my bike down, filled up my water bladder, brought breakfest and lunch from the local supermarket, and made sure I could replace a tire if one occurred. I ummed and ahhed about my allen keys and chain break tool. I figured I didn’t need those…

I couldn’t sleep at night in anticipation! This was The Big Day! The culmination of 17 days of riding, and 1500 kms! I set the alarm nice and early for 5:00, and was out the door by 5:30 on the road.

And I was having a lovely time!

Check out these views! Vic advised me to look up as I rode, because the view is truly spectacular!

And then this happens…

The gear-shifter of my bike decided to loosen and fail. I was locked into one or two gears, and I had to stop and manually change them.

All the shifter needed was a nut tightened…

… using a set of Allen Keys

… which I had left in Te Anau.

… because I’m dumb…

And thus was taught a very valuable lesson in risk: a low probability of occurrence, but a very high cost of failure = a risk that needs to be mitigated despite the low probability of occurrence.

So I toodled along for about 10 kms in this crazy, crazy place where I was either spinning way faster than I ought to have been on the flat (because I couldn’t change up gears), or I was standing in my peddles treating my bike like a stepper on the hills (because I couldn’t change down gears).

I found a mid-gear that was a compromise between too high and too low and stuck with that, until I met John from Cheeky Kiwi Travel. John had a set of Allen Keys and together, we sorted out the problem and off I went again.

If I hadn’t met John, I had a Plan A. I had phoned through to Eglinton Valley Camp and checked whether they had a set of key – which they had. My plan was to struggle the 17kms I needed to get there, and use their keys to fix my bike.

After John had sorted the bike out, I decided I’d still cycle in and see them, and thank them personally for being willing to help a stranger 🙂

By the time I’d made the extra 17kms to Eglinton, John’s repairs were starting to loosen again. Warren, from the Camp, and I again took to the shifter with the Allen Keys, and this time, Warren loaned me the two keys I needed if the problem happened again, which thankfully it didn’t.

It was still a very very very valuable lesson in risk: take ALL YOUR TOOLS even if you think you won’t need them.

ADMIRING THE VIEW

The rest of the ride was spent enjoying the view and the scenery of probably THE most stunning of New Zealand’s landscapes. Like, look at this!

As I got closer to the Homer Tunnel, the messages from Vic and my friends started coming through thick and fast whenever there was brief window of cellphone reception 🙂

Vic wanted me to get on my bike and bash out the last 100 meters of road up to the Homer – slamming it out like I owned its arse!

Alas, the Homer is having road works, so I wasn’t able to cycle directly up to it, queues of cars formed on both of its sides and were let through in a controlled manner.

But as I got to the queue, a lady on a loudspeaker called through and told me to continue up to the mouth of the tunnel.

She then confirmed that the tunnel was empty and it was completely mine to do what I wanted with!! WOOO HOOO!!!!

With no traffic to contend with, I went screaming through that tunnel like nobody’s business! Absolutely exhilaration!!

And, on the other side, there was a queue of cars formed to enter. Some of the travellers were standing outside their cars, and they applauded me as I passed!! They probably didn’t know I was finishing a 1500km cycle ride, but maybe they did! Maybe they did…

And I burst into tears 🙂

The Money Shot

And here, dear readers, is The Money Shot – the photo that takes 17 days and 1500kms to achieve:

And the scenery around me:

Here’s the high def shot.

I was quite emotional at the end, as Vic said I would be 🙂

The People – Hitting it Lucky

My day got better: after I caught a bus back to Te Anua through Tracknet Transport I went out into Te Anua, drank two beers, ate a huge Surf’n’Turf steak and when back to my dorm where I slept with these lovely ladies: Lucy, Emma and Emmy.

I apologised to them for striking out and getting to sleep with Dad (who also snores), but they were cool with it.

Lucy, Emma and Emmy had all grown up in England together. They’d just graduated and were off on their OE. Lucy, who’s the camera shy one, was heading over to Australia, starting with Brisbane, then Noosa, Sydney and Melbourne. Emma and Emmy were heading into Wanaka where they hoped they might earn some money before moving on.

They were a lovely bunch of young ladies to have met on such a wonderful day for me 🥰