City slicker to easy rider
Urbandweller Chris Foley leaves the bigsmoketo bravethe‘rugged’backcountryof thesouthisland to cycle theotagocentral Rail Trail.
Ifelt a certain dread as my flight from Auckland winged its way over the Remarkables, with Queenstown Airport in view in the distance. It had nothing to do with fear of flying, or the notoriously tricky landing at Queenstown. I was more concerned with what awaited me on my three-day trip to Central Otago.
As a desperately unfit city type, it was the thought of having to pedal across some of this spectacular, rugged landscape that was causing such anxiety. Would I break down halfway up a dirt track with cramp or incessant wheezing? Would I have to be rescued by my hosts?
A reassuring briefing from Dave Thomson at the Central Cycle Trail Co (CCT), in the historic village of Clyde, calmed the nerves.
After regaling me with stories of grey couples ‘‘falling in love with ebikes and charging over Mt Pisa’’ after hiring one from the company he has run for 20 years with his wife Pip, I was shown the ropes on a Focus Sam2 (retailing for a cool $10,000).
‘‘Push this button for Eco, this for Trail, this for Boost. But you probably only need Trail,’’ he quipped before letting me loose on the river trail out of Clyde for a taster run.
Fortunately, I had someone to hold my hand, metaphorically speaking, on the winding 12km run along the Clutha River to Alexandra.
Aucklander Brendon Urlich has a holiday home in Cromwell, so he knows the terrain well.
We weaved and dipped along the track, the power and sturdiness of the Focus making the process effortless. Past patient fly fishermen waded deep into bright blue waters, past the curious landmark that is Clutha Cricket Club, a garden gnome-sized tribute to the great game, and past two teenage boys diving into the blue, shrugging off our concerns that they might catch pneumonia.
After a first flirtation up a hill with Boost that almost ended with me crashed in a sorry heap, we rode through Alexandra and on to the Otago Central Rail Trail, a flat run past industrial units and vineyards back to Clyde.
This took us across the rickety Muttontown Viaduct – a painful experience if you’re not wearing padded cycling shorts – and on to the official start of the Otago Central Rail Trail just outside Clyde.
We returned to Cromwell for the night, but by more comfortable four-wheel-drive means. Part of the bespoke service for the Central Cycle Trail Co are transfers along the way, Thomson picked us up from Queenstown Airport to take us on the 50-minute drive to Clyde. After the river track run, Urlich took me from Clyde to his, er, bach – The Stone Temple in Cromwell, a Presbyterian church