Team South - Day 4 - Tue April 17

We started on a high today at Tekapo, buoyed by our previous days and expecting a relatively easy ride down to Geraldine. The view from the start line across the lake to the mountains was spectacularly beautiful, tho a little ominous as the sky darkened and the wind rose.

Sophie Jerram, our day-rider, also lifted our spirits. She had brought some tail feathers from a hawk, which she stuck into our helmets. Apparently the tail feathers are crucial to the bird’s stability and maneuverability in flight. They seemed apt for us since our team remains locked in an intense competition with the Fiordland Fliers at the tail of the race.

We had a brilliant strategy today to wrest last place back from the ladies in the Fliers. We borrowed it from Formula One, where races are won and lost in the pit stops. We figured we would snatch Le Lanterne Rouge, as they call it in the Tour de France, from them if we stopped for half an hour for coffee at Fairlie, the midpoint of the 88km stage.

But we hadn’t figured in two factors: the weather and Sophie’s strong riding. As we climbed to the top of Burke’s pass, the clouds crowded in, the rain started and the wind howled.  Needing to work with other riders in these rough conditions, we hooked on to the back of the Peugeot Team as they came flying past, making up for lost time from a mechanical problem.

We rode with them for about an hour before they stopped short of Fairlie at a pit stop with their team car. But we pressed on, Sophie setting the pace. We covered the 44 km from Tekapo to Fairlie at an average speed of 27 k/h, an outstanding speed for us. The temperature had averaged only 9c over the two hours.

Wet and cold, we enjoyed coffee with Daryl and Hamish, two of our recent day-riders, who were driving home to Christchurch, and with Lynn, our support driver, who was on hand to dispense more clothes and rations.

Half an hour later, right on schedule, we resumed riding. We hadn’t seen a single Flier all morning. We knew they were destined to lose last place to us.

The final 46km from Fairlie to Geraldine were initially quite tough, with even stronger winds and more rain before we dropped down into the valley. The three of us kept in tight formation, slogging away at an average of 24 k/h to the finish at an average temperature of only 8c, with windchill and rain making it feel even colder.

Cock-a-hoop, we crossed the line with Sophie in the lead knowing the prize was ours. We rewarded ourselves with massages and headed off to a very good lunch.

But our euphoria was shattered at the daily 5pm race debrief and prize giving. We had failed. The Fliers were still last. How they robbed us of our victory, and how we will extact revenge tomorrow, was a subject of much discussion over dinner.