An adventure on my own

Going solo on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

It’s a season for ticking off my cycling goals. First, the big ride from Picton to Bluff to finish the Tour Aotearoa. Coming up, a trip to cycle the newly-completed Kawatiri Coastal Trail and unexplored parts of the Tasman’s Great Taste Trail. And last week, I finally got to revisit the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail, achieving my goal to do a solo trip at the same time.

(The one goal I did miss was cycling Le Race to Akaroa last weekend. It's a hilly 100 kilometre road race, with several steep climbs and some fast winding descents. I had no intention of racing but there is a mountain bike category, and I figured it was a good chance to cycle the route while people were expecting bikes on the road. Ultimately though, I wasn't sure my legs were up for all that climbing after our Tour Aotearoa trip so opted for the Alps 2 Ocean instead.)

I’ve written about the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail before. It's the longest of New Zealand's Great Rides (315 kilometres at last count) and goes from Aoraki/Mount Cook in the Southern Alps to Ōamaru (by the ocean). There's an alternative starting point at Takapō/Lake Tekapo for those who don't fancy forking out for a five-minute helicopter ride over the Tasman River near Mount Cook.

Chris and I first cycled the trail in October 2022. We got blue sky days every day and there was plenty of snow on the Alps, which made for some stunning scenery. I came away keen to ride the trail again. So, when I started thinking about doing a solo trip, it didn't take long to settle on this one.

It’s a mix of grade two (easy) and grade three (intermediate) riding, with enough climbing and narrow rocky sections to make things interesting but not exhausting. Having cycled it before provided just enough familiarity for me to feel comfortable doing it on my own. Some parts are fairly remote but, being peak cycling season, I figured there would be plenty of other cyclists on the trail.

I decided to start at Tekapo again but to do it in four days instead of six. (Some of the sections are relatively short and quick to cycle.) I took my panniers with me, packing pretty much exactly what I had packed for our three weeks on the Tour Aotearoa - except this time I had to carry the first aid kit and a few tools. But I also made use of a bag transfer service, so I only had to cycle with full panniers on the last day.

Tekapo to Twizel

My first day started in Twizel. Fortunately, I was up in plenty of time to get my shuttle bus to Tekapo because I’d acquired a puncture overnight and needed to sort that out first. (The cause was easy to spot - a thumb tack pressed firmly in my front tyre - but I didn't notice it until I was about to walk out the door. And I almost made the rookie mistake of putting in a new tube before finding it.)

But I made it to the bus on time and made it to Tekapo for the start of my ride.

Unfortunately, it was a really windy day. Not just a little bit of wind, but a ferocious north-west gale that makes it difficult to walk, let alone ride. (I spotted several high-sided truck and trailer units and caravans parked up so they couldn't get blown over. And passed a couple of hikers, who were getting ready to give up and hitch a ride.)

What should have been a fairly easy ride turned into a long energy-sapping grind. The first half of the ride goes alongside the Tekapo canal, which is pretty but very exposed to the wind. Some of the road is sealed and some of it is gravel. I found I could slowly ride on the sealed sections but, on the gravel, the wind kept blowing me off course into thicker gravel - at which point I would come to a sudden halt.

I started to think I might have erred in deciding to cycle that day. I was forced to stop many times, and sometimes had to take several minutes to recover before I could get going again. (I was very thankful my Tour Aotearoa experience had prompted me to bring some caramel slice for energy ‘just in case’.) But eventually, the road turned away from the wind and, joy of joys, I even got a tail wind, zooming past the salmon farm with a smile finally on my face.

The second half of the ride - past Lake Pūkaki, through some forest, and over the flats to Twizel - was a lot better but I was tired by the end. Later, I compared heart rate data for the day with data from our 2022 trip and wasn't surprised to see I was working a whole lot harder on this ride.

Twizel to Ōmarama

Hot northwest winds in Canterbury are almost always followed by cold southwest winds and rain. So it was for this trip, with heavy rain overnight and a cool grey start for day two.

Twizel and Ōmarama are only 30 kilometres apart along the main road. But the trail takes a completely different route via Lake Ōhau.

The ride to the lake was similar to the previous day's ride (but with more manageable wind). The route follows a sealed road along the Ōhau canal, then an off-road track around the side of the lake, rejoining the road before the village. Then it's several more kilometres to the Lake Ōhau lodge, before heading on to Ōmarama.

Last time, Chris and I stopped overnight at the lodge, but it's a short easy ride so I just stopped for lunch on this trip. I found the lodge a bit underwhelming (and wouldn’t bother in good weather) but it was nice to get out of the cold.

The real work began after lunch, with an increasingly rocky hill climb for the first 11 kilometres followed by a very bumpy descent down the other side. It was slow going and I was glad to take a break by the historic (and now very derelict) Quailburn woodshed.

I didn't stop for long though. While I was lucky to get only occasional light rain, the wind was cold, and I needed to keep moving to stay warm. Fortunately, the gravel road was smooth for the rest of the way and surrounded by plenty of big back country views to enjoy.

Most nights I ate at my accommodation, but I treated myself to a meal at the Ōmarama pub. I arrived early to get ahead of three big cycle groups booked into the restaurant. I’d booked a table too and was glad I did, because the public bar was packed and lots of locals were getting turned away from the restaurant. Cycle business is good business, but I do wonder if communities will start to resent not being able to get a seat at their own pub.

Ōmarama to Kurow

By day three, all the wind and rain and clouds had disappeared. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for cycling.

I made sure I was on the trail before the big groups left Ōmarama - only to find a couple of them getting dropped off 13 kilometres down the road at Sailor's Cutting, a popular camping spot that marks the start of one of the most spectacular parts of the trail. But it didn't really matter. I enjoyed a quiet ride along Lake Benmore on the bits they missed, and then played leapfrog with them until the Benmore Dam.

The trail is narrow and rocky for this section and climbs up above the lake for some great mountain and water views. The Lake Dunstan Trail (further south in Central Otago) gets a lot of attention but I think this part of the Alps 2 Ocean is just as good. The trail then winds back downhill to the Benmore Dam, with views out towards the small town of Ōtematata.

Last time, Chris and I carried on over the dam and on to Kurow from here (largely to avoid having to go down - and then back up - the hill to Ōtematata). But I had never visited Ōtematata before and was keen to find my own space away from the groups. The trail winds past Loch Laird on its way to the township. Trees in the beginning of their autumn colours made for a pretty ride, and a scenic lunch break.

Then it was back up to the hill to cross the dam (running into another big group of cyclists) and down the other side to follow the long road around Lake Aviemore. It's easy scenic riding and takes you to Aviemore Dam, which you cross, before following an off-road track next to Lake Waitaki, past the Waitaki Dam and along the Waitaki River to Kurow.

This was easily the best day of my trip, and the longest, at just under 90 kilometres. The weather was great, the views were awesome, and I loved the cycling.

Kurow to Ōamaru

The final day was a good day too. I left Kurow at sunrise so I could get to Ōamaru in time for early afternoon transport back to Christchurch.

The section between Kurow and Duntroon is straight and boring (apart from a nice wetland area at the Duntroon end) so I raced through that. But after Duntroon, the trail heads back uphill, and there are fantastic views over the valleys and farmland for the rest of the way to Ōamaru.

It's limestone country and the trail passes by the distinctive Elephant Rocks. The trail is mostly off-road but there are some shared gravel roads too (great for fast ridge-top cycling) and even an old railway tunnel. Then it's mostly downhill, into the back streets of Ōamaru, through the public gardens and to the end point at Friendly Bay by the Pacific Ocean.

So that was that. My first solo trip. Despite a couple of dodgy weather days, it went well, and I am really pleased I did it.

I didn't have any major epiphanies while I was away. (This was no Eat, Pray, Love trip.) But I did gain extra confidence that I can cycle independently and deal calmly with any little challenges that come up (last minute puncture repair, bad weather) as well as the more mundane tasks of finding food, keeping on top of laundry and taking a loo break with no-one to keep an eye on my bike!