Day 9 – Over the Crown Range to Wānaka
Today’s ride took us from Arrowtown to Wānaka , crossing the famous Crown Range Road . Distance-wise it wasn’t a huge day — 56 km with about 726 metres of climbing — but the reputation of the road had been playing on our minds for a while. We’ve heard plenty of stories about the Crown Range, and very few of them were encouraging. So we made a sensible decision. We hired a Sherpa . Our Sherpa came in the form of Wanaka Bike Transfers , who kindly carried our bags up the mountain. It was the right call. We would have got up there eventually with full loads, but there might have been tears and possibly a hissy fit along the way — and we certainly wouldn’t have been in good shape at the top. The climb itself is impressive. It starts with about half a dozen switchbacks at 10–12% , which felt very Alpe d’Huez–like , although we were climbing at a slightly more modest 5 km/h rather than the 20 km/h the professionals manage . S...