Headwinds

Ever since we left Auckland, headed south to Wellington, the wind has been blowing in our faces.  The forecast for today was for gale-force winds, so we decided to take the bus half way to our destination.

We thought something was amiss two days ago, when we rode from Whakatane to Rotorua.

The ride was 81 km with a Cat 3 and two Cat 4 climbs.  Eighty-one kilometers is just over 50 miles.  It should have been easily manageable.  Instead, it was a killer.

We later discovered we had head-winds of 30 km/hr...with gusts up to 45 km/hr.  On top of that, on the steepest part of the big climb...

 

...they were re-paving the road with fresh chip-seal.  Loose gravel littered several long sections of the road.  The road surface, wind, and 11% grade made the climb a painful grind.




We planned a rest-day in Rotorua...the self-proclaimed adventure sports capital of the world.  But more about that in the next blog post.  We hoped by the day after our rest day, the winds might die down a bit.  That proved wishful thinking.


As you can see, the ride went down the east shore of New Zealand's largest lake...Lake Tuapo.

The lake is 160 km in circumference...about 60% larger than Lake Washington.

From the moment we set out, the wind blew.  Forty-five km/hr sustained winds and gusts even higher.  We tried to capture how windy it was with our camera.

This is not the ocean.  This is Lake Tuapo.  It's not supposed to have any waves...much less waves big enough to surf on.










When we arrived at our hotel in Turangi, I did some internet research on how much extra effort it takes to cycle into a 45 km/hr headwind.  The answer is it takes a third more work than to ride the same path on a calm day.

Ride Name	Distance	Elevation Gain	Elevation Gain per km	Cat 4	Cat 3	Cat 2
Whakatane_Rotorua	80.92	1290	15.9	2	1	0
Tuapo_Turangi	49.47	525	10.6	2	0	0

On several occasions, we asked locals if winds like this were normal here this time of year.  They all said, no; it's much more blustery than usual.  But when asked how much longer these winds would keep up, they all said, the weather forecast calls for even stronger winds over the next few days.  We can barely contain our anticipation!

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