Palmerston North to Wellington Classic

Well, some of it!

Sunday 19th November 2000

by Jason Kelly

The morning dawned overcast with little wind in Palmerston North. Weather forecasts promised gale force southerlies, cool temperatures and showers for the 130km journey to Lower Hutt via the Paekakaeriki Hill . They were not wrong. About 7.10am, it started to pour with rain and the wind began to increase.

At about 8.10am, a good sized field of riders, including a solid contingent of Ramblers members, departed from Palmerston North escorted by the police. It was a mere 10°C less a biting wind but at least it had stopped raining, even though the sky remained black and threatening.

As we progressed south, the wind began to pick up and we passed through some early showers. Sitting near the back of the bunch, I was largely protected from the wind. Even though the initial pace was fairly tame, it was still a shock to hear that one rider held a one minute lead after just 11 minutes of riding!

After about 30km, the course turned left into a solid headwind. At this point, the tail end of the bunch quickly fell apart. Although I was moving up the bunch, riders in front of me flagged the chase to re-join the main bunch and once I had ridden around them, I was stranded off the back of the main bunch. The pace of the main bunch was not too fast so I began to chase. Two other riders joined me and we made slow progress. After about 16km of chasing into wind, the gap had hardly narrowed. As I hit the front of the chasing three in our rotation at this point, the gap suddenly started to narrow. Picking up the pace, we got agonisingly close to the main bunch before one of the three took his rotation to the front and dropped the pace. At the same time, the main bunch accelerated and the gap widened. Before I realised what was happening, it was again too late - the bunch was gone.

Almost immediately afterwards, we encountered a small climb and I simply rode away from my two fellow chasers. With the bunch now long gone, I looked around and could only see riders being picked up in cars. As the wind blew ever stronger, I knew the 80km left to Lower Hutt was going to be a long ride.

Over the next few kilometres, I just cruised along. Out of no where, one rider joined me and then another. Again we had three of us to ride against the wind. Carrying on, every time the road veered slightly from the wind direction, it felt like a tailwind and we picked up the pace. After being escorted through one set of traffic lights at about the 84km mark, the police escort was not seen again.

Nearing Wellington, the sky cleared and the sun shone. The temperature crawled up to around 12°C less a cold wind chill. We struggled along through Paraparaumu into an extremely strong and gusty wind. The wind was so strong that our pace fell to as little as 13km/h. Taking turns at the front and seeking shelter was dangerous - wind gusts would hit the front rider and bring them to an almost virtual standstill while the riders behind had to try and hold a relatively straight line without hitting the other riders.

At the 101km mark, it was a relief to veer left up the 4km long Paekakaeriki Hill. We decided that we would meet at the top of the hill. Spinning up the hill, I climbed at about a 20 minute Te Mata Peak pace and the other two riders quickly fell behind and out of sight. Part way up the hill, I was engulfed in a thermal which gave me an all too brief strong tail wind push. Nearing the top of the hill, I looked back and could not see the other two riders anywhere in sight and so decided to carry on by myself.

Riding down the hill brought no relief from the wind. I found myself pedalling down the hill, on a similar gradient to that of Te Mata Peak, and my speedo read a mere 19km/h. It was still going to be a long way to go! Given the great pace, I though the other two riders must surely catch me.

Pushing on, I was making up the course from memory as there were no course markings and no marshals. After a couple more climbs and stopping at several sets of red traffic lights for a few minutes, no riders had caught me. I carried on until I saw the Lower Hutt sign and then took the first bridge as the race finished at the Kennedy Good Bridge. Lower Hutt obviously has no budget for bridge signs - none were named. However, this bridge was not the race finish! Following the river, I went to the next bridge. Nothing. I carried on into the headwind and the road started to go away from the river. After stopping, a passing motorist told me the Kennedy Good Bridge was the first bridge I would come to. Turning around, I finally had a tail wind and sat on over 40km/h with little effort. The first bridge back was not marked and was not the finish. The second bridge back was not marked but ultimately turned out to be the finish - across the bridge and into an unmarked and now virtually abandoned car park.

The result was that I completed the 130km race distance in about 4 hours 40 minute and then had a good tour of Lower Hutt for extra training to prepare for Taupo and, unlike other riders, I got the benefit of a good solid tail wind. Even after my extra tour, I was still not the last actual finisher. And who knows, there may still be some other riders out there now .............................................