Lakes and surprises

Today we have covered our biggest distance! Climbed the highest hills! We've been strong and courageous! We did lots and lots of good things and we felt positively great doing them!

After yesterday's restful day (the glacier hike was tough, but on different parts of our legs), we took the road with a sense of dread. The day was quite daunting, first the mountains to cross from glacier to glacier, two very steep hills of 300 mts altitude each and then a long, long stretch of undulating landscape until in km 70 we'd have to climb yet another major hill... Mount Hercules (Dun, dun, dun!). 300 meters of steep climb after an already long day, just what we like to do.

Well, we attacked the challenge with the aggressiveness of a hungry Rottweiler and before we knew it, we were in Franz Josef Glacier, past the first set of hills and enjoying immensely the beautiful light and the landscape. Today we've had sunny weather and mild temperatures, as well as a very weak tailwind, so the ride has been enjoyable all the way.

We did not expect to like the landscape after Franz Josef, on the map it looks quite bland and flattish. Well, it has turned out to go by some beautiful lakes and to have the greenest most lush forest parts we've yet seen. Also, a thing we did not expect is that, as the land flattened, the road took some distance from the mountains so that we could see them with perspective. This country is amazing, it is always as beautiful as it can physically be and yet, the next corner is even better. I am loving the place, all the way.
Anyway, to make a boring tale of happy moments short, we got to the center of Hari Hari at around 3 pm in very good spirits and very happy after having had the most enjoyable ride yet. We've covered 457 kms in our quest and there are no Nazgul to be seen anywhere. Maybe we're faster than their horses...
To be honest, I think one of the most important factors to today's success has been an unexpected bonus I got in Fox Glacier. I fixed my SPD cleat! I found an mechanics car repair shop in the old style, all grease and broken car parts everywhere and talked to the very kind and nice mechanician, explaining him my problem and lack of a dealer of Japanese specialized bike components for shoes in the whole west coast. He barely nodded, opened a cabinet and produced a standard screw that he then proceeded to cut and shape so that it would fit perfectly my cleat. With this awesome piece of real hardware in my now customized shoe, I have been able to pedal better and my knee is already saying thank you for the attention. I feel much more confident now for the crazy, crazy climb up Arthur's Pass that is coming soon. My knee will be ready, I think!