Akaroa - Summit Road, Friday 18 February.







1) Summit Road

2) Summit Road just before descending to Duvauchelle




Today's ride was without luggage doing a loop along the Summit Road which follows the ridges created by the old Volcano and then down to the harbour road and back to Akaroa. With a high moving in weather was wall to wall sunshine and temperatures of 24C.

I climbed out of Akaroa for a few miles on the main road and then turned onto the aptly named Long Bay Road. This was basically a pig of a climb. The road climbed from sea level to 2136 ft in 3 miles. The average gradient for the climb was 10% compared with an average of 6% on most climbs. There were many sections with grades of between 12 and 18% with a maximum of 20%

The reward was in the magnificent views of the harbour below and I had to stop frequently to take pictures (catch my breath!)

At the top the road turns and runs north along the summit ridge with views down to the harbour and the ridge on the far side of it. The Summit Road does a half circuit of the harbour far below. The road generally keeps its height but with ups and downs of about 300ft

There were views down to small bays on the eastern side of the peninsula. At one point as the route looped round Duvauchelle Peak views opened up of the far off ranges of the Southern Alps north of Christchurch.

I took a byroad descending steeply to the bay near the village of Duvauchelle and then followed the main bay road back to Akaroa.

Only 26 miles ridden but 3950ft of climb (equal to twice the climbing on a standard 50 mile club ride back home) Average grade for the whole ride was 9%. Average speed was 8.5 mph with 3 hours riding time.