Intrepid cyclist on the Central Otago Rail Trail

Intrepid cyclist, originally uploaded by Racmol.

I was a bit scared of the Central Otago Rail Trail, to be honest. I'm the sort of cyclist who has been known to fall off her bike on a completely flat stretch of road, or even getting out of the driveway at home.

My main worry was that I would brake the wrong way, skid and end up in a pile of gravel with scraped knees and elbows. But it was actually fine - a gentle gradient all the way, as you would expect given that it was once a train line.

Having said that, biking across the viaducts with the wind buffeting you was a bit freaky. And the pitch black inside the tunnels also. But having had a taste, I'm definitely keen to do the whole thing.

A selection of photos from our NZ holiday is now up on flickr. Just click on the lovely image of me in neon (above) to get through to all our photos.