Taking advantage of the glorious morning sunshine, I cycled to Methven and back for a look. The village calls itself "Mount Hutt Village", thus aligning itself with the popular ski field of Mt Hutt which is close by. The township does have an alpine feel with many houses built in an A-Frame shape and more than a couple of motels advertising Spa Baths and sporting names such as "Ski Time Methven Restaurant and Accommodation" and "Snow Den Lodge" to name but two. There is no bike path or trail from Rakaia Gorge to Methven Village, so the ride of 18km each way is undertaken on the road. Not so bad because the traffic is light and the roads offer wide shoulders. The gorge is spanned by the unique Rakaia Gorge Bridge. The 55-metre single-span bridge, constructed by Oamaru’s W. H. Barnes, features a timber deck and handrail atop its wrought iron plate girder and truss. This unconventional truss has no bottom chord and its ties fan out from the gorge’s edge carrying the load forces to the bridge’s anchors. The Rakaia Gorge Bridge also has significance as one of the oldest wrought iron bridges in New Zealand. It is a steep climb out of the gorge and then an easy up and down to the village. I stopped off at "Big Al's Bike Shop" as I wanted to fit some handlebar extensions to my Specialised Rockhopper. The staff were awesome, taking time to chat with me, source a pair online and then order them in. Highly recommended if you ever happen to be in the area and need a bike fix. And then, well there isn't much to do in Methven (unless you want to stew in the overly priced tourist hot pools) and so I took an early beer in The Brown Pub. Clouds had gathered and as I reached the long downhill back onto the road bridge the heavens opened. My anticipated 70 kmph downhill b3came 20 kmph on the brakes in the wet. Still, it was a nice ride and I'd achieved my goal of obtaining some handlebar extenders.