Adventures in Retrospect

Distance: 57 km Elevation gain: 1,029 metres From the town of Arapuni to the town of Mangakino About 4.5hrs riding time, and 5.5hrs elapsed from 8:00am to 1:30pm  I said my goodbyes to Karleen (host) and Carol (another guest) at the Airbnb in Arapuni.  It was very comfortable and relaxed sharing Karleen's house.  But another day in the saddle beckoned.   I expected a tough day because of the elevation gain but the distance was less (55km) than previous days (80+km). The first 36km leg was on bitumen and gravel roads following the Arapuni Trail (part of the Waikato River Trail network).   Mostly climbing for 30km and then having a 6km downhill run.  The climbing was easier today than I remember in the days before Auckland - maybe I'm getting bike-fit at last.  A friendly magpie even gave me a warning shot at the top of the final hill to get me going, and the last 6km was fast, downhill on bitumen.  Probably too fast.  All up this first leg took about 2 hours including breaks. Th...

Distance: 79 km Elevation gain: 455 metres From the town of Te Aroha to the town of Arapuni About 4.5hrs riding time, and 6hrs elapsed from 7:00am to 1:00pm I said my goodbyes to the nuns and was on the Hauraki Rail Trail early, heading towards Matamata.  For the last time I'll mention that the Hauraki Rail Trail is awesome.  It's flat (although getting a bit hilly now), and off the road away from cars.  Today's trail to Matamata was mostly bitumen and fast flowing.  There was lovely green farmland, with the imposing Kaimai Ranges on my left as I cycled south.  I was glad not to be cycling over those mountains. The first leg today was 38km to Matamata, home of the hobbits!  Photo control point 7 was at Hobbiton HQ at Matamata i-SITE tourist centre in the centre of Matamata.   I went to Hobbiton last time I was in the NZ and enjoyed a beer at The Green Dragon Inn, and then a second breakfast at The Millhouse.  That was a good feed!  Today, for my second breakfast, I settled ...

Distance: 86 km Elevation gain: 125 metres From Miranda Springs to Te Aroha About 4.5hrs riding time, and 6hrs elapsed from 7:00am to 1:00pm A few wins late yesterday worth mentioning in today's blog: Win 1: There was a food truck on site selling hamburgers at dinner time.  I was set to crack out my camp food and rustle up some noodles and tin chicken. But when I heard about the food truck it was a no brainer.  Cheeseburger and fries hit the spot - especially when I didn't need to cook. Win 2: I had one of the best night's sleep after spending a good 30 minutes in the hot mineral springs just before bed.  I drifted off to sleep around 8.30 and woke at 5am.  I'd pre-packed so there was not too much to do in the morning.  Breakfast consisted of 2 bananas washed down with an iced coffee.  These had been purchased earlier the day before because there is nothing at the Miranda Springs except the caravan park. Back to today...I continued along the Hauraki Rail Trail.  Did I m...

Distance: 86 km Elevation gain: 780 metres From Auckland city to Miranda Springs (in the Firth of Thames) About 4.5hrs riding time, and 7hrs elapsed from 7:30am to 2:30pm Includes a ferry trip. Up early this morning after a productive rest day.  I resupplied my cycling gels, had my bike serviced, got cash out and generally relaxed with a bit of walking around Mt Eden.  Not a lot of sight-seeing though. I got rolling early and today's first leg was navigating the busy Auckland city streets from Mt Eden to the ferry terminal downtown.  Easier said than done.  There are old cyclists, there are bold cyclists, but not too many old and bold cyclists.  I took the safer option on footpaths instead of roads, until there were dedicated cycle-ways. But when on the cycle-ways I was a hazard to other cyclists given my 'wide load' and slow speed.  After a few wrong turns I made it to the ferry terminal and topped up my "AT" card (like a go-card in Bris-vegas) so it had sufficie...

Distance: 60 km Elevation gain: 742 metres From the town of Helensville to Auckland city About 4hrs riding time, and 5hrs elapsed from 10:00am to 3:00pm I had a late start today with a nasty weather front hitting the west coast of the North Island in the morning.  The worst was over by 9.30am and I was on the road at 10am. My B&B was a little out of town, so the first stage was to ride back into Helensville and up a rather steep hill to rejoin the route to Auckland.  I cycled past a "Road Closed" sign, and a second sign around the next bend.  Surely the road can't be closed?  Well surely it was closed.  There was a kind gentleman sitting in his nice dry warm car blocking the road to make sure no traffic went past.  I kindly suggested that I'm just on a bike and can sneak past but that offer was rejected.  I even pressed the matter saying that I would have to take Highway 16 as the detour but that didn't sway his decision. So, backtracking 5km down ...

Distance: 95 km Elevation gain: 1,529 metres From the town of Kaiwaka to the town of Helensville About 6.5hrs riding time, and 8.5hrs elapsed from 7:00am to 3:30pm I packed just about everything last night so I could make a quick getaway this morning.  A simple banana and iced coffee milk for breakfast meant I was rolling out of Kaiwaka at 7am.   The first leg was 15km along Highway 1 to Te Hana.  There was plenty of traffic but a reasonable shoulder most of the way.  Some of the bridges got a bit tight.   At Te Hana I went to the cafe and bought morning tea (chocolate muffin) and lunch (sandwiches) but I didn't feel like a coffee so it was a brief pitstop.  Food was stashed in my frame bike bag, and I was off. The second leg was 70km through back roads to Kaukapakapa.  This had climbs above 100m every 10 km and really pushed me.  There were more sealed roads than I expected, but 50km of gravel was tough. The rain squalls continued all day, about every 2 hours.  It was a cold and w...

Distance: 38 km Elevation gain: 675 metres From the town of Matakohe to the town of Kaiwaka About 2.5hrs riding time, and 3.5hrs elapsed from 9:00am to 12:30pm Sunday morning, I'm determined to finish cycling around the Kaipara Harbour tomorrow (Monday, 6th October). This means reaching the town of Kaukapakapa by Monday night. From my current location of Matakohe to Kaukapakapa, it's approximately 125 kilometres through back roads (gravel surface) with numerous hills. Ideally, there would be a suitable place to stop halfway, but the accommodation options aren't laid out that way, especially considering the route takes me through back roads. As a result of all that, today (Sunday) is a smaller day with only 38 kilometres to the town of Kaiwaka where there is a pub with accommodation in the back. However, tomorrow promises to be a big day, with nearly 90 kilometres and significant elevation gain. It might just be the toughest day of my trip so far. Rain continued throughout t...