Well we made it to Whangarei finally at 7pm this evening after a day of tough climbs. I say “we” because I was joined by two friends from Auckland who have cycled with me for 60 of the 80 miles covered today. Jeannie and Mark joined me at Welsford at around 11.45 and found me sitting in a café scoffing carrot cake and coffee. ( No change there then! ) I left Arkles Bay around 10am after a great night and a pretty leisurely morning.
Today was always going to be a tough day because there are so many steep hills on the way up here and very few flat sections till you get within 20 miles of Whangarei itself. Mark and Jeannie arrived at my Café in Marks jeep with the bikes on the back and arranged to cycle sections of the ride with me whilst the other drove. It worked really well and Jeannie started off with me for a hilly 50 km stretch starting with Dome Valley and ending at the very steep Brynderwyn Range on route. She actually did incredibly well considering she doesn’t really cycle much at all and set the pace for me. She flew up the hills like they were flat and we covered the ground pretty quickly considering the type of terrain we were on. I took advantage of the jeep and chucked my panniers in there and cycled without the 20kg load I have carried for the last 1050 miles. It was bliss. Mark drove ahead for about 20 miles at a time and cycled back to meet us then returned with us to the jeep. This worked really well and we eventually stopped at the 40 mile mark at an Italian Pizzeria in Kaiwaka. We had a well-earned meal and a beer and hit the road again an hour later. After completing the highest peak Jeannie hopped in the Jeep and Mark and I flew down the 1000 foot drop at brake neck speed hitting 40mph and keeping up an incredible pace for the next 3 hours as we covered another 40 miles at an average speed that stayed around 20 mph for ages. It was so nice to find a long flat section we took full advantage and I can honestly say I have never kept up such a pace for such a long time. I did have to keep up with Mark on his race bike who is super fit so this may be how I managed it. It was fun but I am now completely dead on my feet.
Mark has a mate who lives in Whangarei who were are all now staying with and we have had a great meal and a few beers. My eyelids are now drooping and I’m ready for bed as it’s a 90 mile ride from hell tomorrow involving some bigger and steeper hills. Today was 80 miles with 5000 feet of climb but tomorrow is 90 miles with 6000 feet of climb. I will definitely need my rest day in Kaitaia before I hit Cape Reinga the following day. Only two days to go though eh !
No comments:
Post a Comment