Tuesday 22nd March - The last stretch

I woke up this morning feeling fresh and rested after my day off and ready for the last 80 miles. Yesterday the weather was horrendous with wind and heavy rain all day so  rather than go back and cycle what I missed the day before I sat on my backside all day and read my book.

The ride today should have been around 75 miles but my uncle took me back up to the Mangamuka Gorge and dropped me off where I had my puncture on Sunday. Thankfully it was near the top so it didn’t take long to get over the top and free wheel down 5 miles of steep twisting perfectly smooth new tarmac. It was then a 10 mile ride into Kaitaia where I desperately tried to find a cycle shop to pump up my rear tyre properly. With my tiny cycle pump I had only managed to get the rear tyre half inflated so if I was going to do 80 miles or more I needed it fully pressurised. I found a cycle shop on the main street however their compressor was broken and they had sold out of more or less everything as they were closing down that day. I was counting on them so was forced to improvise and found a boat shop that had a compressor and although it would not fit my tyre valve we managed to rig up a method of inflating the tyre properly using tubes and a bit of brute strength.

At last I was in a position to focus on the task in hand as I now had 68 miles to go to Cape Reinga. I had stripped my bike down to the bare essentials so only had a few things to carry on the days trip. It made such a difference that I flew along for the first 53 miles without even stopping for a drink. The terrain was pretty flat and sheltered with lots of little villages and farms dotted along the road. The scenery was lovely with great views towards the coast on either side. I was now cycling up the very thin section of the north island which is mainly sheep and dairy farmland. The first thing I noticed was that it was so quiet. All I could hear was the circada’s ( small noisy insects like Cricket’s ) and my own laboured breathing as I tried to keep up as fast a speed as possible.

After around 40 miles I was overtaken ny my Uncle Bob in his jeep who had travelled up to Kaitaia to see Nigel’s family and very kindly pick me up from the Cape. He flashed past with Leon in the passenger seat and failed to recognise me as Bob was so used to seeing my bike with two large red pannier bags on the back. Leon is a 15 year old German lad staying at the farm for 6 months and going to school in Kaitaia for a bit of “life experience”. Eventually I caught up the guys at Te Kau where the most northerly convenience store is situated. I had a quick 15 minute stop to have a cold drink and an ice cream and set off again. Bob was convinced that I only had another 30 kms to do but alas it turned out that it was actually 28 miles making it closer to 45 kms. This would have been fine but my flat road now turned into a rather hilly road and seemed to go straight up hill from this point. After the last 53 miles only involving around 500 feet of climb I was now confronted with 3250 feet of climb over the next 28 miles. There was not one flat section left and the road became a roller coaster with one hill after another. To make matters worse the north easterly wind picked up and  made life more difficult still. Although I am used to the hills now I found the last 28 miles pretty hard going at times especially with the wind. I had averaged 16 mph for the first 53 miles but this went down to below 12 for the last part.

The road was pretty good thankfully and there was less and less traffic as I got closer to the Cape and I became more and more excited at the idea of finishing. It was nice to think that someone would be there when I finished else it would have been a bit of an anti-climax. The finish line however did not come quickly and there were so many false summits before the final hill that looked down on the lighthouse at the very northern tip. At one stage I was adamant that I had just climbed the last hill so took some pictures looking out over the surrounding landscape, only to find that there were 6 more hills to climb before the end.

Anyway, I eventually arrived at the Cape and Bob and Leon were waiting and we went down to the lighthouse and took a few photos next to the large sign denoting all the distances to different parts of the world. The Cape has had a bit of a facelift in recent years and there are new paths and parking areas and various Mauri monuments all around as it is supposed to be a spiritual place.

It was a great feeling to finally finish and also slightly sad as I have enjoyed the trip so much. I have actually stuck to my original itinerary exactly so I’m really pleased with that. I have managed to cycle exactly 1288 miles and have climbed over 53 thousand feet. I haven’t quite worked it out yet but I reckon that I must have climbed the height of Mount Everest twice during this trip. It’s certainly not far off anyway. My bike has held up well but now need a bit of attention. My trek 7700 has now completed well over 5000 miles between this trip, the London to Monaco trip and last year’s cycle round the country with all the associated training mileage.  It has only had 2 punctures this trip and the second one actually turned out to be a faulty valve. It’s just a pity that they came within 2 hours of each other.

Thankfully my Ankle has held up well over the last 2 weeks. There were times when I thought that I was going to have to call it a day especially in Wellington but the rest days and physio have really helped. I won’t be cycling for a couple of weeks though so it heals properly. The one annoying thing though has been that I have not lost a single lb in weight !!! How can this be ? I guess I have eaten pretty well all trip and have had several BBQ’s and lots of beer ( When in Rome and all that !!) I now need to try and stem my appetite for steak and beer or I will never ride a bike again.

I will be heading back to Auckland in the next day or so and fly back to the UK on Saturday 26^th landing on the 27^th. Before then I will be celebrating my birthday in Ellerslie in Auckland on Friday night ( 25^th ) if anyone fancies flying over. If you do I will buy you a beer I promise.

I hope you enjoyed the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it and bye for now.

Andy 

Tuesday 22nd March

I made it !!!!!!!! 81 miles today in well under 6 hours and many many hills at the end. I will write my blog in the morning when I am sober ! Sad its over but also relieved.

Sunday 20th March - Penultimate ride

I did not really feel like it this morning to be entirely honest. I woke up at 8am and felt like I hadn’t really slept more than 3 hours  despite having had more like 7 hours. Everything hurt when I got up but strangely not the ankle for some reason despite it seizing up last night.

I had a quick breakfast and finally set off just before 10am which was later than I wanted. I said goodbye to Jeannie and Mark and they took a few “Actions Shots” as they drove alongside me for the first mile or so.  Finally they headed home to Auckland 120 miles away and I headed off on my own again. It had been great to have some company for the day yesterday especially people to cycle with as I have spent 3 weeks with no one to speak to during the daytime which is nice at first but a little tedious after a while.

The first 5 miles or so were uphill today and felt like a bit of a struggle until I found a rhythm and then It was back to normal and in no time I was flying along and finally stopped for a quick coffee after 25 miles and lunch around 10 miles further along in a town called Kawakawa, so good they named it twice. Kawakawa is actually famous for its public toilets “The Hunertwasser Toilets” which are rather fancy and tiled with elaborate mosaics. There is also a railway track running through the main street which I did not expect so I was rudely interrupted by a noisy, smoky steam engine passing within 10 feet of me as I was sipping my latte and scoffing my BLT. I met a few cool people at the local café one of which was into his bikes. He asked me about mine and I proudly informed him about the fact that I had not had a puncture in over 5000 miles since the second week after I bought it.  

After Kawakawa it was a flattish run for a while and then uphill for a decent clime to around 950 feet. I had only been on the bike around an hour after lunch where God punished me for bragging about the Puncture situation. It wasn’t long before I had one in my rear tyre and spent 45 minutes fixing it. I’m not used to fixing them you see having not had one for two years and my miniature pump is crap.  It was however the first puncture of the trip and probably well overdue so I couldn’t really complain.

I carried on and over the hills and as I reached a particularly nasty mountain range called the Mungamukas I got another bloody puncture half way up. I was not a happy man especially as it was in the rear again making it a right pain in the backside to fix. You have to remove the panniers, unscrew the pannier rack and mess about with the gears. It takes a while and I only had one more spare inner tube. I was now going to be arriving in Kaitaia in the dark as  I had a way to go and was behind schedule already due to starting late and the previous puncture. ( and maybe a long lunch ) After finding a safe pull in where I could fix it I was stood there contemplating kicking the hell out of the stupid bike when I saw a Yute ( open backed van )  approaching. I stuck out my thumb on the off chance and he pulled straight over.  I have to admit that I hitched the last 12 miles so now have to go back and ride it tomorrow on my day off. What a pain.

Anyway, I made it to the farm and it is just how I remembered it from 11 years ago. This is where my brother in law Nigel was brought up and where he and my sister Cathy and nephew William are emigrating to next month. I have been made to feel straight at home by Coleen, Gavin and Bron and have been dragged one way and the other by the girls, Micaela and Odyssey aged 7 and 5 who have entertained me with their gymnastic display. ( It was  pretty damn impressive too )

I now have a rest day……or at least I used to have  a rest day tomorrow. ( now I have part of today’s route to do again ) and Tuesday I cycle the final 78 miles to Cape Reinga to the finish line.  Can’t wait !!

Saturday 19th March

  

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 ! 

Thursday 17th and Friday 18th March

Ok, so I’m a little late with posting this blog but I have actually been busy……relaxing mostly !

Yesterday I was at Tania’s place in Penrose and had a lovely long lie in and a relaxing morning doing nothing apart from a little bike maintenance. In the afternoon we went for lunch into Ellerslie which is a suburb nearby and slightly closer to the centre of Auckland to a trendy bar the name of which escapes me now. I was then escorted to the physiotherapists to have some more treatment for the old ankle ( I’m sure your bored of hearing about this now )

The receptionist was really lovely and on reading the explanation of how my injury occurred looked over her horn rimmed glasses at me and said “were going to have to do better than that”. “Why ? ” I said looking puzzled. “well you will never get this free on the ACC with a story like that will you ?”

The ACC is NZ’s version of medical insurance or the NHS and apparently they are pretty easy going. She crossed out my explanation which read “ Achilles tendonitis caused by persistent cycling” and said “ Could you have been in an accident perhaps ?”

I said “well I did get run off the road by a logging truck into a ditch a few days back!” shrugging my shoulders and trying to be helpful. “Perfect “ she said and changed my explanation to an outrageous  piece of fiction whereby a logging truck almost caused my demise in a horrific near miss causing me to take avoiding action and cycle over a cliff top and fall 1000 feet down a cliff side and land in a heap on some rock only causing a mild sprain to the Achilles. Ok so I’m exaggerating a bit now but her explanation wasn’t far off that I assure you. Naturally being an honest cop this has given me sleepless nights since.

Once the blatant lies were complete I was met by a lovely friendly physio called Clare who actually turned out to be a former Nazi torturer ( This is her description not mine I hasten to add ) she went to work on me like I had just viciously slaughtered her whole family and burnt her house down. It was like a revenge treatment. The pain she inflicted on me was infinitely more terrible than the pain my Achilles was giving me even in the worst moments. I almost bit through my arm I was trying that hard not to cry out and I sweated more in 30 minutes than I have in 1000 miles. Suffice it to say I will not be returning for a follow up visit and a life of walking like “Jake the Peg “ is far more appealing that going through that again. I could actually see the pleasure in her face as she leaned her whole weight on my ankle which was positioned over a sharp edge in order to separate the bones and “Introduce some mobility to the problem area “ ………Problem area my arse, its gonna be a damn problem now it’s broken off ( were my thoughts at the time !)

Anyway, it’s over now and I’m alive to tell the tale and despite a stupid looking strapped up ankle which makes me look like I’m wearing weird looking suspenders I’m feeling much better.

Today has been a far easier day by comparison. Despite cycling 3 miles in the wrong direction first thing this morning and then being sent in the wrong direction again by a Police Officer I eventually made it to the ferry to get over to the North Shore and had a really leisurely ride along the East Coast Road to Arkles Bay around 40 km’s up the coast. The North Shore is really nice and seems like the sort of place I would like to live with lots of bars and coffees shops. The road however was like a rollercoaster with one steep rise after another. There were no big hills but there were plenty and the ride of 50 odd km’s felt further than it was. Nevertheless I landed at Triston’s house the moment the heavens opened and it bucketed down.

Triston is a Police Officer with Auckland Police whom I used to work with back in Ellesmere Port and has been over here for 3 years now with his wife and two daughters. He has settled in really well and they have a fabulous house, a great life and an annoyingly good tan. I still look transparent in contrast. Tris took me for a drive round the area which is idyllic and we had a great meal and a couple of glasses of wine ( or maybe more !!) The whole family have embraced life in NZ which is good to see and it obviously works well for them. The girls are happy and have made great friends and love the way of life here.

I have had a great night reminiscing about the old days in “The Port” and would love to stay longer but alas I have 82 miles to cycle tomorrow and many hills. I don’t think there is a flat road until 60 miles are up tomorrow so I will need a good night’s sleep tonight. On that note I better get my head down. Only three more days on the road and I can relax. Ten days and I will be home in Blighty and this will be a distant memory. 

Wednesday 16th March 10pm

Felt rather jaded this morning and understandably so I guess. Still didn’t have much of an appetite despite not eating last night but managed a couple of pieces of toast before heading back out onto the road again. The weather has become hotter and hotter the further north I go and today was no exception. It was pretty sweltering from the off and I had a raging thirst in no time. I have spent so much money on Powerade and similar energy drinks on this trip I may have to take out a second mortgage.

The road from Cambridge to Auckland for the early part was a new road called the A1b and is by far the nicest road I have cycled on this whole trip. It was like velvet compared to the rough surfaces I have become used to and actually had a smooth tarmac finish. This may not sound like a big deal but it was believe me ! The usual surface here is incredibly course to the extent that it shakes the bolts on your bike loose and probably my skeleton too. I have persistently numb hands from the vibrations and that’s despite front suspension.

It didn’t take me long to get through the first 34 miles and dispense with the A1b and I ended up in Mc Donalds in a place called Huntly where they have a  big coal mine. By this stage I was a sweaty heap and plastered with flies again and looked a mess when I entered the restaurant. I am constantly having to wash myself down so people don’t get scared at the sight of me. I really do look a mess sometimes and you would not want to sit next to me !

Once past Huntly it was back on the busy A1 sadly and back to multiple HGVs wizzing past at close quarters. Eventually I had to leave the highway as it turned into a motorway and I resorted to the Great South Road that leads straight into Auckland alongside the motorway. It was a pretty flat run all day apart from one big hill at Bombay and a welcome relief. It wasn’t the most scenic day and I have not taken a single picture but it’s been good nevertheless.

I actually passed the 1000 mile mark at some stage as I neared Auckland to that is quite an achievement to me. If I had known it at the time I would have stopped and cracked open a celebratory Powerade and given a small speech. Just as well I didn’t eh ?

Finally, Penrose where I was headed to stay with Tania came up far sooner than expected and I was sitting on the porch at 6pm having completed 90 miles as Tania returned home. It was then a quick shower and off to a BBQ and a fat steak and a couple of beers. My eyelids were drooping by 8.30 though and I now lie in bed feeling completely whacked. It is a bit of a milestone to reach Auckland especially bang on schedule and ready for a day off again. I have Physio tomorrow afternoon so although I imagine it will be rather painful it will definitely help me as parts of my body are complaining vociferously and could do with being replaced ( I wish !)

Its only around 300 miles to the top now and 3 1\2 more days on the bike. As much as I am enjoying this I will be glad to say goodbye to that razor blade of a saddle for a good while. I’ve already decided on a new challenge for a future New Zealand trip. Kayaking the whole of the 400 mile long Waikate river. Anyone up for that ????

Tuesday 15th March – Return of the Sausages

I told you they should have carried a bloody health warning didn’t I ???

I have just made it to Cambridge and more importantly my hotel room by the skin of my teeth. I shall say no more on the subject.

Today has been an 80 mile trip from Taupo along the A1, again! and relatively quick really. I had great intentions of starting off early at around 8.30 but I slept really badly due to the humidity and struggled out of bed for 8.45 instead. I packed up, paid my humungous bill and headed to MC Donalds for a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, YUM !

I finally set off at 10am and straight into the hills. The first was a 1000 ft climb over about 4 miles and the second was around 700 over a shorter distance. Neither were particularly bad and by 2pm I was sat in Tokoroa enjoying lunch at a small bakery. I got talking to a lady called Kay, or Kate who worked there and she  has a child with neurological problems and was impressed with the Charity I was fundraising for. She gave me a donation and a free cake too. What a star !!

Tokoroa was at the half way mark of 41 miles and from then on the hills were over and it was a flat run to Cambridge supposedly. I had climbed 2200 feet by this stage and averaged 12.3 mph so was going pretty well. 2 hours 40 mins later I was entering Cambridge and having upped my average speed so much I was planning on making it to Hamilton instead as I had plenty of time and another 20 miles in the tank at least. Sadly at this stage, the sausages from yesterday, or maybe something I ate today changed my plans. I was sick a couple of times just before Cambridge and that sealed my fate. I am now ensconced in a nice hotel in Cambridge Town Centre feeling a little better thank god though it has taken a while. I’ll see how well I feel in the morning before committing to the completing the 87 miles to Tania’s place. I should be ok though.

I can’t wait to be on a quieter road though. Today has been one HGV after another and terribly busy. Once through Auckland I will look for some alternative routes hopefully as I have had enough of all the traffic. Its only about 400 miles to go though so 5 more days of cycling and I will be at the very top of New Zealand. I’m looking forward to having a birthday beer in Auckland on the 25^th to celebrate and not have to get up early the next day to cycle a zillion miles.