Woke up to Coffee and Croissants. "On ya" Pete.
Headed off over the Rimatukas to Featherston.
Then went out to Martinborough and on to Gladstone.
Checked out the Cliffhanger uphill track. http://www.cliffhanger.org.nz/hillclimb/hillclimb.htm
On to CastlePoint via a forestry road. Trucker unlocked gate for me.
Tinui Pub had restaurant removed by Mrs in marriage break-up ah-lah Speights ad. The eastern Wairapa roads were great little tight twisty things. Encountered a lot of motorcycle police due to cycle race.
Then over to Ekatahuna via Tinui - Alfredton Rd. This was freshly graded in parts and was quite marble-y as there were no wheel tracks to ride in. I started to show first signs of fatigue and the road really was quite challenging mentally.
On to Woodville, Ashurst, Fielding, Cheltenham. Then right onto back road to Mangaweka. This road was great. Really twisty with incredible papa cliffs in the last 10 km. Dangerous and a bit freaky.
Along Highway 1 to Taihape.
Then over the "Gentle Annie" highway 38 to Napier. This road deserves special mention. It is the most "South-Island-esque" road in the North Island in terms of panoramic views. It felt like you were riding up in the sky! Very good section of gravel in the middle section. I think the sign said 27 km of gravel but it felt like about 50-60 km. Towards the end of the gravel I did have a near miss with an SUV that was drifting through a corner uphill towards me. I was feeling totally rejuvenated cranking the XT along this twisty, hilly skyroad. Super fun fun yippee yahoo!
From Napier I headed over to Taupo. It was now dark and I was getting quite tired. Had a bottle of "V" and a snickers bar. Arrive Taupo approx 9:00pm.
Then on to Rotorua and Tauranga via Pyes Pa Rd. Was starting to drizzle. Mental concentration was getting hard in Pyes Pa twisties. Almost overshot a couple of tight wet corners.
Then on to Whakamarama and home. Got to bed at 01:10 am.
I was definitely feeling the effects of just having ridden for 14 hours covering 950 kms, on top of a previous day of about 14 hours riding covering 800 kms combined with a late night ferry trip and only 5 hours sleep.
I slept in til 10:00am and was still feeling pretty fly-blown after a morning shower.
As predicted, the weather had turned very nasty. Strong winds and heavy rain. I was glad to have put in that extra effort to get home and beat the rain.
Here is a GoogleMaps link of the path travelled:
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=-41.294317,174.770508&daddr=martinborough+to:Gladstone,+Wellington+to:Wainuioru,+Wellington+to:Te+Parae+Rd+to:castlepoint+to:Castle+Hill+Rd+to:Alfredton,+Manawatu-Wanganui+to:Mulgrave+St+to:Bunnythorpe+to:Peep-O-Day+to:Ruahine+Rd+to:Taihape,+Manawatu-Wanganui+to:Erewhon,+Manawatu-Wanganui+to:SH+2B+to:Taupo,+Waikato+to:Whakamarama,+Bay+of+Plenty&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3B%3B%3BFQa5jv0dtLd6Cg%3B%3BFXuokv0dLu98Cg%3B%3BFacqmf0dncN5Cg%3B%3B%3BFSufoP0dLsF6Cg%3B%3B%3BFchTpf0d3uGKCg%3B%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=7&sll=-39.053318,176.066895&sspn=5.195413,11.601562&ie=UTF8&t=p&ll=-39.053318,176.066895&spn=7.69532,16.347656&z=6
1 comment:
Good on ya Tuck.
Post a Comment