Rolled out of the motel at Dannevirke at just before 7am and temperature definately several degrees warmer than previous days and while over cast, it still required arm warmers and the skull cap.
After a couple of ks there was a short little climb out of town to wake you up and then it was undulating riding to Waipukurua where I was again eagerly looking forward to breakfast after 55ks. I am getting used to riding 50 to 60ks before having breakfast, although know that this is about the limit before food is needed!
Yesterday I was tempted to continue riding to Waipukurua and even though the wind changed late in the day yesterday meaning that it would have been helpful, I am pleased that I did not do it as it would have been quite hard after 100ks.
While the road surface was good today, the width of the shoulder varied from being quite wide to nothing and given that there were a few quite fast short decents, I rode in the traffic lane to avoid crossing the rumble strips at speed.
Before I go to Waipukurua with a combination of good road surface and little wind, I was frequently at 35k plus, but then had that sickening feeling that the back feels a bit loose and sure enough rear tyre was soft. Buggar. As there was no obvious cut on the tyre, elected to just pump it up although might be only delaying the inevitable.
Last night I got the music sorted on the phone so this certainly helps the average speed as against listening to intermitent radio signal, or the national programme, although there was an interesting interview yesterday with Julia Gillard ex Aussie PM relating to the book that she has just written which is causing some reaction in Aussie.
No Willie Nelson or Roger Whittaker just yet with the music, but there has been David Gray, Moody Blues, Meatloaf and some others I won’t mention!
Actually there is one Willie Nelson song, it goes “On the road again….” which is what I say to myself every morning!
Made good time to Napier and found the Avanti Shop, but unlike at Blenheim, the Heidi (better than Blenheim) did not offer to pump up my tyres and had to do this myself..
Unfortunately they did not stock any front lights, as I lost mine off the bike this morning somewhere in my travels. I have to remove the light to get the Garmin on and off and obviously it was not clicked in properly, but I am surprised that I did not hear it fall. I am sure that this is what happened as against some low life flogging it..
While there is good cycle lanes in Hastings CBD, everywhere else they are marked in green, but in Hastings there is only a green dotted line on each side of the lane.
After checking out “Phil 3’s” old stamping ground, it was direct to Napier via the express way and another very unhelpful wind direction.. There was a lot of traffic, but a very wide shoulder made it good riding.
The cycle lane into Napier was dotted with whatever falls off the palm trees but again it was good for cycling.
Having the tablet is worth the weight to check routes and also arrange accommodation without mucking around when you get to a destination and it is good to check in early and get the laundry done already for tomorrow.
Nice Motel with yet more white (at least when I arrived!) towels..
Total of 127ks for day. Today was perhaps the most comfortable on the bike with all the body bits hardening up and it has certainly helped to put some of the weighter items like multi tool and North Island heavy duty lock under the seat and the lighter tubes in the backpack.
From the forecast, it looks like that I will get a wet backside at least at some stage over the weekend. The plan is at this stage that I will ride to Taupo tomorrow and that I may have a rest day there, unless I decide to do a lap of the lake without the backpack.