As it was raining heavily when I walked back to the motel after dinner last night and then continued during the night, I had got myself into the frame of mind that I would be having a somewhat “enforced” rest day in Taupo and the Met Service forecast was also not promising.
When I looked out the window at 6am it was still raining, so back to bed for some more sleep and I thought that I would give myself to checkout time to make a final decision. As the morning progressed, the weather improved and in fact looked better in the direction I was going so after breakfast at Dizzie Browns Cafe at Taupo it was my version of Willies song “on the road again…” at the somewhat belated hour of 10am.
I had to laugh at the Met Service site which said very cold and yet I did not even have a jacket on, or arm warmers on, so these North Islanders must be a “soft” lot and the use of blankets and outdoor heaters at the cafe was further proof.
Before I left Taupo I did the visualisation of leading the swim in the Iron Man and then still leading after the cycle leg several minutes ahead of Cameron Brown and Richard Merrett… no sign of Marty Langridge even with binnoculars, well anyone can dream!!
I am keen to keep moving as would like to stay a couple of days at Paihia before the trip really starts, but Labour weekend may make accommodation limited and am already seeing motels with no vacancies when they had some a couple of days ago. I am reluctant to book to far out in advance just in case I don’t make it!!
With the climb out of Taupo it is a bit of a wake up call and reminds me of the around Taupo race, but the road was pretty good going past Wairakei and you start to get the thermal smells which confirms that you are in geyser land..
Music was playing up again and there is only so many times that you can listed to the same track, over and over and over.. Finally managed to get it sorted1
I had a pretty good run to Tokoroa although got soaked at one stage, but did not last for too long and dried out. Tokoroa, well that is an interesting place!
Tokoroa was a good stop for lunch after 67ks which was roughly halfway as had elected to get to Matamata rather than Tirau just to shorten the day to the edge of Auckland city.
The road surface today continued to vary between big chip and nice smooth seal and with the shoulder often going down to nothing, it was a day of continully riding over those bloody rumble strips…
Traffic was quite heavy for a Sunday and a lot of those cars with trailers with motor cross bikes past me again today, so whatever event there was in Taupo it obviously got entrants from out of town.
The behaviour of drivers has been better than what I thought it would be and most give you plenty of room. Al would be in his element here as they all like their sewer pipe exhausts on their cars!!
Tirau was familar from when I drove from Auckland to Wellington in Decemher last year, stopping off at the Taupo half iron man on the way, although I did not recognise Tirau until I was actually there…
It was 19ks to Matamata along a number of straights with some lovely entrances to properties along the way, I suspect that there is no shortage of the folding stuff..
Matamata is a nice tidy town made famous for …………………….. hobbetville! Not that I understand or am interested in any of that!
The motelier is a cyclist and guess what, there are brown towels!! The motel complex is very nice with a lot of lawns, pool, spa and doves!
When I was putting Mr Scott away before going out to dinner, the front tyre was flat, buggar.. In a way it does not surprise me as there was a lot of glass on the road today and the lead it to Matamata. I don’t know what causes punks to drop glass on the road but it is a real pain from a cyclists point of view in that you are continuing running your hand over the tyres to hopefully flick off any glass fragments.
The last part of the ride it was getting warm and with there basically been no wind for most of the day, it was a good day and helps to make up for a day like yesterday…. Forgot to mention in yesterdays post that rode past the flash entrance for the proposed farm sale to overseas interests that has been in the media recently.. Good to see these places in the flesh.
I have been checking the maps for tomorrow and have decided to go for Papakura as against Pukekohe being basically same thinking as today to get me further down the road and Papakura is on the old great south road, whereas Pukekohe is off the track a bit.. Wises shows it as 150k so still a decent day in the saddle.
I will be relieved to get north of Auckland, but the map makes it easy, just need to remember it all as it is a pain to be pulling the tablet out which is a reason why I have not taken photos, sorry.. Sometimes I feel like Michael Phelps training in just following the black line, or on the road the white line without taking in the landscape.
Today was a total of 120k and would have arrived early afternoon had I left at the normal time, but all good as still time for the washing to dry on the line and watch a replay of the AB’s test.