21/07/2013 whangarei to hukerenui 37 km

21/07/2013 whangarei to hukerenui   37 km

After leving the place that I been staying the last 3 days I head up a short up hill then it was time for a fun down hill into the city stoping to get some food for the next few days before leving the city and starting the long climb of the day seeing a group ? Of other cycles out on a Sunday ride going the other way   

It's a nice sunny day with not much wind  - makes a nice change from the last time I road this road around a year ago - it was a wet and windy day then 

Working my way over some rolling hills I stop for an ice cream ( what's Wong with having a ice cream on a sunny day even on a winters day : ) about 2 km down the road I spot a cafe that's open so I stop in for some food - my bike  touring seems to turning into a cafe and bakery taste testing  tour at times : )

At hukerenui I stop at the museum for a chat to to make sure that the side road that I need to head down is the road coming up next as I think it is  ( yep it is so I'm where I think I am on the map )  turning town the side road the road turns to gravel after a bit of tar seal - beside a few issues with staying where I want to on the road ( camber ?) I get to my friends place where i be staying the night after riding around 37 km for the day  

18-20/07/2013

18-20/07/2013 

Spent 3 days helping out some friends with a jousting show - two days of getting things ready for Saturdays races ( horse racing ) setting up the skill in arms gear and the list ( the list is where the knights joust along as well many little other jobs that needy doing - then the big day on Saturday at the racing setting up the list and doing jousting pass's between 3 of the races ( so we had a very tight time frame to set up the list ,run the jost?, take the list down and clear the track before the next race  ( 30 min between races ) - 

an one point things got to crazy for me and I had a bit of a meltdown ( where my mind overloads with to much info and I can't cope - never good when it happens ) not sure why it happens - maybe head injury related - hard to know in my case as I have um many issues to deal with that most people never have to deal with and so many can't ( or won't ) under stand 

Beside the meltdown and a few other Heath issues like my nerves playing up causing a lot of pain on the friday night? It was a fun 3 days of hard work spent with good friends - maybe one day I will be able to ride well enough to do skill in arms ( skill in arms was used as training for knights )

A few words on training and jousting ( this info is from a good friend who is one of the jousters : )

Joust training

All medieval jousters need a squire and ground crew.

The knights job is to train the horse to carry a rider in armour and gallop down the tilt line while he/she carries a lance and breaks the tip on the shield of a fellow knight, also galloping the other way.

The armour is heavy, ranging from 20 to 30kg

It restricts movement, hearing is very limited, and visability is also very limited.

The squire must then take the lance from the knight and change the broken tip of the lance for a new one, and then then give it back to the knight for the next run.

The horses must be specially trained and also very brave.

17/07/2013 Kaiwaka to whangarei 65 km

17/07/2013 Kaiwaka to whangarei  65 km

After Some what of a cold night I pack up my tent and head out to the main road and up the first hill of the day . After riding around 8? Km I stop at a cafe for some food and end up having a chat to the people there about head injurys and get them to put down the web site for THINK!  As they was looking for more info on head injurys 

After leaving the cafe I start on the hardest climb of the day up big hill- it's slow going as I take care not to get hit by the passing trucks and cars - at one point I almost come off on some black ice  ( also happend the first time I climbed this hill )but some how I keep the bike upright stoping a few time where it's safe to before I get up to the top of the hill before its time to enjoy the down hill where I get up to 50+km /h  at times ( I could go faster but then I would have to slow down for the car and trucks also I like to keep to a safe speed )

I might end up taking the coast road on the way back south as it may be more safer ? Will need to look into this some more

At the end of the down hill  the road flattens out as it runs near the coast? As I get closer to w I stop at a cafe for a drink to warm me up as its some what cold out side still 

About 25 km ? From whangarei my legs seem to be not working right so a stop at a shop for some power aid ? Gets things working some what better - I seem to of muck up my eating on the bike agine  so it's going to be a long day 

Working my way over rolling hills some harder then others I get into town just as the info centre is closing for the day - back o n the road working my way slowy up the last hill thinking that many  people who drive don't seen to know how far some where is when you are on a bike riding up a long hill ( they said its not far just up the hill a bit )

At last I get to where I'm heading for where I be staying the night 

16/07/2013 Wood hill sands to kaiwaka. 85 km

16/07/2013 Wood hill sands  to kaiwaka.  85 km

After being up from around 3:30 am I start packing up around 6:30 am and get on the road at 8 am after doing a few last min things on the bike

The road is mosty flat for the first 18 km  - cold hands for the first 40 mins or so with only the odd small hill before the start of the larger hills for the day starting with a 200m climb up to a look out before the road drops back down to sea level then there's a few short and steep hills to roll over before the next lager hill to slowly work my way up - nice to see it in day light as last time I did this hill I was going south and got to the top just on sunset 

Onice I get back down to sea level?theres just more climb to go before wellsford Where I stop at the new liblay? For a look around before getting some food and water and leaving town this time I'm riding on S.H.1 - it's not the best road to ride on being busy and some what hilly but there is not any other roads to ride on to head north ( might look at the maps to see if I can find a better road as I head south ?)

Just on dark I get into the town of kaiwaka where after asking around for a bit I head to the sports grounds and set up camp the for the night spending some time chating some people from a sport team that was doing some training under lights - got talking about injurys in sport ( like head injurys in the sport they was training for as well as injurys from just not being fitter )

After the end of training I head to my tent to bed for the night 

13-15;;4/06/2013 Wood hill sands

13-15;;4/06/2013 Wood hill sands

Taking a rest day for part of Saturday before helping set up the show jumping jumps for Sundays event until it gets to dark to see well

On the Sunday I help out by picking up the jump poles as the horse knock the off the jumps as well as changing the height of the jumps between class's

After the show is over spend around 3 hours planing out what roads to take  on my end to end ride - not an easy task - then I type it up for the blog as well as working on a few other blog posts  before heading for bed

The next day ( Monday ) the weather (high winds and ran) is some what crazy so I decide to spend one more day at wood hill sands - in the after noon the weather gets a little better so I decide to go for a ride into helensville around 8 km away as I don't like to go to many days in a row off the bike when I'm doing as many km as I will be doing ( also my legs see not to like it much if i go from lots of riding to none to fast and they start to play up) - looks like it might be a cold night so I wape up warm in my tent as i head to bed 

12/06/2013 Some where to wood hill sands 30 km ( of cycling)

12/06/2013 Some where to wood hill sands 30 km ( of cycling)

After having some food I get an early start on the road at 7 :30 am ( well early for me any way : )  heading over a few hills - highway 22 is a very hilly road  I cross the river for the last time in the fog before passing though a small town on the way to pukekohe passing the race track as I head in to town 

Looking up the train time table I see I will just miss the next train to Auckland so after looking a round a few shops I get some food and chat to some people on the phone ( and see what people are up to on face book ) - looks like I just missed the train agine - more time to look around town before heading for the train station Where I find that you need to get a ticket from a ticket thing on the platform ( no more getting one on the train ) so after spending 10 min working out how to get a ticket I get one for the right place ( I hope it be the right ticket anyway : ) once on the train I get asked by some some what unfriendly ticket people for my ticket - it's printed on what looks like a supper market recent - I liked the old way better  

Onice at the main train station As I'm leaving the platform I get ask ( more like demanded ) by more some what unfriendy ticket people for my  ticket before I can leave the platform - it's some where in one of my bags on the bike - well after spending 10 mins looking I find it ( the little scrap of paper ) 

After I get in the lift to get up to ground level I cheek my phone to find the next place I'm heading for in Auckland where I have a chat to friends at attitude pictures for a bit before one of then says that I might be able to get a ride north out of Auckland with then - the main issuers they only have a small car so after some thought I pack up the bike in its case ( what is the bike trailer  most of the time ) and some how fit it all in with the other suff in the car - 4 people my gear and 2 seft? boards in a small city car  getting drop off at a friends place called wood hill sands out at woodhill  - a place that runs horse events - that happens to be an event on over the next 2 days 

Roads that I'm looking at using on my end to end bike ride

 here is the roads that I'm looking at taking north to south on my end to end bike ride -I'm not to sure where I'm staying each night on the ride  as it will depend on how far I ride each day - some where around 50 to 140 km a day and how many rest days I will take ( about one a week or so - maybe more ? )

 

NZ ride roads

North island 

Cape reinga to waitiki landing 22 km      S.H.1

Waitiki landing to awanui           90 km                    S.H.1

 awanui to kerikeri 90 km              S.H.10

Kerikeri to whangarei 95 km.                      S.H.10/ 1

Whangarei to wells ford   82 km                 S.H.1

Wells ford to helensville. 57 km                  S.H.16?

Helensville to Auckland  61 km?                 ?

Auckland to ngatea   113km                         Back roads

Ngatea to morrinsville  80 km.                    back roads /s.h26

Morrinsville to Hamilton  35 km               S.H.26

Hamilton to Taupo 153 km.                        S.H.1

Taupo to turangi    50 km                             s.h.1

Turangi to national park 50 km.             s.h.47

National park to wanganui  123 km.     s.h.4.   Or river road?

Wanganui to Palmerston North  83 km.    s.h.3

Palmerston North to ekatahuna 65 km sh3/sh2 or back roads

Ekatahuna to masterton  40 km       S.h.3

Masterton to Wellington  100 km?   S.h.3/ back roads/ rail trail?

    1389 km for the north island

11/07/2013 Some where to some where else 25 km

11/07/2013  Some where to some where else  25 km

Hard day on the bike today only 25 km lots of hills to climb - just to add to the fun my legs was playing up for most of the day -just had to work though the pain of trying to get my body to do what I want it to do - just some thing that I have to deal with each and every day some days are better then others - today was a not a nice day to be having to climb long hills with a full load on the bike but its the way I choose to live my life - life on the road by bike 

Spent the morning looking at the cycle books and the map trying to find a) away to ride though Auckland safely and b)find a place to stay for the night - well I had better luck with 2) as just on dark some one in a car past me then stop just up ahead of me asking me how far I was going that day - when I said to some where that I could put up my tent for the night  they said I could stay at they place so after riding 5 min down a side road I got to they place where after putting the bike under cover went inside and spend the evening chatting to the people at the house where I'm staying the night and enjoy a nice meal before heading off to bed for the night 

Looks like I might just end up getting the train into Auckland tomorrow if I get to the train in time : ) as there don't seem to be much of a safe way to get in to Auckland by bike from the south 

10/07/2013 some where to near n? 70 km

10/07/2013 some where to near n? 70 km

Rain in the night

After packing up the tent and a 5 min chat to the people who's place I spend the night at I get on the road riding back roads towards ngaruawahia  Passing the odd shop or hall along the way - the road is one I have been on many times before as I used to ride it back when I lived in Hamilton  onice I get past the point where the road to Hamilton tends? Off I'm now riding on roads the are new to me with a few small hills to ride over before I get into ngaruawahia

After some map work to find the right road I head across the river to keep on back roads heading toworlds Auckland around 10 km down the road I get hit by a cold rain shower with hail?  Getting into Huntly crossing over the river on the footpath as I'm not happy riding on the road lanes of that bridge - picking up some food for the next 2 days as I'm not sure where the next shops will be before heading back across the river this time on a footbridge on the side of the rail bridge 

Doing some map work to work out what roads I need to take to get to the roads i will use to get to p I head out of town next to the big power s? Working my way over a few long hills over the next few hours until just after dark a car stops to see if I'm ok - after a bit of a chat I end up getting a lift back to they place to spend the night where I get to sleep indoors for a change 

09/07/2013 te kuiti to some where 55? Km

09/07/2013 te kuiti to some where 55? Km 

After a late start I end up getting on the road around 11 am . Taking it slowly as I get use to having bags and trailer back on the bike sitting around 15 km/h as I ride to otorohanga  where after picking up a few things like camera batteras and a road map - might even use this map : )  I deside to head off S.H.3 using back roads to get up to Auckland -some I been on before others roads will be new to me - yep even after many years of riding there still some roads I have not been on yet : ) 

Heading over a few bigger hills before the rain came  then the road flat out as I got near pirongia  where after getting some food to warm me up after riding in the cold rain I head to the Alexandra  redoubt? as its been one of the places that I been meaning to go to for a few years now   Back on the road  I keep riding until I stop to chat to some people  For about 10-15 mins then its back on the road until I knock on some ones door to ask then if they know some where that I might be able to came for the night - there said to try a place 2 houses away so I did and ended up have a nice chat to the people at the house after setting my tent up for the night before it was time to head for bed for the night

Back on the road

Back on the road

Well I'm back on the road next week 

as some of you may know I spend most of my time living on the road getting around by bike 

For more about me here  is a link to a story and video that my friends at pathlesspedaled.com did about me 

http://pathlesspedaled.com/2012/01/kiwi-short-damian-day-new-zealands-bicycling-nomad/

So where an I heading to next on the bike ?

First I'm heading north from te kuiti where I have been staying with my mum - heading north up to cape reinga stoping in at a few places to see some friends on the way up 

Then once I get up to the cape I'm heading south  down to bluff - I'm doing a end to end ride - I had planed to do this ride last year but because of some issues that i with me and the bike I only got as far as Taupo because of the time spent getting the bike repaired and needing to be back in the north island in time for the Taupo fun ride 

Part of why I'm doing this ride this year is as a fundraiser for THINK http://www.thinknz.org.nz/index.html

Here is a link to my fundraiser page for this ride 

http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/damianday2013/

So which way will I be going - well it will be a mix of state highways , back roads and the odd off road bike trail / path - I'm still working on the north island 

Maybe S.H.1 then S.H.3 maybe even some S.H.2 in there some where using back roads when and when I can 

roads for the South Island I'm looking at heading down S.H.6 down the west coast maybe using the rail trail part of the way ( not sure about that yet : )

Why this time of year ? 

It's so I'm back in the north island in time so I can get get ready for this years Taupo ride - around 2 -3 weeks to get up to the cape then around 8? Weeks to do the end to end ride then  maybe 2-3 weeks to get back up to the north island 

The bike is ready ( I just hope the the bike and trailer hold together on the ride ) just need to work on the packing  and  get done the jobs that i need to get done be i leave like working though a large pile of books from the library that I been meaning to read for the last week or so : )