Training ride 19/09/2015 42 km

Training ride 19/09/2015  42 km

Looking at the weather forecast as I think about where to go riding today - clouds and showers - after some thought I decide to do a out and back ride to Reporoa - this time maybe trying out a idea that I had for the last few weeks - a few km out of Reporoa is butchers pool. It's a (free) hot pool up a short gravel road with farm land around the pool with the pool fenced off from the surrounding paddocks with a nearby carpark and changing room/tolet 

After getting the rest of my bike gear together I put my swimwear on the bag that sits on the rear panner rack and head out for a ride. As I'm heading out the gate a few other riders pass by on a training? Ride - I end up getting passed by a few more rider's on the rind in to Reporoa - though some take longer to pass there others (with just about most of the passing riders saying hi as they passed)

After a nice warm up I started to pick my speed up from 18-20 km/h to 25-30 km/h (what's a fast speed for me : ) until I got in to Reporoa where I stopped to get a few photos - there was a car parked with many of the riders that had passed me around - Looks like they may of been part of a training camp/weekend - the riders was a mix of men and women riders (most of the  passing riders I see out on my rides are men so it's nice to see more women out riding) - many of the bikes I saw looked like what one would see in a Ironman race or time trail race so it may of been a training camp for Ironman?  Or maybe for the taupo race

From Reporoa it's a few km ride back towards taupo to butchers pool where I head up the gravel side road (maybe 500m up the gravel road) - there's no one else there today  as I walk down to the pool to check the temperature and the state of the pool (it's been a few years from the last time I was there) before getting changed in to my swimwear and head back down to the pool to spend some time in to pool - it's nice to have a ride with a stop at a hot pool in the middle of the ride - staying in the pool until I decide it's time to get changed back in to riding gear and head off for the rest of the days ride : ) as I'm getting ready to leave some people turn up for a swim - then its back on the bike riding down the gravel road back to the main road - I take it a little more slowly on the ride back to my friends place - about 20-25 km/h  as its a nice day for a ride with the weather being nice and warm with out it being hot, some clouds in the sky and no showers : )