New Plymouth to some where

New Plymouth to some where 72km

After packing up my gear and dropping the camping ground key’s back in I head back into the city center along the coast path way to get some food for the day ride. As I am working my way out of town along the busy roads (next time I bike though? new plymouth I will just take the coast path way to bell block as it’s a much nicer ride) a few km out of the city center I notice that my trailer has a flat tire. Stoping to fix it I see that I have wore out the tire as I can see the casing showing though in a few places so it’s time to get a new trailer tire in the next big town I go thought (Te Kuiti) as I don’t have the money to get a new tire in new plymouth. After fixing the flat I keep riding until I get just past the town Waitara where is an info center on the gas? plant with some good info and a large modly? of the plant?. Having some food and giving my mum  a call to say where I am I head back on the road with a short stop at Urenui for some food for the next 2 days as I don’t know where the next shops are along the way. There is a good climb up MT Messenger (150m in 3 km with some tight conners at the top there is a rest area with a look out over the bush. on the down hill near the top is a 2 lane tunnel cut into the rock and some road works fixing up part of the road that had slip away. The rest of the down hill ride was fast and fun (having to slow down for a few of the bends on the way down) the road rolling over a few small hill until I get to the town of Tongaporutu where I ask some people if they know some that I can put up my tent up for the night after a bit of a chat I head down to the place where there said to camp and set up camp for the night having a chat to some people that are out for a walk. I see the trailer tire has gone flat aging -some thing to fix in the morning. Doing some reading before going to sleep for the night

rest day in new plymouth

rest day in new plymouth

having a rest day in new plymouth having a good hook around town going for a ride along the corst path way(the pathway run’s for around 10 km along the coust from the port to bell block it is a mixed walkway/cycle way that has been well made.after riding around town for a bit looking for a supper market  I end up getting my Iphone out to help me find a new world supper market where I get some food for the day before riding down to Puke Ariki where the museum, library and visitor information centre all are in one place after looking around the museum (it is well with spending a few hours having a good look inside and out side puke Ariki as there is a lot of info on things around taranaki) going into the library (I like to spend time in library’s in new places around NZ ) I have a good look at some book’s before finding the book’s for sale place -when ever this happen’s at library’s I away seem to end up with at lest one book if not more to take with me as I go on the road-after I have read then I some times post the book’s to some where that I can store them or I will give then to people that I met on the road this time I enddit up with 5 books so will be sending some back to tielcey park next time I send back some gear.after riding back to the camp ground I do some washing and read part’s of some of the books that I got today before doing some work on the laptop

some where to new plymouth

some where to new plymouth 63km

after packing up I start riding along S.H 45 untill I see the road that run's about 5 km out to a lighthouse and deside to go for a ride to the lighthouse -well it was a fun ride going to the lighthouse but a slow trip back as I had a nice tail wind going out but a stound head wind coming back (going out I was easy doing 25 km/h but coming back I could only do around 6 km/h) at the lighthouse I got some photo’s but did not stay to long as it was cold and hard to walk into the wind)back on S.H45  I went thought so small town looking as I was riding for a shop. near okato I did a side trip down one of the roads to the sea doing 48km/h with out needing to pedal along a flat part of the road at one point (I did 6 km/h coming back up the road )to look at an old ship wreck (the SS Gairlock  a coastal steamer that ran aground on a moonless night in 1903 )at okato I found a shop that was still open (most of the small town had  shop’s that had clostd down as people move away over the years) after getting food for the day I went over some some hills before getting into new plymouth losing the road map to the wind at one point( the wind speed got up to 100km/h in some parts of the day’s ride-with the wight of my gear keep  close to the ground on the bike friday the bike was stably in the hight wind it was only hard work riding  into a head wind also a few times when truck’s went past as the wind would be block for a bit as I was leaning the bike a bit into the wind(I had a mix of head wind and side wind over the day) going into the info center at Puke Ariki I found out where the camping ground are in town and the easy way to get to them (along the coust pathway) I got into the camping ground after a nice ride along the path way and sent up my tent up for 2 night so I could have a rest day and have a good look around town as I have not spend much time in new plymouth as in the past I was on the way to some where elso

Hawera to some where

Hawera to some where  67 km?

After saying good bye to my friend’s I head back into town to get for the day before heading out of town on S.H45 (all so called surf highway 45 as there is a lot of surf beaches just off the highway ) the days ride starter out with just over cast then the rain came and stay around all day (time to find out how good my wet weather gear is) it is winter after all. the road goes over rolling hills  though the odd small town. I keep ridding until I get to the town  of Opunake where I take a short rest off the bike before going thought some more small town’s(most of then a place name on a map and a few house’s) at one the town (Rahotu) I stop to get some hot food and to ask about some where to camp for the night as it is starting to get dark the person at the shop says that there is a rest area 5-10 km down the road so I keep riding until I get there - it is a nice rest area out of site of the road behind some trees and out of most of the wind after I set up my tent up for the night I go to sleep hearing the rain on the tent

patea to harwera

patea to Harwera

Packing up and heading back into town to get some food for the days ride . I head down the road with the sea on one side(the road run’s near the coast )and mt Egmont ahead of me. Going down a few river valley’s I past a big milk factory where is an over size cow out the front. Riding into hawera  I stop at the info center(easy to find-just look for the 50m ? high old water tower the i-site is at the bast? of it (you can climb up in side the tower to the look out at the top for $2.50) after I get down from the tower I ride to a friends place where I spend the night.

some where to patea

some where to patea 82 km 

Getting up and on the road by 8am I ride back along the side road that I came down last night until i get back to S.H.3 where I head into the city of wanganui .Finding a cafe near the banks I get some food and pay some bill's before riding along the river for a bit. By the river boat place there is an restored old river paddle steamer  moored  out side. A short stop at the info center to find out places to look out for along the day ride as I have not been this way before on a bike tour . There is a good clinb? out of town passing the winter garden's where there is a nice lake. The days riding is a  mix of some hills and some flat bit’s going though some small towns. Getting to the town of patea around 4 pm I spend some time in the libley? before riding down to the camp ground stoping at a look out to get some photos of the sun set. After  I set up my tent I get some photo’s of the river and have a chat to the other person staying in the camp. As I am charging up my camera batteras and my I phone I have a look at some tv( I only look at about 10 hours of tv a year if that) before having a shower and going to bed for the night

Tielcey park to some where

Tielcey park to some where 90 km

After doing the last of the packing I say good bye to the two cat’s that I look after-a friend will be looking after then when I’m away. Getting on the road around 8:30 am I stop at the supper market to get some food for the day and a few other thing’s like toilet paper. Riding into town I do a few odd job's . Going to the info center to find out places to look out for on the days ride also to work out where to aim for to spend the night. Getting out of town around 10:30 I ride along S.H.3 riding up mt stewart where I stop at the rest area having a look at the country side from the look out . Riding thought the towns of Sanson and Bull’s. After Bull’s there is a few river valley’s to ride down into then back back up along the flat’s. Along the way there is an old block house from the time of the  maori land war? I stop to have a good look around the block house before getting back on the road. Around 5 km out of Wanganui I spot a sing? pointing to a camping ground down a side road so I go down the side road to the camping as it is starting to get dark. After getting some photos of the lake near the camp ground I get to the camp and  set up my tent up for the night

my new back wheel

my new back wheel

I picked up my new  back wheel (well it has my old hub in it but new spokes and a new rim ) on monday from the bike shop in town  and changed over some of the parts from the old wheel that I had been using (spoke reflector’s , the cassette also the tube but not the tire as i had a side wall fall on the tire fail on the way to the bike shop so had to get a new tire at the same time as I pick up the wheel  

going on a bike tour

going on a bike tour

on monday I’m off on a 3-4 week bike tour -yes I know it is winter time. Why now? It’s been over a year from the last big bike tour that I did and I like to go on at lest one long bike trip each year (more the better)  so where i’m I going on this trip ? I going to see some friends also go a few place’s that I not been to before on the bike (maybe even a few places that I never to before in my trips around New Zealand) 

here is a list of some of the place’s that I’m thinking of going to on this trip- Wanganui, Hawera, New Plymouth, Te Kuiti (where my mum lives), Hamilton, Paeroa, Thames, Tauranga(to see some friend’s),Opotiki,east cape,Gisborne, Napier. I’m not sure how many place’s I will get to on the trip(if I run out of time I can just fold up the bike and get a lift back to palmerston north with some one)

what about my training for  the taupo ride - I will still be doing the training I will just have some new roads to train on each day as I ride around parts of the north island 

getting a bike fit done

one of the things that was on my to do list for taupo has been to get a bike fit done so that I'm when I am on the bike I'm riding as comfortably and efficiently as possible


as my bike was hand made to fit me by bike friday  there was not much that needed to be changed in the bike set up but it is good to have some one who know what there are doing to to have a good look at how I am siting on the bike -I got the saddle level (as it had slipped over time)  and a few other little things done to fine tuned my position on the bike 


different people have different idea's on bike fitting(that is to say people have different idea's on what bike fitting is and the best way to do it)


here is some web site's on bike fitting and where to get a bike fit done


http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html


http://www.pedalpushers.co.nz/ (Palmerston north-the place where I got my bike fit done)


http://www.ibikefit.co.nz/ (Auckland)


http://www.cyclefit.co.nz/ (Nelson)


http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/ (Australia)