ohakune to jerusalem

ohakune to jerusalem 55 km

after packing up my tent I have a chat to a bike touring that I met yesterday for an hour  of so I say good bye and head in to town to do some food shopping (getting 3 days of food as there is no shops past raetihi until wanganui ) and have a look around the train  staining? - there is part of the train that was recovered from the whangahu river  (from the  tangiwai disaster christmas eve 1953  where 151 people lost they lives) heading out of town towards the town of raetihi  where I head to the info center to get info on the river road .after having a chat to some people about the bike I start riding a long the river road (a road that took over 30 years to construct and was opened in 1934) .A few km out of raetihi it starts to rain (and it keeps raining on and off for the rest of the day) working over rolling hills to pipiriki where I start riding beside the whanganui river after pipiriki the road becomes a gravel road jus wide enough for two cars to pass if they take care climbing up to river vile? in a few places there is bad washboard so lot’s of bumps (from logging trucks?) after a slow and rught down (take your time on this road and ride with care) I get into the town of Jerusalem where I stop to have a look at the old convent and church (built in the 1890s ) after having a look around the grounds and inside the church I head back to my bike and try to work out where I will be spending the night as I was looking at the map some one asks me if I was lost after replaying that its hard to get lost on the river road as you can only end up in two places (ratihi and the other end of the road near wanganui) I said that I was just working out where I was going to spend the night after some more chatting to the people there They said to come up and stay the night in the convent (I seem to remember that people can stay there for about $25 ) after a bit of a wint? as there was a meeting going on. after being showing around the place I was offer some food (left over from the meeting?) then I was showing to the room where I was to sleep before the people that I had been chatting to went away (there is a care taker? that lives in a house near by) so I had a shower to wash off the mud and sweat off before going to bed for the night

te kutit to ohakune by train and bike

doing the last of my packing I diside to have one last look at  the train as I did the road a few weeks ago -the train was going to coust $80 but then it went down to $50 so I desideit to go on the train to nat? park getting my mum to drop me off at the train I find out the train people have some how  forgotten to tell the people on the train about me? as my name was not on the list any way I got on the train -no charge for the bike (I love having a folding bike) after getting the suff up work out i sat down to enjoy the train trip going though a mix of bush and farm land on the way going around the raurimu spiral -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raurimu_Spiral

just past the spiral is the town of np where i got off the train -in the rain (thats stays around for the rest of the day)  after a bout an hour or two of talking to a few people about the bike and having some food I start down the road only to find my bike comper is not working -needs a new batter (done 10900 km from the last time I put a batter in it about 14 months ago )$6 later (ouch small town pirzes) its working  so I head down the road for about 20 km before going down a side road to the start of the old ohakune coach road

http://www.ohakunecoachroad.co.nz/

the track starts off as a gravel road before going though a gate and going over a stream then the track is a new narrow track about a M wide in places it goes a long tho old coach road (very bumpy with lots of mud) passing the old the taonui viaduct and a few side tracks to the hapuawhenua viaduct and to an old train tunnel be for getting into ohakune about 8:30 pm after getting some food and put the bike lights on  I head back down the road going to the doc camp for the night

the old ohakune coach road

some photos from the old ohakune coach road

some where to te kuiti 101 km

some where to te kuiti 101 km

After packing up camp I head down the road until I get to the town of mokau where I have a look at my phone to have a look at my email. riding over some rolling hills (NZ has a lot of hills to ride over) along the coast until I get to awakino where the road heads inland along the awakino? River with the road slowly heading up hill. In the awakino gorge there is a nice one lane road tunnel to ride though before the road climbs over some more rolling hills most of the way to te kuiti passing the S.H3/4 turn off and going over the  last big hill into the town te kuiti. heading north out of te kuiti for a few km I ride to my mums place to stay with her a bit

new Plymouth to some where 74km

new Plymouth to some where 74km

after packing up my tent and saying good bye to some new friends I leave the race course around 10 am and head in to town to get some food for the day before heading down to the coast bike/walk way. as I come up on the  pathway I see a few tents set up as bike fixing places - it turns out that it's an event called the big bike fix up where people can get they bikes cheeked over and basic fixing done for free as part of bike week(month?) so after chatting to some people for a bit about bikes I have the bike friday look over (ended up having a link taking out of the chain to help with the gearing)they also end up giving me some spare cables and break pads so a big thank you to the people who put the event on. leaving new Plymouth by the pathway I get back on the road at bell block and head over some rolling hills until I get to Urenui where I stock up on food for the next 2 days then after riding a near flat 15 km I start climbing up Mt messenger - just after the top there is a fun short tunnel to ride though and a very fun 5 km down hill where I get up to some fun speed going around some of the bends about 10-15 km/h faster the  road sings says to do it to do (only do this on a tour  when you know how the bike will handed with gear on ).after riding over some more rolling hills its time to find some where to set up camp for the night. I end up camping where I stay last time I was up in this part of NZ

some where to new Plymouth 35 km

some where to new Plymouth 35 km

after packing up my camp in a field on the side of the road in the rain I get some photos of the old bridge that was near to where  I had set up camp for the night I head down the road flowing the bike trail sings (for people looking at doing the bike trail bring a good map as the bike trail zigzags a lot on back road as it heads towards the coast at bell block) riding down back roads until I get to bell block where I miss a turn and have to do some back tracking  to get back on the bike trail. for the last few km in new Plymouth the bike trail is on the cost bike/walk way. going to the info center to get a map to find my way to the race course I do some shopping and do some washing before heading to the race course to pick my ride pack for the fun ride and set up camp for the next 2 nights(the camp at the race course was part of the fun ride) going back in to town to get some food for the fun ride and endit going to subway for tea (at subway I saw some people from Palmerston north? in town for the fun ride small world) heading back to the race course to get some sleep (getting an easy night as the fun ride starts at 7:30 am)

tahora lookout to some where

tahora lookout to some where

after packing up and saying good bye to the people that I had meet the night before I heady down the hill and along the road stoping a few times to get some photos before getting in the  town of whangamomona where I had a look around the old pub and chat to some people (like the people from last night that just happened to be there at the same time as I was passing )for about an hour or so (when you have all day to get some where why rush : ) after leaving town I start the climb over whangamomona saddle going though a mix of farms and bush after the saddle the road is mostly flat until the pohokura saddle where I turn off S.H.43(the bike trail turns off the highway and takes a zigzag way to the coast to stay on back roads) the road is gravel with lots of bumps (bad washboard from the trucks)on the down hills going over the ? saddle there is around 2-3 inches of very soft sand and gravel mix right across the road in places making it very hard to ride in with the bike and trailer wanting to go all over the place also with the bike and trailer sinking down a few inches most of the time (so not nice riding at all) on the down hill. going along the road I miss the place that I was going to stay the night (an old school house at p? )as there is no sings I keep riding over move hills and though an old one lane tunnel riding along back roads until about an hour before dark when I knock of a framers door to a) find out where I was (I knew I was still on the bike trail I just did not know how any town were) b)to ask about some where to put my tent up for the night as it was getting dark I end up camping near an old bridge for the night

taumarunui to tahora lookout

taumarunui to tahora lookout

leaving the camp ground I head the 4 km back into town stocking up on food for the next 3 days (last shops until new Plymouth) going in to info center to find out info on the forgotten world highway only to find out they did not have much info on the bike trail (so have a good look on line before doing the bike trail) leaving town along the river road (S.H.43) there is a few small hills to warm up on before the big hills start and keep coming the land scape if a mix of farm land and bush with part of the road being gravel going though the Tangarakau gorge at one point the road passes though a nice old one lane tunnel  near the end of the day a nice framer gives me a drink as I was having a chat to them (it is a hot day with me going though nearly 4 L of water over the day (I have 4 drink bottlers and a camel back with me) I end up camping at a nice place at the top of tahora saddle ($10 a night) chatting with some people until late(i’m never any good at remembering the names of the people that I met on the road)

back on the road next week

hi there
I will be back on the road from next week going down to a fun ride in taranaki going down by the forgotten highway- a nice ride down some new roads for me (yep there is still a few roads I have not bike on yet : ) the the plan is to head up north for a bit then back down the north island to do one or two fun rides and maybe help out at hoy (hoy-horse of the year show -big horse event) other then that I don't have any plans where to go next or spend the winter ( some times I do a list of places that I would like to see and sit down with a map to work out how to get to the places)

I'm not sure when I will be up dating this blog (when even I get around to it as each post can take me an hour or more to type up) there is a few post that i have done that need to be spell check before they go up on the net

any way keep an eye out for me as I ride around nz and if you or some one you know has a place that I can put up my tent for a night or two let me know by email or txt (my info is on the bike friday club of nz page or leave me a comment ) maybe one day i might set up a face book page if I can work out how?

Im still around

I been a little busy latey as I am no longer at teilcey park in palmerston north - I'm staying with my mum in te kuiti when im not on the road -last week I went down to palmerston north with my mum to pick up some of my suff on the way back from there (going to te kuiti) my mums bus needed to get some suff fixed so we were stuck in taihape for most of the last week I have a few pages of txt and photos to put up some time in the next few days -time to works on the bikes- no sure where Im going next on tour or which bike I will take with me

taupo ride report

taupo ride report

here is my ride report for my 640 bike ride doing 4 laps of lake taupo

(there may be the odd thing that i have not got right or got mix up here as there is a lot of the ride that I don’t remember  well)

up at 5:30 am and ready to get on the road about 6 am I ride the 12 km into town  at a easy pace knowing the next few days will be a long ones  getting in to town around 7 am I get some food and a few last min things like a spear break cable before heading to the great lake center(GLC) where I pick up my riders bag and gps tracker (the gps is so people will know where I am as I do the 4 laps around the lake (the gps was not that good this year it stop working some where between lap 1and 2  ) 

 tim and Lis give me a hand getting ready I have a 10 min look around the bike expo then onto the  ride briefing  where I get a lot of pepole asking about the bike -even the radio people want to ask me suff  tim ends up having a chat to the radio for me (I don't do talking  radio because of my poor speech ) - if you what people to have a chat to you ride a bike friday. then it time to get on the road and at 10:30 we are off (there were around 12-14 people doing the 4 lap ride ) as I climb up the hill (the first of the many hills to climb over the ride I see my heart rate monitor has stop working after a bit of a play I give up on it - I was going to use it so I knew when to not go so hard up the hills (I like to keep my heart rate below 180 bmp when doing long rides) It's a windy day with some of the riding start into a strom head wind and going down some of the hills I lean the bike into the wind to stay upright (riding in the wind is some thing I am well used to living Palmerston north though it don't make it any easy to do) some where around the 16 km mark I look back and down only to find that I have some how lost my tail bag( I had 2 bags on the bike a hander bar bag and a tail bag that sits on the rear rack) the bag had my rain jacket , bike tools ,spear parts and tubes ,first aid kit spear tire and a few other things like my soft toy pony that had been on my bike trips for the last 6 years. after a chat to tim on the phone I keep riding as tim and Lis will be going for a drive to try and find it .after they chach up to me  with the news of no luck of finding the bag I bowre a few things off them and get back on the road . 

after going over some of  the many hills of the course I past the sing that says 80/80 (80 down with 80 km to go) there are sings that say how far you have done and how far you still have to go also there are sing with fun saying on them after waihi hill the road is flat for the next 40 km  at turangi I met up with my mum (with the bike)and ride with her doing 25-30 km/h until hatepe where she puts the bike on the car then up the hill that I get easy (doing all that hill work when bike touring around east cape pay did  off) after some more riding I get into taupo and stop at the motel where tim and lis are staying and where my food and spear gear is .after I full up my food and drink bottles and replace some of the gear that was lost with the tail bag (I never did find the tail bag )with lis giving me a hand  I had back on the road until I get into the bp ss check point where I sing in after doing a 9:30 lap

lap 2

as I head of in to the sun set I take one last look over the lake before getting back into the hills

some time around 11pm I find a place out of the wind between 2 trees on the side of the road for a 15 min nap  (spending about 45 min off the bike) before getting back on the road near tihoi  I see a bus stop so have a 20 min sleep inside then back on the road until I got to about 25 km out of turangi where I had one last sleep on some gravel just off the road  just after sunrise- being able to sleep anywhere is a skill that I picked up on my life on the road. the hard part for me was I was not tired well mental I was but my legs was fine - I never had sore or tired legs on the ride getting back into taupo around 10 am I restocked my food and water before heading to the bp to sin in and to start lap 3 There is a lot of lap 2 that I don't remember   

lap 3 

it’s still windy as I head back into the hills at tihoi I stop to get a ice cream and some food to help stay awake as I was having  a hard with the heat (hot weather and me don't mix well) I must of look perry bad when my mum and her boy friend came by in the car by the look they give me after some food and water i  got back on the road and keeped riding until  i got to turangi at about 6 pm where I stayed with my mum in the time shear for the night until 5 am when I got back on the road to taupo (doing the 50 km ride to taupo on a pie from the only shop open on the way) getting in to taupo around 8 am before going to the Enduro Breakfast  that was a good get together  before getting back on the road at 11 am for the last lap

lap 4

as I rode over the hills (for the last time!! : ) I had a good think about the ride -what went well ,what I still needy to work on why I was doing the ride and what I will be doing next for fun - if it's not fun why do it (of course  some people have said my idea of fun is some what odd : ) its a hot day for a ride with no wind the tar is melting on the road all I could hear at times is the sound of the bike going though the hot tar - a popping sound at tihoi I stopped next to mums car for some real food - a nice change  from the hammer food in the drink bottles  after that I get back on the road 

and head over a few more hills and some more bottles of water until i get to turaing where mum joins me for a ride  so I had some one to talk to for a change(I had no one to ride with for most of the ride because of my  slow speed and the time I got into taupo for lap 3 )to hatepe where she put her bike on the car and I went over the last big hill of the day then along the flats and some rolling hills in to taupo getting to the GLC (the starting point) at 8 pm  on sunday   

 time on the bike was around 40 hours 

Last post before my Taupo bike ride

With only a few days before the ride I'm a bit worry about the ride as this is the first time I have try a bike ride this long (over 325 km - what I did this time last year doing the  2 lap ride( then aging the most I had done on the bike in a day before that ride was 220 km) so doing the 4 lap 640 km ride this year is a big test for me - training can be hard work as there is few people that have have what i have ( dyspraxia + head injures as well as a few other things like getting hit by a car when I was 13? ) and rid as many km as I do ( around 10,000 km in the last year) I have not been able to get all the training in that I would of like because of a few set backs also because of how my dyspraxia is I don't get sore legs if I over do things so I have to be very carefull  not to over do things and over train as I may hurt some thing and not know it -I do feel some pain when i hurt some thing but not as much and not in the same way that most people do so this year I have been taking more time to recover from training then what I did last year also I did a lot lest longer rides ( over 100 km) this year doing more speed work to get my avery speed up to around 23-27  km/ h ( up from the 15-20km/h avery speed that I was doing last year on training rides

All there is to do now is a few last min jobs like giving the bike one last look over , having a chat to some friends who will be helping me on the ride and a few other things- I will be picking up my ride bag on friday a few hours before the start of the ride ( the ride starts at 10 : 30am sharp on friday-25/11/2011) 

Sent from my iPhone

TDM ride

TDM ride

after waking up 15 min before my alarm went off (better then seeping thought the alarm)

I get ready to go putting my handle bar bag and tail bag on the bike (the bags are so I have some where for the extra food and spear folding tire and a few other bit and pieces ( as I cant drive I have to take my extra food and some other suff with me as  I do the ride unlike the others who can leave suff in they cars) having a look at the weather forecast i see its going to be a long and wet day out on the bike so i put on an ice breaker top .after fulling up my water bottles i head out the gate and down the road stoping after about 5 km to take the sleeves of my jacket (it's a vest/jacket) back on the road I head though town at one point as I’m wanting for some light to change about 10 drunks from a near by bar start yelling abuse at me and start coming my way so i should down the road at about 25-30 km/h to get away- I can still get up some goods speed at 2:30 am (should of gone the other way into town) at the gull service station i met up with the other riders who are doing the 2 laps and at 3:30 am start down the road .

lap one 

 siting at the back I see the tail lights of the other riders as I ride down the road .after a stop to take my rain jacket off I slowly cache  back up with 2 of the other riders  passing then a few km on the other side of Ashhurst? at the start of the rolling hills  at Cheltenham I take a 5 min break and say good bye to the 2  riders that I had passed as they are doing to 80 km loop because of the weather I keep doing the 115 km loop going over more rolling hills At one my knees start getting sore (some thing that I have had to deal with over the last few years I know what it is and it's not going to get worse so I keep riding) near h i start having some food issuers (I work out whats going on and add a few things to the to do list for taupo) as I get back to the start and mix up my food for lap 2 I take a 10 min break  before heading down the road for lap 2  

lap  2 

lap 2 is a lot like lap ones was with more wind and rain some where along the way i decide to just leave the rain jacker off and see if the ice breaker top will keep me warm (i have a spear top cycling top in my hander bar bag if I start getting cold) between the rolling hills the ice breaker top I stay nice and warm on the ride after fielding I start to pick up some speed having the ch f (that was the ride bag) to give me a some extra energy after getting back to the gull 

all up the ride was 256 km long (taking about 14 - 15 hours (I’m not sure what the time was as myheart rate comper don’t like the rain and played up) with lots of wind and rain so it was a  long day out on the bike and a good test for taupo

the plan for taupo

the plan for taupo

here is my plan for the taupo ride -some of it is still being work on 

I will be leaving Palmerston north around the 17/11/2011 taking 3-4 days to ride up to taupo going a mix of S.H.1 and back roads

In taupo I will be staying at the nation equestrian center out at Aratitia (or maybe at Reids farm - I will decide where I will be camping when I get up to taupo) I will be spending the time that I am in taupo before the ride to have a good look around and do some riding (just short rides so I don't over do things )

 my plan for the ride

I’m looking at getting in to taupo around 7:30 am on friday so that I have a few hours before the start to do the last min things like picking up my riders pack I’m looking at being ready to go around 9:30-9:45 am with the ride briefing at 10:15 am and the start of the ride at 10:30 am - so if any one wants to see me before the start of the ride come and see me before 10 am

as for support crew my mum may be able to help on the first lap(I will know for sure closer to the time if she can still help me with that) with 2 of the laps some friends (one is  doing the 2 lap ride) said that they should be able to give me a hand ( still working on that part of the plan) I do have other plans if my mum or friends cant be there to give me a hand-when doing planing I like to have a few back up plans for if  things change  

food and drink

I will be using hammer perpetuem and heed (+ some gel’s ) for fuel and drink - I have room for 4 water bottles on the bike (for the perpetuem and heed) on my back I will have a camelback with 1.5 L water in it (if it is a how day I will full up my camelback with water in taupo and turangi)   my back up plan for refueling is mixing the perpetuem and heed in taupo at the start of each lap

sleep

It this point in time im not sure where I will have a short sleep I will decide that on the ride as I see how I go on the day (last year before the start of the 2 lap ride I only had a hour of sleep and did ok on that- when I start to get tired I will  start to look for some where to sleep then : )

gear

if I have the time before the ride I will do a post (on the blog ) on what gear I will have on the bike with me and what I will be wearing as I ride around the lake

fixing suff on the bike

in case some thing stops working on the bike I will have some tools and  a few spare parts with me on the bike and will work out a way to keep riding (as I do a lot of bike touring I am used to fixing the bike on the side of the road )I will also have a small first aid kit on the bike

This is the plan as of 03/11/2011 - some of it may change once I get to taupo and also on the day (weather and other people and suff like that) so if any one would like to ask me some thing to do about the 

plan or other suff to do with the ride just leave a comment or email me