Time to leave the frozen Sarasota tundra as it is 39 degrees this Sunday morning…a cold winter day here, lol. We spent a few months in Sarasota since arriving in the US in May and a couple months this fall in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
We are off for the next ten months to explore over eight countries. Just over two years ago we decided to sell our home and cars, stepping away from our lifelong professional careers (see more about this decision and “Living Around the World 1.0” here. )
Our next adventure begins in New Zealand! Why adventure? I will be attempting to cycle the length of New Zealand in what is called the Tour Aotearoa.
The Tour Aotearoa is a bicycle ride across New Zealand, 3000 kilometers (about 1800 miles). It begins at “the top” of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. Cyclists have 30 days to pedal to Bluff, at the tip of New Zealand’s South Island. The route includes a one one day ride down beautiful “90 mile” beach, mountainous single track trails, ferries, river crossings by bike, swing bridges, old logging roads, gravel and thankfully some sealed trails and roads. Just over 600 cyclists will attempt the ride with most from New Zealand and Australia with others from the US, UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Brazil and Iceland.
It is “summer” in New Zealand but New Zealand is one of those places that can experience all four seasons in a day in some areas. When in New Zealand January 2016 we jokingly said that “Auckland in the summer was the coldest winter we have experienced”. Just this past week they had a major storm that saw 100 km wind gusts! The forecast for our first week however is mid 70s with sun.
I am not exactly sure how the idea for this ride came about, but we met a kiwi in January 2016 named John that worked at the Christchurch YMCA who did the ride in 2016. Then we met Jen from Boise (jensgreatescape.com) in Cambodia at a yoga retreat. Jen rode her bike through Laos, Cambodia and Thailand…by herself with all gear and “luggage”. Long story shorter, Jen and I talked ourselves into signing up for the 2018 February start.
To me the challenge, exercise and fitness are motivating. And the beauty of New Zealand is awesome. Tracey and I have seen much of New Zealand when we visited for four months in 2016, but we will see more on this trip and certainly from a different perspective!
Once we land in Auckland after more than 36 hours on planes and in airports, the plan is to do some training on the North Island from January 10 – February 10, then some tapering and rest in Auckland until the ride begins February 26.
There are no hills in Florida so this whole cycling adventure is dependent on how well I can tackle the very hilly and varied New Zealand terrain. My training in Florida of course involved virtually no elevation gains…aside from the John Ringling Bridge in Sarasota, a short five percent grade.
I did meet a small alligator on the path while training!
My “phase one” training in Florida did have some setbacks with a bit of tendinitis. Many thanks to my physical therapy crew at Sarasota Memorial, a couple cortisone shots in the knee along with a computerized bike fit in getting me back on track. Village Bikes in Sarasota, Josh and Axel, helped me prep the bike and some gear.
Arrival in Auckland!
It’s Tuesday, 9th of January…lost a day somewhere over the dateline, lol. We have hit the ground running! Well, after an hour to get through the Customs line. New Zealand takes very serious the import of any items that may contain fungus, bugs or other agents harmful to the horticulture of New Zealand. The tent we brought was thoroughly examined (thanks Dan and Renae for the tents) and deemed pest free. The bike made it through, thankfully I gave it a decent clean before leaving.
All of the baggage makes it. We thought we did a good job packing the bike, but apparently not good enough. With three connecting airports and a total of five airports, Delta Airlines tossed the bike around pretty good. Thankfully the bike appears in good shape, unlike the box!
We drive about two hours north of Auckland for our first night. This will give us a head start as we head up to the “top” of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. Our stay is in Warkworth at a friendly place called Bridgehouse Lodge.
The lodge sits on a small river and we enjoy a bit of dinner. The wine, Seafood Chowder and Lamb Chop salad are excellent!
It doesn’t take long to crash once we are back in the room. I think we only had a couple hours sleep each during our 40 hours of straight travel.
Wednesday
We are up at 8 am and I commence to piecing the bike together. All looks well despite the damage to the bike box.
Today’s journey takes us up through the Northland area. It is about a four hour drive. Since we have a few errands we decide not to ride today. So we pick up some gear, food and other sundries and head to Kaitaia. We will base here for the night and check out some of the routes and facilities we will encounter during the actual cycling brevet.
We visited this region during our four month stay in 2016 and the area is beautiful. It is filled with rolling hills, beaches, waterfalls, and several small towns. Only a few thousand people live here full time, although it probably doubles on weekends and holidays in the New Zealand summer.
We have a good dinner at The Beachcomber. The seafood platter and tarakihi for the fresh fish.
Thursday
Up at 7 a.m. for a little brekkie and coffee before the 90 minute drive up to Cape Reinga. The ride down 90 mile beach has to be timed around low tide which is around noon today. At low tide the sand on the beach is harder or more packed. The theory is you have three hours of good riding before low tide and four hours after. I want to do at least part of the ride to ensure I can tackle the sand part of the course.
It’s a beautiful drive up to the Cape. As we approach the tip the area is engulfed in fog! We cannot see the water, the lighthouse or beautiful sand dunes and mountains from parking area. I am a bit apprehensive about starting out in the fog. It takes a little time to prep the bike and I am on my way at 9:30 am.
It is several miles to 90 mile beach and it includes some large ascents on the way! Hello hills! So it looks like it won’t be just about the sand today.
The route to the beach continues down a gravel road for a couple miles before coming to enormous sand dunes. The route says to take the path beside the stream. There is no path so I take the stream!
After hitting some very soft sand which requires walking, I finally hit the beach. Beach and Tasman Sea for as far as the eye can see…and virtually no one in sight.
Tracey catches up with me 42 km and 1,276 elevation climb later! A nice first ride in NZ!
Tracey did make it back to Cape Reinga for some sunny pictures. Quite different than when we started out up there this morning in the fog!
Friday – Let’s Test the Hills!
Today has many hills along the way with the route being about two thirds gravel on an old logging road. After a couple steep climbs I come to the very small town of Broadwood.
Here I meet Clive from England. Clive is 62 years old who does forensics police work back home. He is taking the next 45 days to ride all of New Zealand. Great to see some other people that have lost their minds as well!
The gravel climb has spectacular views and winds through some beautiful landscapes including forests. It ends with a nice decent to beautiful Hokianga Bay on the other side.
Here I catch the ferry to the beautiful town of Rawene on the other side. It is great to see Tracey waiting when the ferry arrives!
We spend the evening in Opononi. It is a small, very cool bayside town. It has awesome views of the surrounding mountains and enormous sand dunes.
And a 3rd Ride!
We pack up and are out the door at 10 am. I decide to get the training over early in the day as opposed to riding part of the route into Dargaville. I decide it doesn’t really matter since there are plenty of hills all along the next couple days of the route.
As we walk from our room we see the Aussies we met at dinner last night. Lee and Liz are doing a motorcycle tour of New Zealand.
Here is a picture of Lee and I with his Fatboy Harley. Now this is the bike I should be riding! Maybe next time!
The climb starts right away and the quads are a little sore from the prior two days of riding. An RV trip around New Zealand is starting to sound better and better! Looking more and more to the RV trip around the US in the years to come.
I make it up the last ascent which is about four miles that feels like straight up. It turns out that it is around an eleven percent grade.
The top is rewarding as I pass New Zealand’s largest Kauri Tree. The best reward for all the climbing is a six mile winding descent! No strenuous pedaling and grinding and lots of braking. I can see where I will be going through some of these disc brake pads on the bike.
The morning ride ends with another reward at the Waipahu Forest Cafe that sits on a river about a mile down a gravel road. We enjoy a Hangi Wrap, a Mauri concoction cooked in the ground on hot stones, seafood chowder and a sandwich with ham, tomatoes, egg and pineapple…toasted. This all tasted fantastic after burning nearly 2,000 calories on the ride.
This wraps up the initial NZ training and first few days in New Zealand! I am looking forward to a day off before more training kicks in South of Auckland on Monday! Stay tuned and thanks for riding with us! Cheers!
And a few animals along the way…
