Day 14: Turangi to Raetihi

Distance: 88.5k
Distance so far: 876.3k
Speed: 14.8k/h
Runkeeper log: 1

Awesome, awesome day today.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, today was about 85k long, and involved over 1100 meters of climb - probably more distance and a greater climb than any other day I've done so far.

I got up early as usual, had a rather mediocre breakfast at a truckstop - Turangi is lacking in good cafes - and set out for State Highway 47, the road I'd be following for the day. Pretty much as soon as I left town I hit the first hill, locally referred to as 'the saddle', a steep switchback climb for about 6k. Taking this down took a while, but about halfway up I diverted into a lookout for a quick rest stop, and was greeted with the most amazing view.

The photo really doesn't do it justice, though capturing sunrise vistas is difficult even with a decent camera. The view looked out over lake taupo and the forest and farmland around Turangi, and combined with the light in the east from the rising sun and the mist hovering in places made for an incredible view.

After a short pause to admire the scenery, I continued the climb. It was pretty tough, and I could see why locals had suggested a diversion via a gentler route (but that route added nearly 10k to the day's ride, so I opted for the steeper but shorter option). Eventually making the top, I got to enjoy a short downhill segment, plunging straight into some of that fog. Then, it was back to climbing.

Climbing was more or less the order of the day, but the scenery more than made up for it. Throughout the day I was treated to, at various times, views of farmland, pine forest, native forest, alpine tundra, and more. Every so often I would crest a rise and the view would open out and I'd be able to see for miles.

About a halfway to my lunch stop - the oddly named town of National Park - I stopped for a coffee, discovering that an organised ride was headed my way, going in the opposite direction from Wellington to Auckland. Speaking to one of the organisers, I discovered they started the day in Raetihi, and were going all the way to Taupo - a distance of over 130km!

Before the riders could arrive at the stop and find me being lazy, I got back on the ride, encountering the first of nearly 150 cyclists about 10 minutes later. We waved, gave the thumbs up, and shouted encouragement at each other, a process that repeated itself every 5 minutes or so as another group went past. Pretty much universally, thanks to the terrain, this was while I was crawling up a hill, and they were racing down it. Everyone seemed pretty cheerful and friendly, except perhaps the poor guy crawling along on his own at the back.

Continuing on, the terrain continued to be uphill, the scenery continuted to be amazing, and the weather continued to be cloudy but not raining. I made it to National Park at about midday, just in time to stop for lunch. National Park is about 50k into the ride, and almost all the hills are before it, so I was left with 35k to go, consisting of some uphill sections, some flat, and about 20k of gentle downhill at the end.

Another 15k from National Park and the hills were done with, which is exactly when the rain started. Initially light, it rapidly graduated to 'apocalyptic', just in time for me to hit a major set of roadworks, with dirt laid down on the road. Mud ensued, exacerbated by my lack of mudguards.

Shortly thereafter, the rain let up - and indeed, the road beneath me was dry, tending to indicate it hadn't rained here at all. Then the rain was back, and the road waterlogged and covered in puddles. Then the rain was gone again, the road was dry, and it was hot and sunny. Back to the rain. Back to the sun. Then - I am not joking - I rode through about 30 seconds of hail. Then back to the sun. This continued for most of the rest of the road to Raetihi. I've never encountered a clearer example of microclimates - the differences were stark and startling.

Rolling into Raetihi, I found a room for the night at the Snowy Waters Lodge, a backpackers-style affair that clearly caters mostly to skiiers, and is almost completely deserted as a result.

After tackling everything today could throw at me, cycling over 85 kilometers and climbing over a kilometer in altitude, I've come out the other end with legs sore but not worn out - and I feel like I could do it all over again tomorrow. The impact that two weeks worth of riding has had on my fitness and my endurance is remarkable. If I can take a day like this on, I think I can handle damn near anything.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Whanganui river, following it for most of the day on a gravel trail - which is likely to be slow, but hopefully not too much of a hassle. The road's part of NZ's new network of cycle trails, and it'll take me most of the way to Wanganui, on the west coast, before I stop for the night at the charming-seeming Flying Fox.

Day 13: Taupo to Turangi

Distance: 50.5k
Distance so far: 787.8k
Speed: 18.4k/h
Runkeeper log: 1

Today was a fairly easy ride from the town of Taupo, at the north end of Lake Taupo, to Turangi, located at the south end - a distance of about 50km. There was only one hill worthy of the name, a somewhat infamous one amongst people who cycle around Taupo, but not that bad when it doesn't come at the end of a long day. The rest of the day was pleasantly flat, though with plenty of bends to keep me on my toes.

The weather continues to be ominous and threatening, but it didn't start raining until well after I arrived at Turangi. The forecast does not bode well for my next few days ride, however.

Tomorrow I'm continuing on through the Whanganui ranges to the tiny town of Raetihi. It's going to be a hard day - 85k and over 1000 meters of climb. Beyond that, I have even more climbing to look forward to the day after, as well as 40km on a gravel road. In return, though, I can expect some pretty awesome views. I'm hoping against hope that the weather is better than the forecast - rain on top of it would make it pretty unbearable.

Day off in Taupo

I've decided to take today off. Originally, because the forecast was awful, though the weather's looking quite nice now, but it also helps that I'm in Taupo, and there's a lot to do here - something that won't be true for many of my next few stops.

Rafting the Kaituna video

Here's the highlights of the rafting trip, including going down the big waterfall, and getting flipped over.

Day 12: Rotorua to Taupo

Distance: 82.2k
Distance so far: 737.3k
Speed: 18k/h
Runkeeper logs: 1 2

Today's leg, from Rotorua to Taupo, takes me further into the heart of the North Island. Rotorua is pretty much geothermal activity central, but that extends further south, too - there's a beach on Lake Taupo that's so active you can catch a fish, then bury it in the sand to cook it.

I got up early as usual, and had a delicious breakfast at the Fat Dog Cafe, which seems to be something of a Rotorua icon. They do excellent coffee, but the bacon was rather disappointing. It was drizzly in the morning, but I set out anyway, initially in the same gear - merino top and sports shorts - that I usually wear, with the addition of a 'softshell' jacket.

The jacket quickly proved too warm for the conditions, but without it the breeze was too chilly on wet skin, so I swapped to my raincoat - the first time I've needed it, and more for the wind than the rain. That worked for a while, but despite its being Gore-Tex, it still ended up nearly as wet on the inside - from sweat - than on the outside. At my rest stop, I packed it away, and switched to wearing thermal underwear - long sleeved top and pants - under my usual cycling gear, and just tolerating getting wet. This seemed to work pretty well, and even when it started raining for real and I got thoroughly wet, I stayed nice and warm. I realize I sound like an Icebreaker salesperson, but this stuff is simply amazing.

The miserable wet weather continued for pretty much my whole ride, alternating between drizzle, actual rain, and merely threatening. When it wasn't actively raining, the ride was fine, but the drizzle gets in my eyes, making riding difficult, and the front wheels pick up any water on the road, generating rain showers of their own if there's the slightest bit of crosswind. Fenders would be great here, but they still haven't arrived.

Trucks also present interesting challenges in the wet. Ones going the same way are mostly fine, but ones going the other way generate a constant wavefront of atomized water picked up off the road by their wheels. When there's only a little, it's kind of cool watching it roll towards you, but when there's a lot it's like someone coming up and blasting you in the face with a spray bottle every time one goes past.

As far as the scenery goes, today wasn't much to write home about - mostly farmland, some pine forests, and a little native bush, with the occasional geothermal source to break up the monotony. The start was a bit hilly climbing out of Rotorua, but it was even easier than yesterday's climb. Then the route was mostly flat until about 15k from Taupo, where there's another, even easier again, set of hills. On a nice day, it would've made for a fairly pleasant ride.

I'm theoretically headed to Turangi tomorrow, which involves a lovely ride along the shores of lake Taupo, and only one major (and fairly infamous) hill. Depending on the weather, though, I may put it off a day, or ride in the afternoon, when it's supposed to be less rainy.

I'm now roughly 400 meters above sea level, and I'm looking forward to reaping the rewards in the form of downhills when I approach the west coast in a few days.

Rest day in Rotorua

Today was officially a rest day in Rotorua - which doesn't mean I have to actually, you know, rest, just that I don't do any cycling. So I went whitewater rafting.

I had a real blast. The time on the water was less than an hour, but we went through two waterfalls - one, at about 7 meters high, is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world - and a bunch of rapids. Going over the larger waterfall, the raft flipped - we were warned it was a possibility - and so we spent the next few minutes getting everyone back aboard.

More photos here. As you can see, I was wearing my GoPro camera on my helmet, and I've edited together a few of the first-person-highlights, but internet access here at the hostel is pretty pricey, so I won't be able to upload it for a day or two.

I also went on the luge, which, to be honest, was a bit of an anticlimax. I kept thinking that the tracks would be a whole lot more fun on my trike.

Day 11: Lake Karapiro to Rotorua

Distance: 65.2k
Distance so far: 655.1k
Speed: 14.3k/h
Runkeeper log: 1
Have you ever picked up a suitcase, believing it to be full, only to find it empty? That's more or less what today felt like.

I set out later than usual, after a large breakfast kindly provided by my hosts at the Lake Karapiro Lodge, getting on the road around 8AM. The road was already pretty busy, but the shoulder continued to be ample much of the way, and things quietened down a bit - though not as much as I would have liked - after I split off from SH1.

The weather was largely overcast, with ominous looking clouds, though the forecast says no rain until later in the week.

Since I knew I had a lot of climbing lined up, my goal for today was energy conservation: take it really easy on the flats, take rest breaks whenever the opportunity presented itself, and generally take it easy, saving my energy - and my knees - for the climb. I trundled into Tirau, about 15k from my start point and took a short break to stretch my legs and have coffee.

An interesting sculpture I spotted on the way to Tirau.

From there I continued on, taking another short break just after Tapapa, at a cafe in a stand of native bush that I have fond memories of from my childhood, though its name escapes me (and Google Maps fails me). At Tapapa, there were some interestingly decorated - and seemingly fairly recent - Maori totems on display at the Marae:

After that, there were no more rest breaks for the rest of the climb, so I set at it, taking it nice and slow, though pleasingly none of the slopes were so steep I had to resort to my lowest gear.

This is where the easier-than-expected bit comes in. I was still in the grinding-along mindset, figuring I had at least 5k, maybe 10k to go, when things started evening out. Then there was some up and down, with a bit more down than up. Then it was all down, and I was pretty clearly past the top. With impeccable timing, the sun even came out briefly.

The rest of the way to Rotorua was a joy. First, a long gentle downhill stretch with no sharp corners let me roar down the hill at probably about 50k/h for a good 10 or 15 minutes - all of which left me in a "let's go again!" type mood. After that, nice easy straight stretches the rest of the way into town - and having saved my energy for a hill that never materialized, I made short work of those.

I've taken two nights at a Backpackers' here in Rotorua, figuring I'd need the rest day, but I'm half wondering if I really do. My knees are protesting somewhat, but I still feel pretty energetic, and there's a temptation to head on to Taupo, since tomorrow is supposed to be the last non-rainy day I'll get for a while. I'll probably take the rest day, though - there's plenty of interesting ways to spend a spare day in Rotorua, and I'd best tackle the hills on the way to Taupo with fresh legs.