Day 12 Notes

Today as I said good bye to Ohakune I realised how lucky I was to have a clear day yesterday on the mountain as the cloud was covering it this morning. The cloud did eventually blow away but I would not like to wait for that to happen. I picked the perfect day.   On paper today’s cycle should have been an easy cycle mostly downhill and only 90km. The reality was the back roads are hard, out of the 90km about 55km was gravel and lots of loose gravel to boot. At times I think I was doing more drifting than cycling with the choice of skinny wheels and I had to sit on the brakes on the downhills.  Although Hunterville is 300m below  Ohakune I  climbed 1088m and descended 1382m  a lumpy day. I think I am also paying the price for going up the hill yesterday as the legs were feeling very heavy.  After I got to Hunterville  I found the swimming pool and it was awesome to jump in and get wet. Now that I am in Hunterville I am going to alter the course a little and go directly to Ashhurst. This will put me a day ahead of the schedule, but it does give me plenty of breathing room to get to the ferry on the 2^nd March by 4PM.

See GPS data here

The mountain is gone on my way out this morning.

Any guess as to what grows in Ohakune 

The start of the day easy riding.

On to the smaller roads.

Still easy going.

And on to even smaller back roads with gravel.

The easy gravel.

Looking back the cloud has gone.

A foot in each district, check out the gravel road.. there was 40 more km of that.

Typical of the day.

Love those hills. It is the real country.

In Hunterville and buggered. 

Day 11 Notes

We have just had the only place we going to stay 2 nights on my trip. The rational for the 2 night stay at Ohakune was climbing the Ohakune road up to the Turoa Ski field as a roadie  I wanted to appreciate the climb for what it is  the highest sealed road in New Zealand and a true Cat 1 climb.  So I can officially stay I cycled to the highest road in New Zealand on my trip. The climb is tough, I mean really tough. The profile of my up and down is just classic, it is a 1033m climb over 18km.  The feeling of getting to the top is brilliant, the effort getting to the top is brutal, the views at the top were sensational.  I spend a bit of time at the top and I think this climb should be on all New Zealand cyclists to do list.  I must say I have been so lucky with the weather today it was a cracker.  But wait there is more the climb was the morning after which I had some lunch and a coffee then switch wheels and off on the old coach road. This is the start of the mountains to sea trail.  I got as far as the viaduct which not far in then did a turn around to come back my legs felt heavy from the morning so it was a light afternoon.   I can say Ohakune is a great place to be with a lot of really good cycling at your doorstep. I will be back some day.

The profile from this mornings climb.. up up and up.. GPS data here 

Where i am heading in the morning.

Last look at the flat.

Warning about uphill, don't see those to often.

Up we go.

Half way up.

Got there in  the pokadot jersey

The views.. wow wow wow.

Old coach road.

More climbing on the old coach road.

For Rachel with love.

On the tracks on the old coach road.

The viaduct 

On the viaduct.

Another view of the viaduct

It was rude not to.

Not that i did much the the start of the trail.

The train station.

Day 10 Notes

Wow day 10 already. Today was an easy ride from Taumarunui to Ohakune all on road. It felt like I was flying today road all the way and no hard winds. The ride from Taumarunui  to the national park is a good ride with a few good uphill sections. Looking at the gps data it was over 1000m of climbing but after yesterday it felt easy. My new theory is if you want to improve you road hill climbing, go do trail hills.  Got snaps of three wooden sculptures placed along the way for entertainment. Then  had a stop for a coffee at  national park. Meet a guy from Wanaka who had been cycling for 7 weeks ( wow) he had a trailer on his bike and had been through the timber trail. That was impressive as I worked hard doing it with just a bike and hardly any gear.  The road from National Park to Ohakune is very fast. 

Wooden moa. Leaving Taumarunui 

wooden t-rex

wooden kiwi.

Great view from the road.

National Park. Wow.

Where I go tomorrow.