Day 11 - Palmy to Masterton

Today I was targeting either Masterton or Martinborough. In the end it was a comfortable finish in Masterton rather than a big day and late finish in Martinborough.

I'm still on target to get home to Wellington tomorrow.

The day started with a climb over the Pahiatua Track. Not a huge amount of fun with the truck and trailer units coming past. The rest of the day was on back country roads through Wairarapa farm land with pretty much no traffic.

I met up with some other riders in a Pahiatua coffee shop, who I've caught up with at various stages before and during the Tour. I rode with for the rest of the day which was both fun and helped with riding into the blustery and squally southerly.

In Masterton I managed to return a pair of sun glasses to their owner, I had been carrying them since Taumaranui, after he had lost them before Mangakino - a long story that I'll  spare you from.

Quite a bit of gear is getting scattered around the country! I also had picked up a random jandel which I united with its owner in Pipiriki to its owner's surprise. One rider seems to have almost a daily post of something they have lost.

In Masterton we decided on an earlier 4pm finish rather than taking on the extra 50km to Martinborough.

We're riding through what at times seems like a maze of backroads. I'm primarily using course files loaded on my Garmin cycle computer to direct me, together with the Kennett Brothers guide book, plus also the MAProgress.com ap which gives a quick high level view of where I am vs the course.

An anaemic kiwi in Ekatahuna.

An obligatory photo of a wind turbine..

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 21 Haast to Wanaka slightly longer version

Image
Yesterday started with a fairly flat 50km ride up to the start of the Haast Pass climb.This was going to be a bigger day at approx 150km to Wanaka. It's now noticeably darker in the mornings with sunrise after 7.30am vs 7am st Cape Reinga. It's also noticeably colder in the mornings. After a misty start the weather was spectacularly good and the scenery remains outstanding. I saw a couple of other TA riders for the first time in a few days. I had last seen this couple at the start of the Timber Trail in the middle of the North Island where we had shared accommodation. The Haast Pass is a fantasticly scenic ride and a decent climb. However I was soon wheeling it down the other side to Makarora for coffee. From Makarora I rode alongside Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. I finished the day off with 30kms along the Hawea River and Wanaka Outlet trails to Wanaka arriving about 7pm. Wanaka was buzzing with life, prob boosted by the A...
Read more

Day 24 - the big finale Mossburn to Bluff

Image
The last day! Today's objective was to get to the finish line at Bluff, which I did relatively easily by about 3.00pm. I started early at 6.45am while it was well and truly dark. I was mindful that I had 140km to ride and the forecast was a tad average, although this was to be the first and only day with no climbs. After 15km my back tyre was a tad soft. I had a go at pumping it up, but that only lasted 2km so I replaced the tube. I've not had a lot of fun fixing punctures with this bike. I've done a quite a few over the years but I've struggled to get these tyres both off and back on and today was no exception - and it did take quite a while today to fix. I was really grateful for the tail wind today as it would have been a long hard day otherwise. However, the large number of Sounds 2 Sounds riders I stayed with last night and also passed in the early morning going in the opposite direction were less enthusiastic about what was a head wind for them. Today's ride w...
Read more

So how was my gear looking back?

Image
So how was my gear looking back? Bike Giant Trance 29.1  full suspension  - my steed for this trip, also being what I have in the garage. Generally the preferred steeds are either 29 hard tails or gravel bikes.  I was happy with my bike on the trip. I had the suspension locked for most of the trip, although I half opened it on a number of trails such as the Timber Trail and Bridge to Nowhere, and fully opened it on the Mangatapu descent which was a blast. Tyres - 2x  Vittoria Mezcal 2.25   - good reviews for this fast rolling tyre. Tyres worked well and rolled nicely. Only issue was a cut in the rear tyre going into Arapuni, which ultimately caused some ongoing issues right through to the last day **Aero bars  Profile Design Sonic Ergo 43A   - to rest my hands.  Existing handlebars are 35mm which are too big for aeros. So have fitted  BBB bar ends  as bull bars  onto the handlebar. Have used a gel/cork handlebar tape. Seems to work...
Read more