Day 13 Matamata to Mangakino

We are up early, about 6am, it's still dark. Sau Keng is far more active than me at these times. I want to keep sleeping, she want's to get organised and on the road. Sau Keng prevails. It's quite cold. We think about what it might be like in a month's time and 1000km South. 7:30 we are on the road "late" says Sau Keng.

We ride past Kiwi St, in the unlikely event there are signs of life we will drop in to thank Paul - The house looks deathly quiet and we continue onto Centennial Drive, which I really like. Apart from being a bit chilly it's a perfect morning clear and calm, beautiful riding as we cruise through back roads, heading for SH29.

I recognise one of the hills. We came this way last time we rode here - the trike battery ran out on the way home and I pushed Sau Keng up here!

SH29 is straight, reasonably wide and has a very good shoulder, giving us our own lane to ride in. It also has LOTS of traffic, much of it trucks, driving at the speed limit. Sau Keng does not like it at all. But there is no alternate, so she perseveres, riding at maximum speed when the road is clear, slowing or stopping when trucks pass.

Fortunately it is only 10 kilometers to SH29 and one more on SH1 until we turn off.

We are in a different, peaceful world again :-) This is so nice. The river trail starts a few km in. We take it, though for the first 5 km it just runs beside the road, which would be much easier riding. Finally the track turns off the road and follows the river. This is what we are here for. Lovely.

First sight of the Waikato river

Which way is up?

Easy riding until we approach Arapuni, when the track steeply climbs out of the river valley. One bit is particularly steep. Sau Keng tries it, takes it slow and rides though. I had to stop while waiting for her and cannot restart... probably would not get up anyway... I walk this bit. One up to the trike - well driven dear. The track takes us to the back of Arapuni, by a park and the entrance to a swing bridge giving easy access to the power station. The bridge is open to the public and we like bridges, so we ride across, take photos and return.

The Rhubarb cafe is highly recommended but was closed last time we were here. Today it is open, the time is 11:30 - perfect! We can get lunch and Sau Keng can attend a meeting. As we walk in Sau Keng is greeted by one of the diners, she knows Sau Keng from Waste Management days. Small world - and lots of people remember and can recognise Sau Keng.

We also meet our 'neighbor', David, from last night and four more Tour Aotearoa (TA) riders. Sau Keng sets up shop as I order lunch.

David

The morning was the easy ride - excepting the traffic on SH29. This afternoon will be harder. We ride out of Arapuni, cross the dam and spot an Ice Cream truck we visited last time. The ice cream was good and the man friendly so we support him by visiting again. As we chat he says he provides the ice cream for the War Birds display, I ask if he knows Doug Brooker, who owns the company I work for - he does. Small world.

A few kilometers on, we are back on our preferred back roads :-) A big climb, then while we rest the TA cyclists we met at lunch pass us. We come to them again, they are resting. We stop too and chat, we can tell them about the options for getting to Mangakino. The 'proper' route is a track by the lakeside - graded Advanced - but not so bad - we rode it with the trike. The alternate is to use the road - which has a decent climb, but is rather faster. We encourage them to take the track - though we are taking the road - once on the track was enough for Sau Keng.

The road takes us down - to the lake? I hope... But no, we climb again, higher than before. Finally a huge downhill run to the lake - exhilarating for me, tiring for Sau Keng as she has to hold the brakes for so long. The TA riders pass again as I wait for Sau Keng. Lake Waipapa, the start of the track (no thanks) and the TA riders swimming :-) A few hundred meters by the lakefront and we are climbing again. After a while I wonder if my bike is okay - it seems heavy, hard to push. I get a bit ahead, stop and check it. It's all okay? ... We are following a stream to it's head and so must be climbing - even though it looks level here. With my head adjusted the bike feels okay again.

The climbing continues, abates, resumes. At last the long zoom down to Mangakino :-) We stop for a photo at the town sign and the four TA riders pull up. They took the road - wimps ;-) We take photos of them and they of us.

Check in at Maraetai lodge, an old building very well renovated. We like it. Drop our gear and head back to town before the shops shut. The TA riders are there too. Dinner at the local RSA, very good and generous helpings. The TA riders are there too and help us find accommodation in Ongarue - we had thought we will have to ride all the way to Taumarunui tomorrow - another 24km, making 110 for the day. They also reassure Sau Keng that SH30 will not be as busy as SH29 - which is on the route between Hamilton and Tauranga.

Back 'home' we meet David. He looks knackered. David was supposed to meet a friend at a campground rather than coming here... We get the story, he has had a hard afternoon. First he took a wrong turn trying to get to the Arapuni swing bridge, this took him to a very steep track where he fell off his bike. Later, after passing us he missed the turnoff to the campground where he was to meet a friend and instead continued to Lake Maraetai where his Garmin navigator directed him to the lakeside track we avoided. With all the gear on the bike this was quite a challenge and very slow going... He was part way through when his Garmin displayed 'end of route' - Very unsettling as he had been following it closely. David continued by following the trail markers and eventually got to Mangakino, discovered what he had done, and decided to find a place here. His friend can drive to him - he's not riding 20km back!

Bed is looking very good tonight

Statistics

Distance: 85.3km

Climbed: 1116m

Time: 5:26