Heaps of Hills

On Thursday morning, I picked up my touring bike from R&R Sports in Auckland and started my ride off to the west and northwards along the western coast of the North Island. (Doug Wester, at R&R Sports was a great help, doing an on-the-spot bike fit using my Serrota bike fit stats and his own measurements. After three days on the road, no tweaks, so things were perfect. Thanks, Doug!!) The ride out of Auckland was, predictably, urban, trafficked and a bit confusing. But, following the little blue signs for the Northwest Route, I made it into more pastoral settings in the third hour of the day.

"Heaps" is a lovely word in New Zealand and Australia, meant to express a large abundance of something. Well, when I asked several people if there were any hills between Auckland and Wellsford, heading up Highway 16, the universal response was "heaps." They were not kidding.

Pedaling a bike with 22 kilos of gear in the panniers, is no picnic. I knew I would not be doing a usual 28 kph, but averaging 16-19 kph was even less than I expected. But, into the wind, up and down big hills were a match for me on Thursday.

At the end of the first day, I was knackered. Much longer, and much tougher to Wellsford than I had planned, but I pulled into the Kings Court just after sunset, had some beers and food in town and got a good sleep before taking off the next day, Friday, for my second day of riding.

67 miles in 6 hours of riding is no world record, but I am learing to take my time, go slow up the big hills, ride slow and enjoy the adventure. It is a long haul.

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