Toku Haerenga Tour Aotearoa 2016

Toku haerenga translates to my  journey. It was a very private trip shared with about 250 riders, thousands of dot followers, immersed by half the population of New Zealand and thrust on the wider world by the power of the web, so as I say a private and very personal journey.

One of the interesting aspects of Tour Aotearoa (TA) looking back was the the Facebook forum, it was a wealth of knowledge, lively debate and a meeting place for a group of people I now genuinely call friends.

Somehow all of this had to fit

Traveling to the start for me was part of the journey flying to Auckland around midnight, was meant to arrive around 10 pm but flight delayed, this became a real pain as I had no fuel for my stove and was going to by at the shops but they were now closed more of this later.

So I spent  the night in the terminal chatting  to Sam Davidson  and an ever growing crowd of TA riders till 6 in the morning  when we caught the bus up to Waitiki Holiday Park.  It may not of been the cheapest way to travel but I would do it again, it was easy and got to meet some great people many of whom I rode on this epic odyssey, anyone that was on the bus will remember our conductor the shrinking violet Kevin Searle. 

Arriving at the Waitiki Holiday Park the great unloading and assemble began and like many the destination for the day was Tapotupotu campsite.  So before I had even set off disaster struck and the buckle on my seat pack snapped, so with cable ties and string and no fuel I set off for Tapotupotu.

So glad I did it was an amazing place to spend the night coming down to the beach was everything you see in the pictures and more.

That night I was given free fuel and fed thanks to Erick and Greg I soon realised this was just a cunning plan to shed some weight which I was more than happy to carry 🙂

Finally the day I had spent the last year plotting, planing and preparing for was here

Well the next couple of days !!!!

The Big Five – Bike – Part Five

Fully loaded 2008

Fully loaded 2015

Because the everything now weights in 24kg lighter the bike can be lighter too, and I could easily go lighter still, but my wheels are over 2.5 kg lighter than on my old bike and they are 29ers now, before 26ers, this makes a massive difference in how the whole thing roles but I now get up hills I was doomed to walk. The frame and forks are lighter and hence feel much more lively and responsive, and riding out of the saddle is fun and not a performance in the Zen art of balance.

Gone is the Rohloff,  its heavy and when the flange fails as mine did you are left with a hunk of junk that requires to be sent back for repair, bomb proof my arse, great for touring in the third world or remote places. Well in the developed world it took 2 weeks to get back to me, I had to strip down and then rebuild the wheel, and remember Rohloff spokes are not a regular size on a 26er. I don’t know about you but I don’t have that much spare time or money, and it will happen when its most inconvenient, the law of sod demands.

When I pick up the 2 wheels the 1.5 kg heavier Rohloff wheel weights in more than my complete front dyno hub and rear 10 speed, my rims are 500 grams lighter each, yep they might not last as long but my knees are thanking me for the weight loss.

If I go overseas and feel I need to carry a little more I can still add a light weight rack if I need too, but I would have to be going very remote to make this a requirement, and as soon as you add another bag, along comes the fear of empty spaces and you got to fill it.

Its been a surprising and interesting journey so now let the fun begin!

 

Moving

Hi all I am moving to a new location feel free to come along 

You will now find me at

goingslowly.org

 

Time for change

Well the time has come to admit that cycling on the main roads in New Zealand can be boring some of the scenic routes are amazing but there is a long way between vistas and an awful lot of farm fields and cows, so I have decided to try to mix my rides up and getting off road were possible. So I have just order a pair of :

• RockShox XC 30 TK Coil Forks – 9mm QR 2014 with V-brake and disk mounts

This combined with my thudbuster should help on the gravel roads and allow me to head in land a bit whilst still keeping it simple.

So coming from Chain Reaction cycles so hoping to have them mounted soon, but post from the UK to New Zealand takes a while.

 

Three Countries One Day!

Day 34
May Day
2534.81 km
Dunakiltti Hungry

 

Well an excellent day, Vienna is an excellent city, stunning buildings, but as with all cities when you cycle through them you get to see the good the bad and the just pull it down. Great day to go to Vienna being May Day everything is closed and lots of demonstrations to watch all very peaceful and well policed but with the bands and the chanting of the protesters it was fun.

 

Rode out of Vienna with a Dutch cyclist Tom, which was good as he was going to stop 18 km short of Bratislava my stop for the day so it was nice to talk. We parted company and he went to look for a hotel I cycled on to Bratislava, after searching for my camp site for 30 minutes, I met up with Tom he had not been able to find a b&b so had cycled on, thought to my self how hard can that been there’s tons of them while I was looking for the one site in Bratislava!

Brought a map and a bottle of water and realised that the Euro was no longer good to go! Looked at the map and realised that the camp site I had missed by several miles, I could see from where I was on the map there was a camp site not to far from where I was perhaps 2 hours ride. So I went for that rather than go backwards.

As I riding along I was looking at the map thinking to myself that the county boundary on the map was very thick, not the boundary being thick that was me! The camp site I was heading for was in Hungry, that pushed me on no end it had been a long day.

Well today the world changed Hungry, the roads just seemed to fall apart, they are in a bad way, the traffic had all but gone when I crossed the boarder at Mosonmagyarovvar, yes that is a place! The boarder had long since closed down and was kind of ghostly with the curtains flapping out of the broken windows.
Went to the first ATM I could fine and got some cash and then headed of to the camp site feeling kind of pleased with myself, Camp site had a bar, hot showers and, cost me 3 Euro for the night, and just a 1 Euro for a beer, four beers later and 123 km I slept well.

 

Day 33 Klosterneuburg 2411.19 km Suburb of Vienna

Rained most of the night but bright sunshine in the morning, Had morning tea with a Dutch couple Ans and John, and was pleased to see them again this evening at the camp site its the first time in a long time that I have spoken English, it was quite funny we were speaking German to each other, when they asked where I had come from, when I told them England they said it would be much easier speak English!
Today seemed a lot cooler than it was as it has been very windy. Have stopped in the camp site just outside of Vienna as its nearly 30kms across and it leaves me set to arrive in Bratislava tomorrow night.
Tomorrow will be the first of the country’s I have not visited before so a little tension is growing; perhaps the fear of the unknown or maybe I am just ready for a new country!
Austria has been great really rate it as a place to visit, people have been friendly the food has been good and the route is easy to follow and a pleasure to ride.
But one thing I am looking forward to is the end of the cycle routes! They are great but! you feel you must follow them as there has been a lot of effort put in to create them, and if we don’t use them we will lose them and that would be a real shame, but I do object to being forced through every little hamlet that has a bar or room for rent, more so when the road is flat and you are sent up and down hills just because you might want a drink, I would rather make that choice myself.
It also makes me feel like I’m on a package holiday and I have always traveled independent, so that is not a good feeling for me. So after Bratislava it is all free running and if I make a mistake then that’s my fault and I am OK with that.
I am looking forward to saying farewell to bicycle super highway and hello to the open road

Day 32 Krems 2341.56 km

Well I woke this morning to rain not the cold chilling rain that I saw in Germany but none the less heavy rain, but the motivation is now I am so close to Vienna. When I set off Vienna seemed so far away and strange and far away and now it’s less than a day’s ride away. To me Vienna is the first major mile stone to this trip, why? Don’t ask me it just seems that way!
Well into the Austrian wine growing area so taking all the culture on board  But for all you wine lovers I am only drinking the Table wine, its cheap good and fits the budget, and it must surely be classed as one of my 5 a day:)
Well me and the new saddle are beginning to be come one with the bike again which is really nice. Don’t ever think of doing the as a pub crawl it would last you a life time every last bit of spare ground and any old building or just someone’s garden is put over to being a place to sell you beer!
However it is easy to see why this is the most cycled route in Europe, its easy lots to choose from something for everyone, top route well marked or great warmer settler for a long tour or just a really nice active holiday with plenty of culture, good food and as much beer and wine as is possible to take.

       

 

Day 30 & 31 Grein 2260.32 km 1 Month of travelling

One month on the road and puncture number 2, drawing pin just outside the protected area! but hell who cares the sun is shining and life feels good, the only thing I can moan about is my new saddle, I can see signs of it breaking in but it is still very early.

Grein the river has changed again and it is very nice once again can not believe I will be in Vienna in a couple of days Its strange you spend days heading toward a place and when you get there, its not what you expected, and some of the places are just stunning and you would have by passed in a car as they are not on the route.
Well its been a good month hard at times very wet and cold a lot of the time but good none the less, there have been times where I have missed my family and opening my birthday cards brought tears, but things are settling down in to a routine and I am having a good time.

Well day 2 in Grein has been a really nice day the weather is just fantastic. Went in to the town to post the some kit home and to buy a tyre and replace the mitts I lost, and ended up with a new stand for Gromit too.

Well went to the local imbiss for lunch and ordered coffee and Goulash and potatoes, I had to share a table with some Austrians as the place was very busy full of locals always a good sign in a tourist area. When up rocks a larger than life character Leopold Stahammer the local vineyard owner, clutching some of his wine, told me that I must drink wine with him and his friends as the weather is to fine for coffee and wine is for sharing. So I enjoyed my lunch with some very good local wine. When I said that I had not seen much Austrian wine in the UK he told me it was because along with the Swiss wine it is bottled up along with the Czech wine. So my lunch lasted a good couple of hours leaving slightly the worse for the wine but very mellow.

   

Day 29 Steyregg Austria 2202.72 km

Really nice day in shorts again saddle is pure hell at present. Cycled with no map for about 15 km as mine had run out. Cycled with a German for most of the morning he spoke no English but I was able to talk to him, so much of the German I had forgotten has come back so going through Germany has been a good choice for me.

Picked up a free map of the Austrian Donau it takes me all the way to Bratislava so that was really cool. Saw the original site that Passau used to be on and life feels good apart from the new saddle. Austria is shaping up to be a top place like it a lot already, but a little more expensive than Germany but the scenery is stunning.

Day 28 Krottenthal 2120.4 km Austrian Boarder 5 km

Well woke today to heavy rain , which soon passed and was just showers on and off.

Had to buy a new saddle today 75 Euros Brooks Professional an instrument of pure torture it will be till it is broken in! Slept in a nice camp site overlooking Austria weather really is improving

 

Stopped 5 km short of Austria just cant leave Germany just yet to many good memories for me