February 1, 2025
Hunua Regional Park to Matamata
Rail Trail Delight.
50 year old Canadian dynamo knocks out an American century (100 miles) on his second day on the Tour Aotearoa. When asked about the accomplishment Andrew says “It was a nod to my kids who are scrambling their brains learning the imperial system.”
Note: I took one class at university about writing news articles. And there’s the extent of it. Never bury the lead!
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My day started by naturally waking up to the amazing sounds of tropical birds singing. I was in the tent just before 6 pm and it was a sweat box. I thought it might rain but that did not matter. I cranked open the fly, put in ear plugs and wore my plane mask. Sleep came fast and I woke up at 2:30 cold so I threw on the sleeping bag and grabbed another 3 hours of precious sleep.
I got my things organized in the tent and then started my daily routine of boiling water for oatmeal and coffee. At the store I could only find a giant butane tank. This thing might last to the tip of the South Island. After forcing that into the system (wasn’t super hungry) I ate a bagel with PB. This bagel is reminiscent of the stale bagels we ‘enjoyed’ on the Divide. I feel like I’m in one of those hot dog eating contests just forcing it down with lots of water. A culinary delight!
I was moving by 6:45 in daylight. I studied the maps and the book the night before and set my rough plan. It’s good in my opinion to have several ideas. After filling my bottles at the bike skills park I started looking for the trail. I came to a fence and scratched my head. I circled around and then back and realized there was bike access. Off I went into an amazing tropical forest gravel ride.
The temperature was perfect and I made a note that I’ll start early every day. It’s so hot! 32 C as I am writing at 4:30 pm. I climbed a significant 350 m and arrived at a spectacular dam with sheep grazing on the backside and a beautiful vista. Another few kilometres and I arrived at a sign saying that Clevedon was 21 km.
Peter, where are you?! Okay, so your protagonist is terrible with directions. In my defence though I rode to the park on a diversion so I’d never seen this section and I am in the middle of a map so the directions worked fine just in reverse.
I have a new tennis friend who says every mistake. “Did you learn anything?” And I did. There are little arrows always going in the direction of the route design. I missed this little detail.
Oh well, I rode down that sweet hill back to my starting point. I noticed on the descent that this bike is a bite squirrelly on loose descents compared to my mountain bike so I knocked the speed down considerably.
Back at the bike skills park I started in the correct direction on 200 m away from where I stood an hour earlier. It was a 12 km snafu. The track started as single track which was special and I quickly came on the hill I read about. It was signed with a 12 % grade and 358 m (elevation not distance)of steep climbing. I set to it in my tallest gear and just kept turning the pedals over, stopping occasionally for a breather. I made the top without pushing which felt like a good test for this trip and my new bike.
After getting through the rest of the spectacular park I was soon in Kaiaua which is a beautiful beach town set right along the ocean. Spectacular! That’s where the first of the off-road started right alongside the road running parallel to the beach. I must have passed 150 campers just freedom camping I presume. This was a great little section of trail with hazy water views. This was also the start of the Hauraki Rail Trail that I essentially rode for the rest of the day.
I then started on the 66 km section all the way to Paeroa. Looking at my timing I was hoping to get all the way to Paeroa for a late lunch but I stumbled onto a dairy takeout (convenience store) about 10 km short so I stopped for an ice cream, coffee and another bagel with PB. I also posted to my journal. I still made it to Paeroa and 100+ km by 1:20 and I had a few things I needed to do. I needed water and some bike rash prevention. I searched for a bike shop and rode straight there but that was a dead end. Then I just went to the supermarket and bought baby stuff again. I’m in love with this cream. Feels amazing and coupled with baby wipes I hope to keep bike sores and pimples away. I also am doing the whole acne prevention routine. Fun times!
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In the SI, you will have a lot of single lane bridges, but you will have it sorted by then!
1 month ago
I then looped around town some more and back to a public park for water fill up. They have great fill up stations at every park I’ve come across.
I then jumped back on the rail trail towards Te Aroha. For Peter I had my first kid sighting today and many times. I tried racing a few on the rail trail but couldn’t get a taker.
Te Aroha was yet another pretty town. I stopped for a couple photos and then skirted most of the town stopping for a random photo of their tennis courts for some friends back home (turf and also grass courts).
After Te Aroha I had another 37 km to ride in blistering heat. I was moving a a good pace but stopped every time I found shade for a little break. It was very hot! By 4:15 I stopped for a 30 minute break in the shade before the final 10 km push to Matamata. I rolled into Matamata and it’s beautiful. I’m getting the hang of the road riding and navigating the opposite side. I saw a Thai food truck and slammed on the brakes and enjoyed a curry in the park.
Then I headed to the Freedom Camping but that was a bust so I had to ride another 6 km back where I came from to a different place that’s a unique place. Not really a campground but there is camping if that makes sense. It’s a public area where you pay a small fee and have access to a washroom. That’s a bonus because I got dusty and needed it.
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What a day! I rode a huge amount but enjoyed it all. The rail trail was divine. Just perfect.
Highlights:
-Hunua forest
-Huge steep hills
-All the towns
-drank 7 litres of water
168 km and 1198 m elevation gain
Today's ride: 168 km (104 miles)
Total: 226 km (140 miles)
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Thanks for following along! I am loving the comments from everyone.
3 weeks ago