There would be a lot of climbing on todays ride, so most of us had our climbing cranks ready! We rode 2km out of town before hitting the climb, which rose up like a wall to greet us.
We met the support vehicles at the ‘top’, and after grouping we were relieved to hear Dave Goodman tell us tht it would be ‘rolling’ hills from there. The rolling ‘hills’ turned out to be more like rolling mountains, as it continued up and down in a rather steep, long manner. The gravel road had just been re-‘gravelled’, which made it very difficult to ride as our wheels sank in.
Dave’s son Daniel met us near the top and rode with us for a while. Dan was on the first SINZ tour, so it was nice to have him ride with us again.
The descent was steep, dropping from pine forest into native bush with plenty of wood pigeons flying overhead. We stopped for lunch then hiked to Waipouri falls, a secluded waterfall and swimming hole.
After this we continued our descent and were met by Dave’s wife Novelia who had a picnic waiting for us.
The final stretch to Waihola was mainly flat and via a backroad, but various routes were taken including a busy stretch along State Highway 1. Luckily we all made it to our hotel eventually!