Today’s ride looked relatively nice on paper- there were a few climbs but they appear to be  unicycle efficient gradients. 

I left just before dawn- better to ride in the dark at the start of the day, than at the end when you’re tired, hungry, grumpy, and the shops are closed. 

The cycle trail continued as ‘The great taste trail’ meandering through various vineyards, cafes and galleries. It was smooth and fast gravel, with lots of twists and turns- my kind of riding. 

It led us up a gentle climb to the Spooners tunnel, which, at 1.4km long, is the longest decommissioned rail tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere. Boy, was it fun to ride!  I caught a couple of TA riders with better lights and rode behind them as we sped through the tunnel. It was like riding into the abyss, the highlight of my day. 

The trail then turned to gravel road, which was coarse and bumpy. I was powering through the climbs, and had done over 70km by lunchtime, a good boost to morale.

It was fun until we arrived at State Highway 6- a road with little shoulder and big logging trucks going past. It seemed to go on forever but finally turned into a quiet side road which took us to Lake Rotorua. It was then that I realised I’d been here before- camping with Anna and Gryffin last year! The sandlies are ferocious, but this time I was well prepared with plenty of insect repellent. I took the checkpoint photo then climbed up the steep track to the Braeburn saddle. It was all downhill from there but the legs and arms were getting pretty sore, so it was a slow ride in to Murchison.