It's day 2 of my 3-day circuit of Mt Taranaki. Weather has been perfect, almost too hot, and the mountain is endlessly fascinating, always on the left, always changing. Today the clouds coated its summit throughout the day.
Day 1 (Friday) was 62km of roller coaster riding on "the Surf Highway" Route 45, from New Plymouth to Opunake. Ocean to the right, green, green pasturelands to the right. I took a short 800m, but steep as heck detour into Mt Egmont National Park to Lucy's Gully, a grove of old growth exotic trees that is managed by the park people. Lots of bird song, and I had it almost to myself for the whole time.
I was ready to stop by 6pm when I got to Opunake. It was headwinds for 3 hours without let up along this stretch, and Wm the Conqueror isn't made for it.
Day 2 (Saturday) and I got to ride along with the one-day racers for Round the Mountain. The first one, a big German guy, came through as I was exiting a coffee shop in Opunake at 9am. Now, this is the same route I rode yesterday, that took me close to 9 hours, including the stop in the National Park. I guess this gonzo chap started at 6am and did it in 3 hours. I shared Eltham road with nearly all the pelotons, until I turned towards the mountains, for the road to Stratford. Lots of "atta-girls" from the many riders. Very different sort of event to what I'm used to. Seems that everyone has a personal support vehicle, so there's a convoy of cars and vans, all loaded with extra bikes, either for other riders to do a relay, or perhaps, if one bike breaks down, why fix a flat?
One of the support vehicles, a red mercedes convertible drove up next to me, and I got handed a bottle of cold water.
Turning to ride into the mountain proved a challenge. Seems like those headwinds were now sweeping down the flanks of Taranaki, and hitting me right in the center of my bike helmet. It took me a good 15 mins to ride about 1km. But for most of today I got side winds. I can tell because I've attached an orange scarf to my helmet to make me more visible to kiwi motorists. When it flaps to the side of my face, that's side winds. Haven't yet had it flap over my head, which would mean a tail wind. People pass too fast and too close for my liking out on Hwy 45. Too many of them roar up behind you, and then pull out, in a sort of half assed way. And forget about slowing down. That's a foreign concept. Even the peloton supporters were passing way too fast. Still, today's 42km ride was much better, as I had most of the last 20km to myself. All the racers were going through Eltham.
In Stratford I treated myself to dinner out, as my super cheap backpacker accomodation really looks like it should be condemned. Then I went to The King's Cinema "home of the first talkies in New Zealand" and saw the Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows 1, complete with an intermission.
There's definitely a sense of time warp in this part of New Zealand.
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