The good, the bad and the ugly – our first days back on the tandem

What a motivating send off on Saturday. We were blown away by the number of people who came down to wish us well for our adventure. It was all such a buzz that the GOTF completely botched the pedal off onto Hobson St, my excuse was an illegally parked car blocking the exit. Hopefully the onlookers didn’t notice.

It took all of about 5 minutes for the GOTF to realise that in the 30 minutes or so at the Domain, the wind had wound itself up into a near gale and was going to do its best to keep us in Kerikeri a bit longer. However, the RA was so stoked after her rousing farewell that she was really pumping out the power on the back and of course with her own personal windshield (the grunt on the front). She implied that I was being a bit wimpish and suggested that I needed to up my game.

Despite the stuttering start we were soon into our rhythm although the rear admiral began expressing concerns that the bike was a bit sluggish. I pointed out that we were heading up hill, into a building gale and, furthermore, her dopamine rush was probably wearing off despite my wishful thinking that it may have lasted for another 7,000km.

The rest of the day was enjoyable once we turned east at our journey’s ‘east – west’ connection just out of Kerikeri. We had stopped to do a short video chat on the significance of this junction when the owner of the property we were standing outside turned into the driveway. “Are you lost”. “Um we hope not otherwise we are in for a traumatic four months”. When we explained what we were doing, he took sympathy on us and suggested that we go and rest beside his lakes. So we popped in and had a look and heard about his olive plantation.

With the wind at our backs we were in Russell quicker than you can say Kororareka.

The next morning the weather remained unseasonably chilly so we decided to head into Russell and fuel up with some Eggs Benedict. Had the place to ourselves until the first ferry from Pahia. A group of ladies came in for a coffee and when the spotted the bike asked if we were the idiots ones biking around the country for charity. The bike is such a giveaway. A few photos were taken and details exchanged.

Fortunately we had to bike back past the camp so were able to retrieve a cool pad we left in the freezer. Then we hit the relentless and steep little hills around the outer Bay but this time the weatherman obliged and gave us a beefy tail wind once we turned south to Whangaruru Harbour.

We has a pleasant break at lovely Elliot Bay where Bob got to put his paws in sand. Another first for the plucky little Angel Bear who had been growling the words “are we there yet” at the end of Kerikeri Road on Saturday.

The weather forecast was ominous for day three which we had already identified as a toughie with a serious hill climb through remote country on a rough and narrow gravel road. The forecast thunderstorms with possible hail and cold temperatures was the opposite of ‘icing on the cake’. When we headed out the door kitted out in the gear that we wistfully hoped would stay packed until closer to Invercargill, the sun was still dominant in the clear blue sky.

The road lived up to expectations but I was able to keep the big rig upright much to the relief of the RA. She had given me a lecture on how she hated gravel and the consequences of sloppy captaincy. It was not the road that I was scared of! Fortunately, the weather rumbled all around us but not on us. Mud rather than gravel may have delivered the Rear Admiral’s least favoured battle plan. Bob was disappointed as he wanted to test out his wet weather gear (a zip lock bag) he thinks it will be like a pope mobile.

At Whananaki I was in the general store when a lady next to me looked very familiar and was an old work colleague who now owned the store. Small world!

We were planning to take the tandem over the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere. It is a big deal in Whananaki and was built so that the kids in the settlement on the south side of the estuary could get to school without having to row across it. Anyway, I recalled a couple of issues from a ride on the mountain bike three years ago. It is narrow and there are bars to be negotiated at the south end. We decided to go on a scouting mission before committing the bike to the bridge in the morning. It was worth the effort as our fears were confirmed. This bridge was not going to be negotiated by the longest bike currently residing in Whananaki. If we had somehow managed to get the bike across the bridge the only way we would get it back was very slowly, in reverse. That would not have been a good start to our next day.

The forecast for our ride through to Whangarei was again bleak with gale force southwesterly winds predicted. You guessed right, our overall heading for the day would be southwest. Our new bridge-less and longer route added another 8km of predominantly hilly gravel road to the trip. However, this was good gravel and the RA was starting to accept that maybe my advice that not all gravel roads have the primary purpose of dumping old tandem cyclists off their bike.

We were meeting Ruth’s brother for lunch in Whangarei so did not have the luxury of too many stops. I was also concerned about the speed of our forward progress into the gale. Luck was initially again on our side as the first half of the ride was through a very pretty and sheltered valley and then up a rather steep hill (the RA didn’t really buy that it was not as steep as the day before). However, once over the first hill (there were quite a few more), the trees were replaced by exposed farmland and we had to battle the hills in the face of the full-on gale. But we made it for lunch, albeit, a little exhausted.

Alas, our luck ran out. I awoke in the night to hear Ruth yodeling. Not the Swiss Alps variety but the dodgy food type. This morning we had to draw up another new battle plan. While she was ok, she did not want to risk our longer ride of 77km today. So we did some rescheduling of the next five days and moved our rest day forward.

The ride south has been scenic but challenging. Interestingly, I use a “difficulty rating” measure based on hills per km and length of ride and this section through Northland is one of the toughest of the journey. The steady flow of donations from our supporters gives us a real boost, especially when the going gets tough. When I see Ruth flagging I yell, “just got another donation” and I can feel the power kicking in. These donations not only add more purpose to our adventure but more importantly, will help to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable children.

If you would like to donate, visit our give-a-little page. All money donated goes direct to The Bald Angels.

Pic of the week