Wellsford Woes

This will be the last brief update while we are still on the road. Tomorrow we will be off-grid and we are scheduled to be back in Kerikeri on Tuesday. For those in Kerikeri who want to check out what four months on a bicycle does to a human, we will swing by the Domain at around 2:30pm (ish). I can report that it has not treated our Angel Bear very well. Poor old Bob, he has taken on something of a surfie look, fur bleached by the sun, unshaven, hasn’t washed in months. Not a happy Teddy – he told us that he empathises with Freddy the Frog – feeling very endangered.

For the last few days we have been making our way around the Kaipara Harbour doing our best to avoid the main highways. In the process we have encountered some of the toughest rides of the journey north. The GOTF also saved some of his greyest moments so that he could share them with the returning RA.

The RA caught the bus from Kerikeri to Wellsford where the team would reform for the final glorious push through Northland. She got the shock of her life as the bus was about to enter Wellsford when out of the window, she spotted the GOTF already streaking north out of town. Had something been lost in translation or had the old fool completely lost the plot?

What had happened, is that the GOTF was having navigational malfunctions. He knew that his route should deliver him to SH16 just out of the Wellsford CBD. So a left turn at the main road was required. However, he had not been paying attention and had missed an earlier turn and the navigation rerouted him out to SH1. The left turn which he obediently executed, took him in the wrong direction, north out of town. In the 50 or so metres that it took to figure out that something was not quite right, a bewildered RA had trundled past in the bus and spotted him. Not a very good reassurance that he was at ‘the top of his game’ after a long solo ride.

The GOTF nonchalantly sauntered back into to town unaware that his blunder had been duly noted. When quizzed as to why he was riding out of town, all he could manage was a rather pathetic “well I got this far without getting lost” statement.

The RA was pumped and ready to hit the road early the next morning. We powered out onto SH 16 with the extra pedal power almost leaving rubber on the road. In fact we were going so fast that the GOTF missed the first turn and the nav again rerouted us. By the time the GOTF started to get suspicious about how far along the main drag we had ridden, about 8km had been added to what was always going to be a tough first day back on the back. The RA was not happy and the GOTF was not going to be allowed to forget those ‘marginal’ kilometres. Despite the bonus distance, she was in peak form and handled the relentless hills better than the GOTF. In fact, after 3,000m of climbing over three days he was ready to retire to the bench with backside fatigue. It was a rather painful ride from Matakohe to Dargaville yesterday but the flat terrain was a blessing and a days rest will hopefully set him up for the last three hilly rides through to Kerikeri.

We got a new seat for the RA today as the dubious gel cover on the old seat finally waved the surrender flag. Rather than opt for that same setup we have gone for a better seat. Let’s hope it makes up for any more grey moments that the GOTF has.

We will update you on how on our final few days have gone but in the meantime we would like to thank our followers for all of the encouragement that you have given us over the last many months. It really does make a difference getting those messages of support. We would also like to thank the many donors whose generosity to The Bald Angels has also given us a real lift and will help to make a difference to the lives of many vulnerable kids in Te Tai Tokerau.

If you would like to donate you can do so here: https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/the-angel-tandem-two-70and-year-olds-riding-7500km