Nov 24: Long Ride – Paeroa to Orere Point

Day 13: Paeroa to Orere Point

More talk about sore butts & head winds

Weather-wise today was pretty good. We left Paeroa beneath a dull, overcast sky – very humid but no sun – with mist shrouded the surrounding hills. The first part of the route took us up to the Thames/Kopu turnoff and across the rickety single lane bridge on the main road to Thames. Up to here the terrain would be described as ‘gently undulating’, which sounds very genteel. A short stop was needed to alleviate some minor hassles with the gear change on Keryn’s bike before they caused more significant frustration.

Across the Hauraki Plains we battled a strong head wind, rotating the front rider to save energy. That made our line of four riders more of a “corde“ rather than a peloton.

The slog into the relentless blustery head wind on a busy highway with narrow shoulders and long straights made this the toughest portion of today’s ride. By the end of the ride across the plains our butts were very very sore from sitting on the bike seat trudging on the pedals. Jeepers that part of the ride was tough! Maybe we are getting soft as we approach the end of the ride! Legs and knees seem to holding up ok though. Making sure we had enough water was an issue though as the sun melted through the thin cloud cover and we were cycling in full-on sun in the middle of the day.

Finally we turned off the main road, heading north past Miranda to Orere Point. At least the views alongside the coast out to the Firth of Thames (and the tail wind) made the last 30 km of the ride that much more bearable.

battling the head wind

Stats for Day 13 of the Long Ride: total trip was 92.5 km, with a total cycling time of 3 hrs 48 mins. The average speed was 25.1 km/h. Maximum speed today was a modest 48 km/h (no long downhills).

Firht of Thames coast

very happy to reach Orere Pt so we could get off that bike seat!