Day 14: Orere Point to Auckland
Leaving Orere Point
Our stay at Orere Point was a fitting last night to the Long Ride. Warm sunny afternoon giving way to a warm evening on the deck, enjoying the view, conversation, sights and sounds of the cliff top location overlooking the Hauraki Gulf. The Long Ride was nearly finished. Thanks Shale and Glenda.
Heading towards Kawakawa Bay
We left Orere Point in perfect weather: brilliant sunshine, blue sky. no wind. Not so perfect for a long day of cycling though – it was going to be a hot day. Neil Gravestock joined us at Orere Point for the final day of cycling into Auckland.
the ride to Clevedon
Within 10 minutes we were tacking our only major hill climb of the day, through the scenic bush on the road to Kawakawa Bay and Clevedon. Then we were at the coast, overlooking the aqua water of the Hauraki Gulf. Very little traffic, smooth roads. Magic!
Onwards to Clevedon, through very familiar roads (most of the longer training rides were on roads around here, although the countryside looked quite different today without the usual grey clouds and rain that we had become accustomed to in training. With the help of good tail wind we were soon at the coast again, heading towards Maraetai.
We were welcomed into Auckland by early flower on the pohutukawa trees lining the cliffs of the Maraetai Coast Road, with faint glimpses of the Skytower in the distance.
After a re-fuelling stop in the sun, overlooking the golden beach at Maraetai, we climbed over the hills towards Whitford, then on to the busy, noisy crowded streets of East Tamaki. Cycling on these roads reminds me of all the reasons not to be on a bike in Auckland traffic. However, that was for a relatively short distance before we detoured to quieter streets in Panmure, then Glen Innes, eventually meeting up with the sparkling waters of the Waitemata Harbour at St Heliers Bay.
By now the westerly breeze had filled in, so we cycled through a head wind on Tamaki Drive to the CBD. Two more cyclists joined us at St Heliers Bay (Helena & Pete – thanks for taking the time out to ride the last 10 k). The last 10 km seemed to be over in a flash. I guess partly because the road is so familiar to all of us (except Darin). And the views across the harbour in the sunshine made up for any inconvenience from that pesky head wind.
So after 12 days of cycling, and 1039 km later, we reached the workplace – Market Place, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland. After apologies to the Office Manager for being a few days late for work we enjoyed a cold drink and catch-up with family, friends and supporters.
final part of the Long Ride around the east coast: Tamaki Drive, Akld
Look out for the “Epi-Blog” which will give a run-down on the Long Ride, including full stats on all sorts of interesting facts such as numbers of flat tyres, cups of coffee, batches of baking consumed on the trip, total metres of ascent, total time spent sitting on a bike, blah-blah, etc.
That will be posted after the Lake Taupo Challenge happening this weekend.
At the end: the LRTW team's version of 1000 km
Stats for Day 14 of the Long Ride: total trip was 92.4 km, with a total cycling time of 4 hrs 01 mins. The average speed was 23 km/h. No big down hills today. Maximum speed today was 48 km/h – clocked when we could see a cold beer waiting for us at the end of the ride
Well done each and all. What a fantastic effort and I am pleased that you had good weather on your ride into Auckland. Cannot believe that you are undertaking another challenge. Hip hip hooray, from across the ditch.