DAY 4 –Mangere to SH1/SH29 junction

DAY 4 –Mangere to SH1/SH29 junction– 235KMS /  14 hours / 24.2k average

I met Stu and some other TA riders at 7AM and we fought growing traffic and headed out of Auckland past the airport. Another stunning sunrise lead to a clear and stinking hot beautiful day. (Its been 28c every day since I started).

I lost the guys for a bit and took a few wrong turns but then eventually caught them at Kawakawa bay after a coffee and pie injection at Clevedon. We opted to take the longer but scenic coastal route around Hunua which turned out to be a great decision due to the view and shade it offered and we picked up a few more TA riders and I moved to the front to lead the Peloton along the coast of the firth of Thames.

From the Miranda turnoff everyone scattered and I ended up cycling the rest of the day solo which was completely fine. Once we had left the Hunua’s the rest of the days ride was pretty well flat and with a growing tailwind to blow me down the Hauraki rail trail I was making a great average speed, however I did have to stop lots for food and also drunk through over 10 litres of water which meant it did take me some time to cycle the 235k and get to the stop point where SH29 meets SH1 (Piarere).  Whilst the rail trail is dead boring once out of that monotony it was simply stunning cycling through the lovely quiet roads of the Waikato in the twilight whilst I recovered from a massive Turkish rice dinner in Matamata. I got to the end of the days ride at 9PM, switched off the tracker and jumped in Bevan’s wagon.

Another amazing event for the day was meeting Jack and Libby S (parents of the late Michael S who I am dedicating my ride to) whilst on the way to Matamata. They had deliberately taken that route to see if they could spot me and it was a miracle that I had decided to pull over under a big tree as they were coming past.