The Best of Fall

The weekend that has just passed contained brilliant Autumnal weather and superb riding. I stacked in the miles and am starting to feel that I may be a cyclist again.

Saturday's ride with Warren and Serge was unbeatable. The route was varied (and at Serge's insistence we saved ourselves from State Highway 16). The first part of the ride was entirely on very quiet country back roads, no traffic and a glorious, windless day. The picture below tells the story.


One of the odder sights of the day was The Grim Reaper. This fellow was found in the middle of nowhere, and cuts quite an impressive figure in the rural environs.


We even managed to ride some metal roads in honour of the Queen of the Classics. For a change Serge was quite happy about the experience. The two kilometres of metal being in very good condition and passed quickly.
Here's one exiting the metal.


And the other.


The reward for the metal road was this view, the Tasman Sea stretching out bluely. Please excuse the crooked horizon, was taken while riding.
Note to The Crocodile:-
When you and I rode this road last year, we encountered thick fog here, and all the way along the top of this ridge/cliff. You were unbelieving as to how close the sea was, or that we were even close to the ocean. Later you looked at maps and saw where we were. But, at last, I get to show you the view.

Sunday dawned the same, so I took the mutt to the dog park. The upper half of the North Island is suffering a drought, and here is reasonable evidence of this. Normally this face of Big King is green and lush, here it's anything but. There is also a very happy dog in this photo.

Later I entertained myself by riding Scenic Drive in absolutely unbeatable conditions.



I did, however, make a fundamentally stupid decision and decided to ride up Duffy Road after I been over the top, and climbed up out of Bethalls. The 26% grade ripped my legs from me, and I whimpered.
It took quite some time to regain any sort of pedalling composure.

Lastly, here's a piece of very shakey phone camera video work showing the hidden delight that is Chamberlains Road.

It was a very good weekend.