Latitudinal Slippage

First up, an apology from me. Due to a piece of sheer incompetence and stupidity on my behalf in a technical manner this posting is been somewhat tardy in it's delivery.

At present, for the last few days, Auckland has had a complete reversal of fortune in the weather stakes. Gone is the wet and grime, and instead we have had crisp, clear windless days. Just glorious.

On Sunday four of us had decided to go around the coast. The Croc and I riding from our respective dwellings to meet Doris and Mikeal out south, then ride the loop and then home. The mileage was serious, so we elected on a pre-dawn start.
I headed out the door in darkness, with a little ice on the cars in the street, and as I rode through South Auckland to the agreed meeting point, considered it cold. But I was well dressed for the conditions, as were the others also. Maybe a little too overdressed in the case of Mikeal, who was looking like he was about to affect a burglary or armed hold up.


As we continued on, the sky lightened, but the temperatures didn't climb. Between Hunua and Paparimu I saw something I have never beheld in Auckland before, frost, grass crackling white frost that defied the sun for sometime. It was beautiful to behold, with layers of fog and and blue sky. However it was apparent it was crisp, as we rode through Happy Valley I went to take a drink and discovered ice in my drink bottle. After I announced this Mikeal proclaimed that I was a girl and was dreaming. However showing him the offending ice, and them him and the others discovering that their bottles were icing up, made up realise that it was a touch nippy.

The Croc took a couple of lap reading on his Polar HR which gave him the temperature, -3 degrees, and that's the air temperature!

The fast descent down to Mangatawhiri was the stuff of ice-cream headaches. Then we encountered fog to go with the frost, quite beautiful and surreal, reminding me of the lower South Island and the hoar frosts of Central Otago. Eventually just before we started the descent down to Kaiaua we cleared the fog, and frost and found sun. Over three hours in damn cold temperatures, a good test of gear.

While in Happy Valley, and part of a stop, Doris found this little deceased chap, covered in frost. The little vermin looks almost like a cuddly toy.


Further up the coast Mikeal punctured, the video below is a cautionary one, demonstrating several tyre changing sins, but also a method of using a mini-pump that will earn the ire of passing motorists as they make a very simple assumption with regard to your motions. I also suspect that Mikeal's use of the pump in this manner is mainly due to his sure handedness in this motion.




At kilometre 150 ish, my legs imploded and I whimpered my way home from there. All in all it was a great ride and certainly one to remember.