164km today! Definitely not the hardest day, even if was the longest so far. Powered by five separate cafe stops, comprising: triple flat white, eggs Benedict, hot chocolate, filled roll, muffin, hot chocolate, French toast, hot chocolate, brownie, muffin, pizza, ginger beer! Definitely making up for the overall calorie deficit today.
At 7am, we’d quietly slipped out of Anthony and Fiona’s, breakfasting at a local cafe. Then it was up over the Pahiatua track – a brisk and chilly climb. My dynamo was playing up (not charging my phone, which was quickly dropping towards zero, hampering navigation given that my cycle computer had died previously in the rain… luckily Josh’s GPS was functioning ok!) so that occupied my thoughts. Saturday was probably a good day to do this section, which others had described as the worst of the trip in terms of traffic and feeling at risk.
It was an awesome zoom down to Pahiatua (would have been good charging grr) and another cafe stop where we chatted with a whole lot of riders. I decided to test another cord in the dynamo – and it worked. Always good when the fault is the easiest part to fix!
We wended our way via back roads to Eketahuna and another (excellent!) cafe stop. On the way I saw the Tararuas, it felt like coming home. Then we wended our way, again very indirectly, to Masterton, via lots of sketchy fresh gravel.
After a cafe stop, we were back on very familiar turf, heading to Martinborough via Gladstone. I remembered all the other times I’d been through here lately, often with Ian, and was grateful for how strong I felt thanks to all that training.
It was a beautiful ride in the early evening light, powering up the small hills and swooping down the dips. We reached Martinborough quicker than expected, by 630pm, and headed straight for pizza on the square.