Ebike Hum

Apiti to Palmerston North 76.2km Today dawned clear, cool and dewy damp. Another scorching day in store? With 77km ahead.of us, we aimed for an early start and hit the road just before 8. But not before a look around Jemma & Alex's lovingly restored (deconsecrated) church, and a final photo in the low morning sun. We got a gentle warm-up, with an easy, 2km climb up from Apiti, before a quick drop into the top of Burtons Stream valley, a more gradual descent past Makoura Lodge and finally a rapid, flowing downhill to the Makiekie Creek. All on deserted, smooth seal. What way to start the day. Across the bridge, the gravel starts, uphill of course, but less steep than the descent. I think I've commented before how much more effort is required to ride on even good gravel compared with seal, and this is pretty good gravel. It's a steady, slow, assisted climb up the side valley toward the sunlit uplands ahead. As we crested the final brow the vista all around is simply stunn...

Hunterville to Apiti 65.6km Today looked like being a toughie, but not as tough as Steve & Jill were going to have it heading all the way to Ashurst via SH54. Lack of accommodation elsewhere, you see. Of course, it only occurred to us about 10km before Apiti that our AirBnB has two double rooms... The Station Hotel proudly announces that it has no self-service kitchen, and no food is allowed in the rooms. So we prepared our usual breakfast & lunch rolls outside on the pub tables. The facilities are otherwise fine, and the hosts welcoming to cyclists. We got away shortly before 9, leaving town on a quiet backwater street. Before joining the melee that is SH1, for about 5km. Actually, this was not bad at all: traffic was light, the shoulder 'adequate' as the Kennetts have it. Even on the uphill, all the traffic used the passing lane to pass us, we never had to contend with two drivers focussed on passing/being passed and thus paying less attention to slow-moving two yello...