Woke up to a gale force sounding wind today with an overcast sky. Not a good sign, I thought. We took off in a horrendous headwind and soon started uphill and then to make matters worse, it started to rain - that constant, persistent, driving, drizzle that feels like pins on your face. My top speed was about 11 kph. It just kept getting worse and I was having no fun. My knees still bothered me from yesterday and I questioned the sanity of what I was doing. I kept listing all the reasons I should continue to ride and the fact that I was having no fun prevailed.

So I decided to sag when the next sag wagon came along. At 20 km out of camp, I bailed. Sitting in the sag wagon as it rocked in the wind and was pelted with needles of rain, I thought I made the right decision. However, I felt really guilty when one of my hard core buddies rode by. I like to think I'm pretty hard core, too, but there comes a time when common sense takes over.

It was a miserable ride and many, many riders sagged. Once the van headed for checkpoint, we picked up Charlie, who NEVER sags. But he was cold and wet to the core and it wasn't any fun for him either. So we all got dumped off at checkpoint until a van went to the end. Those who were cold had a chance to warm up.

Once our ride became available, the rain and wind had stopped and it looked like it could be a nice afternoon so Charlie and I opted to ride to the end. I had to stop three times in the first half hour to take clothes off or put clothes on. You should have heard the flak I caught from Charlie. But he was wearing my vest so he didn't dare leave me. We were hit hard by rain about 9 km from the end, so guess what. I had to stop again and put clothes on. Oh, well.

We arrived in the pouring down rain and decided to get a cabin because it just didn't look like it would ever let up. And the grass was super soggy everywhere. Not a good day to camp, even for us diehards. Got my laundry done before dinner. One chore out of the way.

Then after dinner we had choir practice. We've been able to get several staff members to join us and it is a blast. We were practicing in the TV room at the campground tonight and all of a sudden a guy came in, turned on the TV really loud right beside us and drowned us out. We asked him if he'd give us five minutes to finish up and we'd gladly leave. No, not good enough. He wasn't willing to give us a second. So we left. Very friendly fellow (sarcasm).

We were camped near Mt. Ruapehu, a huge volcano, last night. When I arrived at camp, it was hazy and I didn't get a picture. This morning when we left, there were clouds on the top part covering the pretty snow-capped peak. By the time we got to the scenic lookout where we should have taken a picture of it, it was totally obscured again. So I never saw the beautiful view.

Mileage: 43.0 / 10,105.9 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 69.2 / 16,263.9]

We found out this morning that the fellow who harassed us during choir practice last night was reported to the campground management and eventually the police arrested him and hauled him out of there. I'm glad we got out when we did.

Today was Denise's birthday and Charlie wrapped her box of chocolates in a whole roll of Christmas wrapping paper and tied a bow with a dead innertube. I thought that was particularly creative. The rest of us just handed her something in the plastic bag from the store.

After breakfast, I took off walking with my goal the Wharewaka Point. On the way back, I went through the Waipahihi Botanical Reserve. I also walked to breakfast and dinner and all around town doing errands. I hoofed it for almost 3½ solid hours and racked up 17+ km, some of it pretty hilly. And I was caught in a downpour and had to wait it out at a local service station. While walking around the lake, I saw several pairs of beautiful, black Australian swans and lots of mallards. And I didn't have anything to feed them so I just talked to them instead.

Volcanoes can be seen off in the distance and the rain showers seemed to build up right around them, then move to the lake area. It was pretty impressive to see it rain in sheets and eventually obliterate everything from view as it raced toward me. I enjoyed seeing it coming my way but wasn't quite ready for the deluge with only an umbrella for protection. Kind of useless, actually.

We had a very nice, sunny, short ride today through thermal areas. (Very similar features to Yellowstone National Park near where I live.) We went through the heart of New Zealand logging country, also. Few hills, no wind, and no rain today. Denise and I were in before 11:30AM. We were to have an official Maori welcoming ceremony at noon, but it was postponed until 4PM.

What is a "stick piece?"

--Craig

My reference to a "stick piece" was a rhythm game played with sticks and set to music. This is a common practice taught to young Maori children and expanded upon by adults. Lots of fun.

Today's ride was rather boring. The scenery never really changed even though we had nice rolling hills. I started out slowly again and never really got cranked up. I just seem to be tired. It was a somewhat depressing afternoon, as I slowly pedaled along, my mind thought of all kinds of things, mainly the end of the trip and things related to it. I'm just not ready to go home.

At dinner, our table decided we should start working on things now to help us get back into the real world. The topic for tonight was PATIENCE and believe me, that was a good one for tonight. Dinner started late, we had to ask for more bread, dessert was late and we had rehearsal scheduled, so our patience was indeed tried. We did pretty well and kept reminding each other of it. It was funny to have six grown-ups (and I use that word loosely) sitting at a table telling each other to remain calm etc. We really do have to work on some of these things.

What is "chip seal?"

--Ken Bertel

Chip seal is a road surface that can be very tiring to ride on, depending upon several conditions. Basically, they put down a layer of tar, then spread chipped rocks on top. The chips range from pea size up to lima bean size (which we had today) and have sharp irregular edges. It is the worst possible road surface to fall on. Not only would you get road rash if you fell, but it would look like hamburger.

It really slows you down and makes you work hard, and combined with hills and/or wind, it's the pits.

Woke up to a warm, cloudy morning. Our ride started with a nice cruise down the Karangahake Gorge. Then we climbed a little over to the Coromandel Peninsula and had a flattish coastal ride. Beautiful mountains loomed on the horizon across the water. Then we had lots of rolling green hills and more flat. It was a pretty day with constantly changing terrain.

And my mood was much better, I felt good, and enjoyed my last day in New Zealand tremendously. The only thing I didn't like were the big trucks on the main road where the shoulder was narrow. They just don't get over and give you much room. The weather was cloudy, cool enough to be comfortable and warm enough not to need extra clothes. Perfect riding weather in my opinion.

Once I arrived in Auckland, the city riding, for me, was terrifying. The traffic was fast, there was no shoulder -- you were in one of the two lanes and just hoped you didn't get pinched out, and I was by myself and had to try to read the DRG and the road signs all at the same time, hard for me since I really need bifocals and don't have them. But I survived and got here in decent time. I rode around the parking lot to be sure to have enough km to make 100 miles today.

I had just come out of the shower when our phone rang and it was Bryan and Kay from the Auckland Cycle Club. They have been reading my web page and stopped by to see me. We chatted for a while and had a nice visit.

Part 1

Best night's sleep I've had in awhile but still became very sleepy about noon. Must have been that chocolate muffin I ate. We started being shuttled to the airport right after breakfast. I had time to mail a package there and check my e-mail before leaving this great place.

I hate to have to leave. Charlie and I both would like to stay and skip Hawaii, although I am curious about Hawaii, too. It's just that the weather here is so perfect and it will more than likely be hot in Hawaii.

We arrived in Honolulu, after 8+ hrs of flight, at 11:45PM, and at midnight it was just then Saturday, the 16th in Honolulu (having crossed the international date line) so we get to live the 16th again. We didn't arrive at our rooms until 1:45AM and breakfast starts at 7AM so this will be a short night following a long day. At least we have a layover day before we have to ride.

Part 2 - (Layover day in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)

It was a short, short night waking up at 6AM after going to bed at 2AM. Had a breakfast meeting of the ice cream gang where we had to discuss some technicalities of the rainy day pool. Seems our 19 days in New Zealand ran short because of a miscalculation so Denise felt we needed to add a day or two, or adjust the number of days each person picked that it was going to rain. Before the meeting and any adjustments, I was the winner.

Options included adding the day before and after the already scheduled days, adjusting everyone's guess by one day, leaving it as it was, or declaring me the obvious winner if I ate a banana split, which Charlie guffawed over. My friend, Jim Higbee, came up with that idea so I question the validity of the word "friend."

It was unanimous that I eat a banana split and be the uncontested winner. So since I refuse to eat a banana or any ice cream that touches one, they agreed to let me have the Fudge Royale version with chocolate on top and not the strawberry and pineapple. And I'm allowed to give the bananas to Mark when I'm done but they have to stay in the dish until I eat all the ice cream (except for what touches the bananas). So it's a friendly compromise and everyone is a winner and they get to torture me.

After breakfast, Charlie and I took a walk to the 'gardens' that didn't exist. The map indicated "gardens" so we thought we'd check them out, even though they weren't labeled botanical. We asked a fellow where they were when we got in the area and when we got to a school and church with the same name, we stopped and asked a grounds keeper of the school about them.

Turns out, the gardens is just a name of the condominium complex and not really a garden as we know a garden. We just laughed and headed back, meeting Dennis on the way who was also in search of the elusive gardens. We all had a good laugh. It was very hot by that time so we checked out the local elusive grocery store and food court and stopped and had lunch.

New Zealand is the land of 'one lane bridges,' especially on the South Island. Nine out of ten bridges were always one lane, even over wide rivers. The highways were often wide, sometimes with good shoulders but still with a one lane bridge. I wondered if that was their way of controlling speed.

New Zealand has a variety of landscapes, but the South Island is my favorite. It is less populated, hence has less traffic, and more dramatic scenery, except for the volcanoes of the North island. The riding here is some of the best in the world. Nice hills, great views, mostly good shoulders, and great temperatures. I feel so much at home here.

New Zealand has some really great flowering plants and trees. I never got tired of looking at the flora. My frustration came only in not being able to identify certain plants.

My recommendation to other cyclists is to bike the South Island and take your time. Every minute spent there would be well worth it.

We had an early shuttle to the airport this morning. Played scrabble with Sandy and Patricia while waiting to board. Since we had open seating, we were able to sit together and play on our short 30 minute flight to Kona.

Kona is a beautiful black lava island, at least what I saw from the air. Very warm here but beautiful.
Our hotel is really nice on a rocky coast with a pool and flowers hanging from every balcony. One of the better ones we've been in.

After eating lunch and doing bike maintenance this afternoon, the three of us continued with our scrabble games by the pool side. Patricia said we had played five games today and she did very well, beating Sandy and myself all but once.

Boy I didn't sleep worth anything last night. Turned out the lights about 9PM or so and woke up at 1:15AM and was still staring at the clock at 2:45AM. I wanted to sleep so badly but just couldn't. So I solved logistic problems for this next weekend. And then when I made a couple more phone calls today, everything fell into place and I have a place to stay in Honolulu with a cycling club member.

I called Driggs to confirm my return to my job and to make doctor and dentist appointments and found out I had already scheduled the dentist when I was in last December. So re-entry has started.

I walked into town to do a couple of errands and to use the internet and returned to meet Charlie at noon for help in computing my wheel circumference. I never changed my computer after putting on the bigger tire and since I needed to change from km to miles and change the battery, I figured I'd do it all at once. Then I rode to the bike shop and bought new handlebar tape. I had never put that on before so didn't know where to start. Mark gave me a two-minute run through, then left, so I struggled all alone while Organist Bill and Charlie sat and watched and helped teach me patience.

Charlie was rebuilding a wheel and Bill was changing a tire so we had our own mini bike shop along the side of the hotel. Other riders walked by, offered advice, and laughed at the idea of my trying patiently to complete this task. They all know me too well. Once all was accomplished, and I DID do it by myself, I played scrabble with Patricia by the pool and soaked up a few rays.

We had mahi mahi for dinner, a most scrumptious fish. The food has been good here, better than I expected, which is making it harder to eat less like I had planned to start doing here.

Walked 4 km today / 537 km total (2.5 mi / 333.7 mi)

Mileage: 4.0 / 10,357.9 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 6.4 / 16,669.4]

What type of panniers and biking bags have lasted the longest and been the most waterproof, durable and protective?

The Ortlieb panniers seem to have become the most sought-after bags. They are the only ones that appear to be completely waterproof, they come in a couple of different sizes and colors, and almost everyone who replaced a bike bag bought an Ortlieb.

Which type of tent has performed the best?

--Lisa Tonks

Most Moss tent owners seemed to be satisfied and I've heard no complaints from Marmot owners.

A lot of us got up for the early breakfast and then had to stand around and wait for the gear truck to open and the DRGs to come out. We lost a good half hour of cool riding time but luckily it didn't get too hot today. It was actually a decent temperature with a mild breeze.

The scenery was awesome. Lava fields and volcanic debris everywhere of many different kinds (aa, pahoehoe, scoria) and colors (red, black, grey). We crossed the path of the 1907 eruption and that was cool to see dark lava flows going through the middle of treed areas.

There was an optional side trip to the most southern tip of the US on this island and when I arrived at the turnoff, the headwinds promised to be more than I wanted to fight for 12+ miles so I came on in without taking the side trip. I was the 4th one to check in today. That was a first.