Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Cycle Tours => Topic started by: nztony on April 04, 2014, 02:58:42 am
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Hello Everyone,
I haven't been reading the forums for a couple of weeks as I have been busy riding a little over 800km from Auckland to Wellington
In late March I flew up to Auckland with my Thorn Nomad MK2 (purchased in Dec 2013) to attend the John Farnham/Lionel Richie concert then I rode back home to Wellington - every inch of the way. When I competed at Olympic Games, World Champs, Commonwealth Games, NZ Champs, even Auckland Champs, I used to listen to John Farnham on headphones to get myself psyched up: You're the Voice, Pressure Down etc, hence the reason I wanted to go up to Auckland to see John Farham (and got Lionel Richie thrown in for free!) I was three rows from the front so had an excellent view.
Orginal Album (Quickly thrown together) https://plus.google.com/photos/108071238866383177054/albums/5998237759671169729?authkey=CNidnpr8rJKIoAE
Nicer Album (exactly same photos) http://nztony.smugmug.com/Auckland-to-Wellington-March-2/
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3731/13805138215_eb4f9a47b3.jpg)
Map of Auckland to Wellington Trip
As for the bike itself it performed flawlessly over 805km fully laden from Auckland (our largest city) to Wellington (our capital city).
I went via some back roads, notably The Forgotten World Highway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_State_Highway_43
I performed well too, averaging 89.4kms a day for nine days, my shortest day was 60km and my longest 120km. I think my hilly 95km circuit here in Wellington I've been training on for the last three months set me up very well and because of that not one hill or terrain or any sections of the ride (physically) hurt me. I was very pleasantly surprised of how well I managed.
I removed my 42 tooth chainring a week before the trip and replaced it with a genuine Thorn 40 tooth and with my 16 tooth rear sprocket, it was almost a perfect combo - perhaps a 39 or 38 would be even better to have in reserve as I never needed my 13th or 14th gear on my Rohloff.
I rode up most of the bigger hills at 6 to 7kms per hour and I knew it was a steep section if I slowed down to 5km!
My Marathon Mondials were perfect too - they never felt too big and slow and they always gave me confidence they weren't going to puncture on me when running over little bits of rubbish on the shoulder of the road. And I've been able to do something I've never done on a bicycle before, and that is ride on gravel roads, of which I did for about 16km on this trip. So far 3500km and not a single puncture.
To put it into a very brief nutshell, the bike just simply worked without a single hiccup - admittedly this trip was only 800km and it has only done 3500km in total, but so far so good.
Regards
Tony
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Great photos and thanks much for the informative captions! Well done on the ride!
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Thanks Jim, I've been captioning them for the last two days, but finally they are done, and therefore ready to share.
But writing them is half the fun.
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Short on time, Tony, or I'd surely write more: What a wonderful effort and tour. All congratulations your way and thanks so much for sharing the trip in words and photos. This is a wonderful start to what will surely be many, many future tours with your Nomad, and I wish you joy and happiness with every one.
You and the bike are looking terrific!
All the best,
Dan.
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Great pictures my friend.
Not sure what looks best; your bike or the scenery.
Matt
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Super account, Tony. That's clearly a very well-sorted bike.
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Hio Tony,
Love the pic's and to see your having Fun on your Thorn.
Kiwi Pete
:)
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oh look at all that lovely weather.fair play to you tony sure glad your enjoying the better part of cycling some difference that cycling around a track all day :)
photos are only fantastic did you camp on that trip gonna have to look at photos again to see if i can spot a tent.
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Danneaux, many thanks for your comments, I did a smaller 4 day 300km tour a month ago too, as a practice run for this trip, so I should post those photos too!
Matt, I did a little over 3000km in practice for the trip, and on the 800km ride the bike didn't miss a single beat, and extremely pleasing nor did I!
I did a Auckland to Wellington trip 30 years ago as a 21 year old, but this time around, I set off with a little apprehension, not really knowing if I'd put in enough preparation, as I had only three months to physically prepare. The ride wasn't a foregone conclusion, but (within reason) it was quite nice setting off knowing it was a genuine challenge, but the further and further I got into it, the more I knew I was going to make it.
Thanks Andre, the Thorn really did show it's true colours, i.e. strong, steady, reliable. I think it's an Apple catchphrase, but "It just works" and it did.
The bike was invisible, i.e. it just did what it was meant to do with absolutely no fuss at all and didn't draw any attention to itself and that is just how I like it. That is how a rate a good saddle too, you shouldn't know it's there. Now that this trip is over, I will investigate a new saddle - I didn't want to swap to a brand new one on the eve of my trip.
Peter, may thanks and yes, lots of fun, especially Taumarunui to Stratford via The Forgotten World Highway - the bike did the gravel section of it easily.
Jags, yes, better scenery than a circular velodrome, although I did stop off and have a look at our brand new Indoor Velodrome in Cambridge (but didn't photograph it!) I didn't take enough photos on the first couple of days as I think I was in "let's get going" mode, but from Day 3 onwards I chilled a bit, and was happy to stop and snap away. Much to my shame though, you won't find any tent photos! I carried one and fully intended to use it, but I stopped at camp grounds and used Cabins. Cabins, in New Zealand, are basic four walled standalone buildings with a bed, and power point if you are lucky and nothing else, no toilets, shower, or water, therefore requiring the use of the communal kitchens, shower blocks etc. Because of the basic facilities they cost me between 10 and 20 UK pounds a night, usually nearer to 10 than 20. I did use my tent two nights out of three on my "shake down" ride a month ago on a four day 300km tour in my local area. My goal for my next outing is a tent photo!
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Tony That's a brilliant idea small cabins i like that ;) and £10 a night fantastic.
oh Newzeland looks a beautifull country to ride a bike my son loved every second he was there only 3 months he has itchy feet to get back.
anyway glad you shared your pic's Class.
anto.
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I like your high visibility colours Tony. Thanks for the brilliant pics and details.
About how much did your loaded bike weigh excluding food/water?
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Well done Tony!
That looks like a great tour, and the bike looks fantastic too. Loads of photos and well written up too - what more could we ask for? Apart from your weather but jags beat me to it ;)
Jim
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Vintagetourer, those high vis colours are a very conscious choice - people quote me research that says it makes no difference, but I know that when I drive my car how dark and hard to see some cyclists are in dark clothing, so it's bright clothing, bike, panniers for me. As for the weight, and I knew I'd be asked this, but I simply don't know and I'd like to know too. Although ... get the gearing right and don't be scared to drop the Rohloff into 1st gear up all the hills and I had no problems. (up all the decent hills at least!) The thing I liked about riding a heavily decked out bike was that as I didn't have anything strapped to myself, like I did when tramping/hiking with a backpack, so I actually felt quite unencumbered, but I rode 99.9% of the time in the saddle - the bike does feel a bit wobbly out of the saddle, so I don't pedal out of the saddle up hills, just when coasting down hills for a rest, to rest my butt, and have a little stretch. Don't forget not only is bike fully laden, that I am very close to 130kg, so I'm not surprised it felt a little wobbly out of the saddle - sitting in the saddle and riding up the hills in a low gear it felt absolutely 100% fine.
Thank you Jim, that was a quickly thrown together album - I'm experimenting with the photo side and electronic side of things. I find it absolutely fascinating cycling, stopping to take a photo with my cellphone, then emailing, tweeting, and snap chatting the photos right there and then just seconds after taking the photo. I seem to like to make work for myself as I also upload and caption my photos on flickr and smugmug. Just done the flickr uploads and finishing of the smugmug details. I'll post the smugmug album soon, as photos really do shine there. As for the weather, I was truly lucky, 800kms and probably no more than one hour of medium headwinds and perhaps a few hours of very light head winds and only 10 minutes of (warm) rain. I was very lucky indeed. I learnt a few things to improve upon, but all in all I was extremely happy the way things went, both the bicycle and myself!
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Great trip Tony!
That Forgotten Highway section looks good.
I've ridden twice from Auckland to Wellington (and beyond), first time was 21 years ago when I went via Coromandel, Rotorua, The Desert Road, Taihape, Masterton, etc, then the second time was 6 years ago when I went via East Cape, Hawkes Bay, and the Wairarapa, both great trips.
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Rualexander, this was my second time too from Auckland to Wellington. My first time was as a 21 year old in 1983, via State Highway 1 most of the way, including the Desert Road like yourself. This time around, as I only had three months to acquaint myself with my Thorn, it wasn't a forgone conclusion I'd make it, so there was a bit of nervous anticipation as I set off, not really knowing if I was ready for what lay ahead. As it turned out it was pretty easy really, although I had done a lot of 95km circuits in my area featuring lots of good climbing, which ended up standing me in good stead. I've always been very big on preparation, and once again it showed it's worth.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3136/3024540710_6a0423044c_b.jpg)
Desert Road Jan 1984 (part way into a 225km day)
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the bike just simply worked without a single hiccup
Great stuff, Tony. Delighted for you that the bike worked as it should, that your training worked as it should, so that you felt comfortable during and after the ride, and that you were free to enjoy yourself. Thanks for the fotos, too -- loved the inquisitive goats.
Cheers,
J.
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Thanks John for the kind words/encouragement. I've yet to post my first little 4 day, 3 night tour I did as a practice run for this tour - I was too keen to get this bigger tour online. I'm almost ready to post a nicer version of the album I've already posted - just finishing off the captioning. I seem to like making things difficult for myself as I back up my photos up to three separate online albums, but I am determined to never lose a photo.
Tony
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Thanks, Tony. On the task of backing up photos: I use Dropbox.com a lot -- allows me to send a link to people to view the fotos, or an access link. Plus, Dropbox sets up a folder on your hard drive, so you can back that up externally if you want to. That might simplify things a bit.
I've found Dropbox much more stable than Google, where I've lost things like workplans on calendars (!!). And, unlike Picasa albums which show only lo-res photos, Dropbox keeps the fotos as hi-res, so you can print directly from it.
Look forward to your fotos from your shorter trek as well -- these days, we experience cycling second-hand, with some jealousy, as you can guess... I just spoke to my wife, many thousands of kms away in Ottawa (I'm writing this from northern Mozambique), and she said the back yard is still full of grey granular snow & grit :-(
Hope to have my new Raven on the road by the end of April -- spring, when it eventually comes, is about 10 - 14 days long, then we lurch directly into July.
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John
I (think) could run seminars on backing up photos - I add my photos to albums on Google+ Smugmug, Flickr and Microsoft Onedrive. I am fairly sure Picasa Web Albums is now Google+ photos that do go up in full res. Back up to Picasa and they are available via Google+ and vice versa, as Google are trying to get us to use Google+
As for my cellphone photos they auto back up whenever I get into Wifi coverage and they back up into private Google+ AND Microsoft Onedrive albums, no wires, no connectors - love it.
I also use www.backblaze.com on my laptop and home computer. Five $USD a month and everything gets backed up via the cloud - the first back up took a couple of months to get 200gb loaded but now just my additions go up. When I dumped my trip photos onto the computer, the 600megs of photos silently backed up - I am so confident of my back ups I don't even use external HDDs anymore.
As you can probably tell, I love playing around and learning with new technologly - I'm a big lover of the "cloud"
Hope this wasn't too far off topic!
Tony
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Hello all,
By now you may have seen the photos of my trip, but here is an alternative album I have just finished that (I think) shows them off in a nicer format:
http://nztony.smugmug.com/Auckland-to-Wellington-March-2/
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7043/13655880344_f6781c35d6_z.jpg)
Regards
Tony
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fantastic photos tony thanks for sharing.
btw whats with all those fizzy drinks dont you like water. :)
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Anto,
Many thanks, but it was only 2 bottles of coke strapped to the bungee cords and 48 hours without a shop on that 150km stretch of road.
If it's any consolation, they weren't very refreshing when warm. ;)
Tony
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Tony i'm sure when your ambling along on your super nomad loaded down with panniers on a lonely stretch of beautifull newzeland highway your thinking to yourself ,oh how different this is to all that gruelling training when you were training on the olympic track team .
i know its a completly form of cycling but thinking back would you go through all that training again.
i bet cycle touring never entered your thoughts way back then. :)
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This looks fantastic. I've only managed to get over to NZ once for my brothers wedding (a whistle stop 6 days, where at least the first 2 were lost to jetlag) and managed a little bit of sight seeing around Auckland, a short road trip to Rotorua, and a day in the Waitakere Ranages park. It was winter as well, so I found out first hand about the NZ aversion to things like insulation, double glazing, draft excluders, well fitted doors, central heating... Would love to get back there and do some longer touring, especially now my brother has moved to Wanaka.
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Anto,
i bet cycle touring never entered your thoughts way back then. Smiley
It's more the other way around: I'd have never ever in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd be cycling at the 1988 Olympic Games five years after this photo was taken. Not in a hundred years! Admittedly I would have never thought I'd be cycling 800kms Auckland to Wellington 30 years after this photo was taken either.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3025/3020896313_338a26798f.jpg)
Cape Reinga, northern tip of New Zealand July 1983
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nztony/sets/72157608855534353
Would love to get back there and do some longer touring, especially now my brother has moved to Wanaka.
Honesty, you need to go see your brother in Wanaka immediately, it's my favourite town in NZ!
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3119/5844324965_e109183be0_z.jpg)
Lone Willow, Lake Wanaka, 2011 https://www.flickr.com/photos/nztony/5844324965/
Regards
Tony
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I'd have never ever in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd be cycling at the 1988 Olympic Games five years after this photo was taken. Not in a hundred years!
Just goes to show what natural ability, dedication, and a great deal of determination and hard work can accomplish. As much mental as physical.I would have never thought I'd be cycling 800kms Auckland to Wellington 30 years after this photo was taken either.
...And the same applies here!
You've still "got it", Tony!. All admiration your way; so nice to see you back on a bike again and to share in the journey via your lovely photos.
All the best,
Dan.
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Dan, thanks for the kind words. Taking the photos was half the fun, but I didn't take enough on Day 1 and 2, as I was too busy trying to get going. Luckily by Day 3 I chilled out and started taking photos. I knew this might happen, yet I still allowed it to - good learning for next time.
Tony
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Well my brother loves Wanaka, not least because he was able to sell the house he bought in Hillcrest in Auckland coming on 10 years ago for something silly like 5 times what he paid for it and move to Wanaka pretty much mortgage free!
When my 3 year old gets a bit older we are going to head over but at the moment I don't think I would be able to cope with the 30 hour flight with her!