Auckland to Wellington NZ via Thorn Nomad MK2

[nztony]

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/


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

[JimK]

Great photos and thanks much for the informative captions! Well done on the ride!

[nztony]

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.

[Danneaux]

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.

[Matt2matt2002]

Great pictures my friend.
Not sure what looks best; your bike or the scenery.
Matt

[Andre Jute]

Super account, Tony. That's clearly a very well-sorted bike.

[NZPeterG]

Hio Tony,
Love the pic's and to see your having Fun on your Thorn.

Kiwi Pete
 

[jags]

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.

[nztony]

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!

[jags]

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.

[Vintagetourer]

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?

[Relayer]

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

[nztony]

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!

[rualexander]

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.

[nztony]

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.



Desert Road Jan 1984 (part way into a 225km day)