Bit of a journey but here I am. Day three since a 20hr flight with a 10hr layover in the lovely LAX.
Picked up a rental car and headed to Papamoa in the Bay of Plenty. I had a nice 2hr spin Friday along Ocean Rd bordering the Pacific.
Saturday, spectacular day and a 3hr ride on the schedule. I mapped out a what appeared to be a very nice route with some great views.
Off I went, started into a pretty decent climb with the idea of getting on the ridge to look down over Mt Maunganui and Tauranga.
About 4km's into it things changed rapidly and I went into cyclocross mode. Many Doggmaas would run to the kennel when they saw what was coming. The BMC RAceMaster is such tough bike and I thought it would be a great tester for the Webster Roubaix, along with the fact that I couldn't be bothered turning around.
It was the right decision to continue, the road got steeper, rougher and narrower but the view was brilliant
Once I hit the Blacktop, it was out of the hills and back towards the beach
This is Mt Maunganui, every Kiwi knows it asThe Mount.
Great beach and known for its surf.
The view is looking north with Mt in the background
tomorrow, Sunday 7th, I will be heading down to Foxton, around 160km's from the bottom of the North Island to stay with my parents for the rest of the week. I will be training there and checking out the first few hill climbs of the Tour.
