Miramar Peninsula and Island Bay Cycleway

Last Friday, 15 April, it was a cloudless and calm day – or so we thought – and it seemed like a perfect day for a bike ride. We thought we would bike around the whole of the Miramar Peninsula. So I skipped my Zumba class and we headed into town to park near Greta Point.

It turned out we had misjudged the weather slightly. Driving into town, we could see there were clouds hovering over the city and Miramar, and when we got our bikes out of the car, we found there was a brisk southerly. It is a bit deceptive – living, as we do, in the lee of a hill that shelters us from the southerly, we weren’t aware that there was any wind at all. Not to worry, we came prepared – our soft shell windproof jackets kept the wind out, and our bodies warm.

The saga of John’s back-facing camera (iPhone) continues. He bought a “selfie stick” – amazingly, those things are available at the supermarket these days! Not because he wanted to indulge in taking selfies, but because he wanted the phone-holding bracket on the end of the stick, and the blue-tooth remote control gadget that came with it. So he’s now attached the bracket under his saddle – facing the back, of course – and the remote control device on his handlebar, so he’s able to take single rear-facing photos when we are riding in an interesting place. He uses his rear-view mirror to see what he will be snapping. 

John mounted his iPhone below his saddle. It can be charged from the bike's battery (photo by John)

Te Ara Tawa – Kenepuru to Porirua

A week ago, on Thursday 7 April, the final section of the cycling track Te Ara Tawa between Kenepuru and Porirua was finally officially opened. We didn’t go to the opening – we don’t enjoy crowds, we’d much rather have the place to ourselves – but we did bike there the very next day.

John took lots of photos along the way, as he was still experimenting with his backward-facing camera.

We started at the Takapu Road Station end. Between there and Tawa Station, the track runs alongside the railway line.

Between Redwood and Tawa Stations (photo by John)

Waikanae to Peka Peka

On Wednesday 6 April, we had an early-ish start and took the train up to Waikanae. The plan was to bike to Peka Peka to have lunch at Harrisons, then bike back.

Before heading towards the Waikanae River track, we stopped briefly by the shopping centre for John to adjust the latest version of his backward-facing camera. He had made a new bracket so he could mount his iPhone at the back of his saddle. He wanted to be able to control switching it on or off while riding, which he achieved by using a remote-control cable. But the cable was a bit reluctant to stay put. It worked for some of the time, and then it didn’t. But he still got some useful photos from it.

John adjusts the latest version of his backward-facing camera

Third anniversary – Three years of biking and blogging fun

On 12 March, it was three years since we started this biking adventure, when we bought my first folding bike – a Giant Expressway (John had bought his a few weeks earlier). By this time last year, I had ridden nearly 2,500 km on it. But since then, we have used our e-bikes more, so the Giant’s mileage has increased by only about 200 km.

On the other hand, our SmartMotion folding e-bikes, which we bought in November 2014, have had a lot of use, and I have just reached my 3,000 km milestone at the end of March. They have been wonderful, and have allowed us to do some great rides, without having to worry about hills or headwinds.

Wairarapa again – Martinborough to Gladstone

The week before Easter, we went for a short ride from Mana to Pauatahanui and back (14 km). I was still not feeling quite right (abscessed tooth). But once started on antibiotics, I was starting to feel a bit better. During Easter, we went for two short rides – one on Sunday, 10 km on Te Ara Tawa, to see if the new section from Kenepuru to Porirua was open yet (it wasn’t); and the other on Monday, from Seaview to Janus Bakkerij and back (12 km).

By Wednesday 30 March, having finished my course of antibiotics, I was finally feeling like my old self again, and so we decided on a much longer effort, and repeat the ride we did a month ago in the Wairarapa – from Martinborough to Gladstone and back. At that time, we thought we should do the ride again some time, but return on the same, lovely and quiet, Longbush Road, instead of going on the much busier Ponatahi Road.

Quiet Longbush Road (photo by John)

Graffiti or art?

On one of our fairly frequent rides down to the local café and supermarket, we noticed a young man doing a painting on a Chorus cabinet by the side of the road. I called out “Wow!” as we rode past, which he ackowledged with a wave. It looked intriguing, so on our way home, we stopped by and had a chat with him. 

Talking to the artist (photo by John)

Tawa to Gear Homestead

On Sunday 20 March, we went for a gentle ride to investigate whether the Kenepuru to Porirua section of Te Ara Tawa was open for use yet. I was still coming right from what was ailing me the previous week, so didn’t want to do anthing too energetic. But I figured I could “cope” with lunch at the Gear Homestead Café!

We parked at the Takapu Road station carpark, which is the beginning of Te Ara Tawa, and pedalled off towards Kenepuru. We were disappointed to find the path along the railway line to Porirua still blocked. (PS - We went there again a week later, on Easter Sunday, but still no luck. Celia Wade-Brown, Wellington mayor, stated on Facebook that it will be officially opened at 3pm on 7 April.)

At Kenepuru, the new track to Porirua was still fenced off (photo by John)

Mangaroa Valley and Te Marua

On Wednesday 16 March we were due to go for a Folding Goldies ride. The plan was to take the train to Wallaceville, then bike through Mangaroa Valley to Te Marua, and down the Hutt River trail to Janus Bakkerij, and train back. Organiser Alastair Smith provided a map, which is here. 

That week I was not feeling well, and the forecast was for a cold, wet and windy day (summer seemed to have come to an end), so on the day before, I warned John that if the weather turned out horrible, I wouldn’t be going. It did, and I didn’t go. But John went.

Wellington Waterfront – Dragon boat races and other delights

It’s a while since I last wrote up any rides, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been biking. I’ve been a bit under the weather, but we’ve still managed to do some undemanding cycling.

After our exhausting ride to the Makara Wind Farm, described in my last blog, I vowed I would not go anywhere the next day (Sunday 6 March), but it was a fine, warm, breezy day, and there were things going on at the Wellington waterfront that would be fun to take pictures of, so we went for a short ride on the Giants (non-e bikes). This blog post is more about the activities we took photos of, than about the ride.

Ride to the Source – West Wind Windfarm at Makara

Last Saturday 5 March, we took part in an e-bike ride to the West Wind windfarm at Makara. We recently joined a Meetup group called the Wellington Chargers, the members of which all ride electric bikes. Organiser Alastair Smith (yes, he’s also organiser of the Folding Goldies – he gets around!) put it this way on the Meetup site: “Let’s check out where the power for our e-bikes comes from, with a ride to the West Wind windfarm at Makara”. Hence the title “Ride to the Source” (his words).

The West Wind Windfarm (photo by John)

Wairarapa ride – Martinborough to Gladstone

On Wednesday 2 March, having spent several days at my desk making changes to my blog, and not having biked for ten days, we thought we should do a substantial ride somewhere. And since there weren’t many rides listed in the Wairarapa Rides tab, we decided to remedy that by biking the route we had done when we took part in the Martinborough Charity Fun Ride, back in November. 

But instead of doing the 48 km loop without any stops in the middle, as there are no cafés along the way (how barbaric!), we decided to go as far as Gladstone so we could stop for lunch at the Gladstone Inn. This effectively meant we were doing the 67 km loop.

A few changes to the blog

As I am coming up to the third anniversary of this blog, I have been making some changes, and I hope, improvements.

It partly came about as a result of the fear of losing it all, if some internet or computer glitch should wipe some or all of it. A great deal of time and effort has gone into creating the blog, and while I hope that others “out there” are enjoying reading about our biking adventures, it is also a visual diary for ourselves.

I started by copy-and-pasting our major away trips into separate documents for myself. Then came the idea that some of our readers might like to see these trips as separate entities, to make them easier to find. We think – we hope – that other (retired? or maybe overseas?) cyclists might get ideas from our rides for their own explorations of our beautiful country. So I created a separate tab (across the top of the blog), where I have detailed our major trips, with links to the relevant posts.

Tawa to Hongoeka Bay

Last Sunday, we set out with a plan to bike from Tawa to Mana, have lunch and bike back. We ended up going quite a bit further, covering a total of 41.5 km.

We started out from Tawa’s Takapu Road Station carpark, riding on Te Ara Tawa, the very nice walking and cycling path that runs along the railway line, through quiet suburban streets, and then along the Porirua Stream as far as Kenepuru station.

On a Sunday, there was plenty of parking at the Takapu Road station carpark (photo by John)

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

This was nothing to do with biking, but it was quite an event, so I will write about it anyway.

This past weekend Wellington has been host to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. It is the second time this grand show has been brought to Wellington. When it was here in 2000, I attended and loved it. This time however, I hummed and ha’ed about going. I wanted to, but John wasn’t interested in going, and anyway, it was very expensive, so I reluctantly decided not to go. Then when reports about it started showing up in the media, I so regretted my decision.

It was very lucky then, that a Scottish country dancing friend rang me on Saturday morning, and asked if I was interested in going to that evening’s show. A relative of hers was not able to go, so the ticket was going cheap. I was thrilled.

Ciclovía, Ataturk Memorial Park, and the Wellington Waterfront

Sunday 14 February was a perfect day for the now yearly event of Ciclovía. For a whole day, from 9 am to 9 pm, the road between Shelly Bay and Scorching Bay was closed to motorised traffic, so that the people of Wellington could walk, cycle, scooter, skate, skateboard, push wheelchairs and pushchairs, ride cargo bikes, tandems and even unicycles, along the 4.2 km distance without the danger from cars.

Again, the day was a huge success, as apparently more than 3000 people, including lots of families with children, took the opportunity to do so.

For us the day was much more than Ciclovía. We left home at 11 am, and got home at 8 pm, having biked 49 km, though obviously we weren't biking all of that time. We parked at Greta Point, and on our e-bikes, we pedalled along Evans Bay and Cobham Drive to Shelly Bay Road.

Shelly Bay Road (photo by John)

Te Ara o Whareroa – again!

When we went on our last ride – the Folding Goldies ride to Te Ara o Whareroa – my sister was going to come along. However, in the end she wasn’t able to make it, so when her birthday came round soon after, we suggested that we could make a special birthday trip one day, and shout her lunch.

This time Aimée was to use John’s e-bike, while he rode the non-electrified Giant. Again we took the train to Waikanae from Takapu Road Station.

On the train to Waikanae (photo by John)

Folding Goldies Ride – Te Ara o Whareroa

Last Wednesday was probably Wellington’s hottest day so far this summer. According to the official records the temperature reached 28 degrees, but in the suburbs, I am sure it went higher. John’s own weather station indicated 29.2 degrees in the afternoon, and lots of people were suffering from the heat and lack of wind. Funny, isn’t it, people in Wellington seem to be always complaining about the wind, but when it’s not there, we miss it!

Fortunately, we were biking in Kapiti that day, and there was a nice sea breeze, which kept us from overheating. We went on the first Folding Goldies ride for 2016, biking from Waikanae to Paekakariki, and riding the newly opened Te Ara o Whareroa – a wonderful track through Queen Elizabeth II Park.

e-Bike Group Ride

Yesterday we went on a e-bike group ride, organised by Switched On Bikes. This is a company set up in 2015 by Ryan O’Connell, who is very keen to promote electric bikes as a great means of getting around Wellington. He has a fleet of e-bikes for hire, and also sells e-bikes, and he runs e-bike tours of Wellington. This ride was one of the free Wellington Region Summer Cycling Events. 

John had met Ryan before, but I hadn't. When we got there, Ryan greeted us with “Hi, I’ve read your blog”. Yessss!

There was quite a good turn out. Twenty people took part, including Ryan and his team of three. We met at the Switched On Bikes premises on Queen’s Wharf (near the Westpac helicopter). Some had their own e-bikes and some used hire bikes. One person hadn’t ridden any kind of bike for a long time. Those who hired bikes had the opportunity to cruise around the wharf for a bit to get the feel of the e-bikes.

Waiting for more people to turn up (photo by John)

Waikanae to Paekakariki and Pukerua to Tawa

Last Sunday, 17 January, we took the train to Waikanae with the e-bikes. As we started to wheel the bikes onto the train, the guard called out that we couldn’t get on as there were already three bikes in the allocated space. And there was only one carriage – because it was a Sunday, I suppose. However, we told the guard we could fold the bikes down. “Ah, that’s OK then”, he said. But he told us to get on board and then fold them, “or else we’ll be here all day”.

One of the folded bikes and a satisfied guard (photo by John)

Upper Hutt to Petone

On Monday 11 January, we had arranged with our friend Pat to take the train to Upper Hutt, and bike back to Petone from there. As we had dinner with my sister Aimée the night before, I suggested she might like to come along also. She hummed and ha’ed a bit, but then decided that, yes, she would come along.

As Aimée does not have her own bike, she would be using one of our Giants. John would be riding the other Giant, and I would ride my e-bike. She came to fetch the bike from us, and we all met up at Petone, to take the train to Upper Hutt.

The trains allow only three bikes per carriage. The front carriage already had one bike in it, so we rushed to the second carriage. But as there were four of us, the guard warned us we could only have three bikes. “No problem”, we said, and John folded up the two Giants. The guard was satisfied.