Napier

This morning I left from Wellington and hit the road after a two day break. The ride started off with a bit of a hitch as I realized that I hadn’t correctly downloaded the section of the map that covered all of the lower North Island. I managed to pair my phone to my Sena and got directions from my Maps app instead. *whew* It wasn’t really needed after I had gotten out of Wellington since the directions were pretty much – take Highway 2 all the way north.

It was a bit jarring to be on the freeway after so long. Luckily it ended quickly and I was soon in the Rimutaka hills. As usual, my fear of heights kicked in and I rode absurdly slowly on those really cool roads. Ugh…

Then some mostly good riding in beautiful rolling hills country. At times it felt like riding through the Shire. No photos unfortunately.

At about the 200 km mark, I started to get exhausted as usual. My stamina really really sucks. I stopped at a cafe and got some coffee and took a bit of a break. These breaks really help a lot because when I got on after, I felt pretty refreshed and ready to go faaaast.

After days of riding in the South Island with almost no traffic outside of the touristy areas, it was a bit strange (and annoying) to be stuck behind trucks and slow moving cars and having to keep pass them. Some of the semis pull over to let traffic go past them but many do not, which is really annoying.

I reached Napier at around 3:00 PM and checked in to a YHA right on the beach. The downtown area had really cool art deco architecture. It was also really warm and sunny and a really lovely afternoon to be outdoors.

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