Day 95, Friday 24 November 2017
I went riding today with someone I’ve never met before. He’s only been riding on a road bike for six weeks, but he’s very capable and knows his limits. We went up SH16 to Wellsford, back along Matakana Valley Road, and then back to Auckland via SH1. A good combination of different riding conditions.
Matakana Valley Road runs from the town of Matakana over the hills to the north to connect up to Whangaripo Valley Road. Until the beginning of last year, the road was gravel going over the hills. It wasn’t particularly difficult gravel, but enough to prevent group rides from taking it. In early 2016, the road was entirely sealed, and now this is a good scenic route between Wellsford and Matakana. The part over the hills is several kilometres of consecutive tight bends, some with an advisory speed of 25 km/h. There are grand views over Makakana, Tawharanui and Omaha, best seen when coming from the north as we were. Unfortunately, in the places where there’s space to pull over, vegetation obscures the view. I think the council could trim the plants and put up “Scenic view” notices.
Photo by Kawa Burns
Distance travelled: 202 km. Total distance so far: 13,573 km
Motorcycling Streak 