first long cycling tour

That first cycling tour to NZ seems so long ago. We were total touring neophytes then. Originally we thought that we would go on an YHA trip. After contacting several participants of a previous trip who told us not to do it with the group and to do it our own, we decided to do just that. The itinerary for the trip was spelled out in the brochure and we were going for about as many days as their trip. Planning the trip was just a simple matter of following the published itinerary.Those were the days before internet. Mail to and from NZ took 2 weeks in each direction. Guidebooks were about the only way to get information about particular areas. As members of AAA we could get the NZ AA maps. Those great maps and accompanying lodging books were our bibles. Not really knowing the country so well and the specific names of all the regions, we simply got the maps for all areas of both islands.

The plan was to cycle both islands in a month. That’s what they were doing for the trip in the brochure. If they could do it, so could we. What did they know that we didn’t? Previous participants in the organized trip mostly told us the downfalls of their tour. Nobody got really specific about the riding other than it was hilly. Nobody ever mentioned that the route in the itinerary included several van shuttles. We biked some really looooooong days, including several centuries. Being from the flat part of Ohio (yes, contrary to popular belief, there are hills in Ohio, as in the Appalachians) the biggest hill in the area was a highway overpass. There was one hill out River Rd on the way to Grand Rapids. That must be what it is like in NZ. Well, not quite. There was nothing in NZ like the highway overpass.

We had arranged with a group called Meet the New Zealanders to meet with a Kiwi family in Auckland. Our flight to LA was delayed for some reason or another and we missed our connection to Auckland. With a bit of free time in the LA area most of the next day, we decided to take a bus to beautiful Hollywood. We had seen that sign on TV and in photographs. There is always something urgently exciting about letters high up on a hill especially is they spell the name of a town.

The bus ride via public transport was somewhat of an eye opener for Midwesterners who didn’t usually ride the bus anywhere. First, the bus took at least an hour to get to Hollywood. We traveled through some of the finest neighborhoods of LA. The bus provided plenty of entertainment in the form of drug deals in the back of the bus and other questionable activities. We didn’t reach Hollywood soon enough. We hastily debarked and stood in shock. Guess we got Hollywood and Beverly Hill 90210 mixed up. Definitely no glitz or glamour here in downtown Hollywood. The letters on the hill weren’t even so impressive. We spent just a bit of time in this famous overrated town and headed back to the airport, this time in a taxi van. The driver whisked us back to the airport in less than half the time that the bus took. Rarely did all four wheels touch the pavement simultaneously. We felt relieved to be on that plane to Auckland.

The Kiwis who we were to meet with for tea and crumpets, or the famous Devonshire teas typical at the take-aways in NZ, figured out that we had missed our flight. They kindly and unexpectedly met us at the airport with a trailer attached to their van so that they could transport our bikes. How thoughtful of them. We enjoyed some snacks with them and then insisted that we had to leave. We had already spent a good part of the day visiting and had what looked like a hilly afternoon of riding ahead of us.

They seemed to notice our concern and drove us to the halfway point of the day near the town of Thames. They and others warned us that there were three small hills ahead. No problem. We had ridden over several highway overpasses.

TBC