By the numbers
1 bike
20.19kms
24,286 steps
I woke in the early hours to hear the wail of sirens for the volunteer firies to be called out of bed. Thats what I was told it meant and could be anything from helping remove a tree to tires or even attend a wreck. I did however check the Geonet app as I am not far from Ruapehu and earthquakes are a thing. The next thing I was wondering as there was daylight was to why my alarm had not gone off. There was a reason why. I did not have that set for the weekend and it was silent. That didn’t bother me in the slightest. The bed was comfortable and it was warm too, but I had other plans.
Before getting my bike, I needed some breakfast as I only had around an hour before the shop opened so I wanted some fuel before leaving, and along the way picked up two sandwiches for the road as I didn’t know if I would need them. Basically I didn’t know how long I would be out on my bike for or where exactly as that would be the biggest mystery. The shop was open a touch early and I was able to get fitted out for my bike and at the same time got gloves only as it was bloody cold out there. I wasn’t the only one that was there luckily as there were several others that got electric bikes, while I had the normal one. They wouldn’t just take me up to Horopito, which is where the trail starts for the Old Coach road. The Coach road itself if a historic road used in the early days before the train came through and parts still have the old cobble stones used. This was also where the workers stayed while building the railway line that is now used between Wellington and Auckland. At the start of the track is a wreckers called Smash Palace that was used for a movie of the same name and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. You could visit that if you wanted. One of the guys who dropped the small group of us off gave us a talking to about the trail and what to watchout for.
I was late starting off as I put on my raincoat and just took my time while the others basically vanished before I left for the Smash Palace. I was taking my time going down the trail. There were parts that were going uphill that I was walking the bike along as I did not want to ride up hill, but was wheeling down the slopes. One part I didn’t attempt to ride down was near the Taonui viaduct, a bridge that you cant cross, but will pass underneath and was all about the metal and construction methods used. Throughout the trail there were information boards, where I would stop and take pictures and even of just the scenery. That created a surprise when someone was coming down the track and came across me on the side of the track. It was around midday that I came across my first bunch of walkers and riders going up the trail. I was glad I was going down as I don’t think I would have made it up. I was just taking my time as I had the bike all day and the weather was pretty windy even though there was rain about, but not much. I nearly slipped over on some leave the once in front of a bunch of hikers, but that was the only time. Throughout the whole ride I only seen people going down. Apart from the two going up. I was glad that I took the time today as the weather had been better than yesterday. Only one of the viaducts you could walk across and it used to be used for bungy jumps too at one stage Hapuawhenua viaduct was another one that had been bypassed when the new one had been built and it was a one way since it basically was a bridge to nowhere as you had to turn around. The bridge had information about how the community helped to preserve it for the future
I made it down, although I didn’t realise I had made it that far until I found the little carpark. I was at the end of a country road, so decided to try and ride back to town. I ended up with a headwind, which meant walking would have been better and I ended up walking back with the bike until I got to one end of Ohakune. I had good luck as the Northern explorer came through at the same time I made it back into town. I was watching it as it went past.. I was planning on riding through the town until a local mentioned the 2km riverside track was worth taking, so I did until the end. I had to ride a little bit further into town where the shop was and I was able to return the bike. They were happy that I enjoyed myself and just took my time instead of trying to make it down in two hours. It was mid afternoon and I wanted to put washing on as I had two jumpers that needed washing and one that would have been stinky from the ride. I wanted to have a rest as well after the ride as I knew I would have to go out to dinner later on as there seem to be only restaurants here and very few if any quick and easy places. Still it was a good day out and I was happy I went and rode on the old coach road.
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