Life on the road on a pink recumbent trike in nz

It's bike repair time... First a little background... Soon after I started riding the trike the drive side hub shell cracked and since its a old bike there's no way of getting a replacement hub so after some thought I too it to a frame builder (person who makes hand bikes) I know and they using a few things made it so I could ride the trike again - the new parts was a new part of the drive axle, a aluminum sleeve over the (steel) axle  and a 20 mm (GT) though axle front Mt bike hub - the sleeve was to bring the axle up in size so that the front 20mm hub would fit on to the axle - the end of the axle was then theaded to take a bot to hold the wheel on the axle and a hole was drilled though the hub shell,aluminum sleeve (that's part of the inside of the hub) , the spacer aluminum sleeve and steel axle  to take a 6mm nut and bolt to lock the hub shell to the drive axle - the sealed bearing and inside (aluminum) sleeve in the hub (between the sealed bearing was used in t

Hi everyone - I'm in Masterton staying at a friend's place today and been working on the trike with my friend doing some much needed repairs on it - I will over time hopefully type up the last 6 weeks of travel as I can as well as type up my day to day travel stories from now on : ) - i will do some longer posts including about the work on the trike today as I am able to : )   

Eketahuna to Masterton 43 km After a days delay I'm finely leaving eketahuna after spending the last week staying in eketahuna Slowly Packing up my camp as my phones charge up I have a think above what to wear on the days ride - the weather forecast looks to be mix of over cast with a few showers around lunch time and some sun so I go for a pink top (hi-vise on the at times S.H. 2 main road) and bike shorts - been a while since I last rode in just bike shorts (with out leg warmers) so summer is slowly coming : ) - since I be heading in to a large town today I cover the bike shorts with a skirt (also adds more color : ) Onice my phones are fully charged and my trike is fully packed it's time to get on the road : )  I use some cord and a handel (with clips on the cord) to first pull the trike across the muddy ground then up the steep hill of the eketahuna Campground (a short but steep climb) Starting Strava on my phone I start the days riding - making a short stop at

Kaiaua to orere point Well the day didn’t go as planned  - I had planned to go much longer distance but my legs was really not working very well so I just cut the day short – it’s a beautiful road along the sea bird coast with not much traffic (can get busy at different times of the year though) and is a popular route for cycling between Auckland and coromandel (also popular cycling route is going by hunua) in places there’s been big slips on to the road that are still being cleaned up so there was some parts of the road that was (temporary) gravel what made for harder riding at times Slowly climbing away from the coast over some hills before getting to the turn off to orere point – very slowly at times I stop to check the cell phone for any messages /email /other online suff – (I have my phone on airplane mode when I’m riding) as I’m looking at the phone my mum just happens to call me at the same time so we have a bit of a chat about different things before I decide what I’m doing

Some where to kaiaua Long hard day on the road today – after packing up I ride on roads to paeroa – so why roads and not the cycle trail one might wonder? Well for a number of reasons..   My recumbent trike don’t like gravel that much (including the low hanging rear derailleur ) and with the 5 wheels on the ground it can be very slow on gravel roads and trails – there is a fair amount of anti-motorbike barriers to get the trike and trailer around as well as lots of narrow cattle stops to bump over (can be a tight fit at times) – some of the foot bridges on the trail can be hard on the trike and lastly but not less just for a change (note I have done the trail a number of times over the years including on the trike earlier this year)  the roads are not super busy so are fine for me to ride on with the trike In paeroa I stock up on food (first good supermarket since rotorua with the route I used) before heading towards kopu stopping for a few rest/photo breaks including at hikutaia at

Some where to some where else : ) After a bit of a late start I hop out of the hammock and pack up my camp  : )   the road tends down hill at times steep down hill where I get up some good speed. A few km into the days riding I turn off the some what busy S.H.5 on to tapapa Rd – this road by pass’s a dangerous for cycling piece of S. H. 5 as the highway runs through a patch of bush with a road side cafe in the middle – a number of years ago when I was with my family coming back from a motorcycle rally (my family used to go to many motorcycle rallys around nz ) we was stoped at the café when a motorcyclists was killed in a road accident right in front of us and there has been a number of other road accidents over the years on that piece of road Tapapa road is sign posted as no exit but in fact links up with Harwoods Rd  - it’s a great road to ride on - narrow (about 1-1 ½ lanes wide – might be the reason for the old road gate at one end and the no exit sign) but with not much if an