Mangakino to taupo

Mangakino to taupo

Another day on the road and if all goes to plan I should be in taupo by some time today – as Im packing up I noticed that the tire that I swapped yesterday had partly come out of the rim so I let down the tire and put it back in the rim with a little less air this time (well it is only a cheap wherehouse tire) then its time to get on the road – first filling up on water (there’s a water tap in the play round next to the library) then a bit of food from the shop before leaving town – it’s a busy 10 km of main road to ride until I turn off onto more back roads next to another dam/ power station  passing some small buildings on 2 truck and trailers parked up on the side of the road (over size loads – I’m happy not to be on the road at the same time as them : )   on the back road I pass by a school having a sports day  and a bit more on up the road have a chat to a passing farmer about the weather (it’s about to start raining again) and the road  - as I’m riding down the road some more I pass signs of flooding from all the rain lately – luckily all the roads I’m riding are clear and out of the water

Latter in the day I met up with poihipi road – a road I know well from my big taupo rides over the years. Just as I’m getting up to the road I hear /feel the bot in the drive side hub go – ever so offen the bot there breaks – most of the time it’s a easy job to replace. This time it’s only about 10 minutes until I’m back riding. As I’m riding along poihipi Rd I see that a camper van is parked up ahead – since I never know why a vehicle is stoped up a head (I have had issues in the past with some people in vehicles so it’s a bit of a worry sometimes) I take my time passing and give them room. This time it’s a woman in the campervan that has seen me earlier in the day and wanted to have a chat (and offen me some food and asked if I needed any thing else) – I tend to be careful with my answers to questions from unknown people – partly for my own safety as a young woman traveling solo on her bike around nz – most people are good – some are not so good...

After a bit of a chat the woman did a video of me and the bike to put on her Facebook page – I do tend to wonder just what unknown people say/think when they see such videos – I now tend to ask people to not to film me if I don’t trust them when they ask if they can do Facebook/utube videos of me (some times being on unknown videos can cause issues including safety issues for me including partly with me being lbgt+) 

then after saying goodbye to the person in the campervan its time for the fun fast mostly down hill ride to taupo  with only 1-2 up hill bits to climb along the way passing yet another 2 power stations on the way (this time  geothermal power stations)  getting into taupo I stop by a bike shop I know to ask about tires with no luck (finding good 20” 1.75 (406) tires can be a challenge at times in nz) then its off to the super market for some food for the next few days before heading out to the horse place where I’m helping with a horse event on the weekend – running dressage papers and helping setting up show jumping jumps on the Saturday and more running dressage papers in the morning and cross country jump judging in the afternoon on the Sunday (and it rains on the weekend as well)