It was cool and cloudy this morning when we got up. We had our usual buffet breakfast, this time with scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. I left the hotel before 9:00 and headed out to one of the dreaded state highways. We had and 15km climb to start our day, but part of it was on a nice bicycle path. We liked avoiding the cars and trucks. I still felt unsafe on the downhill until I turned off onto a secondary road.

This new road was much smoother and carried far less traffic. I stopped in Reporoa at 28km and bought some ginger snaps for snacking. Other people in group were here as well. When I got on my bicycle and rode down the road, the fun started. A strong headwind was blowing. It not only slowed me down a lot, but it pushed my bicycle around. The weather was perfect otherwise.

My lunch spot

I stopped at 65km to eat my PB&J sandwich sitting on a log fence at a new estate development spot. When I started riding again, I had a 10km climb. This climb and the one before were very gradual, but the headwind made me go very slowly.

Finally at 75km I reached the top of the climb and started peddling downhill to Suncourt Hotel in Taupo . My GPS behaved on led me directly to the front door.