This was my first ride with Northern Gravel Adventure Riders Nz on Saturday 12th May 2012.
After meeting at the BP service station at 9:30am we headed off toward Tuakau and over the Waikato heading for Port Waikato. We peeled of at the Klondyke Road and rode a series of gravel roads down towards the Nikau Caves for lunch.
It has been a while since I have ridden off-road and I haven’t ridden gravel before. I found myself a bit nervous having put on new ‘knobbly’ tyres and having a big heavy full load of fuel. With each road my confidence grew and by the end of the day I felt that I had a lot of confidence in my new tyres.
It was nice to see a variety of riders of different abilities and everyone could ride at their own pace with no pressure. The club run a corner man system which means riders take turns at junctions to point the riders in the correct direction while waiting for the tail end charlie.
From BP to home was 240km so a decent amount of ground covered. I loved the scenery on this ride and found the variety of scenic features amazing. There were hills, forests, low lying flat ground, green areas, volanic rock and coastal areas. I could do that again.
Thanks to the club members for the videos.
