The Sunday Training Ride

Taupo to Hastings

Sunday 2nd April 2000

by Jason Kelly

Another Sunday morning arrived and a nice gentle long ride was planned. As we were in Taupo, we had planned to bike home to Hastings. The brakes on the tandem had even been adjusted in anticipation of some good downhill speeds.

The weather was overcast and cool with a forecast of showers later on. Since it was fine, John Barry and I thought we might as well start off and see how far we could get before the weather closed in. So, at about 8.35am, we set off on the tandem (the two seat Cannondale Tandem), bound for home.

My legs didn’t feel too bad after the previous days ride (100k Rotorua to Taupo Flyer on the triplet tandem) and we started off at a gentle pace. The first half an hour or so saw an average speed of around 28/29km/h. This was about what I expected for the day and the hills were still to come! We rode up the gentle slopes at a reasonable pace and once out on the plains, rode into clear blue sky. The weather promised to get us the whole way home unabated!

Just past the Rangitaiki Tavern, we caught up to three cyclists on mountain bikes, complete with backpacks. We rolled over the top of a small rise and rode down the other side at 60km/h, leaving the mountain bikers just enough time to register that were passing them. As they were riding at about 15-20km/h, by the time we returned to cruise speed at the bottom, we could barely see them behind us.

The tandem enjoyed the rolling plains country and we quickly raised our average speed. We reached the first “real” hill at about 1 hour 40 minutes, which was about the same time it took us in the Taupo - Napier cycling classic. This hill was climbed all the way in the big chain ring (a 58) just to see if we could do it. We did and I knew then that we were riding at a good average pace.

From the top of the hill, it was downwards with some good descents. We managed around 85km/h maximum speed down the first big descent and then about 95km/h down the second big descent. Hill climbing was proving to be no problem - all hills can be climbed with the right gear, it is just the speed you want to do it at that hurts.

We reached the bottom of the Summit hill and spun into the small chain ring for the first time. On this climb we averaged around 15-16km/h without blowing the heart rate monitor. Once at the top of the summit, we were again greeted by clear blue sky and knew Hastings was still our target.

The tandem literally flew down the summit hill - we reached a top speed of just on 100km/h. Just as well no cars or trucks got in the way! The force on my face at 100km/h gave me visions of the effects of weightlessness. It is something that is not quickly forgotten.

Titiokura, all 3km of it, was reached and climbed fairly comfortably at around 13-14km/h. We were now into a good rhythm on the tandem and just cruised along. We again hit speeds in the 90km/h range on the descents.

We came upon two other cyclists riding home but, unfortunately for them, we caught them just over the crest of a hill. As we rode down, reaching a maximum speed of about 95km/h, they were just left standing still as their speedometers edged up to 80km/h (or so I hear!) The tandem sure does like the downhills and the 58:11 gear!

Approaching Eskdale, approximately 125km from where we started in Taupo, John asked what the time was. When I told him it was about 12.05pm (i.e. about 3 hours 30 minutes since we left Taupo), he almost fell off the bike. He knew we had been riding well but this was a bit over the top!

Despite my suggestion, we decided to miss Hill and Seafield Roads and instead rode through Bayview, Napier and on towards Hastings to St Georges Road to reach home. We rolled into my home gate at about 1.24pm.

Getting off the bike was quite easy and we still felt fairly comfortable. Reviewing the cycle computer, we (John Barry and myself) found that we had ridden the Kelly Rocket Tandem (two seat tandem) non-stop from Taupo to just south of Hastings, a total distance of approximately 172km, in 4 hours 49  minutes, at an average speed of just under 36 km/h, reaching a maximum speed of just on 100km/h (we didn’t want a speeding ticket!) down the Summit hill.

Now that’s what I call a Sunday training ride!