Cycling around the Manawatu

In November 2019 I did a series of rides in the Manawatu from Cheltenham which is a very small town with a population of only 66 but with a hotel. Cheltenham is only 12.9 kilometres from Feilding which is 20 kilometres from Palmerston North.

We stayed at the hotel and did local rides each day and this type of cycle touring can be described as a hub tour. The rides we did included both tarmac and also shingle surfaces on demanding backcountry roads with lots of uphills.
One of the main advantages of a hub tour ride is that you do not have to put up your tent each night and breakfasts and dinners can be catered for in the hotel. We found that the Cheltenham hotel is well set up to cater for cycling groups.
These are the three routes that we did from Cheltenham:

Cheltenham East 

Route:

 ·  Turn right onto Coulters Line -6.1 km

·  Turn right to stay on Coulters Line - 11.7 km

·  Turn right onto Ridge Rd -14.0 km

·  Turn left onto Branch Rd -14.9 km

·  Turn right onto Finnis Rd - 21.9 km

 Ridge road as the name suggests runs along the ridge is shingle and is a hard but an interesting ride.


Cheltenham North 

This route includes a visit to Kimbolton and Apiti and then a return along and old friend Ridge Road. All in all a hard day but includes great scenery.

Route:

·  Turn left onto Haynes Line - 3.4 km

·  Turn slight right onto Levett Line - 7.0 km

·  Turn left onto McBeth Road - 11.3 km

·  Turn left onto Flyger Street -20.4 km

   Cheltenham West

 This route incorporates a visit to Feilding.

Route

·   Turn left onto Mckays Line - 3.1 km

·  Turn left onto Makino Rd - 6.2 km

·  Turn left onto Reid Line W - 13.9 km

·  Turn right onto Pharazyn St - 15.2 km

·  Turn left onto North St - 17.0 km

Tour of Wairarapa

I recently completed a 9-day tour of the Wairarapa which had some very interesting rides incorporated in it. Some of the ride highlights included:

•  Ride to Featherston and then over the Rimutuka Rail Trail and then back to Lake Ferry. We got a ride to the western side of the Rimutuka Rail trail so that we could return back over the rail trail.
• Lake Ferry to Cape Palliser and back 
• Lake Ferry to Martinborough
• Martinborough to Masterton climbing Admirals Hill.
• Masterton to Riversdale
• Riversdale to Castlepoint.
• Castlepoint back to Masterton. 

 The highlights for me included the ride from Lake Ferry out to Cape Palliser and the ride over the Admirals hill returning from Martinborough to Masterton. Admirals Hill is a gem. It was a reasonably hard ride but very scenic especially on such a brilliant day.

Wairarapa Tour maps and Images

As a member of the Auckland Cycle Touring Association I take advantage of the expertise of the members in designing really interesting cycling rides with like minded cyclists all at a budget cost.

Flying with a Bike

There are some important things to remember when travelling by air with your bike.

• The first thing you need to know is the policy of the airline you are travelling with in relation to the carriage of your bike and in particular to the weight maximum allowed per passenger. Their sporting goods carriage policy can usually be found on the airlines website.  Not all airlines have the same weight restrictions so check that the airline you are thinking of using has a reasonable maximum for each passenger before booking.

• Airlines usually require bikes to be carried in a bike box while some airlines are not so strict and will allow bikes to be wrapped in plastic. This is good option when on the return journey as it may be difficult to source a bike box from a bike shop. While my wrapping does not look that good it has served its purpose well with the advantage that it less likely to be thrown as is the case with a bike box in my experience.

•  It is very important to weight your bike and all your panniers and to know your exact combined weight before you get to the airport to ensure that you do not exceed the airline overall weight limit. If you exceed the weight restriction the charges on the excess will be very high. Of course if you take to much gear you will also have to carry all of your gear on your bike which is another strong incentive to take the minimum in gear on your bike tour.

• You need to include all of your bike gear such as pumps and tools and cooking gear in the panniers and not in your carry on luggage. If they are in the carry on luggage they will almost certainly be confiscated by airport security. And of course you cannot carry cooking gas bottles or similar on aircraft at all. You need to research the availability of these items at the destination where you start your cycle tour.

Bike wrapped in plastic with panniers bag