To Devonport with the Cowans

John and Naomi and I headed off to meet in Takapuna today, and from thence to Devonport by bike. It was a spectacular Autumn day, hot enough to still be summer really. Here they are consulting the map before we head off.I just held the camera behind me as I went downhill, and amazingly, picked up this shot of my fellow cyclist coming up behind me fast.

. . . and in front was Naomi, heading for the end of the road and the cycle path.
Some good boardwalks here, among the mangroves.


and then a great view of the harbour bridge in the distance.


John was clicking away merrily. . .
I took this great shape in the sharpness of the morning sun.
and we DID have a few hills to negotiate.
John visited with some relatives . . . you can see his face in the bike mirror as well. This is his great grandfather, and great (?) uncle.
The main road has recently had a cycle path put into it. Not that wide, but at least it's a SPACE . . .
and when they're not on the road, they're on the footpaths.
another map stop. ..
and finally the flat ground by the ferry building.
Really cute homes from a century ago!
IN Devonport at last.
the ferry coming in.
and Naomi and I heading off toward the distant pier.






Great coffee at a Devonport cafe.



the end of another good cycling foray. Nice pic of the Cowans in front of Rangitoto.

Autumnal meanderings

Yesterday evening was a bit of a girls' night - DVDs at the ready, kids not home for the night, so the three of us collected forces in one home and decided to bike on down to the local Thai takeaways for dinner before heading into the movies. This is Jan and Helen ahead of me. Nice evening - not too busy road. Great skirt on Helen.
. . . and looking downward the comforting sight of my own basket and recently attached bling. You will notice that the bell was put on wrongly. I'm gonna fix that - really, I am. And yes, that's a computer crudely clinging to the bar.
Nice shot - they'll love their rear ends showing on this shot, and my silhuette. Just how I like it.
Hanging out at the Thai Restaurant making our orders. What a basket bike gang we look!
Nice distance shot of the three of us. . .
and a video of a curl of road we took a ramble down while waiting for the order to be filled.

Discovering a new bike and its ways

If we look tired, it's because we just cycled to this cafe, and it has been a bit of a learning curve for me, the whole 'buy a bike on TradeMe' experience.
Liam came too, and this was taken shortly before the two of them hi-tailed it off to other places and left me to my breakfast.
That's the latest bike in front, which I'd just brought fresh from 'Adventure Cycles' in Western Springs, where the nice chap there had spent some time poring over its parts and adjusting things for me. He was kind enough to talk me through most of it too, so I can see what's been done, and in some cases, do it myself when it comes to it. I bought the bike on Wednesday, on auction, and paid too much for it. (Found this out later). Ne'er mind. It has a rare shape - for NZ anyway - and I'm pretty happy with it at the moment. When I first had it delivered, and tried it out, strange shuffy noises came from the brakes, and different sound from the lower or upper gears, so I knew it was in desperate need of a service. Adventure Cycles just set up in the Western Springs area, and Bruce who runs it, is a keen cyclist, so I made a good choice in taking it to him. He adjusted the brakes and gears, tinkered with the spokes (ALWAYS impressive), got me up on it and adjusted the seat to suit me, helped me make changes to my bike rack on the car, so that it would take the different shape of this bike, and drove home very happy. SO this ride was to test drive it, so to speak.
It was a good trip - no unusual noises, and I even managed to get into most gears and used them. It was incredibly easy going up hills, but I fear my fitness level may decline if I resort to using them too avidly. The photo above is of sister and nephew in the shaded verandah area of the cafe at Henderson. Great day for a cycle.

A bit of silliness . . .

There's nothing like the acquisition of a new bike to bring out the silliness in someone. Yep, this is the bike I bought off TradeMe yesterday - a Made in Hungary 'Cyclone' which has a lovely shape to it.
It was delivered yesterday morning before work and I had to spend a short amount of time acquainting myself with it, before heading off on the bus into the city.
Whilst away, I found a bike basket I like the look of.
Will have to acquire this little beauty as well!
Meanwhile, I've returned home, and found my bike waiting for me, (in the living room of course), and I've already read it a story from Enid Blyton.
and shown it around the kitchen, including how to do the dishes.

To Western Springs and back after the storm

We decided to go for a cycle this afternoon, after the stormy last few days, and see Western Springs. It's not that far along the edge of the motorway, about 23 kms round trip from Te Atatu, so was a pleasant way to stretch the legs.
This is the goal - lake and ducks/geese/swans. Lots of roaming pathways and a cafe at the zoo which borders this park.
John reattaching his mirror which was causing some problems when we set out.
We came across Helen returning from the same trip. . .
Naomi from the frong (for a change!)
The tide was in and looking quite pleasant as we thrummed along beside the motorway.
After a stop at the Zoo we headed home.

'Tis done

As you can see, I've filled every available space on my handlebra - oops, read that 'handlebar' - and will have to remove before I put anything else on. But the latest thingy, the computer, has already proved its worth yesterday in calculating more accurately the distance we normally travel when going to Henderson. It's quite fun seeing how fast one is going downhill, or how fast in normal cycling. The little tinkle bell has had to be moved and there's a bit of shuffling whenever I go to ring it, to move the headlight away from it. . . or I'd have to resort to the hooter. Gulp.Anyway, the calculations are as follows: we travel an average of 14 - 20 kph usually, that's a nice easy cycle. Going downhill I'm usually going around 30kph but did get over 40kph at one stage.
The trip to Henderson library was around 7.4 kms, so round trip home I'd clocked up an easy 14.8 kms which is a nice hour's cycle, excluding stops. I'm looking forward to seeing what the trip into the Viaduct Basin comes out as.