Day 9 – 19 October 2022 – Bobbin Head circuit

 

The road through National Park

It looked like it might be a good day for riding but the forecast was for a few specks of rain so I took a  light jacket for a bit of protection in case. 

The ride rivals Wellington for hills but apart from one they are short and sharp.

Soon after I left, the sun came out and before long I was starting to get hot.  So off came the jacket.  My route takes me on the back streets for the most part where I can't do that,  the roads are quite wide so it doesn’t feel too unsafe.  Unfortunately some drivers are rather like NZ drivers; impatient and agressive.

Nearly half the ride is in the Kurangai-Chase National Park which is nice and quiet. The road through the park starts near Asquith and takes one down to sea level at Bobbin Head.  On the way there I went past an Echidna which was by the side of the road being photographed by other cyclists.  The are a bit bigger than a hedgehog with very long sharp quills.  Apparently they are quite shy so it is a bit of a rarity to see them.

After that there was a fast ride down the hill to Bobbin Head where I stopped for a coffee in a café looking over the water.  It was very pleasant.

The climb out is a four kilometre ride that gets progressively steep as one approaches North Turramurra.  I felt much better doing it than I thought I would be.  However, it was a bit depressing to passed by one guy seemingly effortlessy riding a big gear up the hill whereas I was in quite a low gear.  Shortly after another one passed me puffing a little like me but going quite a bit faster. I think they both had a couple of decades on me.

From North Turramurra the road climbs again but for the most part more gently to just north of Pymble where I joined the Pacific Highway and was able to descend very quickly to my turnoff to Bev’s place without having to contend with any cars due to favourable traffic light changes. 

I was delighted with how I felt given that it has been unusual to ride more than twice in a week since I have had Covid.  The recovery time seemed to have lengthened.  Even better, when I woke up the next day I felt I could go for another bike ride, something I have not felt since we did our riding around Central Otago.

A glimpse of the water near Bobbin Head

The marina at Bobbin Head