At 9.00am on Sunday
morning, I was still In bed. I had no intentions of going on the day
trip - mainly because Tony was leading it. I'd better explain - Tony
is a super fit, maniac cyclist and I know that there's no way I could
keep up with a hard cycling trip of his! Richard had got up and just
popped out for a little bit. Little did I know he was off to the clubrooms
to check out the plans. Sarah was only slightly better than I was.
She woke up at 8.45am, and also decided to drive down to the club-
rooms to suss things out. So Richard and Sarah arrived in their cars,
only to find our superfit leader Tony and his super travelled bike
there all by themselves. No other bikes in sight. Little did I know
at this stage, still tucked up in bed, that plans were taking shape
for the days activities and that they included mel Anyway, to cut
a long story short, Richard arrived home, and I got up and got ready
by the time he had fitted our bikes to that stupid bike carrier that
we'd bought.
Finishing my breakfast
in the car, Sarah, Richard and I drove down to Portobello and met
Tony there. I was hoping he'd be a bit tired by this stage (so as
to slow him down a bit), but no. After buying an awful lunch at the
Portobello store, we cycled to Taiaroa Heads, taking a break at the
gun implacements on the way (we should have taken a torch and gumboots).
We had lunch at Pilots Beach, and ended up throwing away that awful
lunch to the seagulls (who then of course decided not to leave us
alone). "Yumm, Fooood were the two words in our minds, when Tony reminded
us that there was a cafe at the Albatross Centre, so we had a nice
break there.
Then off we set
back to lower Portobello, and cycled over Weir Road to Papanui Inlet
(the down bit was easy), and then rode to the Pyramids. The short
walk to the top of the small pyramid is worth it for the view. After
some chocolate swapping, we then cycled to Hoopers Inlet. Of course,
only for the purpose of picking up the car In Portobello, did Richard
and I have to leave the others at this stage. Sarah and Tony then
had the gruelling task of cycling up (and up) (and up) to Sandymount
and then more up again, until we met up with them at the Pukehiki
Church. With the prospect of lots off wippee downhill, Richard joined
them at this stage, and I drove the car back. Next on the itinerary
was an ice cream at the Shiel Hill dairy. We'd had such a good day
- beautiful weather, good exercise, great company, lots of fun....
that we decided to carry it on and have tea together at our place
and watch some telly. To give Tony a break, we offered to drop him
and his bike home to Abbotsford. But being one for punishment, he
wanted to cycle home in order to pick up his car. He'd cycled all
the way from Abbotsford to Taiaroa Heads, a few detours, and then
all the way back again - so I conclude by saying, "No wonder he's
cycling fit!
Thanks Tony for
a great day.
Lynda for Richard
Barber, Sarah Smellie, and Tony Malcolm.
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