Yuba – a nice long ride

On Tuesday I took my car up the coast to Kapiti Honda to have it serviced and a WOF. Rather than come home again on the train and make a return journey, I strapped the Yuba onto the back of the car. Two tricks I learned – one take the battery off – the bike is heavy enough to lift without that brick attached! Two, turn the front wheel until it is facing backwards, this shortens the bike by a few inches.

So at 8:00 a.m. on a crisp June morning, I set off for a bike ride along the new cycle tracks along side the Kapiti expressway, which goes from Poplar rd in Raumati, to Peka Peka in the north, about 20km each way. At 8 a.m. in the winter, the sun is directly in your eyes virtually the whole way to Peka Peka, maybe I will start a little later next time.Still, most of the time I was watching the scenery and the wildlife – so many Pukekos and Paradise ducks in the wetlands, flood ponds and storm water treatment areas along side the track.

There were quite a few early risers out and about, but the most pleasant thing I saw was the number of secondary school kids riding to school using the new tracks. There were dozens of them, most appeared to be going to Kapiti College I think. What a great thing if a major road development encourages kids to ride bikes to school.

The other nice thing I noticed immediately is how little the noise of the traffic intrudes while you are riding, yes it is there, but it seems to just disappear as you ride.

Harrison’s garden centre has a cafe, so at 9:00 I dropped in for a coffee and a cheese scone, then set off back, and when I got back to Paraparaumu I kept going to the other end of the track, then headed down into Ruamati and along to Raumati Beach, then back into Kapiti Honda. The car wasn’t ready, so I did another couple of loops around the area. Total kms about 47, battery showing 3 bars out of 5, but was dropping to 2 bars under load. Probably could have got 60kms if I had carried on. Great range for a small battery and a big bike!