RobiNZ Personal Blog

Commuting on my new 'free' Tern folding bike

A new job in the central city meant having to think about commuting. Bit of a novelty after ten months of choosing when I travelled! Driving and Parkable Parkable Shared Parking Application I drove for a couple of weeks, while settling in, and used a Kiwi parking share app to avoid making the likes of Wilsons Parking richer. Driving takes about 50-60 minutes and my route, following GPS traffic suggestions, does not use the motorway. Parkable makes parking easy and (more) affordable. While you can book long term, week or more, parking on Parkable I just used the daily casual... Read more →

New Lynn to Avondale Pathway St Jude Street crossing death trap

Rode the new’ish New Lynn to Avondale Pathway today and saw how an inadequate road crossing is going to injure/kill people. It was this “crossing” (red on map) at St Jude Street, close to a road intersection and near to the rail crossing. St Jude Street is the connector between Great North Rd and New North Road with additional traffic from Blockhouse Bay Rd. All of these are major urban corridors and can be very busy. If not the nature of the road leads to reasonable speeds as people ‘race the railway crossing’. The crossing was slightly changed, for the... Read more →

West Coast Wilderness 01 | Ross to Scenic Waterways | Time Out 2021-22

Was up early, for me, and fuelled by a lovely breakfast at Teichelmann's B&B. I'd opted for continental; Frances' home-made muesli was awesome. I put En-Trance (my mountain bike) together and rolled it over to the Cycle Journeys depot, just across the road. They have secure parking, so the next trip was in the Bravo with a bag packed for our overnight stay tonight. We are back at Teichelmann's the following night, then another night away, and I had booked an extra night after the trip finishes. Frances and Brian made that easy by allowing me to leave my luggage... Read more →

A2O Reprise | Otematata to Kurow (Waitaki Braids) | Time Out 2021-22 Otematata

Let's be honest, today's ride is all about lunch... I was back on En-Trance Rob, although quite a lot of tarmac today there is enough gravel trail to keep it happy. Besides, ~90km is a bit far for me on a two-speed, due to still broken gearshift, gravel bike! Another calm morning ride towards Benmore Dam. The weather was overcast, cool again (10°C), but forecast to improve and warm up. Love this view even with the hydropower infrastructure in the foreground. Lake Benmore, calm. Benmore Dam lookout, today it's downhill on the other side of the dam and along Te... Read more →

A2O New | Otematata to Sailors Cutting (Lake Benmore) | Time Out 2021-22 Otematata

When we rode the Alps to Ocean Trail (A2O) in 2019 the section between Omarama and Otematata was an unremarkable roadside trail. In early 2021 an alternative trail was opened from Sailors Cutting around the lake to Benmore Dam. This was the reason I came back; it rapidly gained a reputation as an A2O Trail highlight, which given the rest of that trail is high praise. Meeting a Twitter mate I met Jason on Twitter, from memory via a mutual connection in a long COVID thread, and he moved South from Auckland while I was planning my trip. Was great... Read more →

Roxburgh Gorge Trail - Alexandra to Doctors Pt. | Time Out 2021-22 Roxburgh Alexandra

I drove, about an hour, from Beaumont, through Roxburgh, to Alexandra to finish riding the Roxburgh Gorge Trail to Doctors Point. It was about five in the evening by the time I set out on the bike. It's about ten kilometres each way, slowed by extensive photography for reasons which will become apparent. To get to the trail I had to cross the SH8 Alexandra Bridge. Thought this view of the Clutha River Mata-Au was special, but it had much more to deliver this evening. Roxburgh Gorge trail to Doctors Point There won't be many words in this post, but... Read more →

Clutha Gold Trail Beaumont to Lawrence | Time Out 2021-22 Roxburgh

I woke to a cooler strangely foggy morning. Today's ride was going to be short so had a leisurely breakfast before putting the bike in the car for the drive down to Beaumont. Back to Beaumont It was about eleven, and a fine sunny day, by the time I arrived in Beaumont. Left the car on a side road and set out towards Lawrence, about 20km away. This part of the trail leaves the Clutha, heading across country following the road and an old railway line. Odd bike and Big Hill Not sure what this was about, some extreme biking... Read more →

Roxburgh Gorge to Shingle Creek | Time Out 2021-22 Roxburgh

After a huge, included in the rate, breakfast at Granny Stringer's Cottage my first Roxburgh Ride was going to be up the gorge. Every Roxburgh ride was fuelled by a lovely breakfast of muesli, fruit, toast and muffins, and coffee. Was loading my gear bag when realised I had left my tyre levers in the bag of the bike I left behind in Alexandra. Had all the other tools, they must have been loose when I emptied it. I headed into town (over this bridge) to get some as the G-One tyres are a tight fit, no way you'd get... Read more →

Driving to Roxburgh, how hard could that be? | Time Out 2021-22 Alexandra Roxburgh

Today's agenda was simple; relocate from Alexandra to Roxburgh, just 41km and a 30-minute drive away. To fill in between morning checkout and afternoon check in I took the chance to revisit St. Bathans and places in between in the region around the Otago Central Rail Trail ride. A bike packing problem... I hadn't used my gravel bike here so just had to chuck En-Trance MTB and gear in the car and head off. Fitting both bikes needs wheels off and that's when I struck a problem. The mountain bike's front wheel through axle was so tight I first thought... Read more →

Alexandra and Lake Dunstan Trail | Time Out 2021-22 Alexandra

Whenever I've driven, or been driven, along SH8 between Cromwell and Clyde could not help but gaze at the bits of farm and access trail on the other side of Lake Dunstan (right of photo below) thinking they'd be good to ride. In 2021, after some remarkable engineering, it became possible, no essential, thanks to a new Great Ride: The Lake Dunstan Trail. A lovely day in Alexandra! I rode from Alexandra, taking a river side trail to Clyde before joining the Dunstan trail. Was so glad I had decided not to ride in yesterday's wet weather! The cycling would... Read more →