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Progress on the Unsworth Reserve Bike-Superhighway
Looking north. Bike-parking courtesy of redundant trees. Okay, okay, maybe “They Bulldozed the Amazon” was a bit of an overreaction, but hey, I like a tree or two in the burbs and this was one of my favourite trails! With a calm, rational, and “open” mind I returned to Unsworth this weekend to check on progress, and plenty has been made. As...
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Great Rides: Orewa – Te Ara Tahuna Estuary Cycleway
If I was asked one more time “have you ridden the new bike path in Orewa?” I was going to hurt somebody, so I hit Google instead and tried to glean some information on this new facility. Despite the cycleway opening in December 2011 (and no doubt costing millions of dollars) there was virtually nothing online to be found. There’s an out-of-...
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They Bulldozed the Amazon
Overkill? There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle over here on the Shore about an “upgrade” to the walking and cycling path through Unsworth Reserve. I pass by here often on my weekly ramble so I grabbed the camera and checked it out. Locals have complained that the new boardwalk is total overkill and too much (of our) money has been spent on a tr...
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Short Ride at Long Bay
Start of the Coastal Track. Out for a road-ride last week I found myself near Long Bay so I dropped down the hill and checked-out the new Long Bay Regional Park cycle trails. I’d ridden there on a mountainbike years ago but there was portaging involved as you shouldered the bike and slogged up the steps beyond Vaughan Cottage. Much work has bee...
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Coffee and Cycles
Something about coffee and bikes go hand in hand, maybe it’s the effect caffeine has on the brain and body with the added ingredient of a bicycle it can create a great days adventure around the city. Most kiwi’s have no idea the we have some of the best tasting coffee in the world. Like anything good we get complacent with it, y...
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Auckland to Coromandel
Emile writes: I’m new to any long-distance cycling, but since buying a hybrid and some panniers, I am really feeling the urge to cycle from Auckland city to Coromandel. Presumably cyclists aren’t allowed on the skirts of the motorway (but are allowed on the highway?) I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction to find ...
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Cycle routes in the city
I’m going to try my hand at a bit of infrastructure here (although completely unqualified to do so). I’d be very glad to hear your opinions on this and especially from the infrastructure specialists out there. However, I do feel that I have a special qualification for doing this post (and possibly rare qualification on this site) of bei...
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Mooching around the Auckland Waterfront
Our Wynyard Quarter Road-Train. I took the younger members of the family to Wynyard Quarter on Sunday to see what all the fuss was about. The ferry from the Shore was an option but (unfortunately) it was much quicker and cheaper to drive to Ponsonby, park for free and ride our bikes around the foreshore past Westhaven Marina. This was actually a v...
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Sanders Reserve: Family Fun
Visitors Centre up at the highest point. A rare sunny day spurred me into action and I packed-up the mountainbikes and drove over to Sanders Reserve to get the kids out of the house. It took a very convenient 20 minutes door-to-door from my home in Campbells Bay – that’s less time that it takes me loading bikes and children into the car...
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Bikes at MOTAT
MOTAT is celebrating Volunteers Awareness Month by waiving admission fees during the month of June. Yup, free entry for everybody—no questions asked. If you have no plans for the weekend, I highly recommend you spend a whole day there (which is conveniently located just off the NW cycleway and they have bike parking). My favourite parts were the...
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Good effort!
Guest Post by Paul: A small but worthy piece of news about the new Bunnings store in Mt Wellington. I cycled down there for the first time to buy some hardware and cruised around the parking lot to find somewhere to chain my bike to. Much to my amazement, there was a bike parking rack outside by the front entrance which was well-designed to hold my...
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BMX PinBall?
Mountain Dew is running this crazy ad campaign involving an indoor SK8 park designed like a pinball machine. It’s going to be open to the public for one month starting June. To launch Mountain Dew’s three new electric flavours, Frucor Beverages are taking skateboarding to the next level by building the world’s first PINBALL SKATEPAR...
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Bike-Friendly Little Rides
I recently updated the Great Rides page on the Bike Friendly North Shore Blog. All these posts have also featured on Cycling in Auckland at some stage but have mysteriously gone walkabout from the Where To page. I’ve put them all in one place on my site so you don’t have to search around. There’s nothing grand here, no all-day epi...
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Hidden Treasure – Unsworth Reserve to Rosedale Road
Tunnel! The key link between Unsworth Reserve & Rosedale Park. Motorways work well for moving cars around, well until rush-hour hits. The problem is they tend to slice-up a city, dividing neighbourhoods with physical barriers that can only be crossed in a select few places. The Northern Motorway effectively cut the North Shore in two when it wa...
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Royal Albany Mountainbike Trails – The Movie
John, a Cycling in Auckland reader put me onto this video after commenting on my review. I’ve updated the original post and also put it up here for the dirt-worshippers amongst us. The footage starts just over the fence from the access road on the Eastern corner and yes, it’s official, I rode the whole thing backwards!
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Perfect cycling conditions for me and potentially, many more besides.
Apparently, this road is part of an official cycle route. When I rode my bicycle on Sunday, I was reminded once again of the pleasure, joy and utility that cycling in Auckland brings. It was sunny but not too hot. It was calm with a hint of a breeze. I rode my bicycle from the centre of my Universe in Mt Roskill to the social hub of Kingsland. My...
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Great Rides: The Royal Albany Mountainbike Trails
Tight and twisty singletrack through the Tea tree. For those of us looking to mountainbike on the North Shore pickings have been pretty slim. Parks and reserves offer some entertaining trails but as most are shared with pedestrians you have to reign in your speed to avoid taking-out a posse of nuns on their Sunday stroll. So where can you go and ge...
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Cycling to the airport
This is a guest post by Carl Wells, a professional musician For a long time I’ve wanted to cycle to the airport in Auckland to catch a flight. A recent four-day trip to Christchurch finally provided me the perfect opportunity. The ride was so safe, scenic and enjoyable that I want to share my experience to help and possibly inspire others to ...
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Duking-it-out on the Greenhithe Bridge
Here’s some shaky footage I shot on my recent Greenhithe adventure. Two hours sitting at the computer and I actually managed to make it look worse than the original, but the wind-roar was successfully replaced with Mr Ellington and I got it up on the internet. I’ll take that as a win. The next challenge? Changing gear while holding the ...
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Great Rides: Sanders Reserve – Revisited
Looking East through the swish carpark to the access road. This is a follow-up to my initial impressions made on a visit over the Christmas break. I heard from two sources things had been happening so I hopped on my CX bike and rode over there. That is a story in itself. Paremoremo Rd is a really pleasant ride if you don’t mind a few hills. ...
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