430km ride over monday tuesday.

Aim was to ride the "Forgotten Highway" overnight.
Left home about 10am and had a really leisurely century ride(stopped for three meals!) up the coast before cutting inland to Stratford, 200k, getting there just on dark. Grabbed a pie at the gas station and got my warm gear on before heading off towards Taumarunui 150km away. Theres about 2000m of climbing in the 150km, no towns for the last 90km and a 12km gravel section. Found a school 30km in and filled up with water. Skies were clear and very little wind, one of the nicest night rides I've ever done. Lots of shortest stops initially but buckled down a bit when the fog rolled in. A few issues with sleep deprivation in the wee hours, was glad to get through to McDonalds about 5:30am.
600m climb from here and the rain set in for a few hours. Made it through to Ohakune around noon and caught the train home. Probably should have had a sleep in there and ridden the 160 km home as it was a tailwind and downhill. Next time.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/151364436