Marokopa gravel adventure
The Trip Three men, three bikes, three tents, and one fairly epic bike packing adventure. Two more experienced than me. Beginning on Saturday, the trio, bikes laden with all sorts of perceived essentials, headed out from Otorongoha with the destination of Marokopa in mind. The trip was planned as a two day loop taken from Bike packing Aotearoa written by the Kennett Brothers. We decided to ride the suggested route in reverse, heading South through Waitomo on day one, camp at Marokopa then head North through Kawhia Harbour and link back into Otorohonga. Around 175km all together. DAY One Four kilometres in, on the main road heading to Waitomo, the first barrier to success presented itself. One of the boys punctured. It was raining, the traffic was busy, and it was cold. Not the greatest start to the ride, but not the worst either. In a jiffy the punctured tube was replaced by a new one, a hand pump used to increase tire pressure and we were back on the road single f...