CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 587 km round trip from Rotorua - roughly 10 h 54 in the saddle. The stops in between: Second component, First component, Tongariro National Park and back through First component. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 69 km this is Desert Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rotorua announces itself with a smell. The sulphur drifting from the geothermal fields has an eggy tang that takes a few minutes to get used to, and then you stop noticing. The town of about sixty-five thousand people sits on the shore of Lake Rotorua, inside an ancient volcanic caldera, and the ground beneath it steams, bubbles and spurts in a way that makes the place unlike anywhere else in the country.
Read the complete Rotorua write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rotorua is where the day begins. Next is Second component.
The park was the first in New Zealand, created in 1887, when the paramount chief Te Heuheu Tūkino IV gifted the sacred summits to the Crown, in order to protect them from being carved up and sold. It is also a dual World Heritage Site, listed for both its natural and its cultural value, a rare distinction.
Read the complete Second component write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Second component comes up about 140 km into the recorded legs. Next is First component.
Whakapapa is where Tongariro National Park lives most of the time. In winter the village is a ski resort, and in summer it is a trailhead for walkers.
Read the complete First component write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 209 km into the recorded legs you reach First component. Next is Tongariro National Park.
Tongariro National Park, about halfway. Next is back through First component.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete First component write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through First component sits at 254 km, about halfway. Next is back through Second component.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Second component write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Second component comes up about 431 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rotorua.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rotorua write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rotorua closes the day.
Rotorua → Second component is 140 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Second component → First component is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through First component → back through Second component is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Second component → Rotorua is 156 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.