Back Home to a 2013 Trek Domane!!!

I had an absolutely amazing trip to New Zealand this winter. There isn't a whole lot more to say, the riding was amazing, the weather was amazing and the people were amazing. I can't thank the Peters family enough for welcoming me into their home and making me feel like part of the family. I enjoyed every day and I hope to be back again next winter!

 

It was sad to have to leave the sun and beautiful weather in NZ, but coming home to this beauty made it a little better. A HUGE thank you to Trek Canada and SRAM for tricking out my new Domane 5.2. I took it out for it's first ride today and it felt amazing. I wanted to test out the IsoSpeed technology that helps give the bike a much more comfortable ride, so I was sitting down through every pothole and bump I could find. Before my ride I was unsure if there would be a big difference between it and the Madone, but the bike soon proved me wrong. The decoupler at the seat mast-top tube junction gave the bike enough give when sitting down over bumps to make the ride much, much smoother. I love it!

 

Weekend of Riding/ Exploring Lake Taupo Area

This past weekend we decided to take a little trip down towards Taupo to check out some more trails, before the sad day that I have to head home. Saturday we drove to the Waihaha track, a techy hiking/riding/hunting trail, with some steep climbs and some pretty amazing views. 

 

After a day on the bike, we stopped by the Tokaanu Thermal Pools for a soak before heading to Dirk's Aunt and Uncle's bach in Turangi for the night.

On Sunday we checked out the Tongariro National Trout Centre. The centre has a hatchery that produces a few thousand trout per year that are used to stock the kid's fishing pond, as well as a backup in case of a natural disaster (like an eruption).

 

For our Sunday ride we drove to the other side of the Pureroa Forst Park to ride the Timber Trail. The whole trail is 85km long and is mostly wide and smooth, but has some amazing suspension bridges, and some really beautiful views. 

I have less than a week until I have to head home to the snow and rain, but I will be enjoying my last few days here in the sun, and keeping my fingers crossed that spring will arrive in Ontario soon!