First long-distance voyage

Mt Albert – Papatoetoe, for an end of football season barbecue. Since my friends live right by P/toe train station, I could have done things the simple way (Mt Albert - Newmarket by train, Newmarket - P/toe by train). But I wanted to show off the Silver Machine! So – bike to Newmarket (7.2 k = about 20 minutes with electrics) and take the bike on the train. What could be simpler than that?

Let me see. What if you get totally lost in Newmarket's one-way system and rail-related construction zone, and miss the train? And there ain't another one for an hour, thank you very much underfunding of Auckland rail?

Simple, if you're a crazed masochist like me. Bike to Orakei to get the Eastern Line train. Which I did, and that's another 5 ks to my journey. Oh, and now that I check Google maps, there was a much quicker way I could have gone, down Middleton and Basset and Shore roads. But I had no map so I just went to the Remmers shops and down Victoria Ave anyway. Still, I got there in time; and the extra exercise means I could eat another sausage or two without guilt.

So - no real problems getting the bike up New North Road in one direction, or up Khyber Pass Road (at night) in the other direction. Yes, I at least caught the right train on my way home. And for those interested - the clippie on the train treated the Silver Machine no different to any manual bike, just as I expected. So this is feasible. The only real problem is that I may have come dangerously close to running down the battery altogether with my unscheduled detour. Well, I'll know better next time. At this stage, all mistakes are learning opportunities.