Baked Beans Bend, New Zealand

This week's Bike Overnights story comes from Kiwi promoter of personal adventure Paul Smith -- who, along with his friend Mike Wilson, accomplishes a true S24O (sub-24-hour overnight). In fact, it's more like a sub-16-hour overnight.

"Wednesday morning, 8:30," writes Paul. "As usual, I arrive at work on my bike. Unusually, though, my bike is loaded up with luggage. At the end of the working day I'll leave on my bike. But today I won't be going home to my family. The luggage on my bike is my overnight camping gear. Tonight I will be staying at Baked Beans Bend in Wellington's Belmont Regional Park. I wouldn't call it a campsite. It's nothing more than a small flat grassed area raised slightly above the Korokoro stream. But if drinkable running water and shelter from the the northerly wind are classified as 'facilities,' then Baked Beans Bend is well-equipped."

After Paul meets up with Mike, the two pedal past the congestion of "one person per car" commuter traffic that's apparently as common in Wellington as it is in U.S. cities. 

"We soon arrived at the entrance to our off-road excursion -- an ugly industrial area. But this was the gateway to the Korokoro stream trail that would lead us up into Belmont Regional Park and glorious isolation.

"After an hour of stop-start riding we climbed into a grassy clearing -- Baked Beans Bend. Our camp was a relaxed affair. We were no more than an hour or two from home, but a long way from normal life. It was comforting, thinking of the half-million people in their homes within easy reach, but disappointing to realize that the majority of them had never been to this place, let alone stayed here overnight. It is a shame that adventure is missing from much of modern life."

And so why is it called Bakes Beans Bend? Paul isn't really sure. But he is certain that breakfast the next morning was better than baked beans: "This wasn't a wilderness ride by any stretch, which had its advantages -- our breakfast was at a local cafe and coffee roastery. Two espressos and garlic mushrooms on focaccia. After that came 30 minutes of road riding, and then I waved goodbye to Mike."

And Paul was back at the office by 8:30 a.m. sharp. "Today, though, there were fewer strange looks from my co-workers.

"'Did you have a good night?' one of them asked.

'I sure did.'"

Read Paul's story in its entirety at BikeOvernights.org. While there you can take a look at our current Photo of the Week, which comes from the popular August 30, 2011, post Dreams of Herons on the I&M Canal Towpath, by Bob Morgan. 

BikeOvernights.org Photo of the Week, 08.17.12.

Top 3 photos by Mike Wilson. 

--

BIKE OVERNIGHTS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling?s media specialist, and highlights content from BikeOvernights.org. Previously, from March 2009 through January 2012, Mac posted weekly at Biking Without Borders. He also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to nearly 46,000 readers worldwide.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/08/baked-beans-bend-new-zealand.html

british cycling