Rotary path a stunner

Wind spices up waterfront ride for Martin Johnston

The wind at my back was so strong on the day I visited the Rotary shared path that I felt I had the legs and lungs of a professional cyclist — until I had to turn around and pedal back into the storm, which reminded me of my limitations and threw in a heavy shower for good measure.

Luckily I had trimmed my speed severely during the outward journey on one of the tighter corners when a mountainbiker rounded into view and had to grab sharply at his brakes before cruising past.

The path starts at the Lagoon Drive bridge, although I parked and saddled up in Kerswill Place. After reading a bit of history of the Panmure bridge, I roll up and down the path before reaching the river’s-edge side of St Kentigern College.

It can be hard to focus on the path in front when there are distracting views across the boats to Point England.

My ride of the Rotary path is interrupted near Rapallo Place by a temporary wire fence closing the track for work by Watercare.

I navigate through an alleyway, park and local streets to regain the cycleway at Wakaaranga Creek Reserve, where there is a tunnel under the Prince Regent Drive. The cycleway ends in the lower part of this reserve at a sign which offers a walkway through local streets and alleyways to Half Moon Bay. I give it a try, but the route is poorly signposted. I zip back and forth sniffing out leads, pedalling along streets looking for narrow alleyways. But when a path down the coastal slope confronts me with steps, I quit, despite being on the cusp of coffee-sniffing distance from Half Moon Bay.

I lower my head for the grind back into the wind and stop to put on my jacket when a squall of rain becomes a brief downpour. The shower passes and where the track hugs the water’s edge I meet commuter cyclist Kieran Croxton, of Bucklands Beach, a regular user of the path, who recounts the joy of morning rides.

“This is my favourite part of it,” he says. “I used to go through here early and the best part of it is the sunrise.”