A devoted Auckland cyclist tells us about his favourite weekend ride out east, and his go-to stops along the way.

Matua Murupaenga describes himself as a “classic lockdown warrior”: he started biking during Auckland’s second shut down, when he was thoroughly bored of padding around the streets of central Auckland for his regular exercise. Seeing Instagram stories of friends cycling in the Waitākere ranges intrigued him, and it wasn’t long until he’d purchased his first road bike.

Since then, Matua has “gone hard”: he’s the proud owner of four-and-a-half bikes (one is mostly just a frame right now), he cycles to work in West Auckland, and is currently training for Tour Aotearoa, the 3000 km bike route through the whole country, which he’s planning to complete with his dad this summer. But while the big adventures are great, it’s the regular, cruisy rides that he likes to do with friends on a weekend.

“I feel like riding bikes is the most sensory intense form of transport,” he says. “On a super light road bike with thin tires, you feel like you’re floating on top of the road.” Matua also reckons that bikes are a great way to explore, especially with friends: “It’s a good, active way to get to new places, a pretty cool thing to do with other people.” His enthusiasm has definitely encouraged a few friends to get their own bikes, meaning Matua has company for adventures, whether it’s using his mountain bike, taking a gravel bike to explore further afield, or riding around the city on his road bike.

There are lots of stereotypes about people who bike, and Matua likes to challenge the idea of a typical cyclist. Biking can be for “hypebeasts” keen on the gear, he says, but also for people keen to save money, people excited about being outside, people who want to get to know their way around better, or those who just want to have some fun with their mates.

One of Matua’s favourite rides to go on with friends is a “classic loop” that starts in the central city and circles around through East Auckland. This route can be picked up from a variety of places and has great stops along the way – cafes, museums, beaches, viewpoints. It’s customisable based on the type of scenery you want to ride alongside and how hard you want to work.

Here Matua lays out this route and some of his favourite stops along it for a cruisy weekend ride.

Stop one: Auckland Museum and the Domain 

Living in central Auckland, Matua starts his ride on the Karangahape Road cycleway, which is separated from the vehicle traffic with a small barrier. The road is part of the city centre loop, the route that takes riders around Auckland’s CBD, but today Matua is heading east, towards Pukekawa, the Domain. As Auckland’s oldest park, the volcanic basin features magnificent trees, the steamy Wintergardens and shady Fernery, a sprinkling of sculptures and lots of expansive grass.

The road that threads through the park is one-way in sections, and shared with slow vehicle traffic. Matua takes it past the Auckland War Memorial Museum, at the top of the hill. If you want to wander through the museum’s halls, there are bike stands for parking outside; otherwise, the route continues on through Parnell.

Stop two: Ladies Bay lookout

Dropping down through Parnell and along Gladstone Road, the route meets a waterfront cycleway along Tāmaki Drive. Here, Matua says, is one of the many options to customise the route.

If you want to stick to the view of the water, continue along Tāmaki Drive’s coastal pathway, following the oscillations of different bays on a flat route. If you want to take on some hills, but stay on a cycleway, turn onto Te Ara ki Uta ki Tai (Glen Innes to Tāmaki Drive Shared Path). This cycleway runs beside the Eastern Line railway. It’s a quieter route, and understandably popular with cyclists, walkers and runners. Plus, the views of the mangroves covering Purewa Creek and trees cloaking the hillside is a great distraction from the ups and downs of the bridges that make up the route. “Tāmaki Drive and Remuera Road can be really busy, so these cycleways are good,” Matua says.

Emerging at the back of St Heliers, Matua threads down to the lookout at Ladies Bay. No matter which route you’ve taken to get there, “it’s a good spot for a little break, or to get a pic with your bike.”

Stop three: Daily Daily for some coffees and pastry

If you’ve got the energy, you can complete the loop by biking back along the coast if you went along Te Ara ki Uta ki Tai, or vice versa. You could also turn back to return to the city the same way.

If you’d prefer a rest, Matua notes that one nice thing about this route is its proximity to a train line: you can pop your bike on a train and head back to the city on more than two wheels. “It can be a decent [exercise] ride with some serious speed, or you can take it easy, more like a park ride,” says Matua. There’s a place in his life for the headlong rush along the road and also for meeting at a pub or park with his friends and their “crusty” bikes. “I guess I just enjoy all forms of bikes and hanging out with people.”

Either way, it’s definitely time for a pastry. “Nice pastries, nice coffee – that’s the best ending to a ride,” says Matua. One of his go-tos is Daily Daily on Karangahape Road, open seven days a week – but he also likes Mor Bakery, on Remuera Road, with “the best croissants in the city” and Beabea’s Bakery in Westmere, the perfect reward for making it up a the steep hill in Cox’s Bay. “Whether I’m solo or with friends, I’m always keen for a stop at a cafe.”