Category Archives: MTB

bikes, family, MTB, NZ

Alexandra Rocky Ride

Leave a comment

In a desperate attempt to escape the New Year cold in East Otago, I headed towards Central for a spot of mountain-biking with James, Jacqui and Dan.

It wasn’t that summery heading over the Pigroot.

I arrived earlier than the others in Ranfurly, where we were to stay the night. It was cold – six degrees! Some Central Otago summer. I managed to keep myself usefully occupied, thinking the others would turn up any moment.

Apparently Ranfurly is an art deco town. I found this building to support that claim.

And perhaps this building. Not overly impressed, I may be a little spoilt by living in Napier.

The others arrived at pretty much the right time and we headed into the hotel for dinner. It wasn’t just my turn to be unimpressed, the food is best not mentioned. Except to say that I was reintroduced to mine in the early hours of the morning – somehow I managed not to wake everyone up in Don’s small hospital flat. With suitable care, I was pleased to declare myself fit to ride in the morning. We headed off to Alexandra eventually, stopping at Omakau for ginormous venison pies. I was still full from a large breakfast (apparently I was sick in the night), so stashed mine in the car.

We parked at this little bridge, it was a pleasant day – but not so warm I need take more than a bottle of water.

But my, it looked rocky and completely different to most of the riding I’ve done in NZ.

Finally ready to ride, I managed to scoff my pie – which was just as well as we were out for three hours. After a little time on a road, we headed up a rocky gully for quite some time – a gentle gradient, it climbed and climbed. The air was heavy with the prolific scent of wild thyme – apparently early miners/settlers planted it to flavour their rather plain meals, it seemed to take hold. There were plenty of interesting features in the rocks on the trail – the return leg looked like it would be fun. We eventually reached a gravel road, James doing a very good job of remembering where this unmarked trail leads in a landscape with many options.

A brief spell on the shingle over, we turned off again and climbed some more. The landscape opened up around us. Views of rocks and ranges in all directions. It was a great day to be out in the Central Otago sun – it wasn’t hot.

Still some fresh snow around.

Those rocks up there are where the first downhill section started.

The downhills were such fun all day. Small dirt tracks through the brown pasture linking sections on big slabs of rock. Large grippy rocks. There were plenty of steep features to test one’s mettle on; following someone who had ridden the trail before and has more confidence than I do was great as I gained confidence of my own riding all sorts of things.

We climbed again from the road, more steeply this time.

A fast open stretch started off the second downhill, before it got extraordinarily rocky again. Great fun, so much traction too.

There are two riders in there somewhere.

Back to and then off the gravel road again, we climbed for the final time of the day. Subsequently we hit the biggest and steepest rock drops/chutes of the day. After a bit of deliberation, and watching James show how it was done, I was pleased to ride some things I don’t normally get the opportunity to do. I was also pleased not to hurt myself! Things were very technical for a while, they went well for me. Half way down I was a bit out of sorts and that confidence disappeared for some steep downhill corners. Never mind, I’d had a great day and was happy to be out in the sun, improving my riding in steps. The gully ride out was as fast and fun as it looked it would be on the way up.

An excellent break from the poor weather, and fine rock riding (fond memories of Moab slickrock adventures and such things were at the forefront of my mind most of the day) culminated when we refueled at the fine French eatery next to where we parked the cars. We headed back east – I think I was quite tired after being awake for a lot of the night rather poorly; so tired in fact, it was best James drove.

The Naseby Royal for dinner? Why not – it was sure to be better than the previous night. We all ordered lamb shanks, they were excellent – when they arrived over an hour later. Strangely busy day in normally sleepy Naseby it would seem.

I hit the road for Waikouaiti, looking forward to a comfortable bed.

bikes, family, food, MTB, NZ

An Oamaru Christmas, again

Leave a comment

Having missed a family Christmas the previous year due to starting a new job and needing to save leave for Tour Aotearoa, I headed south for two weeks. With Adele & James newly married and in their first home, it was to be Christmas in Oamaru for us – for the first time in over ten years. Much to my amusement it was to be on the same street as ten years ago too.

Driving north up the highway on Christmas Eve.

Adele and James were very excited to host their first Christmas. It would be very different to our traditionally small family gathering, with James’s parents and sister joining up on the day. I’ve definitely never seen so many presents under a tree for our Christmas.

Everything went swimmingly – it was a lovely, relaxed day with family and the food was most excellent.

Dad testing the heat from the brazier – a fine way to be able to tolerate cool Oamaru evenings outside.

Christmas brunch.

Don’t mind if I do.

Suddenly, Don invited me out on a Christmas Day MTB ride. Wow! This is fantastic. We went up to the reservoir, where there is a great little loop.

We made sure to be back for Christmas dinner…

and dessert – which may have been just as large as the main course.

After all that, there was a couple of spare hours for a big walk around South Hill and down to the harbour. It had clouded over, but my past complaining of poor Oamaru Christmas weather was non-existent as there was too much else going on – and I’d been mountain-biking!

There’s a cool playground down at the harbour – this slide is extremely steep, I managed to hold on to my dinner.

And the swings are bike-themed!

Boxing Day we loaded up vehicles with bikes and a big picnic and headed over to James & Adele’s section of pine trees and pond on the edge of Naseby. A few of us, me included, had not been over Dansey’s Pass in years – so we took the scenic route.

We passed a few bikepackers coming off or going up the pass (it was steep!) – my mind turned to planning big loops when I start to spend more time down here with family.

We stopped at the quaint Dansey’s Pass pub for a pint in the sun before carrying on.

Arriving at the section, there was much delight as Don had surreptitiously had the long driveway gravelled – it was far smoother.

Work has begun on James & Adele’s own mountain-bike track on their eight hectares. James showed it to me; while only in the first stage, it’s a great ride with some cool features.

I look forward to seeing how it develops and hopefully helping a bit too.

Picnic lunch was devoured before we headed up to the swimming dam.

The last time I was here – for the wedding week – the dam had been emptied for winter and I rode my bike across the floor. Not this time, as it was filled again and being enjoyed by many. However, most of us went biking. I had a great time chasing James through twisty singletrack, down some steep washes, through the trees and so on.

The lupins were out in force – after finishing the MTBing, I took Dad on a leisurely ride alongside the water race and came across this patch.

After a fantastic day hanging out in Naseby, we headed back over the pass.

Where we promptly sat around the brazier again, eating and drinking with family and friends.

Thanks to all for a great Christmas – particularly Adele & James for hosting us all so well.

around home, Aus, bikepacking, bikes, family, friends, MTB, national park

The Christmas Letter 2016

1 Comment

Once again, I try to look back on the year. 2016 has definitely been momentous in many ways and on the whole, another excellent year. I’m still loving life in Napier, my work is great overall, having my own house is fantastic and I’m riding bikes plenty (with twelve days to go, I’m rapidly closing in on 10,000 km for the year – easily my biggest year ever; half of that is commuting to work).

The year started off with a couple of overnight bikepacking trips as some form of light training. This one riding the gravel road from Wairoa past Lake Waikaremoana towards Rotorua.

I also persuaded Steve to join me on a great local ride to Everett’s Campsite for another overnighter. The hills back there are well worth seeing and riding.

That and commuting to work was basically my preparation for my Tour Aotearoa attempt. Mum & Dad came up to Napier and dropped me off at Cape Reinga – the goal being to ride 3000 km to Bluff self-supported on a new route that was a mixture of as many cycle trails and backroads as possible (two-hundred odd others were also doing this). It was a grand adventure and I was thrilled with all I saw, the experiences I had and how I rode – finishing two days sooner than I needed to, in sixteen days, overcoming some horrendous weather and slight illness to do so.

Crossing the Hokianga to Rawene – I was feeling far less than brilliant and rested/was sick for a couple of hours in the heat. I got better.

The Timber Trail in the Central North Island was a highlight, even in the early morning mist. I must return.

Much to my surprise, my favourite day was through northern Manawatu. So close to where I went to university – yet I’d never been there, the rural landscape was sensational. The hilly gravel roads were excellent too.

Another highlight was staying overnight in the remote old gold mining area of Big River; even better because best-sister Adele joined me for a couple of days.

The West Coast Wilderness Trail is also on the must-return-to list, as it’s supposed to be beautiful – but it sparked the start of about four-hundred kilometres of rain for me, so I didn’t see much.

After freezing riding up the Cardrona Valley, being blown by a storm to Mossburn and then battling the same storm (reduced to pushing my bike alongside a flat highway into 120 km/hr winds) I was well pleased and satisfied to finish in 16.1 days.

It took quite some time to recover from that; I kept riding to work, but I was eating five meals a day for weeks afterwards – on the ride, I lost about four kilograms that I didn’t really have spare!

My winter break was a week down in Central Otago for Adele & James’s wedding. A fantastic time of family, friends, celebration, beautiful scenery and good food. I loved it.

Perhaps my only bikepacking event for this season, was a very enjoyable four days on backroads around Rotorua. It was fascinating returning to an area near where I grew up and seeing it from the different perspectives that a bike and being older give.

Still recovering from 550 km of riding in four days, came the sudden (but ultimately unsurprising) news of the passing of my grandfather (the last of my grandparents to go). Thus set in motion a whirlwind November. One weekend I was in Sydney for the funeral (it went as well as could be expected), then back to work for a blur of a week, before being back in Australia the next weekend for a long planned trip seeing best-friends from Canada (who were back for a family wedding). A month after all that, it still looms large.

We stayed at Arapiles, where Adele joined me for the renowned rock-climbing (it was quite a family & friends month). I almost popped my other shoulder and swore off rock-climbing forever. I didn’t sleep much camping in the west-Victorian weather, but it was a great trip.

I did, of course, take a bike and managed a great day’s gravel riding in Grampians National Park.

Later this week I head south for two weeks with my family – I’m really looking forward to it. While generally quiet, which is how I tend to like it, 2016 has proved to have its share of momentous occasions and has been one of the best yet. I’m eagerly looking forward to next year and seeing what it holds. There are no fixed plans, but it promises to be another great year in Hawke’s Bay, exploring a little further afield, work will be busy and challenging, and I sure hope for plenty of riding, in different places, with whoever will come along for it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – do come and visit Napier if you’re so inclined.

bikes, MTB, travel

Dobies Ode-ies

Leave a comment

For the first time in over ten years, I phoned in sick to work at the start of the week – so this week has been even quieter than the last few months generally have. But with enforced rest (no riding a bike for a week, absurd), I’ve got time for a rather nostalgic post on this neglected platform.

I was mortified after a not-so-recent bike-commute that I’d worn a hole in my bike shorts. Usually, that wouldn’t be a big deal – but I just didn’t think it was possible with NZO Dobies. Roomy, comfortable and (almost, it turns out) indestructible, Dobies have been my go-to MTBing shorts for over ten years – my first pair was handed down to Adele and still have plenty of life left in them after a decade (maybe I should steal them back). I ordered two new pairs eight years ago before embarking on quite a few years of travel and much mountain-biking.

It is one of those pairs, the (once) black ones, that have finally worn through. I think that’s a pretty fantastic show of longevity as I’ve clocked up well over twenty-five thousand kilometres of mountain-biking in that time in all sorts of conditions. As I was thinking that over, I realised these shorts have been part of an awful lot of my bike adventures and it would be worth doing a quick search through my photos of me on bikes. So now I’ll reminisce for the joy of it; at least, I don’t think I’m mourning a pair of shorts.

Earliest picture of said Dobies, late 2008; fitting as on a trip with Roger & Mark to Whangamata – I really started to get into riding more once I met those two.  Notable also for the NZO socks, gloves, shirt & buff.

Queen Charlotte Walkway trip early 2009 – that three-day ride remains as a highlight of all riding trips. 

Living the dream – riding in western USA mid-2009; the start of my time away from NZ, the riding was fantastic. This must have been the ride I met Chip, a recurring riding buddy whose bike-over-the-head pose I’m trying for the first time here.

Black shorts may not have been the best idea on a day that reached 40ºC by nine in the morning – riding the Bootleg Canyon trails, near Boulder City, Nevada. The brewpub was welcome relief at eleven o’clock.

Having a blast on Just Outstanding somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas. A weekend spent camping with MTB randoms I met on mtbr.com – what could go wrong? Cannell Plunge is one of my all-time favourites – on which I completely cooked my brakes, they were never the same.

Black Dobies turn up in the teafields of Kenya – some excellent biking & exploring to be done, I was to return despite the dislocated shoulder incident.

Then a whole summer and fall of biking in the Canadian Rockies. Here Black Dobies are a late ring-in for a Calgarian team competing in the 24 Hours of Adrenaline. Suitable photos worthy of portraying what a fantabulous summer of biking it was are, sadly, lacking.

Black Dobies were on the excellent three-month west-USA road trip with Valerie; here just out of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Riding around the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

Wonderful riding just out of Sedona.

Tahoe Rim Trail!

The McKenzie River Trail, Oregon – a ride memorable for cool new friends.

Following all that there was a return to the UK and plenty of riding with great buddies in the south and south-west of England – alas, I seem to have few photos of myself on those pretty countryside rides.

But the shorts couldn’t be kept away from North America – here, arguably the best MTB holiday I’ve been on, in Moab, Utah. Excellent friends, sublime riding, good food and conditions combined for a memorable & often-remembered week.

Following that trip, it was a cracking summer in the UK during which it didn’t rain for months – I rode plenty in preparation for:

My first multi-day MTB event – the three-day Rift Valley Odyssey, I didn’t need much persuasion to visit East Africa again.

Then I was made redundant, so the Black Dobies & I set off biking across Western Europe. A couple of thousand kilometres took me from London to Italy, I was traveling light so the shorts were in constant use.

On a bridge between Germany & Belgium, it seemed I was constantly crossing borders – the shorts were often confused as to which country they were in.

Crossing the Alps into Italy.

Another month of constant Dobies wearing – working on a vineyard in Aosta Valley & hiking in the Alps. The pockets were never the same after I stuffed eighty walnuts in them while out for a siesta-replacing walk.

Just a little ride around Mt Kilimanjaro; another trip to Tanzania, perche no?

Then I was back in NZ, for good!  Dragging best-sister up steep hills on bikes happened a fair bit that summer.

My first bikepacking event seemed like a good idea. The Kiwi Brevet was a sublime 1150 km loop around the top half of the South Island – Black Dobies got punished again. 

From the same trip, this seems to be the last momentous photo I have of Black Dobies.

There was another year of riding – some bikepacking, much commuting, a little mountain-biking – before the horrid revelation that I’d actually worn them out, I still can’t quite believe it. Eight years – how is it possible to withstand all that biking and traveling? Never mind, I received a new pair as a Christmas gift. Probably I don’t to need steal my original pair back, that may have been why Adele got me the new pair.

You’ll be pleased to know the days are getting longer & warmer – soon I’ll have more tales of biking, exploring & bikepacking to tell and I’ll not need to resort to writing about shorts.