Category Archives: MTB

bikes, MTB, NZ

Old Ghost Road – Lyell Section

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While I was overseas I’d started to hear mention of an epic backcountry mountain-bike trail being constructed somewhere on the West Coast. Once back in New Zealand, I’d picked up a bit of excitement for the Old Ghost Road from various places. When completed it will be eighty-five kilometres of trail in remote West Coast hills and valleys – and will be part of the NZ Cycle Trail.

But it’s not complete yet – the trail is the brainchild of a charitable organisation intent on opening such remote backcountry to mountain-bikers using old dray roads from gold-mining in the nineteenth century, and finally putting through trail where the miners dreamed of doing so (before the gold ran out). About thirty kilometres at either end of the route are officially open, leaving about twenty kilometres in the middle (that goes through some of the most rugged terrain) to be completed and opened. It is hoped, with a final push of fundraising and volunteer efforts that the whole trail will be opened later this year.

While in Westport I was keen to make use of the good weather and check it out – James was easily persuaded, although it may have been his idea in the first place. We wanted to do the Lyell end of the trail as this was hillier – as we would be riding the trail as a “there and back”, we’d just take the day as it came and see how far we’d get before turning around. Setting off from the Lyell carpark and camping area, it was immediately over a new bridge and the climbing began through typically damp native forest. The gradient was gentle, but constant, and the trail was wide, well-made and a pretty easy surface to ride on.

Before long we were passing various old mining relics and the occasional ghost town on the old dray road – as this used to connect the towns, I assume this was why the trail was plenty wide almost in its entirety.

After almost thirteen kilometres, we arrived at the Big Slips and rather ominous looking signs telling us to dismount. Two big slips had completely destroyed the dray road decades ago during an earthquake – these were the biggest challenges the track builders faced to that point. I could see why as we pushed our bikes along the narrow stone path, the fall to the right was sudden and there would be no stopping if one were to go over. Not a chance I was stopping to take a photo for you. The slips safely negotiated, the trail crew’s confidence that they could go on and complete the ambitious project grew.

Near the slips the tree canopy at last was broken a little so we could start to see how big the hills were getting – and under the clear blue sky, there was little else to see but hills and trees, and more hills.

For the twenty or so minutes after the slips, the trail flattened off and pretty much followed the contour around to Lyell Saddle. Reaching the saddle after a steady two hours of riding we found the first of the four huts the trust has built on the trail (there are also two DOC huts on the trail). It is consequently quite new, sleeps eleven (there are also two small summer-summer only sleepouts nearby) and has extensive views over the south branch of the Mokihinui and the Glasgow Range. Annoyingly, I seem have not taken any photos there – it was beautiful on such a clear day.

Leaving the hut, it became apparent we were now on brand new trail; as it got steeper, we went through a series of switchbacks. The surface, being new, was quite different with the stones in the gravel seeming much larger. Still, it was all rideable and we were soon out on the ridge making sure not to ride off the edge while looking at the views.

Switching over to the other side of the ridge as we continued north, the trail stretched impressively in front of us – a thin white ribbon seemingly just hanging on the sheer hillside. It became clear that this would be the eight hundred metre section where it was compulsory to walk. I’m pretty sure most of it was rideable, but I’m also sure there was no way I wanted to be put in a body-bag at the bottom. Realising that we would have to turn around soon to get back to the car before dark and home for dinner, we left our bikes and walked to the highest point of the trail – keen to see the view and check out what really is some incredible trail-building.

Looking east towards the Kaikouras.

Turning around and heading for home.

Needless to say, the return downhill was quality. A bit of a pity I got a small puncture that took many little stops to inflate my tyre before the tubeless finally sealed up; and then I slashed my tyre landing a jump on some rocks with a kilometre to go, damn. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic few hours and I’m well looking forward to the whole trail being open and I hope I get to bikepack the whole thing soon.

bikes, family, MTB, roadtrip

West Coast Week

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Probably coming close to doubling the amount of time I’ve spent on the West Coast ever, it was a great week exploring various parts of the area previously unseen by me. Unfortunately Adele had to work for most of our stay – that after all being the whole reason she is there – but at least there was a long weekend in there to enjoy together. Activities were varied for the week, hopefully James enjoyed having a few extra people around during the working week – at least, he was pretty easy to persuade to go mountain-biking with.

First up we headed up to the Denniston Plateau, an old coal mining area just north east of Westport. Considering its proximity to town it was remarkably remote – helped by the very steep hill we had to drive up to get onto the plateau. We timed our ride well and didn’t get wet at all as we explored a loop, recommended by the local bike shop, taking in part of the trail network up there. It was a great fun loop with a variety of trail surfaces that seemed to change in an instant. From bog standard gravel road, to smooth almost-slickrock double track to quite rocky singletrack. Well worth the drive up and with a few decent little pinch climbs to keep us honest.

At times the trail got rocky, narrow and steep.

I’ve not seen such an interesting sign-in hut before – this for the coal mine just down the road.

Back near the car, I couldn’t resist poking around some of the old mine buildings long since abandoned. These, below, near the powerhouse and changehouse. A little bit down the hill we found the main historic displays detailing working in the various mines and life in such a wet and isolated place as the company town must have been. We also happened across Mum & Dad out exploring a bit; unfortunately the cloud and rain really rolled in, so I abandoned a scheme to ride down the closed bridle track to sea-level.

The next day’s ride was a stunner on the Old Ghost Road – which is not quite completed; even so, there’s more than enough there for its own post.

The warm sunny weather persisted, much to our surprise and pleasure (the West Coast is notorious for its rainfall), into Friday. With a day off the bikes, James & Dad headed out for a round of golf while Mum & I took the drive south to Cape Foulwind. It was a much better visit that the one twenty years previous – where both of us were completely overcome with hayfever and remember little else. The beach and coast was looking fantastic and we spent some time watching the seals basking in the sunshine or playing in various rocky pools.

Spot the seals and rocks.

Friday evening walk on the beach and sundowners.

Saturday the weather turned somewhat, but we were keen for a day out to Reefton. Somehow we got our three mountain bikes on and in the Vitara and the five of us piled in for the hour drive south-east. Bikes assembled, we rode from town to do the Murray Creek Circuit that had been given four stars in the most recent edition of the NZ MTBing bible – which interestingly uses a scale of zero to four. We would have liked to do a bigger ride, but didn’t want to keep Mum & Dad waiting too long.

Leaving the highway after a couple of kilometres, it was a steady climb through beautiful native forest beside the creek passing various mining relics and even an old town site – Cementown, one of the more boring names for a town possible. It got a bit muggy at times as we were surrounded by all the trees keeping the moisture in. For most of the climb we followed an old road from gold-mining days that was still a good wide and even surface.

Opting for the singletrack route, we continued climbing as we turned left at Waitahu Junction back towards town. It was a rare point when the thick canopy of trees opened enough to look down on the view below – this down to the Waitahu River:

The track narrowed and soon it became apparent we were on some new singletrack. Around the time we were passing the last gold mines (well the head of the shafts – a look at a plan on a signboard showed that the hill was riddled with various mines off two deep vertical shafts) the trail became really quite good. There wasn’t a lot of overall altitude gain or loss for a while and trail was lush – there was one point where they’d worked really hard to put some tight switchbacks in, much too steep and compact for me to climb. With littles bits where one still had to work hard to crest a rise, it was a good mixture with the flowing singletrack. I was disappointed when the trail became gravel closer to town – even if it was still fun.

Reefton looking pretty much as it is – small and surrounded by hills and native forest.

Back in town to savour a fun little ride and eat lunch, we loaded up again and headed out to Waiuta. I’d never heard of Waiuta until the Kiwi Brevet earlier in the year and was then disappointed I didn’t have time to stop as I rode past and into my favourite part of the entire brevet course – the Big River Trail. Once a company town for yet another gold mine, this one lasting about fifty years; Waiuta went into decline in the fifties after the mine closed. I thought the rest of the family would enjoy going up to this remote corner of the country and enjoy poking around what is left. I think I was right, even if it made for a long day by the time we got back to Westport.

Sunday the weather proper rolled in and was quite wild. But that didn’t put us off driving south along the coast to harvest large mussels (Adele & James had been talking of them for a while) off the rocks at low-tide. Unfortunately, with the stormy weather the tide wasn’t quite as low as it might have been on a calm day – but how wet we got was worth it for this rather large pan filled with fresh mussels, white wine, butter and garlic. It’s even better considering Adele doesn’t like mussels, so there were more for the rest of us.

The Charming Creek ride/walk was reported as being beautiful by Adele & James – following an old river-side railway through tunnels, over swing bridges, beside huge native trees and past, once again, old mining equipment. I decided to ride, naturally, while Mum, Dad & Adele walked on the public holiday Monday. While happy to walk and ride in the rain, we didn’t factor in the cumulative rainfall over the previous day or so.

The river was absolutely raging and the trail wet under wheel (so much so, that I put my over-trousers on to keep the spray from my wheels away). All that wasn’t much of a problem, but the number of waterfalls seen became an issue when I emerged from a tunnel to find a torrent of water dumping right on to the trail. I pondered awhile – it didn’t take long to see that I’d be absolutely soaked trying to pass under it or, worse, swept into the river. Not keen on either outcome, it was disappointing but prudent to turn around after only two and a half kilometres. That trail will have to keep for another visit.

That was about our stay in Westport – most enjoyable, there’s so much to do and still left to explore. One just needs to be able to time outdoor activities with the famed rain to make the most of it. Tuesday Mum, Dad & I left for home down the West Coast. It sure is a long, & at times slow, drive to Haast. It’s definitely just short of twenty years since I’ve been down that way, so we stopped to look at some of the more famous sights – the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki and a brief glance at Fox Glacier.

It’s a long time since I’ve seen so much flax in one spot.

The wild West Coast – a whole lot less wild than the previous two days.

There definitely isn’t a lot to do in Haast Township of a cold, dark evening – but that didn’t matter as we were exhausted from the slow and winding drive. The whitebait was excellent.

Following day we set off for home to complete our little road-trip.

Over Haast Pass and away from the West Coast, the rain was gone and the sun was out.

Not a bad spot for lunch, near Bannockburn.

bikes, family, MTB, NZ

Godzone following around Southern Lakes

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Adele, in a moment of madness, had managed to get herself into a team of four doing the Godzone adventure race around Wanaka at the start of March. I was very happy to go and spend ten or so days around the Southern lakes running errands, cooking meals, & providing support when needed – not to mention fitting in a fair bit of riding and visiting family. With the 550 km course requiring teams to hike, mountain-bike, kayak, canoe, cross a glacier, swim and complete an orienteering course (with no specified rest periods) there was an awful lot of preparation to be done and gear to be packed in various boxes and packs.

My first ride of the week took me up to Sticky Forest – a maze of singletrack close to Wanaka. It was OK, but I bored of trying to find good trails to ride using a five year old map (this somehow is the latest version) that is quite inaccurate. When I stumbled across a guy from Washington (state) similarly confused by the map, it didn’t take much to convince him to go & ride the wonderful Dean’s Bank trail. A pleasant morning out around the edges of Lake Wanaka.

Somehow after running a few errands for Adele, I still had masses of energy to burn so headed out for an evening ride on the Millennium Trail clockwise around the lake to Glendhu Bay. A wonderfully formed shared trail around the edge of the lake, it was pretty much deserted at that time of the day. There are quite a few steep bits of the trail – but these were good to get a bit of elevation above the lake to look out over it to the mountains. Another beautiful ride on a very still evening.

Not much was required of us during the day, Friday, so it was time for James & I check out another cycle trail to another lake. This time we were off to Lake Hawea – although we first had to skirt Lake Wanaka on the Outlet Trail before crossing the Hawea River and following the true-left bank to the lake. Being beside another river, there’s not a lot of climbing for the length of the trail – that is, until you get to the dam near the lake and there’s a fair hill to get up to overlook the lake. Which is of course another great view.

The Hawea River has specially constructed whitewater features in it for kayakers – we spotted a couple of surfers giving it a go.

Back in town by early afternoon there was plenty of time for a trip to the store to prepare for the final supper for the team – not to mention all the many snacks for an afternoon on the balcony overlooking the lake & watching the cricket. The team had finished all their packing and dropped their bike boxes and transition zone boxes off at Race HQ and came around for their last cooked meal until the race finished – a big barbecue. With the weather forecast for the coming week looking rather dire in the mountains, chatter around the dinner table was sparse as the team nervously contemplated the many possibilities of the huge week ahead.

It was early to bed for them as they had to meet for the race in the wee hours of the morning before being taken on buses to a community hall at Hawea, where they would receive maps and compulsory check-points’ positions for the first part of the race. Until then, the race course had remained Wanaka’s best kept secret and the source of much speculation. For those of us that didn’t get up at three o’clock, the day dawned just as miserably – it didn’t look like it was going to be a fun day in the mountains.

The excellent tracking component of the Godzone website went live when the race started at eight o’clock and the route for the whole week was also up – we could begin to appreciate a little, just what a mammoth challenge this race would be. Even the first hike up to the Brewster Glacier sounded awful in the rain; the weather was so bad that the walk across the glacier was cancelled for all teams. I headed for Queenstown to stay with cousins for a few days – I was thankful for the comfort and dryness of a car to get there.

The day was nicer in Queenstown & I enjoyed catching up with David & Mary after many years, and also watching a rather memorable NZ vs Aus cricket match.

Our obsession with following the race increased steadily throughout the week as the we watched the tracking dots move around the course (each team carried a GPS transponder that usually sent out their position every fifteen minutes, which was then posted on the website) and followed the news feed on the website. The top teams were alarmingly fast, while those further back in the field – well, we could only imagine the ordeal of coping with the course & weather and lack of sleep & proper food and will them on. The weather Sunday & Monday was much improved in Queenstown, so it was ideal for me to go for a much easier bike ride.

I realised I could use The Queenstown Trail (yet another part of the NZ Cycle Trail that I’ve now ridden recently) to get to Arrowtown and then ride to the historic gold-mining settlement of Macetown up in the hills. I quickly discovered The Queenstown Trail is an absolutely brilliant facility in the area – just in case it needed more attractions. Following the Kawarau, Shotover and then Arrow rivers on the wide easy trail, I was comfortably in Arrowtown in an hour and a half.

Just after I started to Macetown, the sun came out and the day began to warm up. Which was just as well as it seems as that trail spends most of its time underwater! I forded the Arrow River fifty times that day – mostly it was hub deep and I was pleased to have big wheels and be able to ride all but two of the crossings. But that didn’t stop my feet being dunked on most of those crossings. Quickly I passed the tourists, and even some locals, panning for gold and there were few other people to see for the rest of the day. After staying at the bottom of the river valley for a little while, the trail climbed up in the hills to get above a dam and waterfall before rejoining the river as it came around a ninety degree bend in the valley.

At Macetown, I found very little to look at – but one could appreciate just how remote the area was and wonder what it was like to live such an isolated life in the late nineteenth century in pursuit of gold. I turned and headed back down the valley and through the river as the day still warmed – I passed many more people riding up to Macetown now that it was just after noon.

Arrowtown was hopping when I rode back through, so quickly passed through before heading out to the original & iconic bungy-jumping bridge over the Kawarau for the extra time and miles on the bike.

Monday was forecast to get wet in the afternoon, so it was another morning departure on The Queenstown Trail – this time through Queenstown itself and then further around Lake Wakatipu before finding the singletrack up towards picturesque Moke Lake. Unfortunately, the singletrack doesn’t go all the way & I joined the gravel road and a very strong headwind. In the cloud, the lake wasn’t as pretty as normal – but with the hills around, still picturesque.

Leaving Moke Lake, there was a climb through farm land and then a steep drop to Lake Dispute (one wonders what the dispute was) and then some wonderful singletrack (Phoenix Trail) back to the main road.

Wednesday, I was even more glued to the team’s progress on the race as more and more teams were retiring or continuing unranked after receiving assistance (three teams managed to hike up the wrong valley for hours without realising it, two of those eventually being helicoptered out). After over thirty-four hours hiking and only sleeping a few hours on the second night (no sleep on the first night!), a nice canoe followed by a horrid hypothermic swim, they were on a mountain-bike stage from west of Wanaka, up onto the Garvies and Pisa ranges before passing right past David & Mary’s house.

While I waited, I went for a short walk to the grocery store – The Remarkables were looking just that.

Progress must have been horribly slow, as I waited to be able to ride the last part of the leg with the team my predictions of when I should set off kept being pushed out as they just never got any sort of prolonged speed up. Preparing myself for a night ride, I eventually went to bed and woke every hour or so to check progress. They’d obviously decided to sleep before they got close the to the trail I’d ridden on Sunday; but only an hour or so of sleep was taken before they were on the move again – I was up at five to eat and get ready for a bit of night-riding.

Meeting the team in the dark near the airport, they seemed remarkably chipper. Apparently that was all a front as they battled desperately to stay awake on the bike and keep what they were seeing grounded in reality. They were happy to get all the race gossip I could pass on – as the field had really spread over the almost-two days they were on this MTB leg (!), they had little idea of how everyone else was getting on. Eventually, the day dawned as we went around the lake – the pace was understandably slow and there were frequent stops for snacks.

Finally, after forty-three hours the bikes could be packed in their boxes for a while and the team got ready for the kayak to Kingston at the southern tip of the lake. Missing the 2 a.m. deadline by about six and a half hours, the team was now on the short course (this cut out the last hike, the orienteering course and modified the second bike leg significantly) along with many other teams. Actually, the course and the weather were so demanding that two teams that made the cut-off by a matter of minutes elected to do the short course so that they would finish without assistance.

Slowly packing up the bikes and getting ready for the first kayaking stage.

And off again – this a relatively short leg, only six and a quarter hours…

I set off back home to pack up and return to Wanaka so as to meet the team later the following day as they were due to ride through the night back to Wanaka and get back in the kayaks for final stage on Lake Wanaka. As I did so, the morning cloud burnt off and I was treated to some wonderful views over Wakatipu.

With an enforced six-hour stand down at Kingston (the re-routed bike ride through the Nevis was on a lot of public roads, so the organisers didn’t want ultra-tired competitors weaving in front of traffic), the team got plenty of sleep (probably as much as they’d had over the previous four nights!) before heading out on the bikes late evening Wednesday. Keeping an eye on the dots, I set off mid-afternoon on yet another new-since-I’ve-been-away cycle trail, the Upper Clutha River Trail, to meet the team as they battled a nasty nor-wester from Cromwell to Wanaka.

Hanging around a bit at the start of the Newcastle Trail (down the other side of the river back to Albert Town) that the teams were taking towards the last transition at Dublin Bay, I snacked and checked the teams’ progress along the left side of the Clutha. Realising I was far enough ahead of the team, I headed along a rather boring sealed road towards them with a nice tailwind – travel in the opposite direction can’t have been nice, as I was about to find out.

I think they were pleased to see me as the battled against the wind – at least I hope so, after yet another over-a-day long leg. Even I might be sick of riding a bike after sixty-two hours over three days. Finally, it was off the road onto the Newcastle Trail – but I don’t remember much of it, as I tried to chat away without getting in the way. News begin to filter through that the final leg was beginning to be shortened as high winds had tipped some of the kayakers out of their boats on the far side of the lake. I left the team to ride Dean’s Bank & on through to the lake as I nipped back to town to down dinner, as I’d no idea how long before they’d be at the finish (due to ever-shortening kayak leg).

With a careful eye on the tracking, it became clear that the kayak was being shortened extensively. In the end, only a handful of teams did the full leg, with most after them only having to go to one of the six checkpoints, significantly shortening the watery ordeal. At as soon as the team were in the water, it became clear from their tracker that they had been instructed to miss all checkpoints and just paddle for home around the point into town. So I hussled down to the finish line to meet the weary souls.

And here they are, crossing the finish line – what an effort & achievement. Five days, fourteen hours and thirty seven minutes of a difficult course and rather horrid weather.

The team finished twenty-seventh in the end, a slight improvement on their position for most of the race. To illustrate just how tough it was, of the fifty-two teams on the leaderboard – only thirty-two completed without assistance. Of those, only fourteen did the full course! Well done Rachel, Jeremy, Garry & Adele. With celebratory beer, pies, hot chocolate & scones (some supporters are so much better than I am) I ferried the team back to the team house where Claire (Jeremy’s wife) had a big roast in the oven (like I said, some supporters are awesome).

Having to get out of the house where were staying Friday morning, it was a quick clean before we headed back to Queenstown for a couple of days of rest and relaxation and food. What a fantastic week following such a mad event; I briefly caught adventure race fever, but simply following it was exhausting enough for me.

bikes, city, friends, MTB, NZ

Restful, sort of, week in Wellington

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After my Kiwi Brevet 2015 experience I was calorie, sleep and relaxation deficient – so I popped over Cook Strait on the ferry with my bike to address such issues and spend a week with close friends.

Wellington was a bit of a revelation – I’ve not much spent much time in our nation’s capital before. I was pleased to have such a great week in a fantastic little city. Time was spent with good friends, riding bikes, going on a couple of easy walks, visiting family, eating well, sleeping a lot, writing, watching Cricket World Cup matches, even a little baby-sitting, and going on an easy bikepacking trip to Martinborough and Waikanae.

My biggest surprise about Wellington was the biking – particularly how easy it is to bike to all parts of the city (despite the notorious hills and wind) and the quality of the MTB trails through stunning native bush seemingly in the middle of the city & suburbs.  Now that I look back at my riding diary, maybe I wasn’t tired enough from the Brevet – I rode seven days in a row clocking up over three hundred kilometres, oops.  But the scenery was great, I had a fantastic guide for singletrack riding around the city and the trails were so much more fun that most of my recent riding. If only there were more of my sorts of jobs in Wellington…

I really didn’t take enough photos around Wellington…

Wellington is renowned for its cafe culture, but surely this is not normal.

Prime native forest – I couldn’t believe we were riding such nice trail from the inner suburbs.

The view from my window in Karori for the week – I spent many hours distracted from my writing staring out this watching the planes and weather glide past.

Thanks for having me, Elizabeth and Nigel – I hope I didn’t eat you out of house and home.