Training Log Archive: Yak

Slow ride around Rob and Marquita,s lovely tracks - not much flow as quite steep and sandy.

My first ever ride at Woodhill mtb park. with di Michells who kindly picked me up from Auckland and deposited me in the wil past helensville afterwards.
Some of the park was closed for repairs. Also a high ropes course and equestrian area in that end of the forest.

Ride around Marquita,s garden O area which is part of Marquita and Rob.s 200 acres.

An urban ride again, this time just with CAth. Thru CBD over to Hobsons Bay and heaps of boardwalk and some stairs, around an old volcano and more directly back.

Walking around Auckland harbour plus after driving in this morning.
Cath Hepplewaite kindly picked up my bags while i rode to her place, centrally located in St marys.

Evening ride with Cath and a mob from the local cyclo bike shop in Ponsonby. About 15 in total.
This group was inspirational ...several had just done the 6 day 1200km Kiwi brevet, while others had all been incredibly active on the weekend
I wish i had such a group zt home
Mixture of road, bike tracks and even beach. Was good - some sections were a push up some steep hills but rest fairly cruisy.

Ride from rent a dent to Cath's.

Early morning climb up small mt behind yha at Operature?

Drove to Haehi and walked to Cathedral Cove and walked in and out. also swam for about 15 mins in very cold water although sun was shining.
Then drove the length of the dreaded dirt 309 rd and visited Waterworks, a theme park of weird engineering gadgets mostly associated with water- lots of fun-managed to ride a bike lawn mower and a flying bikeplus a mouse wheel. More mathoth driving, given the windy NZ rds, to Coromandel Town'
, then Thames and then back across the penisula to O...

Unfortunately i couldnt squeeze a ride in today though there was a close mtb park. Off to Auckland tomorrow.

pouring rain for my explore of Wahlia. Did the 4 km lap of the gigantic Marthe gold mine and then went to the Clarke rd MTB course.
Mistakenly followed the yelow arrows thinking i was on the easy difficulry lap but i was actually doing the advanced lap - should have been on the pink course.
Bloody steep and horrible at first on the pine area on Winter hill but the descents were well constructed. Then went around the next hil and the "river dance` section was really
Lovely. Also went past the motocrosse track where lots of kids were having fun.
Would have done the windows walk again but the views would have been limited.

Stopped in Whangamata, which resembled Torquay or lorne crowds wise and was delighted to find a bike shop open and happy to dabble at fixing my rear derailleur, which i had hurt in a slide out.
Then onto the yha at the locality of Opoutere ... only one available in the coromandel this weekend. Just a few houses, no shop... a real quiet and wearherboard type place.Brilliant views over an eastuary, kayaks available, and i was only one in dorm tonight (Sharing tomorrow)

Walk from hostel over the bridge and estauary and thru forest to the divine beach. Bird sanctuary and i managed to photo a ??? with chicks.
Mist shrouding al the hills. Quite tired today after little sleep last night, so went back and read a book from the yha collection.

New brakes fitted this morning in Hamilton, then met friends from Katherine!

Drove towards Coromandel and stoped at Waihi.
Jumped on bike and did an out and back on the Hauraki trail thru the Karangahake Gorge to Paeroa plus.
This included a 1.1km former rail tunnel.
On return explored some walking tracks in the gorge and did a bit of hike a bike up and down stairs. Great gold mining tunnels (Windows walk) thT re pitch black - ued my camera light to see now and thdn.
Legs felt great today', even on last 9 km climb ....

Did the Timber trail - an a to b course. Got shuttled to start one hour.
Absolutely stunner of a ride - best marked track ev with km marks the whole way and anhuge number of info boards.
Not to mention the longest suspension bridge evr built in Nz (151 m across) and two oths almost as long and about another 4 smaller ones plus about 30 wooden bridges.
Initial climb and descent were a bit muddy still from recent rainso i was very slow on first 30 kmand thought i might befinishing in the dark
Howev second half was much faster and i took fewer photos. Most of track was in the forest About 6 degrees when started and got to 22
I didnt take enough water and colected some from a river but made it back ok
This is a very remote area ... no shops, towns or taps.
Very enjoyable.
Long drive back to Hamilton of about 2.5 hours afterwards.

Ride along the main river in hamilton to Hamilton gardens and return.
Tried to buy some new bike brake pads in Hamilton but none of my sort in town - ordered some in from Auckland and hopefully get fitd on sat.
Drove back south 2.5 hrs to Ongarue and slept in a homestay at end of Timber trail track.
Ghost town though school, with 1940.s pool stil has 20 kids.

Ride on Waitmo River trails starting some 30km from Cambridge near a lake with plenty of rowers.
Loked at Acupino swng bridge and had smoothie at Rhubard cafe there on return.
Mostly gd single tk including 500m of boardwalk above wetlands.
However going past Acupino towards ...Landing the track was too steep and i had to walk some.
Saw Walter Mitty film, out to tea and watxhing 50 over cricket game between NZ and India, which is on the TV but is being played in Hamilton.

Did the smeliest ride ever today at the Hamilton mtb park at Pukete.
Rode from where i am staying with Margaret Clement along river and over to the industrial suburb where a small sign suggested i ride up a 10m stretch of green between 2 buildings.
There i found a 12 km track, with about one third in a bushy area and the rest was like spagheti thru some open parklands.
All nice if somewhat dizzing in a fairly small space. However i coukd have done with a nose peg as there were industrial smells of paint, glue, yeast and hops, as well as the pong from the sewage pon on the other side of tyhe park!!
After a long drive yesterday afternon, some 250kms of windi g kiwi roads, i was a litle tired.

Ride uphill from Pipriki to raetihi'

Had hoped to start kayaking early as strong rain was forecast for the afternoon and the river gets dangerous once aditional water run ff adds to the flow, given that there are narow gorges and some rapids.
Staff were still trying to extract boats from the mud at 8am when almost al the 40 or so kayaks from the camp across the river sailed off. There was still no sign og my single kayak after 3 double kayaks had been extracted, so i said i was happy to paddle one of those. Tested that the ruder still worked and found that it was a heavy boat so not as fast as i had hoped. Sat in back and paddled hard to catch up some of the others by halfway, just in tme to see most fall in at the first rapid. Rescued a hat and a thong - luckily their barrels we al roped in to the canoes or kayaks. However one dumb guy discovered that the car keys had been extracted from his pocket by the river!!! Saw him having his car towed later.

There were about 6 rapids that provided some fun but i had it easy with no-one in front seat, so my boat sailed thru well, esp as i knew where to point it. many capzsized 2 or 3 times. one jetboat parked near a rapid so clients could film the action! Got to finish line before my arms died on me which was a relief
.Not lng afterwards i felt the earth move as there was a 6.9 earthquake, with its epicentre not too far distant.
I guess at least it wasnt Christchurch again. Wellington was effected with power off for ages
Drove to Hamilton, some 250 kms of winding kiwi roads, so got in after dark.

Bridge to nowhere ride. Started at Raetihi and rode 40 kms to where most people are shuttled to. Included in this was a vert scenic descent of 10kms alongsi a river. However the undulating next 17km, as escribed by a local, undulated mostly uphill and all on a fresh layer of blue rocky gravel. Then the real climb began with 6 kms of 8% but on a nice surface on the M road. Met 4 quads (bike type of quad) near the trig, several of which had rifles on the ffont. Quds are allowed on this track. Met 11 guys from taupo son after who had riden up from the K trail Also two horse riders with machetes attached, for triming he trails.
On the descent i almost got killed by a fast moving quad that had cut the corner- luckily i was rightagainst the
Bank rather thanout a bit - he didnt even check that i hadnt had a heart atack
Last 17 km was ultra interesting single track - about 10 swinging bridges, some normall small bridges, and about 8 places where we were suposed to walk for a 100m or so, due to the danger of falling 70m off the track, as a girl had done in Nvember, causing the trail to be closed for some time. These areas are bluffs, where the crumbly rockface is exposed and the track is only about 2 feet wide. Sometimes it is hard to see the drop as the overhang is just loose earth.
Finally literally popped out of the forest onto the Bridge!! What a wondful sight. I got there at 3pm even after spending an hour for lunch with the Taupo boys - my boat oick-up was at 4_4.30pm

Jetboat picked up about 10 of us and bikes. An older c ouple had taken 10 hours to do the trail Three of us got droped at the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge, the only accom on the riv except for the odd Doc hut and some campgrounds. This was really nice with great vis from the balcony - well worth breaking the trip.
Then i got the news that my promisec kayak was one of 7 that had been swamped by 5 metres pkus of mud aft a landslip the previous night right at the Lodgeboat ramp.
Three guys were in the process of trying to extract them

Did old coach rd both ways from Okahune today approx 2 hrs up and 1 back wide vriety of surfaces - grass, old chunky rocks and roots, lovely sigle tk and last 2 kms of rough gravel rd
Had company- of an auckland women on return. Two lovely old viaducts, one of which was rideable, and a tunnel with a bend in it.
Rode ito town afterwards. Now at Raethli with briliant view of snow topped mt ruapehu from my $25 dollar cabin. Start on bridge to nowhere ride early tomorrow - a mere 80km but with a solid 2 hr climb
Rain is forecast for next day when i hope to kayak but gorge in river can be dangerous if lots of sudden water...

Morning ride on taupo mtb park tougher trails - felt very tired in the eyes, even though i slept well for 7 hrs last night in my yha 4 person dorm

Afternoon ride to tree trunk gorge on way to okahune. Yha is in abig old wooden place in a cute town beneath mt ruapehu, which still has a lot of snow on it' and i have 4 beds to myself for $22
Orienteering made the front page of the nation paper here for all the wrong reasons. Estranged husband in dunedin shot his 2 children and himself, and they were well known as fast runners and orienteers.

Great ride along the Great lakes trail outsi taupo with Gareth williams. All single track and it constantly went from bend to bend between rainforest type ferns and rocky cliffs, mostly in shade. Visited several beaches. Climbs were gradual and exceedingly well built. So much so that i didnt have to walk at all. Rode harder than if i had been by myself. Feeling quite tired in the head but legs good.

Two rides but too tir to write up seperately. 3 hours in craters of the Moon mtb park at Taupo. Then an hour for the Huka Falls - Taupo loop that went beside the river and was excelent

Scenic tour around Rotorua including sulphur point. Moving day to Taupo.

3km walk around the Redwoods at Rotorua. Some trees 67 m high - they grow to about 110m and last 400 years.

Out again to W... forest catching first shuttle up the mt at 9.30am with all the downhillers. Got a few strange looks, esp as had mapboard on. Did 2 fantastic runs down and then some riding back up and around. Last hour was riding back to town and around checking out carhire peoole.- got a gd deal with rent a dent!!

Many kms in W......... Forest at Rotorua onest trails ever
In evening did 2hours of canopy walk and 8 ziplines at tree top level great.

Sprint event near redwoods on city edge. Came 5th but still made a biggish mistake that cost me victory. 22 controls and i felt like i was orienteering properly most of the time. Excellent area.included riding to and from event.

Challenge long distance champs. On our arrival it rained heavily thus turning the mostly clay based tracks into a quagmire. By the time i got to the start my bike wheels couldnt move - luckily had time to demud them a bit but would h#ve to repeat process several times during the event. Many places whe it was push or carry bike up slopes. Problem going to 3 where one way arrows were so slow that so small that most people didnt see or chose to ignore. Longer course also had a bitumen rd that some took though bulletin had said that it was out of bounds. Had chain problem going to 5 so lost the girl who won at that stage. Rode mostly by self and not so perfect nav. Got home very muddy to find that i had MPed no 11. In my tired state i had punched one 50 metres from mine - not pleased. In the ebd they cancelled the challenge and we will do it again at sat,s event, albeit on n area that the kiwis know well. Then drove 150 kms to Rotorua where it is raining

Cazual ride round auckland streets and parks near North shore, including Tuff crater. had been to rangitoto island in morning.

Mtbo event on jessie,s garden at marquita and Robs place. Nav again slack.

Rest day from mtbo.
Rode with liz randall from north Shore N to Northhead hill which we explored and then to Devenport and back along the bike path mostly.
Visited 5 bike shops along the way in search of a cycling map of region - found in last one at devenport.
Lunch at Pita Plus which is like a subway but with pita bread.

Another disaster after waiting over 3 hours to start, being the group bus driver.
Long distance event and i made silly errors on legs 1, 2 and 3 which were the only ones with hard nav, including ignoring a roadie section instead I walked up a huge slippery hill. Athird of the way around the course the heavens opened up, and as this area is clay based it became a slippery mudfest. even the not so wet tracks were as slippery as hell. Being last starter and making early mistakes meant i had mo of the bad conditns than most. Got very cold at one stage and almost decided to DNF ... Not happy getting my bike so dirty early on the trip.

Mtbo long event at Marquitas garden Rode W50 course abd oed ok to start with and then had some lapses of concentration to finish mid field with time of 1.40 Lovely soft pine forest area with a spaghetti like section that resembled Rowdy flat at Yakan dandah in Vic but mmore rideable This was on Marquita gelderman and rib g#rden property. Warm cnditions extra 30 mins was a hilly warm-up. Kiwis has ridden here before
Accom at North Shore woeful.

Bike had slightly damaged rotor so off to bike shop right near airport. Fixed it with a heavy instrument. around this area was a high ropes course, mini golf, real golf, lake with sculptutes and a bike park!
I did a lap of the mtbike park, which was fairly easy.

Mtbike ride up Matare domain which was a volcanic peak, in big winds, and gd views. then around the esplanade and past Arabury farm and a muddy lake.
Last night i got in about midnight to auckland airport kiwi motel, then walked the 100m to the more basic skylodge digs where the mtbo group of 30 is staying tonight, as it near the airport. Tomorrow we move to North Shore motel and holiday park.

Frustrating day ... borrowed a friend's bike bag which weighs a ton and required me to disassemble bike into fragments! Hope I can put it together again - my 29er has silly button that prevents chain moving wrongly but hard to alter. Also had to ration clothes ...