Mels Cheesy Birthday riding
A bunch of people headed up to Forest Lodge at the bottom of Mt Cheeseman for Mels birthday. On the Saturday Mel, Emily, Heather and I headed over Dracophyllum Flat to the Broken River access road, and then up the track to Camp Saddle.
At Camp Saddle there are fantastic views of the ski fields and valley. Seats are lowered and protection adorned before scuttling across the top of the scree to find a nice line down the hill.
Then it is the scree riding. The steep slope does mess with your head, but once you point your bike down and get both feet on the pedals it is easy to control your speed as the bike sinks into the soft scree
The scree takes you down to the Edge track which is a super fun way to get back down the hill
After the Edge track is the Luge track, which is always very big grin inducing, as is the downhill at the start of Dracophyllum Flat. A most excellent days riding!
Evening Blowhard
Its been a while since I went up Blowhard. I remember it being pretty damn good fun last time and so when an evening mission was planned to go ride it I was keen. Away and out of town and battling the cross winds on the plains to get out to Oxford. A quick stop for essentials such as beer and chocolate and we were soon getting on our bikes at the bottom of the track.
Mike Hucking
No such thing as a warm up, we were soon sweating our way up the track on a perfectly warm and windless summer evening. Definitely a stark contrast to the Mt Grey gale we rode on Sunday! The track up follows a ridge and has endless steep pinches followed by rideable flat or slightly down sections. As you climb the steeps get steeper and rockier until you end up having to walk, but even these ups are interspaced with fun little downhills and plenty of riding up the hill.
Laurence Grinding
Once you get up to the ridge there are many open sections and again it steps up and down as you climb towards Mt Richardson. There were fantastic views out over the plains, Lees Valley and the other foothills. With the sun low in the sky we kept moving towards the top.
on the top ridge
A couple of hours and we were on the top watching the sun set over the Southern Alps. Food in mouths and lights were put on the bikes.
food at the top watching the sun set
Laurence, Cherie and Mike at the top
The trails on the way up look like plenty of fun going the other way and we were all keen to hit them up and have some fun! Along the top ridge there are some fast wide open sections interspaced with tight forest sections and rocky/rooty trails. We were soon zooming down the trails only really needing the lights for the forest sections. The tracks are super fun to descend with twisting chutes that act like berms to throw you around the corners.
Once we had traversed the top ridge and started dropping back down towards the van the fun started in earnest. The trail is chunky and rocky and has been water eroded over time leading to very amusing corners with chutes and lots of rocks and ledges to pop off. Further down the trail turns into a choss pile of steep rocky loose baby heads which had Laurence giggling uncontrollably at me managing to stay upright on a bike which was heading every which way and all over the trail underneath me. We made it down somehow managing to keep just within the limit of out of control and loving every second of it.
Some fast 4wd track sections soon had us back at the van finding the beer and food. Blowhard is a fantastically fun piece of trail that does not get ridden anywhere near as much as it should!
On another note, my new Mavic Alpine XLs have now been on a couple of rides and I am finding them good. Stiff on the bike and very comfortable to walk in. There is some pressure on the top of my foot just in front of the ankle from the metal buckle where the velcro strap folds back, but I think this is likely to disappear as the shoe wears in. I have only had short walks carrying the bike so far but I think they are feeling promising for a much longer walk. I will report back once I have done a carry of over an hour up a hill. At least the Blowhard track managed to get a bunch of mud and dirt on them. The white colour is on the way to being covered up!
Cass Lagoon by bike.
I love technical singletrack. The Cass Lagoon loop near Arthurs Pass delivers many hours of technical riding and is a favourite of mine. I last rode the loop a couple of years ago, so having a Friday off work was the perfect opportunity to get up there and enjoy it.
Leaving the car at the Cass river there was a 30 min warmup on the road before the climbing began. Onto the track with lovely beech forest singletrack, a little pine forest and then out into the tussocks on the tops with fantastic views while trudging through bogs.
First lunch on Lagoon saddle in the sunshine while surveying the valley dropping towards Hamilton Hut and the fantastic vistas towards the main divide. The technical riding starts from the get go with a few board-walks into bogs leading into rooty challenging beech forest singletrack.
After a while the track pops out into river bed for short sections before diving back into the forest singletrack.
Almost 5 hours into the mission and we were relaxing in the luxurious Hamilton Hilton and eating 3rd lunch. A snooze in the sunshine seemed extraordinarily inviting but the lure of good singletrack got us back on the bikes and heading for Cass Saddle.
A couple of km of grassy flats in the sunshine before heading back into the forest. The singletrack here is mostly rideable as it slowly climbs towards the saddle.
Towards the saddle the track gets a lot steeper and it is a short sharp climb to get to the Cass saddle. Once on the saddle there are fantastic views down the Cass valley and sweet sweet singletrack beckoning.
I had too much fun riding the singletrack on the way out to take any photos. Any tiredness after 8 hours was soon forgotten as we swooped through flowing trails. There was some impressive avalanche damage on the way down the valley. Avalanches had flattened a few sections of forest and obliterated where the tracks were. 9 hours after starting we were back at the car with big grins on our faces. The loop is an outback technical singletrack fix that I have promised myself I will do at least once a year!
Nelson Labour Weekend
Super busy at the moment and so it was great to get away to Nelson for 3 days. A Thursday evening mission from Chch to Nelson got me there by 11pm and ready for a nice easy start the next day. Having never ridden the Rameka track I decided it was time I had a look and while there I could check out the new Canan Downs mountain bike tracks as well.
Rameka is through a lovely piece of forest with technical roots and rocks. Pretty flat for quite a ways but it would be a great introduction to South Island forest riding.
Canan Downs loop. I only did the Northern half of the loop. Someone has put a lot of effort into building the track, and maybe I hit it at the wrong time, but to me it really seemed like a lot of effort for little reward. The soil where the track has been benched has eroded away leaving clumps of grass sticking up leading to a real speed sucking surface. In other areas the track has been graveled, but is not really burmed leading to a fast surface that you are unable to corner fast on, and they have put plenty of corners in the tracks!
Some photos of the track features I liked.
Nice rock bridging
No allowance for 710mm bars?
Cool elevated track through boggy section
On the Saturday Charlie, Dugall and I headed into Mt Starveall from the Aniseed Valley. The ride up to the Hackett Hut was well known to me and from there we kept going up the same stream. The track eventually reaches a ridge up on Mt Starveall at about 1300m or so. This took about 5 hours of bike carrying and pushing, mostly in the pouring rain. The track back down is fantastic. Many roots and rocks and good gradient for most of the way down. Many technical challenges as is to be expected with a rough track like this that was never designed for mountain biking… I took a couple of photos at the start of the day and then left my camera in a waterproof bag for the rest of the day. All my brand new Ground Effect kit was looking a bit more worn in and mud covered at the end of the day! I would like to go back one day, and perhaps get a helicopter drop at the top…
Slippery rocks heading up the river
Start of the climb
Sunday was a loop I had done before. We parked at the Maitai Dam and rode up the newly finished track that goes to Coppermine Saddle. There were heaps of people coming down the track, having climbed up the Dun Mountain Walkway to do the loop. People of all ages and abilities including one man who I would estimate at about 60 years old who was coming down the trail on an entry level hardtail with quite skinny slick tyres… Anyway, the new track is a good consistent climb and a great way to connect to Sunshine and then Peaking Ridge via Copppermine and Dun Mountain walkway. Sunshine and Peaking ridge were great fun as always. Super rooty and pumpy up on Sunshine with much more speed and flow on Peaking. They are great pieces of track to put a smile on your face!
Old timers B&W photo (camera settings changed in my bag)
Getting near to Coppermine Saddle
Start of Sunshine Ridge on the way to Peaking Ridge
Mt Oxford Night mission
Someone had the bright idea that doing the descent from Mt Oxford in the dark would be fun. It is about 1200m of descent, much of it on very fun beech forest trails!! 5 intrepid lads were keen and headed out one fine Saturday.
We set off up the hill. Weather at the bottom was very balmy for mid may and I was dripping with sweat on the way up the first part of the hill in shorts and a T-shirt.
Breakfast of Champions - not quite sure what this photo is doing here?
Charlie
Neil
Rik
Mark
As always the first half hour or so is rideable on and off. The lower part of the track was quite boggy, but once into the beech forest it was quite nice and there was plenty of traction. As you climb it gets a whole lot steeper and before long the easiest way up the hill is to put your bike on your back.
carrying through the trees
A little over an hour after starting you usually pop out of the trees and into the scrub. The views over the plains and foothills of Canterbury are superb. Once out of the trees it was not so warm and there was a fair bit of wind gusting. Layers and hats started appearing on the boys!
Just above the tree line
views over the plains and foothills
Off into the sunset
Near the top. Sun still shining in Christchurch, but not where we are!
Pads and extra layers were put on at the top. The wind was howling and it was freezing. We decided that hanging around on the top was a very silly idea and bolted off down the hill towards the forested ridge!
The top. It aint warm!
Heading down.
Battling howling side winds on the ridge
By the time I was halfway down the ridge my hands were frozen (I grabbed the wrong gloves by accident) and braking felt like trying to operate a couple of blocks of ice against my brake levers. Trying to stay upright against the blustery cross wind made it extremely difficult to stay on the narrow piece of track and a number of off-piste excursions were taken! I was extremely glad to get into the forest and the shelter of the trees. This is also where the track starts to get really fun, ducking and diving between trees, over rooty and loamy soil. I was even glad to see the first uphill, as trudging up this with my bike on my shoulder bought a whole lot of warmth back to my body!
One fun (but quite wet this trip) flowing downhill section, and another sharp up, and then we were on our way down through the trees illuminating our own little world of track. If anything the night lights make the trail look smoother, and I was easily able to see everything I needed to be able to ride it well. A little bit of moisture made the surface unpredictable in places, but it was super fun. Every time we stopped there were huge stupid grins on all our faces. We could easily see the lights of Oxford and Christchurch twinkling through the trees and the moon at about 3/4ers was a constant companion above us.
Into the welcome shelter and darkness of the beech forest!
Night carving?
Night gas bagging
Once off the ridge there was a bit of a mud plug to get back to the van. Plenty of slippery mucky goodness, along with a few mishaps including a full body mud splat! Back in the van and quickly home to food and beer. Damn fine way to spend a Saturday evening!!
Craigieburn Dracopyllum Hogsback
Lovely autumn day for a Craigieburn with Phil and Axel. Perfect weather, great company and fantastic trails!! Forest trails were fast and flowy, Hogsback was a bit greasy in places!!
View up Craigieburn Skifield from the Edge track
Beech forest singletrack
Phil screeing the Edge track
Phil Edging
Axel on the Hogsback track, Phil somewhere in the background
Axel on the scree, Edge track
The Big Breezy Oxford Loop
Was a lovely still day in Christchurch when I picked up Mike. The asphalt in his drive was looking more like a pump track than a driveway with the way the liquefaction from the recent earthquake had reshaped the surface, and driving across Christchurch to get to his place felt much more like driving some out back 4wd track with humps and holes all through it than the nice flat roads that we used to have.
Arriving at the start of the ride and it was quite breezy. A quick look at the cloud formations and I was pretty sure it was going to be blowing pretty hard up the top, but that is nothing new for New Zealand mountains!
We set off at midday on a beautiful sunny day. It definitely felt good to be out of town and letting our tensions ease away into the great outdoors. The track climbs up a ridge and soon had the sweat pouring off me. In the shelter of the trees we could hear the wind roaring through the branches above us. About half the way up the hill we popped out of the forest and into the tussocks and scrub and got the full force of the wind! It was hard to stand in places and I kept missing foot holds as I was blown off course.
Just above the treeline
View of the Canterbury plains
Having a bike on your back that acts as a sail definitely did not help!! I had to put a jacket and hat on as the wind chill was cooling me much quicker than the physical exertion was warming me, which is unusual for me as I usually survive most rides in just 1 riding top.
Me
It took a bunch more effort than usual to gain the summit and Mike and I were very glad to be able to shelter behind one of the rock walls that previous wind buffeted people had built on the summit.
Photo of the trig at the top of Oxford from the rock shelter
From the summit we were heading straight into the teeth of the wind down a ridge. Being steep it was easy enough to gain speed, but the strength of the wind made it pretty hard to stay on line and on track. Once you get off line however you soon realise that the riding on and off track is not very different. It is all steep and rocky with random tussocks and drops and is more a matter of picking good line that goes vaguely in the direction you want!
Downhill into the wind
Might be breezy out, but is still a very nice place to be!
Along the open ridge we started to get side on to the wind, which was even worse. Trying to stay on the narrow piece of hardpack track so we could pedal was almost impossible with the gusts of wind first pushing you off the track one way and then easing right off so that you over compensate to the other side. Repeat this process over and over! It was great to get a bit more speed as the track steepened and be able to stay on line better.
View of the track back to the trig at the top
View of the forested ridge we descend
Cross winds
The track soon drops through some scrub and rocky outcrops before dropping into the forest. It was so nice to drop into the trees and be sheltered. The first tree section is also great fun with much switching of direction through tight trees over steep masses of roots. Too quickly we were at the bog which signals the first of the climbs on the way back down. Bike back on shoulder and my legs are starting to complain that they have done enough walking up hills today. Another fun downhill section from the top of the walk which once again heads up steeply. From the top of this climb we were away down the trail for good. Bombing the straights and pumping the corners. Lofting over root masses and drops, and carefully picking lines down the challenging sections.
Descending - I am glad this photo turned out because I got stung by a wasp taking it!
Fun trails
There is a rock bluff about three quarters of the way down the hill which we do not ride. This bluff signals the start of my favorite section of this ride. From here the ridge goes from super steep to a gradient that is just perfect for fun biking and the trail switches from one side of the ridge to the other very quickly leading to a downhill pump track. Pump the corner then unweight and pump into the next corner. Add in tree roots, trees, rocks and nice roll over lumps in the track and you have one seriously fun piece of track! There is one tricky section to give you a bit more of an adrenaline blast before pumping your way off down the track again.
Very suddenly you pop out onto the main Wharfedale track and there is a sense of disappointment that the track was over so quickly… although it has taken almost an hour to get down from the top! Time really flies when you are having fun!!
From here it is part pedal and part fun downhill trails for the best bit of an hour to get out. Still good fun biking, but it pales in comparison to the descent from the top. Back to the van and we are soon at the Oxford pub with a jug of cold and very refreshing beer! Beer always tastes soo much better after a good mission on the bike!
Mt Greyskull
Yesterday I escaped from work a little early to head out for a ride. The evenings have started to get dark earlier, and so this seemed like the last chance to do an out of town evening ride without having to use lights. Riding up the mountain it was cool but still. The views out over the Canterbury plains were fantastic in the evening light.
Along the ridge and into the forest. Having ridden out near here on Saturday with very dry tracks I had thought this track would be dry and have lots of traction, but I had somehow forgotten about the 2 days of rain that came through!! The track was very skaty, and I was wishing I had lugged the super tacky tires up instead of the normal trail tyres. There are a few undulations in the forest to get over to a ridge that heads down into the valley, and the track starts out with some reasonably fast and flowy sections and gets steeper and more technical as you head on down.
Basically the grin factor is good at the start and keeps getting better on the way down. Skating around on the rocks and roots was good fun and we still managed to ride all but one uber steep chute. We eventually popped out into the creek at the bottom. The boys doing their “hard done by old miners pose”
From here the track sidles above the creek for a couple of km. There are some interesting bits to ride and quite a bit of carry/pushing up bits. The track climbs quite high above the creek with a steep drop off the side of the narrow trails, leading to someone naming this bit of track “The Suicidal Sidle”. It was getting pretty dim by the time we scooted off the sidle and the last 10 min of riding through the forest it was getting hard to pick out trail features but we made it through without needing lights which was great!
A very fun evening of bike riding!
To Black Hill Hut and Back
The weather often throws a complete wobbly around the Christmas summer holidays in New Zealand! This year was no exception with torrential downpours around the country. I had been really keen to get up near the Main Divide and ride the Cass – Lagoon loop, but huge westerly storms covering the alps on the days I had free put paid to those plans. Howling Nor-West gales are no fun on the open tops, and so a Black Hill ride was the go as it is pretty much completely in the forest.
Tim - keen as mustard
Tim and Chris were keen and we headed into the Wharfedale track. The Wharfedale used to be a favourite track of mine, but these days it has been relegated to a trail I ride to get other places and never a destination in itself. The track has quite gentle undulating gradients punctuated with copious bog holes, water flowing down the track and stream crossings. This makes for a mostly mucky slog, punctuated by small pieces of fun flowing trail. In a few places there are sharp metal waratahs protruding from the trail surface which can easily rip an entire sidewall out of a tyre. The tracks above the Wharfedale however are worth the trek.
Drop in the Wharfedale
Starting up Fosters Ridge from the junction past the Wharfedale saddle and it gets real steep, real quick. Bikes were on our shoulders and once walking you soon settle into your own pace. There were some trees down on the way up, which made for a welcome excuse to have a rest as did getting cameras out to play. Chris had a new camera and so was busy snapping away with his new toy.
Wharfedale Junction with Fosters Ridge track
After the initial steep climb there were undulations in the ridge which give respite from carrying. A couple of the little downhills were quite fun! As you get further up the gradient of the ridge flattens a little and the track is able to be ridden in places.
Climbing
Climbing
Old mans beard must go!!! ??
Near the top of the hill there is a track junction where the 2 ridges meet. From the junction we decided to go up to Black Hill hut for a look. Another 20 minutes of uphill grunt to pop out at a nice little hut in a nice clearing. I signed the hut book and we sifted around for a little eating food and enjoying being at the top of the hill and knowing there were hundreds of meters of descending on technical beech forest tracks below us.
Black Hill Hut
We were soon heading down the trail. The trip back to the trail junction seemed extremely quick compared to how long it took to walk up, and it was but a taste of what was to come. From the junction we pointed our bikes down the ridge which would take us down to the Wharfedale Hut. The fun really started here! This trail has everything I really enjoy in a track. It goes from fast and flowing to weaving through trees, to tight off camber corners to rock gardens and root tangles. The surface goes from grippy loam to loose stone and back again. Unlike some downhill tracks which seem to be over in a flash this one does seem to last a decent length of time, although the number of fallen trees that we had to scramble over and through might have had something to do with this. Pulling up at the very bottom of the trail we all had big grins on our faces. Definitely a super fun track!!
A refill with water at the river and then we jumped onto the bottom of the Wharfedale track and started riding home. Past the Wharfedale hut and up to the saddle. My legs were starting to feel it as we had been out for over 5 hours by the time we got back to the saddle. I think Chris was feeling worse, not being used to the longer adventure type riding, however a couple more rides like that and I am sure he would be storming along. We had a reasonably quick blat back out the Wharfedale track and arrived back at the carpark. The beers that were in the van, although a little warm still tasted damn fine!!
Refill water
A Bellbird was singing its heart out from the top of this dead tree
A Thirsty Mt Oxford Loop
I love summer time, and while it is only spring so far the ride we did on Saturday certainly felt like summer!! I would have guessed the temperature to be close on 30 degrees wandering up Mt Oxford with the bike on my back. Sweat was dripping off me like someone had somehow managed to attach a badly leaking tap to my head without me noticing.
We had 7 intrepid adventurers up for the loop. Some of them well versed in the ways of Mt Oxford, while others were well versed in hike-a-bike but new to the Oxford loop. At least one keen man had done plenty of biking, but never carried his bike up a big hill. There were plenty of witty comments and a fair bit of banter as we slogged up the face getting strange looks from the many walking parties. Questions from walkers like “How heavy is your bike” and “Are you going to ride your bikes down this?” never get old…
When the walking got too much and a breather was needed, the views out over the plains and sweeping Waimakariri river to Christchurch were wonderful, as were the views along the foothills towards Mt Hutt. Once at the top the views up the Craigieburn Range and further afield were stunning too.
Pointing the bike down the loose rocky trail that picks its way between the tussocks from the Trig at the top of the hill is where the fun starts. We were soon bowling down the hill, sometimes on the track, sometimes off into the rocks and tussocks… all with big grins on our faces. Along the flat parts of the ridge and then dropping down the rocky spines to get to the start of the beech forest. Through a couple of knobby rock gardens that drop over to fast flowing open sections. One final steep rock garden drops us into the proper forest. It is the driest I have even ridden and there is fantastic grip on the masses of beech forest roots and loamy leaf litter. We squeeze our bars through narrow gaps between trees and drop, pump and float through the maze of roots, trees and corners.
There are ups on the way down the hill and the change back to pushing the bike uphill is unwelcome after floating downhill on wheels, but these are soon forgotten as the trail starts to point down the hill again and get even steeper, more rooty and more fun. The boys are all having fun bombing the trails, and I even manage to snap a few quick photos of people riding the trail (I often just ride and forget about taking photos on the way down). Looking at the photos, I must try and get some from the side on the trails, as the front on photos on the steep trails make it look flat! The new camera (Fuji FX80 EXR) seems to handle the large dynamic range of the dappled sun and shade under the trees quite well, but I am still experimenting with which mode to best capture the mountain biking exploits in the forest. The continuous mode can be nice to capture a bunch of shots as someone comes past… but takes a long time to save to card, which means I miss the next person. Maybe I just go back to single shots.
The trail turns into a real brake burner for a section, getting steeper and more technical as you get down it. Getting off the brakes for a few seconds often equals mega speed and only just pulling up in time to make the next corner! We walk down the one rock face that nobody is keen to ride and then we are into the fast flowy section of the trail. It is like it was purpose built for biking with sweeping corners that switch direction every 50 meters or so. You end up really pumping the bike through the corners and flowing down the trail with a huge grin on your face!! As always we pop out the bottom too soon, all wishing there was a helicopter waiting to take us back to the top. It is out the end of the Wharfedale and then down the Coopers Creek track and back to the cars. There is a surprising amount of uphill in the track to get back down to Coopers Creek, and by the time we get back down I ride straight down to the river, dump my gear and jump into the inviting pool in the river. Absolute bliss!! Everyone else follows suit!
We are soon at the pub rehydrating. The first beer hardly touches the sides!! Great day out with a great crew… this is why I love mountain biking!!
Thumbnails link to full size images (big files!)
Cloudy C.U.R.D.
There definitely has not been as much biking as I would like over the last month or so! Too busy at work, a bit of DIY on the house, some weekends taken up doing mountain bike coaching and the weather conspiring against me has lead to a lack of biking. So it was fantastic to get out for a blat up and over Oxford on the weekend with some mates.
The weather had been quite nice leading up to the weekend, but a front passing through managed to drop a fair amount of rain on the Saturday, and while the forecast had been nice for Sunday we woke up to grey cloud blanketing the sky. I was a bit slow to get going, as I was recovering from a friends engagement party the night before, but we were out on the trails by a reasonable mid-morning 10.30. There was the usual bike a bit, hike a bit start to this ride. There is about 30 minutes of 4wd track and intermittently rideable singletrack at the start of the climb, followed by about 2 hours of bike carry to get to the summit. The cloud that was blanketing the mountain seemed to keep climbing higher at the same pace we did. I had great hopes that the clouds would just miraculously disappear to give us the wonderful 360 degreee views we usually get from Oxford, but apart from some sneaky views back down the mountain under the cloud there was not much other than cloud to view.
The climb under the clouds
The Trig at the top was a welcome sight, signifying that the hardest part of the day was over, and that we would soon be on the sweet singletrack down the hill.
The Trig at the top of the mountain appearing through the mist
The group of 8 walkers at the top were a little bemused at the sight of 6 bikers carrying their bikes to the top of the hill, and were interested in how much of the downhill (which they had just walked up) we would actually ride, as they thought that many parts of it would be too difficult. We assured them that it was all rideable apart from 1 or 2 tricky bits, and that it was an immensely fun piece of track. To prove our point we soon set off down the hill with silly grins on our faces. It is not every day you get to ride down 1000 vertical meters of fantastic singletrack!
Downhill singletrack with silly grins on our faces!
Starting out in the open with tussocks and small shrubs, it is great fun blasting down the steep trails
V loving the trail.
Gotta love these trails
We were soon into the forest, and wizzing in between the gnarled old trunks and streamers of moss. I always love biking through old growth native New Zealand forests. All the green growth, textures of bark, moss, lichen and loam and the absolute vitality of the forest. Of course I also love the challenges of squeezing through trees, around sharp corners and floating over the roots, holes, drops and humps that singletrack through forest present.
Charlie pinning it ("carrying the mailbag")
Neil tracking
Swoopy singletrack
As always the main descent was over waaaay too soon, and we soon popped out on the Wharfedale track, before heading back to the car. After a number of km of steep full on descending singletrack it is quite fun to have a few km of fast flowing open singletrack. I was definitely feeling the few climbs on the way out. I think it is probably the lack of decent biking in the last couple of months, but then being a bit hung over from the party the night before probably did not help either! Still, floating over the rooty goodness on the way out put a smile on my face
Floating the roots
The coffee and chocolate mud cake at Seagars Cafe in Oxford definitely helped refuel on the way home too!
As December starts it is supposed to be Summer here, but the temperatures in the low teens over the last couple of days certainly have not felt like Summer! Hah! What global warming!! I definitely have my fingers crossed for some better weather to start happening soon so we can get out and enjoy the mountains some more!!
Wintery Canterbury Foothills Riding
It is definitely winter down here in Canterbury! Dragging myself from a warm bed before it was properly light on a Saturday morning was kind of hard… and it was cold out! There was a crisp white frost covering the ground and I had to get a warm jug of water to melt the ice off the van windscreen before I could leave the drive! However, once on the way with the bikes loaded in the back, the heater pumping and the sun rising into a clear blue sky I was definitely a happy boy!
Bikes out at the bottom of the hill and warm cycling clothes were put on. Going up the access road we were glad that the mud and the puddles were still frozen. It is much faster climbing on frozen mud than muddy mud! We were soon warm from our efforts pedalling up the hill and were getting fantastic views to the north and south of the foothills. There was snow sitting on the access road, which caused some loss of traction amusing moments. After an hour or so of pedalling we were up on top of the world with a trig point. The view from 900m elevation above the Canterbury plains is fantastic! We were still in perfectly blue sky, although we could see some frontal cloud sneaking up out to sea, and the wind had started to pick up. The Southern Alps were looking splendid with plenty of snow covering the peaks. Not long now until all the ski fields will be open!
Ice on the puddles at the start
Snow on the access road
Fantastic views
The single track from the top went off along a ridge, dropping through snow and open tussocks before heading into beech forest with some undulating single track. The track then dropped down a steep spur to the river at the bottom which gives a descent of about 500m of prime beech forest single track. Sorry for the lack of photos of this section, but I was too busy enjoying riding my bike! With the snow and water on the track it was pretty greasy to say the least, but definitely still great fun! There were many technical challenges along the way from off camber rooty traverses to tight switchbacks with loose rocks and steps to rock garden drops with chunky football sized rocks. The conditions had me wanting some big down hill rubber on my wheels as the 2.3 inch Eskars were skating all over the show. However I am unsure that even super sticky DH tyres would have managed to hold onto the fine coating of sodden black moss on the roots and rocks! The track eased us into technical single track by gradually getting steeper and steeper on the way down the hill. This meant we warmed up into our riding as it got progressively more technical on the way down. This made the trail extra fun, as we warmed up easily on the challenges at the top, and kept on riding the progressively harder and harder obstacles on the way down.
Start of the single track
At the trig, getting ready to head down
Easy undulating beech forest single track before the good stuff starts!
After crossing the river at the bottom there was a couple of kilometers of sidling track above the river. Charlie called it the suicidal sidle, as the track is rather narrow and off camber, with a large drop to the river below in places. It also undulated meaning we were pushing up the steep uphill, and then riding the downs hanging onto the narrow track. As we got further along towards the van this track also became wider and easier riding with the occasional set of stairs, roots or switchback to keep us on our game while we flew along the flowing trails.
We popped out of the forest at the Van and the sky was grey. The peak that we had left an hour earlier in brilliant sunshine was now hidden in the clouds. It is such a good feeling knowing that you have used the best part of a day to get out and have some fun and the rain that started falling on the van windscreen as we left the forest made us feel smug! Some people might leave their bikes in the shed over winter, but I know mine will keep getting ridden!
Mountain biking at the Kirwans Reward Track – Easter 2009 Part 2
Waking up on the West Coast to the sounds of native bird song is a lovely way to start the day. Knowing that you can go ride your bike on some fantastic forest single track instead of heading off to work is an even better feeling!!
We met Tim, Angela and Bevan at Capleston, which back in 1877 boasted 7 Hotels and 1000 residents, but these days it is just a gorse lined paddock with a few nosy cows. Kirwans Reward track is named after William Kirwan who discovered loose gold bearing quartz back in 1896. These days the workers are long gone, but there is still gold for us who enjoy mountain biking in the shape of graded and benched pack tracks that the miners left behind!
Mooo
Getting ready
Leaving the cars the track gently climbed on a wide 4wd track for a couple of KM’s before a quick drop through a water tunnel that popped us out to a swing bridge to cross the river. From here there was about 30 minutes of undulating track alongside the river to test our skills, with many slips and slumps, sheer drops into the river and slippery roots to navigate. After going over a couple of foot bridges the climb started for real and with a starting altitude of around 200m and the hut at about 1200m we had a fair bit of altitude to cover along the way!
Swingbridge over the river
Slippery roots!
The track started off gently, but it was not long before we found ourselves clicking down to the lowest gears with our lungs and legs getting a real work out! Like many tracks of this nature with challenging roots, rocks and steps on the way up, it meant that we had to put in effort to gain enough speed and momentum to clear obstacles as we headed upwards. Such efforts (as we know to well) left us all panting for breath and trying to recover on the flatter bits between the roots and rocks. As we went upwards it seemed that there were less sections to recover but even more challenges!
Lush green forest
The team
bridging
As we climbed through the dense rain forest it started thin out and the canopy got lower and lower with an abundance of moss covered trees and track. There were often trees that had fallen across the track too, and while some of these had been cut away and cleared, many of them simply had a step cut into to allow us to climb over. With the girth of some of these trees being 2m or more I was not surprised to see that they had not been moved at all! The forest was really enchanting and alive with native birds and vivid greenery.
Climbing under logs
Flowing mossy trails
Rest stop
After about 3 and a half hours we reached Kirwans Hut and there was a liberal dose of snow coating the top of the hill. This would be a great hut to stay a night in with a commanding view out over the Paparoas and Victoria range. Apparently on a clear day you are able to see Aoraki (Mt Cook) from this hut. We took 20 minutes to eat some food and put on warm clothing for the downhill run, and then pointed our wheels downward!
Kirwans Hut
On the way down, Kirwans Track had some fantastically long flowing sections of trail where we had great visibility to see what was coming up, so we were able to really let go of the brakes and float down the curvaceous single track between the moss covered trees. Lofting the bike over roots and humps in the trail and drifting in the leaf litter put huge smiles on our faces and the downhill just seemed to go on forever!! The flow was only interrupted by having to climb over trees and slips, but such breaks were a welcome breather as we exclaimed to each other how good that last section was!!! After an hour or so of descent there were a final 30 minutes of undulations along the river. After the adrenaline and flow of the downhill this part did seem a bit unnecessary, but we were soon at the car for a very well earned beverage and salty snacks. Seven hours of riding definitely filled the riding quota for that day!!
There is a short video clip of the descent over on Vorb if you would like to have a look http://www.vorb.org.nz/kirwans-reward-t94990.html
Mountain biking at the Croesus Track – Easter 2009 Part 1
Easter has rolled around once again along with the drop in temperature characteristic of a New Zealand Autumn. There was even a good coating of snow on the mountains in the week before Easter, so needless to say the warmer cycling gear was quickly stuffed into the bag as we packed up the van to head for the West Coast. Our destination for Easter Friday was Blackball on the eclectic West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. I was meeting up with Tim and AJ outside the pub “Formerly the Blackball Hilton” (apparently the other Blackball Hilton complained!!).
We rolled up sometime after lunch on a lovely Autumn day, packed plenty of food and with plenty of warm clothing we set off up the trail. The Croesus track is an old mining pack track which winds its way up into the Paparoa range. The hardy miners who used to endure the harsh conditions to try and get rich in the gold mines are long gone, but their fantastic graded and benched trails remain. There are some great relics of the gold mining era to be found along these trails including a large stamping battery which was used to crush the rock to extract gold.
There are a number of swing bridges in the first 30 minutes of travel, which to traverse with a bike takes a bit of a knack. However I would much rather have an awkward swing bridge rather than the cliff drop down to the river!! The trail itself has many technically challenging sections. With all the rain on the West Coast this trail often has a lot of water running down it. This means that the trail is bare rock in most places, which makes it hard for us to keep our momentum as we ride over the knobby and sometimes loose rocks. The constant challenge of getting up and over the difficult sections means we were puffing hard as we push each other to try and ride the entire trail. There was the occasional slip, hole or tree which we have to get off and carry over, but the trail is about 99% rideable if you have good technical skills and good fitness.
Swing bridging
West Coast forest
As we climbed higher the forest changes from the lush rain forest and tall trees through to smaller trees, ending up with Dracophyllum (think like Dr. Seuss) and other shrubs. On exiting the forest the views over to the Southern Alps and down to the Grey River and Lake Brunner opened right out. Not far above the bush line we reached a Trampers hut (Ces Clark Hut) which would be a very welcome sight in a storm!! We stopped for a well earned break and some food in the hut while admiring the wonderful views, and then prepared ourselves for the down hill! After 2 hours of climbing we were all liking the thought of heading back down the trail!
Snow as we climb out of the forest
Ces Clark Hut with a view
The rocks that were a challenge to get over on the way up the hill disappeared under my wheels as my speed and momentum ate them up. We flew down the trail enjoying the challenge of avoiding the holes, jumping over rocks and flowing around the curving corners. The moss and leaf litter combined with the knobby rocks and constant moisture meant my bike moved around a underneath me, but as I relaxed and went with the flow and I found myself enjoying the feeling of drifting/floating down the trail at speed! We all plunged back down through the changing forest to only stop for a quick detour to one of the old mining operations.
Descending the Paparoas
Tim through the trees
We had been riding for about 4 hours as we rolled back to the cars, covered in mud and sweat but with grins from ear to ear. I find that nothing beats a good day spent in the hills on a great piece of track with like minded bikers, and the beer at the pub formerly known as the Blackball Hilton tasted bloody fantastic!
Last of the summer mountain biking
As summer comes to a close I tend to be at the fittest point of my year, and while the days are still long and warm and the weather is settled it is the perfect time to get into the mountains for some epic riding. This is a story of a ride we did at the end of March 2009 to Craigieburn State Forest in the South Island of New Zealand. The plan was to start at the car park (about 800m) ride and carry our way up and over a big saddle (1800m), drop down a scree slope to a track and ride down to about 900m before riding up and over another saddle at 1300m and out to the road at 600m. Probably less than 30km of distance, but the 1400m of climbing, 1500m of descending and the rugged terrain meant that we would be out there for a few hours! We had not planned how we were getting back to the car from where the ride finished (about 14km of road with a couple of nasty hills in it). Luckily as we drove up the road near to the start I saw a couple of my friends parked by the side of the road… and yelled at Charlie to pull over to see if they could shuttle us up! Being the lovely people that they are, they even dropped our van off on their way through to their own adventure for the day.
Often when it is grey and cold on the Canterbury Plains (especially in Christchurch) you can pop up and over Porters Pass and there will be a lovely blue sky waiting in the Craigieburn Valley. However it was still grey and cold at the car park as we got our gear organised. One concern we had was that the cloud cover could hinder our ability to navigate if the cloud was thick at the top. Riding up the ski access road our fears of poor visibility were put to rest as we caught glimpses of sun covered hills sides. Soon we popped out through the clouds and into a very nice bright blue day with no wind at all…..perfect! We soon climbed past the ski field accommodation and onto a rough 4wd track. This soon ended and we were left walking up the steep mountain scree face towards the saddle. After 2 hours of climbing we crested the ridge and it felt quite literally like we were standing on top of the world. There were amazing views in all directions and with a bright blue sky, warm sunshine and hardly a breath of wind, we could not have picked a more perfect day if we had tried!
Cloud in the valley below
4wd track climbing
Earning the altitude
Climbing the scree
We ate some food as we sat and soaked up the Craigieburn views, which included the first descent of the day. Like much of alpine New Zealand the Craigieburn range is covered in scree slopes which are characterised by a layer of relatively coarse, usually loose rock debris and a lack of vegetation. The first 500m descent was straight down a scree slope and we would drop the altitude in less than a kilometre. From the top of the ridge we could only see about 50m along the slope before the curvature hid the rest of the slope from our view. Refueled and eager to get our scree on, we headed off down the hill. I took it reasonably easy for the first 50m or so to get a feel for the bikes wheels as they sunk into the soft stones and surfed around underneath me. As we left the saddle the slope got steeper and the view of the entire slope to the very bottom of the valley expanded rapidly. Looking straight down a 45 ° slope with your wheels sliding around on soft shingle was a real head game. Control of the bike was fine, although it did feel as if there was no way to stop as the scree was sliding down the hill under my wheels. As I into the descent and got off the brakes a bit I started to really enjoy it. As the bike sped up the wheels lifted up and out of the soft scree, yet if the brakes were applied (even a tiny amount) the wheels dived deep into the scree which slowed me down rapidly! During the descent I managed to jump off my bike and get the camera out in time to get some shots of Neil riding down the slope. As my thighs had started to burn from being braced in the “descending” riding position it was a welcome minute of rest! Jumping back on the bike, we were all very quickly at the base of the scree slope with grins a mile wide before we knew it.
on top of the world
Starting down the scree
My favourite shot of the day!
Almost down
We connected with the track in the bottom of the valley and avoiding the large prickly Spaniards (a very sharp native spear grass that easily punctures both tyres and human skin) we were soon sitting on another saddle gazing down into a river valley. This descent was covered in beech forest with a very nice piece of technical single track that wound down through the trees with switchbacks, roots and drops everywhere! The track dropped about 400m over 2km with many technical challenges to keep us on our toes. I love the way the South Island beech forest trails form steps and drops in a way that is perfect for biking…. it’s great fun to ride. We carved our way down this trail, dropping off root shelves, balancing around tight switchbacks and bombing the small straights. At the bottom of the hill we exchanged tall stories of drops, turns and close calls as we fuelled up on more food and prepared our bikes and ourselves to go upwards again.
Watch out for the Spaniards!
Mmmm beech forest single track
An hour or so later we were once again sitting at a saddle enjoying the sunshine and eating more food, and a bunch of trampers came past looking rather quizzically at us. They of course asked where we had been and were rather unbelieving when we pointed at the scree slope and tracks we had just ridden. Non-mountain biking people often have a limited view of what a bike is capable of, and it was a pleasure to expand their horizons! Off down the hill again we went and picked our way through the scrub and Spaniard grass while avoiding the large bare rocks hidden under the cover of tussocks! Keeping plenty of momentum I barreled on down towards the tree line as fast as possible, going slow would have rendered the lumpy trail unrideable! On reaching the trees there was once again an abundance of rooty challenges that kept us alert alongside some big grin factor flowing sections of trail. Soft leaf litter and loam gave us some nice “drifty” corners and the natural ramps from roots and tree stumps had us lofting bikes over holes and rough sections. As always the fun of the downhill single track seemed to be over too soon as we popped out of the trees and into river bed…..grinning from ear to ear. From here we had a couple of kilometres of river bed bashing and arrived back at the van very thankful that we did not have to ride the road to get back to the start! We had been out in the hills for about 7 hours……. and were 3 very happy boys!!
Descending from the pass
Mossy green beech forest trails
Bashing out the river
Mountain Biking Zanes' Blog 
