I had thought of heading out of town, but by the time I looked seriously at it all cheap travel to the SI had all been mopped up, and the idea of joining the motoring mayhem on the North Island roads was not appealing.
So Wellington it was. At least accommodation was the right price and there is plenty of good riding to be had.
Good Friday was a stunning day: cloudless and not a breath of wind. Much to my shame I mostly frittered the day away but I did hit Makara Peak in the last afternoon, thinking that I would top up the possum bait stations I look after on Leaping Lizzard.
I whizzed along the lower trails and stopped by the pylon at the far end of Missing Link for a handful of nuts and a chat with a couple of other people resting in the sun. Right, might do the bottom of Aratihi and peel off into Upper Leaping Lizzard (a track I seldom ride). But my mind wandered off to it’s happy place and I came too nearing the top switchback and the summit. Oh well, the possums would have to wait for another day.
I carried on and cleaned the rocky climbs across the top of Ridgeline – that doesn’t always happen for me. Took a couple of photos.
And w()()ted my way back to the car.
Saturday – another clear day although a bit more windy. I started by nipping across to the new Carparts Extension – what a lovely track that sidles below the road from the Wind Turbine to rejoin the road at the saddle of the Long Gully intersection.
And then back to Makara Peak and did the feed the possums thing. Nice thing about having bait stations on Leap Lizzard is that it gives me an excuse to ride Nikau. I like it for it's raw nature, although it has had loving lately so riding a bit quicker than normal.
Then on to the summit...
... and went down the top part of Zac's, T3, and Vertigo. Nice and grippy - probably one of my best runs down Vertigo ever.
Sunday. Wainui Trail Project to help dig on the new Snail Trail. the weather was a repeat of Friday's stunner.
Snail Trail is a lovely new trail will be an easier downhill. But still with it’s interesting features that will give developing riders small challenges that they may not ride the first time down but will be able to measure the progress as they master each challenge while at the same time keeping experienced riders travelling more quickly on their toes.
And after the good company and karma points of digging I did a couple of laps of the park. B-Line has changed in nature since last I rode it. More open without the roots and such. But a few jumps and drops for people who ride different to me. 491 is still
lyMonday was time to hit the jungle.
We met up in bottom of the Akararawa’s and climbed up a 4wd track to join the Karapoti Classic course at the top of Deadwood. Then followed the course around to had a quick blat down the Rock Garden.
Actually the other five went to the bottom. I was feeling a bit shagged on my 4th day of riding, and had a knee that we giving me jip. But I did do a couple of runs down the top section with the drops.
First time in there with the Blur. Works good
Then once we had regrouped at the top of the Rock Garden we retraced our tracks for a kilometre or two then dived into the bush to pick up the hidden treasure that is DeadStag. Some lovely natural rooty single track, few swampy bits with decaying punga rafts, a steeper washed out decent where you a constantly trying to judge where now is the time to be hanging up the sides to avoid wheel swallowing mud or dropping into the steam bed where the going is firmer. Then we stopped at an old campsite for foodz.
Before more singletrack before dropping on to an old bush railway. This was put in to to get the logs out when the original ancient forests were felled. In the decades since the native bush has returned – some of the old monsters remain – a coupe have fallen across the track, the old sleepers have long since rotted. But in many places the railway irons remain and occasionally vault unsupported across a void where there has been a washout that you need to scramble down or possibly an old trestle that has rotted.
The huge amount of work putting in a benched contour track suitable for a railway now make a perfect mountainbike track all these years later through fantastic regenerating native bush.
After ummm 10 or 12 kilometres we were spat out of the native bush into a pine forest and a final 4x style decent down a step access road to the valley floor and a couple kilometres of road back to the cars.
Awesome day out. A great way to finish four days of riding on Wellitrack that I like. Managing to discover something I haven’t ridden before, and help dig some new trail made it all the better.
