Craigieburn?

JoeMarshall · *by **JoeMarshall** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:43pm*

Hi there,

I'm over here from the uk, doing stuff at the university, am a mountain unicyclist, so have been riding with unicyclists over here mainly. Anyway, was talking to someone I know who bikes and he mentioned that some of CUMBC were going to Craigieburn at some point this weekend, and I kind of wondered whether if there was space in people's cars or whatever and whether I could come along? (Obviously I'd be cool with joining the club plus paying my share of petrol or whatever costs there are)

I was originally planning to ride there this weekend, and was planning catch coast to coast bus to Craigieburn saturday + bivvi + mentalist road ride back to Chch on the Sunday. But now it's all like snowed up there and bivvi doesn't sound like a good idea, and a super long road ride might just ming in this weather.

I'm totally up for riding some new trails, over the last 2 months I've ridden the Port Hills tracks to death, done the Crater Rim route, plus Karapoti Challenge in Wellington, Queen Charlotte Track , Makara Peak + Makara cliffs plus some other Wellington riding, Hokitika->Chch and Chch->Akaroa road rides etc.

I'm up to the distance and climbing involved no problems Karapoti apparently had something like 3x as much climbing and distance as the Kennet Bros route for Craigieburn.

In terms of speed, if it's just a hardcore super fast xc group of riders with no stopping for talking then maybe I'd be a little slow, but if it's more social then I'd probably be okay. I'm darned fast for a unicyclist*, but still lose out on the downhills. What I've done on previous rides with groups of mtbers is set off on the uphill with the faster riders, which tends to give me enough time to be about the same speed as the slower riders by the end, unless it's incredibly twisty and switchbacky, in which case I tend to have a bit of an advantage over any rubbish bike riders (no back wheel to get in the way).

Joe

*I had an (unofficial) world record for 24 hour off road distance until some darned Kiwi went and added 4 miles (4 miles I tell you!) to the distance like 3 months later.

ditzonwheels · *by **ditzonwheels** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:44pm*

Just come along on Saturday, meet at UCSA (90 Ilam road), and we'll leave from there to Craigieburn

ditzonwheels · *by **ditzonwheels** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:45pm*

BTW, definitely a social ride! Some people go hard, but we always wait for others to catch up every so often

snr_merv · *by **snr_merv** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:46pm*

Crazy, you'd be more than welcome on the CUMBC ride, it's real casual. Details are in an e-mail I've got somewhere, give me a sec...

snr_merv · *by **snr_merv** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:47pm*

Lis is on to it

snr_merv · *by **snr_merv** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:49pm*

The e-mail:

"Craigieburn
This is one of the most spectacular rides we have each year and is not to be missed. We ride up the access road then traverse across the slopes to some beautiful single track through the forest to the bottom. Ride will meet at 9 am on Saturday and leave at 9:30 from the UCSA car park. For this ride you will need to bring along some warm clothes, a jacket, some food and drinks and possibly a towel. Being up in the alps this could be a beautiful day or one where it snows, so be prepared. We will drive out there so bring a car if you can, if not remember some money for petrol money and the best pies you will ever find. "

danose · *by **danose** on Thu 15/Mar/07 1:51pm*

JoeMarshall wrote:I'm totally up for riding some new trails, over the last 2 months I've ridden the Port Hills tracks to death, done the Crater Rim route, plus Karapoti Challenge in Wellington, Queen Charlotte Track , Makara Peak + Makara cliffs plus some other Wellington riding, Hokitika->Chch and Chch->Akaroa road rides etc.

is that your uni which keeps turning up in the secure stands behind the science lecture block? I was wondering what hard bastard owned it - since it keeps changing racing number plates so obviously has been getting lots of mileage...

snr_merv · *by **snr_merv** on Thu 15/Mar/07 2:00pm*

Wait a second, UNIcycle? Awesome. I have no idea how fast you are , but there's usually beginners and stuff that are slow, all the way up to fast nationally ranked racers. I'd imagine you'd have no problem fitting somewhere between the two :thumbsup:

JoeMarshall · *by **JoeMarshall** on Thu 15/Mar/07 2:13pm*

Awesome, can't wait.

danose wrote: is that your uni which keeps turning up in the secure stands behind the science lecture block? I was wondering what hard bastard owned it - since it keeps changing racing number plates so obviously has been getting lots of mileage...

Yeah, thats my muni, I've only done one race in NZ, Karapoti, the other one was from 6 months ago, I just leave the numberplates on to freak people out. Been mainly doing riding + doing some bivvis, couple of little road tours, that kind of thing. Wasn't allowed to ride the Crater Rim Race, I guess the singletrack on the first section down the Flying Nun is pretty narrow and that'd be where a lot of bikes would overtake me, didn't mind that one too much, cos it's such a nice ride on a normal day without paying money for it..

Joe

danose · *by **danose** on Thu 15/Mar/07 2:27pm*

JoeMarshall wrote:Yeah, thats my muni, I've only done one race in NZ, Karapoti, the other one was from 6 months ago, I just leave the numberplates on to freak people out. Been mainly doing riding + doing some bivvis, couple of little road tours, that kind of thing. Wasn't allowed to ride the Crater Rim Race, I guess the singletrack on the first section down the Flying Nun is pretty narrow and that'd be where a lot of bikes would overtake me, didn't mind that one too much, cos it's such a nice ride on a normal day without paying money for it..

we seem to be having an invasion of mad poms - had some chick on a Dawes (so presumably also a pom) touring bike have a good try at dropping me on the way in yesterday :blush: