Last weekend I hit up a new couple new rides on the North Shore of Auckland. The first ride was at Sanders Reserve. I guess the council ended up spending $1.5 million into the development of these trials and to be honest it was a total waste. They never consulted a trail builder so there is absolute no flow to the trail. Im not really going to go on about these trails, since there really isn’t much to be said other than; don’t waste your time here.
My second ride on the North Shore was on the trails at Royal Albany. They are located at the back of the Massey Campus. Unlike Sanders Reserve, these trails deserve a visit. From what I have been told a maintenance guy who works or worked at Massey University is a mountain biker and has been plugging away for 5 years. At the moment there is roughly 14km of trails to be had. It is a one way continuous loop that winds through some native bush. You will find some tight, technical, rooty tracks that are a lot of fun to ride.
It’s always fun trying some new tracks and they cant all be good, but 1 out of 2 aint bad.
Check out this lycra wearing fat bastard rage on this other mountain biker. He ended up getting charged with assault and rightly so. I dont think the other cyclist was innocent either, he was egging him on a bit and on his tail. I think he is a bit of a pussy for letting the old man push him around, plus when the old guy pokes him he says ‘ thats assualt.’ ahah what a tosser… both of them need to chillout.
And about a week later an old man toss around some bmxer’s in Christchurch as well. I guess these little punks were tossing stones and being complete idiots, so he handed them a bit of old school justice! I love when the kids call him on he doesnt back down and just toss them about. Good on ya old dude.
On Saturday I was out a woodhill riding and approached a jump to find a woman in the middle of the trail with two bikes. I locked it up and was able to stop before the end of the lip. I said oi and then turned around to get the speed up again. Hit the line and carried on. Didnt think anything of it really. I wasnt being disrepectful, just wanted her to know i was there and to not walk up the trail… it could have ended with me creaming her. After my ride I headed back to the car park and was putting my bike in the boot when the guy approaches me farily aggressively saying… i dont like how you talked to my family. All i said was oi and he then told me there was a nicer way to say it.. true. I could have said excuse me, so I appologized. He then he appologized for his family walking up the trail.. they should have known better. Really man! Senseless eh!
Helter Skelter at Riverhead. Great build West Coast Riders MTB Club.
It’s Easter and the weather is pretty mint, so I headed out to Riverhead to do some riding early in the morning. This past summer has been really wet, which has been ideal for Wooodhill, but the recent sunny weather has meant I have been able to get out to Riverhead to ride some of the great trails the West Coast Riders MTB Club has built. Big props to them and the variety of tracks they have. There is some really nice single track laced with some great jumps and Helter Skeleter is a massive line with some pretty big hits. I would be lying if i said i hit them all, some of it just plane intimidates me. Since i first got to NZ I have definitely progressed in my riding and hopefully one day soon I will be able to hit this entire line.
While I was over in Waiheke I managed to get out to some of the there local bike trails and I must say they didn’t disappoint! Weather was pretty average, so the trails were sticky getting to the point of muddy by the end of the ride. They are located Onetangi Sports Club and the trails are marked very well so you cant miss them.
I would classify all of the trails at Ranghoua Hill single track/cross-country. There are some enjoyable downs and switch backs, but no big jumps, drops or gaps. It is all pretty flowy stuff.
The first trail I rode was Ragihoua Loop track. This trail will take you to other trailheads or you can ride it as a loop. It is a short climb up and then it winds it way through native bush with a lot of fun turns to keep you on your toes. It isn’t overly long, but fun to loop out over and over. It also links to Zoom-Zoom and Nice & Easy. These tracks start at the top of the hill, which gives you a great view of some wineries and Waiheke.
I then hit up Zoom-Zoom, as I thought the name was promising and it didn’t disappoint. It was pretty much all down and a lot of fun to ride. There isn’t a lot of peddling involved, its pretty much winds you down the hill and has some nice off-camber spots. You can get some good speed going and if you are creative pop off of some of nature’s booters to make it even more enjoyable!
I pushed back up zoom-zoom so I could ride it again! I really didn’t want to ride all the way back around the family loop and up Rangihoua loop to get to the trail head. It took about 15 mins and I then decided I would only ride it a couple more times as I really wasn’t enjoying the pushes… since it was all down the push was all up. Argh! I may have been a bit out of shape since all I was doing the couple days prior was drinking and eating. Heheh.
After hussing Zoom-Zoom a couple of times I hit up Nice & Easy. The name is deceiving. I was thinking it would be a nana track, but I was wrong. This was a great trail too! It is a tight winding track that takes you through thick native bush. With the majority of the trail being covered by bush it was the wettest/muddiest of the trails after all of the rain we had. I really enjoyed this trail as it was just switch back after switch back. This track comes out to the mid point of the Rangihoua Loop, so you can either keep looping it, hit up Zoom-Zoom or jump on to the Rangihoura Loop and head back to the car park. I looped it a couple of times as well.
There were a couple linking tracks too. The Prairies takes you through a field and on too Chicken Run, which links you back to the start of the track. Both of the tracks are just linking trails and not much to go on about here.
Overall it is a fun place to ride your bike. I rode each track a couple times and then headed back to the batch muddy and happy! Kudos to the Waiheke Mountain Bike Club for creating and maintaining such great little trail network. I cant wait to come back and ride again!
The tracks in the morning were closed since it rained last night, which didn’t really bother me. After riding a full day prior a half day up the hill was sounding pretty good. The morning consisted of eating day old Indian for breakie, cleaning and checking my bike and finishing my book. Nice chill way to start the day – let the body rest before thrashing it again!
At 11:30am we headed into Queenstown to grab a lunch at Bob’s Weigh – my favorite café in Queenstown. You will also get a good coffee and feed at Bob’s! All fuelled up off to the skyline to huss some tracks.
We got out first ride in around 12:30 and managed to get 12 runs in throughout the half-day. Same as the other days; we rode everything. I did manage to have a pretty good crash on Rock Garden. Somehow I went over the bars and head first into the ground. I was pretty lucky not to hurt my neck and am now considering getting one of those neck braces for riding DH – probably a smart move. Our plan was too meet up with a mate at 5pm who was willing to show us a bit of the Fern Hill Loop. You can access it from the trails with a bit of pushing the bike. We met at the bottom of the track at 5pm and hit up a couple of runs together. There were 4 of us, which was pretty sweet. On a couple of tracks we all broke off and headed different routes which pretty cool seeing all these guys rolling together and then all of sudden they flick off in different directions – it reminded me of a bike movie. We waited until the last run up the skyline to head up the Fern Hill Loop. This way we would have an extended day of riding, which is always good!
The push up was about half-hour and being that it was the end of the day it felt like an hour. There was even a river crossing in the middle. The track was steep, rooty & rocky – similar to craigieburn. It was all native bush so lots of beach trees, which means a tonne of roots and slippery ness. Walking up it and seeing what I would be riding back down left a happy/nervous feeling in my gut – it will be fun but there is potential for a good crash ehehe. The thing with roots is they can spit your bike out from underneath you very easily. To ride them you want lots of speed and to be light on the bike so you sort of just skip a long the top of them. Fun eh! After the exhausting push up we had a bit of a breather taking in the amazing view and then it was time to ride. Helmet on, goggles in place, drop in and start hussing. All the apprehension that I felt walking up was instantly gone. My bike was just skipping a long the tops of the roots and the suspension was getting a full work out as I tried to keep up with my mates. A couple of times the back of my bike went sideways, but I always managed to stay on it and keep rolling. Exhilarating! What an amazing trail. I think it is better then some in the park. Definitely worth the push up.
Once back at the car it was time for a beer and then we headed off to Fergburger for a feed. This time I got the Cod Burger… good as! Definitely give it a go! After the feed it was back home for a couple more beers and then bed. Another exhausting, but epic day!
Before I even arrived in Queenstown I was a little apprehensive when it came to camping. When I flew into Queenstown there was a cold front coming through and it was snowing/raining, but thankfully that first cold night I was in a hostel. Last night though was my first night camping and luckily I managed to stay nice and warm in my tent. I had the thermals and was rocking a toque as well, which kept me nice and cozy all night long.
I first awoke at daybreak to the chirping of birds – as you do when you are camping! I grabbed my ipod and tossed on some tunes allowing me a couple more hours of sleep before getting up for good! I crawled out of my tent at 9 am ready to go. We cleaned up the bikes, loaded the car and went into Queenstown for breakie. After a quick bite to eat we hit up the skyline at 10:30 am to start a great day of riding.
The weather was a bit overcast and there was a chance of showers, but the rain seemed to hold off for the most part and when it did rain it just made the tracks sticky! There wasn’t a track we didn’t ride! I ended up hitting some tracks that I didn’t really mean to hit. I thought they were a bit above my ability but I pulled through. Basically I was just following my mate and then all of a sudden it was drop after drop after drop through narrow trees… there nothing I could do but ride it out. There was no where else to go but down so I just rolled with it. When I came to the end of that track there was definitely a smile on my face – I survived ahah! After that it was game on for all the tracks; Vertigo, Hammy’s, Shit Sandwich, Thingymajig, Armageddon, Rock Garden, Drop Garden, Ants, Grundy.. it was steep and gnarly. Fawk yah!
We had a lunch break at 1pm and then back up the skyline. We rode until the days end and managed to get in 20 runs and we weren’t even going that hard. It was a casual 20! Everyone we spoke with thought we were completely mad for doing so many runs in one day. I would say on average people will ride 8 runs… smoked them all. When you are visiting from out of town you def want to make the most of your time.
At the end of the day we definitely deserved a beer! We headed into town to grab some Indian for dinner and then out to the house to drink some beers and play some ping-pong. My body was feeling pretty good; the only thing that was sore was my hands. It was an early night to bed as I was rinsed. The rained and wind picked up throughout the night, but it didn’t matter I managed to keep warm and sleep through the lot! Another epic day of riding! My riding has improved ten-fold… man I love this place!
I took some time off this week to head down to Queenstown and do some downhill mountain biking on the skyline. As usual it was an early flight, I like to make the most of my time off so I usually fly really freak’n early to maximise my time riding. Well this time it didn’t quite pan out! I flew into some real shit weather. We are talking about a southerly that has just covered the entire country – cold, wet and windy. Not ideal for riding. When it rains hard and the ground is muddy and soft it is best to stay off the tracks since you just end up destroying! So my day was a wash. The skyline wasn’t taking bikers up, so what was I supposed to do with my time?
Yes Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world and there is heaps to do, but when you don’t want to do a bungy, jump in a speed boat or get drunk there isn’t a lot going on especially on shit weather days. So what do I do? I go the library and read. I spent 3 hours at the library and then another two at a café reading and chilling. It’s like when people go to tropical spots to rest on the beach and read… Well I didn’t have the nice weather, but I read.
By mid avro I checked into my hostel and continued reading. I’ve pretty much polished off my book, which is – ‘two seats left’ the story of contiki travel. Good read! I also hit up the local book shop to read and cruise through some magazines. Also I sent a couple post cards… I didn’t bring my lap top so jumping online isn’t readily available. Now I am just praying for blue skies, sun and dry trails!
I guess my question to you is – what do you do when you are travelling and the weather has gone to hell? Also got any good books you can recommend?
This weekend I was out ripping around at Woodhill Bike Park have a pretty goodtime. Usually when I see someone on the trail Ill bust my ass to catch up and pass them, just a bit competitive I guess and it keeps ya pushing yourself.
Well this weekend some dude passed me and I thought, not today buddy. So I get off the saddle and catch him staying on his back wheel. He’s fast and a good rider. We have a bit a chat as I follow, just the usual; where ya from, what are you doing in NZ, have you been to Canada ect. He is a pretty chill dude, but a hell of rider. So I ride out to the trailhead on his tail and he just breaks into another track, no break/water just riding. So I follow suit and ask him if he minds me riding with him. He’s keen and we are off.
As we ride he tells me that he is an ex-pro tri athlete and that he is training for a couple races. That explains the speed and super fitness – this isn’t a ride in the forest it’s a race against time. Buddy would sprint for 4 minutes and then ride for 4 minutes and then back to sprinting – yikes! I ride with him for an hour and we hit a tonne of tracks. We end up at the back of the park and I am done. I need a water break and I know buddy is not stopping, so we part ways.
It was a great ride and really pushed me. I hope to catch up to this guy on the trails again so I can try and keep-up. That is what it is all about, meeting someone who is better and just trying to hang. It only makes you better I guess, though it did make me feel like I was going to puke ehehe.
Pretty crazy video of a mountain biker in South Africa being taken out by a Springbok.
I remember when I was out at Woodhill Bike Park about a year ago, riding a trail and I heard this noise in the bush that sounded like something was coming my way. Two seconds later a deer sprints through the track right in front of me, bounds over a fence and is gone. Thank fu*k I didnt get smoked like that guy!
