Posts tagged mountain bike dunedin
October 25, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpack new zealand, bike blog, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, downhill mountain biking, mountain bike dunedin, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, new zealand mountain biking, nz mountain biking, queenstown, queenstown new zealand, skline new zealand, skyline queentown mountain biking, travel blog, travelling, what to do in queenstown
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!
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March 21, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged AUCKLAND, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, queenstown, queenstown mountain biking, queenstown mtb, skyline mountain biking in queenstown new zealand, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, work abroad, working abroad, working overseas
After a night of heavy rain I knew that it would be mid afternoon before we got on to the trails at the skyline. Up at 9 am there was plenty of time to make breakie and have a couple coffees. On the way to Queenstown my mate tire blew so we went to a local shop to get that fixed. We had a couple hours to kill as the afternoon riding starts at 3pm. See for the lift passes you can buy a morning, afternoon or all day pass. The morning was a washout since it rained so hard lastnight. From what we heard the only track that was open was Hammy’s and we wanted the black runs, so we decided to wait until later to go ride.
By 3pm the sun was out and there was a cool breaze drying the wet tracks. As we went up the gonola Mark kept telling me how much I was going to love these tracks. Steep, rooty, muddy, jumps, drops, northshore they had it all!
First track down we hit up Hammy’s. It’s a green track, so it is fairly easy and wide open. This is the trail that all the beginners and bike rental folk ride and it is heaps of fun. It’s flowy, with huge bermed corners, some wide open spots, cool north shore sections and a couple table tops for jumps. This is a great track to just let it all hang out!
Now that we were warmed up it was time to hit something a little more challenging. On too Vertigo which is a blue rated track that was steep, fast, had some drops and more challenging bits. Great track!!
After that we hit up Ants track which was pretty much all mud! It is rated a black track and it was a little more technical sketchy in spots. There were lots of roots and mud to deal with, plus the steepness of it made it extremely fun to ride.
Then there was Rock Garden, which had some good drops plus of course a rock garden section to cruise through. Another great trail that is rated black.
We would usually tie a bunch of different trails together as we bombed down. Start on Hammy’s, hit up Vertigo, on to Rock Garden and then back on to Vertigo. There were so many ways to tie the trails together that no run was the same. We would just ride one section of one track and then tack it together with another. So much fun!
Im pretty sure we rode another couple tracks but I cant remember which ones. I was just concentrating on staying on the bike and trying to keep up with Mark! After 8 runs my forearms were burning and my hands were cramping. This was definitely some of the best downhill Ive ridden in New Zealand. Some of the tracks had some serious breaking bumps making the arm pump massive. It was like doing 200 pushups while riding down the hills.. intense!
After riding we headed down town to grab a bite to eat. We settled on Indian and then headed off to a mates place for a catch up. By 10pm I was beat and we were back home. I pushed off to bed as the plan was for a full day of downhilling the next day. I wasn’t sure how my body was going to handle that, has a half-day owned me. Day one on the gondola was epic!
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January 15, 2011 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND · Tagged backpack new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, live and work in new zealand, blog new zealand, new zealand blog, canadian working in new zealand, bike new zealand, nz blog, travel blog, work in new zealand, canadians working overseas, backpakcing, outdoor adventure, mountain bike new zealand, i heart mountain biking, canadians working abroad, adventure, travelling new zealand, travel new zealand, backpacking, travelling, backpacking new zealand, mountain bike dunedin, new zealand mountain biking, mountain bike, nz mountain biking, nelson, nelson nz, mountain biking in nelson new zealand, new zealand nelson, new years eve new zealand
Tahuna filled up on New Years Eve!
Now I havent been on my bike in a week and a half since it was christmas, so i was keen to get out for a ride. Nelson has some amazing tracks and I had already researched 8 or so that I wanted to ride. Day 5 was my day to get out on my bike and enjoy. I had been looking forward to this since we decided to come to Nelson for the holidays.
I woke up early to the birds – this happened everyday so far – argh! The sun comes up, the birds start chriping and I get out of bed to make coffee. It wasnt a struggle to get out of bed today since i was excited to get out and ride. After a small breakfast I loaded my bike into the car and I was off. The tracks were only about 15 mins away. As I approached the park I was stopped by security to ask if I had a permit to ride. I told him I just got to town and didnt know i needed a permit. He let me pass but told me to stick to the dirt roads and not to ride the tracks since I didnt have the park pass. Yah right. I agreeed to it knowing all well that as soon as I came to the track enterance I would be in the bush riding.
After reviewing the trail map board and knowing the tracks I wanted to hit I headed up! As I started to ride up the hill I noticed the bike wasnt running right. There was a knock in each peddle stroke.. i couldnt peg what was wrong but my initial thought was that I snapped my lower linkage.. FUCK! This isnt something you can fix on the trail. Acutally it is a design flaw with my make of bike. Ive been reading about other riders with the same model as mind the Giant Reign X series who have snapped there lower linkages under peddling duress. When i orginally heard about the problem I went to speak with some Giant retailers who said that if it did break it would be warrantied. Great, but if i am in the middle of the wop-wops riding and I break it my ride is fucked. Not good. I wasnt 100% sure that was it, but since I was now at the top of the hill decided to ride the downhill track down. Wholy fuck – steep and rocky as hell and toss in some sharp turns and you have yourself one amazing downhill track. It was great fun to ride!
I come out of that track pumped full of adreniline and then head to ride some single track. I rode Supplejack, which is a technical single track with rocks, roots and switchbacks and runs down throuugh a rocky creek bed.
After tha track I hit up Matai which runs down through native forest and like Supplejack is filled with rocks and roots.
I also rode Sharlands Creek Track which has several creek crosings and a couple carries as well. It was a fun track.. farily easy.
The final track of the day was R and R Rush. This trail had a couple different sections. You start off on some single track. It does get a little trickers as the track narrows and gets a little more rocky, and also has a pretty good drop on one side of the track!
The tracks were great, but to be honest I didn’t enjoy the ride as much as I would have liked since the bike was working to well. It was a pain to peddle, so by the last track I was ready to quit. I would be keen to come back to the Hira Forest to ride again. They have heaps of trails to play on!
The day before I popped into a bike shop – RIDE – to talk with the mechanics about trails and places to ride so I headed back tothe shop with my broken bike. I walked in and told the mechanic what i thought it was and it said ‘naw man it is just the i bolt here on the shock -$20 fix and I can have it back to you in a couple hours.’ SWEET!
I left the bike in his hands and went back to the park to grab michelle so we could get some groceries and chill out in town. We hit up a couple shops, Michelle picked up a nice hoodie, we were able to skype my brother from a Star Bucks and then I headed back to the bike shop to pick up my bike.
Well, I was right. The mechanic told me I had snapped the lower linkage on the drive train side and that there was really nothing I could do. He is not a a Giant retailer so he wouldnt have the parts and plus since it will be under warrenty I will have to hit a giant dealer. My riding for this trip was over. FUCK! I really didnt even scratch the surface of what I wanted to ride, but what are you going to do?
In the avro we had some in wine and cheese. This is gormet camping!
After returning back to Tahuna the park had filled up even more. I guess lots of people planned to do some camping over new years as most of the sites were now gone. In the avro we hit up the beach and then chilled at our site. It was New Years Eve so Michelle and I had some sausages and sald plus heaps of beers and ciders to consume. We cracked the case of cider and i mourned for my bike ahaha. It wasnt long before we struck up a conversation with our camp neighboors – Tony and Lynn from Invergargal. We brought 2011 in together having a wee yarn and some good laughs.
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December 15, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged air new zealand, bike blog, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, i heart mountain biking, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, nz mountain biking, recreation blog, sports blog, travel blog, travel with a bike in new zealand, travelling new zealand, west coast mountain bike trails, west coast mountain biking, west coast nz mountain biking
Today there would be no riding, which I was ok with since I was exhausted from the 6 days of straight riding. I had to be at the airport around 2ish and Mark had to take care of his radiator problems. After breakfast Napalm showed off his collection of bikes – he had a variety of hard tails and a couple downhill rigs. Napalm will ride a down hill rig everywhere. Cross-country, single track, downhill, to work or the shop – anywhere. Downhill rigs are usually about 40lbs and now known for being easy to peddle – they are built to huss down a track fast and take a lot of punishment. I think you have to be a bit mental to ride around a bike like that – of course he was a bit of a nutter and he proved that when he took the corner at Craigieburn way too fast and went flying off the track. He is working a new build and told me how he scored a 2010 Giant Faith frame for $100. It was dented along the down tube in the earthquake so they couldn’t sell, so he picked it up cheap. That frame is usually worth a grand or so. The dent really wasn’t that bad either. It wouldn’t really compromise the ride or the strength of the frame.
I then had my first shower in 7-days. I thought my fellow passengers on the air new Zealand would appreciate it. Once all cleaned up I packed my bags and had Mark drop me at the airport. I was there way too early before my flight, so I was unable to check my luggage. For the first hour I broke down my bike and then I just people watched until I was able to check my bag and bike. Once everything was checked in I headed to the bar for a couple pints and a burger. The trip was over! Overall it was an amazing week of riding. We managed to do 2 rides a day – which was pretty tiring, but well worth it.
My favorite place to ride was Craigieburn and Kirwans. The day of shuttling the walking path was pretty crazy too. One thing is forsure, this trip has allowed me to see a totally different way of life and ride some of the best tracks a long the west coast of New Zealand.
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October 27, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged activities in new zealand, adventure, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, bike nz, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, dunedin, dunedin new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mount cargill walking track, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, mountain bike otago, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, new zealand mountain biking, nz blog, outdoor adventure, recreation blog, sports blog, things to do in new zealand, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, www.swap.ca
Mt. Cargill track. This is a small taste of the rock and steepness of the track. Mid track it gets way more gnarly!
I woke up in the middle of the night and it was raining. Not the sound you want to hear when you are on a bike trip! It was 8am when I woke up again and the rain had stopped. It was a little overcast and quite windy.
I got up and had some yoghurt and muesli, cleaned up the camper and then did the dishes. Mark had to pop into Dunedin for a bit so I cleaned my bike and just chilled out. When Mark got back you could see spots of blue skies and it looked like the day may be turning into something good! We decided we would go up one side of Mt Cargill and ride down the other to Bethunes where we would do a couple laps and then go back up mountain and ride down the other side back to the car. We had a big feed for brunch – roasted chicken and vegetables and then packed up the car and headed to the base of Mt Cargill.
View from the top of Mt Cargill.
Mt Cargill is a steep, rocky walking track. Mark has ridden it before and raved about it so it sounded like it would be a good ride. We had to push our bikes up as it was too steep for us to ride. The rock gardens were pretty intense and I kept thinking, ‘he wants to ride this on our bikes back down?’ After about 45 min hike we reached the top and it was snowing. I was loving it! We rode down the other side. It wasn’t as steep as what we just hiked but still pretty damn rocky. It was a great ride and fast. We were probably at the bottom in about 10 mins.
We then toured around Bethunes, which is mostly single track. Definitely recommend riding there if you plan on riding in Dunedin. It has some amazing tracks that you can link together. There is one section in a red wood forest where it is just turn switch back after switch back between the trees – very cool! We did two loops of the track and then it clouded over and started to rain. Looking up at Mt Cargill I could only think of how gnarly it was going to be coming down that track in the rain – little nervous! You couldn’t actually see the peak of Mt Cargill. FUCK! We then decided we may as well do another loop as the weather couldn’t get much worse. Luckily enough during that loop the skies cleared and the sun was shinning again. The weather was so nice we rode Bethunes one more time before the push up Mt Cargill again.
At the base of Mt Cargill I was knackered. We had been riding for 5 hours and the most difficult part of the ride was upon us. I think I may have been a little dehydrated, as I felt light headed on the push up. We took a break at the top. I ate some chocolate, drank some water and then it was go time. My plan was to stay on Marks tail and follow his lines as he new the track. We kicked off and were flying. I am not sure if it was because I was tired but I was laying off the breaks and ripping… dangerously so! I loved it and was hitting everything. With only 3 switchbacks until the end of the track I clipped a tree and was sent sailing! I landed on my right knee, the same knee that I partially tore my mcl earlier in the year. My initial thoughts were ‘fuck I just injured myself again.’ I got up and dusted myself off, bent my knee.. it felt ok. Phew I didn’t fuck myself too badly.. it just a scrap. I jumped back on the bike and finished the track. That was probably the best run of the trip. It was crazy steep, fast and super rocky and I was nailing it… well until that tree made me its bitch. At the bottom of the track I was pissed that I crashed.. I was doing so good ahaha. We packed up our bikes and headed to the grocery store for some beer and food.
Damn tree came out of no where and clipped me!
Once back at Marks we had a good feed, drank a couple beers and it was time for bed. It the best ride of the trip. Bethunes is so much fun to ride and Mt Cargill pushed my limits on the bike.
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October 25, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, bike dunedin, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians working abroad, dunedin, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, mountain biking, mountain biking nz, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, otago biking, outdoor adventure, recreation blog, sports blog, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, www.swap.ca
My neighboor.
“Get up ya lazy Aucklander” Mark shouted and then slammed the camper door shut at 8am.. I think I jumped out of bed ahaha. The night prior I met my neighbour.. a miniature horse that startled me when I woke up in the middle of the night for a piss ahahah. I didn’t expect to see a horse looking at me while taking a piss. Funny as! We had a big breakfast – steak and eggs and then headed into Dunedin to meet up with the other group to start the day’s ride. It was going to be a long day with heaps of riding; up Nichols track, then around Whare Flat , Snakes and Ladders, The Third Place, The Green Mile, Swampy Summit then return back down Nichols track. The trails were mostly single track and had lots of obstacles. Some grade 5 and not all had nana lines so you had to treat it with respect. There were big rock drops, seesaws, log rides and of course ladders. There was some pushing, as it got pretty steep in some sections. At one point there track was one big rut – pretty much a derailleur eater! These kind of tracks are fun to ride but can be pretty sketchy. You really have to just follow the rut, as it was impossible to get out of. It was really tight in some spots so you didn’t have anywhere to bail.. so just let it all hang out!
The top of Nichols Track
Nichols Track was the best trail of the day. Snakes and Ladders was a huge let down in my books. Took ages and heaps of work to get there and wasn’t worth it! It was pretty much a bunch of wooden structures to play around on.. I prefer it when the structures are integrated into the trail rather than a place to play.. but that is just me.
The group we were riding with really didn’t ride much of the technical stuff. When the going got tough… they got off their bike. It was a full day ride – 7 hours. Mark had 5 flats.. poor bugger. I ended up giving him my extra tube and then 10 minutes later I got a flat.. go figure. After the day we ended back at the campground where the group was staying. Had 2 beers (Emmersons – local Dunedin beer that has won awards around the world) and then Mark, Hubby and myself hit up the Red Wood Track which was small loop, about 15 minutes so we did it three times. Fun track that just got faster and faster each time. After a couple beers you ride pretty loose!
Mark, Hubby and Myself went back to Marks place had a feed and then started to watch the mountain bike film Follow Me. I lasted about 1/2hour and then I started to doze off so I put myself to bed. Great day of riding!
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October 24, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, bike blog, bike dunedin, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working overseas, dunedin, dunedin new zealand, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, mtb dunedin, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling new zealand, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, working overseas, www.swap.ca
My flight for Dunedin was at 6:30 am, so I was up at 4am to have breakfast and make sure thatI had enough time to get to the airport and check my bike and bag. It was all going pretty smoothly until I arrived at the check out counter where the Air New Zealand employee told me that I had to have a box to transport my bike. Earlier in the week I checked with Air New Zealand and was told that as long as it is a domestic flight you do not have to have your bike in a box as Air New Zealand would have bags you could use – just removed your peddles and turn your handle bars. It actually does state this on their website. I told the Air New Zealand employee this but she was sure that wasn’t possible. She then said that there was a green bag I could use and told me to go ask another employee about it. I shuffled along to another counter where I was informed that the green bags were for baby seats and not bikes…argh! I asked for another bag and he ran in the back and came out with 2 clear Air New Zealand bags. Perfect! I broke down the bike, taped the bag shut and said a prayer that my bike would make it to my destination!
Watch the bike bro!
When I was boarding the flight I saw them loading my bike.. the great thing about not using a bike box it that the bike gets put in last rather than first and this means other bags are not piled on top of it! I would think that the employees would rather handle the bike this way, as it is easier to pick up as you can just grab the frame. My seat on the flight was in-between to rather large ladies who needed seat belt extensions to do their seat belts up. So no arm rests for Mike. Lovely. Unfortunately I have no photos of this, though it would have been quite funny to see this tiny little guy between to big ladies. You will have to use your imagination!
My flight took me from Auckland to Christchurch to Dunedin. I arrived in Dunedin at 10:30 am to blue skies! Sweet. I picked up my bag, built up my bike and picked up my rental from Rent-A-Dent. I had a 2010 Suzuki Sidekick. The seats folded down so it made sliding the bike in rather easy – I only had to take off one wheel.
Home for the next 4 days
I headed off into Dunedin to grab some food and beer – the essentials. After that I was off to Waitati to my mates house. I gave him a call once in Waitati as I wasn’t quite sure where the turn off was and I was greeted with, “Mikey, you fuck’n Aucklander!” (If you don’t know, the rest of NZ really doesn’t like Auckland and that feeling runs deep in the south island. It is the same as how the rest of Canada hates Toronto.) 10 minutes later I was at Marks place unloading my gear. My accommodation for the next 4 nights would be a 1968 camper – sweet! I sorted my stuff and we then loaded our bikes on to his car and headed off to ride. I rode this track before and it is pretty crazy, so I knew what to expect; steep, technical downhill. Before hitting his tracks we stopped by some new tracks he had been working on to pick up some tools and a wheel barrel. This trail has been around ages. It was flowing single track with lots of jumps and even a creek jump. It was pretty dilapidated, but Mark has been breathing new life into it. It was amazing to see these trails as no one rides them and even most locals don’t know about them – fuck ya! After walking the track and talking about a few new lines we headed for the Marks other trail.
The cozy camper.
The other track were just as I remember, steep and fast with lots of roots and rocks, tight corners, drops and a few new jumps. He had built a track up to ride, but a rogue cow had tramped through a week or two ago ruining all his hard work, which meant we were once again pushing our bikes up. We rode it twice and then had a beer break. After that it was time for some work so we cut down a branch that was a headhunter after a jump. Once that was taken care of we rode the track a couple more times and it was then time for a feed.
Chilling at the bottom of Marks Track. I made it down alive!
Once back home we had big feed and then headed in to Dunedin to meet up with some of the group we would ride with the next day. We had a couple of beers, discussed the next days plan and then headed home. I was beat from being up so earlier and falling asleep was no problem.
Overall a pretty sweet day! I got in 5 hours of riding on some secret NZ tracks. I didn’t manage to stay on the bike the entire time – couple spills but I have come to expect that when riding with Mark. Riding this track compared to Rotorua is completely different. These tracks are like goat tracks, steep, narrow, and way less manicured. It definitely pushes your riding ability. Riding with Mark is always good – he’s fast as, so you got to lay off the breaks to keep up. Great start to an epic trip.
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October 14, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpack new zealand, backpacking new zealand, bike blog, bike dunedin, bike new zealand, bike otago, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, dunedin, dunedin new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, mountain bike otago, mountain biking in new zealanad, mtb dunedin, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, nz mountain biking, otago, outdoor adventure, recereation, signal hill dunedin, sports, travel blog, travelling, travelling new zealand
I think I have pretty much everything sorted for my bike trip down to Dunedin!
- Flight – Auckland – Christchurch – Dunedin
- Car rental – got a car through Rent-A-Dent… cheap!
- Bike is primed and ready to go
- Tent (though I just found out I do not need it as Mark has arranged a camper van for my stay at his place – sweet as!)
- Riding Gear
- Head lamp – night ride!
- Food for riding – got some one-square meals, nuts and dried fruit, chocolate, engery power drink
- Camera – I am going to make an effort to stop and take some photos!
I can’t really think of anything else. Ill be hitting up a grocery store when I get to Dunedin for some bbq supplies and beers. Anything else I guess I will just pick up when I am down there.
The weather isn’t looking too bad. Looks like it will be mostly sunny with highs of +20 and lows of about +9. They are forecasting one day of rain, but with the way weather changes I am not really reading too much into any of it!
I will not blogging for a week or so, since I am not taking my computer to down to Dunedin.
Fingers crossed my fitness will be ok and I will be able keep up with these nutters!
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September 30, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, bike, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, christchurch, dunedin mountain biking, hanmer springs, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike dunedin, mountain biking, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, new zealand mountain biking, nz, nz blog, outdoor adventure, ride new zealand, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling new zealand, wellington, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad, working overseas, www.swap.ca
After doing back to back winters my prayers are being answered! Warmer than usual temperatures are being predicted across the whole of New Zealand in late spring. This is great news and hopefully (fingers-crossed) it will come true. There has been a lot of rain in my life the last couple months and I’m done with it. I had tomorrow off to head down to Rotorua to do some riding, but a big storm is moving through and luckily I’ve been able to postpone it until next Friday! I’m pretty stoked to get back to back days in riding! I was actually thinking I may do one day in Rotorua and then one day in Taupo, since I’ve never ridden there.
This good weather will hopefully arrive for my 5-day mountain bike ride down south in Dunedin. I am camping the entire time so I’m hoping that it won’t be raining! My buddy Mark is letting me camp at his place.. cheap accommodation! It should be pretty epic and I am hoping my fitness will be ok. It will be 4 days in a row of 6-8 hour rides I think. It will be a variety of tracks as well. There should be a couple day of single track with huge climbs and a couple days of downhilling.. yeeha!
After my time in Dunedin I am heading home and the next morning I am off to Wellington and Christchurch for 2 days of work. It is going to be a whirlwind! I am going to be beat to hell for those two days in Wellington and Christchurch. I rode with Mark for 2 days straight about 4months ago and my body hated me, so 5 days should really put me through the ringer! After my 2 day work trip Michelle is flying into meet in Christchurch. The next morning we are getting a car and heading down to Hanmer Springs to hike the Mt Isobel track – 6 hour track return. After the hike we will hit up the hot springs and mineral pools! That night we will be staying at a lodge where we will be getting massages and being pampered! Not bad eh! The following we will head back to Christchurch for flight home.
October is going to fly. Im pretty busy with work and a few riding trips too. Now that the nice weather is arriving ill definitely be putting some km’s on Priscilla! Im sure there will be a couple more trips to Rotorua to ride and Ive heard Napier has a sick mountain bike park.. so I have to check that out!
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September 7, 2010 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, bike new zealand, blog, blog + travel, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians working abroad, dunedin, epic mountain biking, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, mountain biking, mtb, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand mountain bike, new zealand travel blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, riding bikes in new zealand, swap.ca, travel blog, travelling. traveller, travelr, trip to dunedin, work abroad
This morning I got a txt from my mate down in Dunedin. He’s having his riding buddies down to his place for 5 days in October. I checked with work today and I can get the time off. Ive just started to look at flights and will probably book something in the next day or two. Pretty stoked. Last time I was down south riding I had a great time. These guys can really ride and go hard out. For accommodation Ill be camping at my buddies house to save some money. Should be epic!
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