Category Archives: bikepacking

bikepacking, bikes, event, NZ

Renegades Muster

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Short: It’s been a while, but it’s time for another one of these rides. Dotwatching here – https://renegadesmuster2021.maprogress.com/

Long: Riding new places and the chance to see plenty of good friends, such opportunities are not to be missed while they are there. Whether I should be embarking on such a multi-day ride at the moment, I’m unsure as I learn more about what a recent haemochromatosis (iron overload) diagnosis means. I’d not previously heard of it, and I’m unaware of anyone else in my family having it, but mine is hereditary.

Excessive absorption of iron so far manifests itself in getting very tired, achy joints, abdominal aches, and just not feeling well. Thought I was just getting old. I’m hopeful that it’s been diagnosed early enough that with the simple treatment (venesection), damage to organs from iron deposits can be avoided. Therapeutic venesection (blood-giving) is initially done weekly to purge the excess iron and reduce levels suitably, and then less-frequently to keep them there. My first venesection last week went well, but completely wiped me out for the rest of the day. The second session today may not be ideal preparation for days bikepacking, but it went ok and I haven’t been as exhausted, yet…

Oddly, I feel best and most myself when active (although motivation to get out and do things is far more difficult to find with the lethargy) – so at least the first day’s riding should go ok. After that, I guess there’s only one way to find out… I suspect I’ll be even slower than normal, but as always – seeing new places by bike is the main motivation. Clearly this has been building my whole life, only just reaching the point where the effects became noticeable and a diagnosis was made – so I’m optimistic that bringing my iron level down will get me back to some sort of normal that I’ve long forgotten. Remains to be seen though.

In the meantime, there’s the opportunity to get outside on a bike with friends somewhere new – I can’t miss that.

bikepacking, bikes, NZ

Flat Point to Waimeha

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Up with the light after a reasonably good sleep, off down the coast shortly after seven we went. The first half hour down the coastal flats (apparently uplift resulting from an earthquake some hundred-plus years ago) was notable, besides the morning views, for the large stands of cabbage trees – with plenty standing solitarily too.

Half an hour in, we reached the first farm for the day – Glenburn. The extensive number of buildings (once a 16,000 acre station, now closer to 7,000 acres) were all immaculately presented; we were impressed. After an enjoyable chat with the owners, there was much delight in poking around the old (but still in use) woolshed and stables.

Drying dags, I’m told.

Fergus checking accuracy; spot on he reckons.

Hard to fathom just how many people have worked in here over many decades shearing who knows how many sheep!

A once familiar sight, I’ve not seen a Zip like this for a while; never have I seen an apparently internet-enabled one.

Definitely the native timber look in here.

Belt driven and still in service.

Into another farm, the fourth I think – I stopped bothering to count shortly after.

Not a lot of rider colour to work with, but I like to think the scenery is the main attraction anyway.

Fergus, Andrew’s son, just playing on a rock. A casual trackstand, his lightly loaded trail bike looked a lot more fun…most of the time. This time I wasn’t the youngest!

Suddenly, the beach turned to smooth, dense white rocks for a short time. We lingered as paua were collected.

The hills closing in on the coast, the riding became noticeably less flat.

Windswept – always like to see trees growing like that, even if it can make for challenging riding (not this time).

Fascinating layers in the uplift and a sweet spot for a little bach with its own little harbour and boat ramp.

Out of Glendhu Station, we headed upstream to find the large bridge over the Pahaoa River before entering the eponymous farm. Unfortunately a large landslide had taken out part of the coastal track, so inland we headed again. For the only time on this trip, up a big climb. Topping out at three hundred metres above the sea, it was mostly very steep. There was some respite near the top as we contoured around and the views opened up.

West, looking past Rerewhakaaitu, over Martinborough and there is still snow on the Rimutakas from the previous week’s weather.

Gerard, Fergus and I scouted for a lunch spot, found this spectacular place – and then decided it was too early for lunch.

Instead we had a lot of fun dropping all our altitude in a hurry to cross the Rerewhakaaitu River a number of times.

Another push to get up onto the track seen two photos above. With our lingering, the rest of the group wasn’t too far behind – spot two of them here.

The necessity of the reroute became obvious here.

Still scouting for a lunch spot.

Found one!

Couldn’t complain about those views as we all perched on the side of the track refuelling. With such an interesting morning and so much to look at it was little wonder we’d not even managed forty kilometres in five hours. Considering the riding had not been particular difficult, just with plenty of worthy distractions, I was mindful we had over sixty kilometres to go – most of it on unknown terrain (I’d ridden the White Rock to Ngawi section a few years back, it wasn’t particularly fast – but I was pretty worn out by the Aorangi Forest Park by then). But we’d done the only hills of note, so we should be ok. Even so, I made an effort to keep setting off and hopefully we’d keep moving.

Through Te Awaiti Station, the riding on flat gravel farm track and then road was easy going and sped things up a bit. Joining public roads, we saw many Tora Coastal Walkers spread out along the edge of the road – more walkers than vehicles, that’s for sure.

Over the Awhea River bridge, I thought I had better stop and let the gap close – stopping for a snack is always a good idea too. Gerard arrived first and thought we could go a little further before waiting – no argument from me, I was happy to have riding company. Hopping another locked gate with all sorts of warning signs, we entered one of the last farm sections. The thirty-two year old wreck of the Magnet seemed as good a place as any to wait.

After a good snack and more chat, there was still no sign of the others despite regular apparitions on the rocky horizon – the Magnet demanded closer inspection. Having negotiated boggy surrounds and approached the rusting hulk, I was most surprised to see a head poke out of the small gap between hull and rocks that it had been its final resting place for decades. The teeth bared were not small and I beat a hasty retreat.

Not moving.

Quite large, these ones did disperse.

Time for a new scene, a little further along there was a good outcrop to perch on and find a different perspective. Slowly we could pick out riders afar.

Over to Cape Palliser, and the last significant off road section of the day.

Getting out of White Rock Station involved fording the Opouawe River. Most crossed where it branched into four distinct flows – all rideable, albeit hub deep.

Andrew heading for the end of White Rock Road (which for me is forever associated with fifty kilometres straight into a strong northerly) and the last farm section – Ngapotiki Station.

The locked gate at the road end was not nearly as formidable as my memory was telling me, pleasingly. The other gate had definitely been cut down in height and there was a stile – much easier to get the bike over solo. Or were my recollections of struggling to get a heavy bike over it playing tricks on me again? Straight into a short, but steep and loose, climb onto a large shingle slip – there was a bit of pushing involved.

Strung out approaching the gate of doom – no longer needs that moniker in my mind. White Rock visible across the bay. Te Kaukau Point on the right.

Quite a change, this bit too loose to ride.

Off the shingle slip was great fun, strange to see other bike tracks after the rest of the route.

Remembering my previous time along this stretch, I was not looking forward to the rough, tiring 4WD track to the lighthouse. But waiting for some company and then ripping along it with Gerard and Fergus was a blast as a mild contour, but many undulations, gave plenty of opportunity to move the bike around with enthusiasm. Plus there were numerous large puddles (small ponds?) to variously avoid or splash through with glee.

There it is. More than a speck now.

Happy with that section as it mellowed out!

Why not give the legs a different work out?

Back to gravel road.

I had it in my head that there was still thirty or so kilometres to go and rounding the cape, was expecting to turn into the strong northerly (that until this point had manifested as alternating head and tail winds as we approached and left each valley reaching the coast). I was hopeful that the food caravan of vague memory five kilometres up the road in Ngawi would be open to fuel what I was sure would be a struggle.

Sure enough, straight into a block headwind was pure toil and I wondered how we’d ever get to Lake Ferry before dark. Delight to find not one, but two caravans open. A big feed of fish, chips, milkshake and ice cream gave a chance to get out of the wind for a bit. By that time, Andrew arrived and corrected my misjudgement – we only had a few kilometres more to struggle into the wind before arriving at Waimeha Camping Village.

What a great day of seeing plenty of special sights that I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever get access to. The riding and views were well varied and always interesting. There were some pretty tired-looking people at the dinner table as large and tasty meals were devoured over tales of the day.

The wind didn’t let up overnight and with the forecast for gusts up to 120 kilometres per hour and rain, the plan to ride around Pencarrow Head, boat across Wellington Harbour (likely not to sail in such conditions) and train back to Masterton was abandoned. I wasn’t too disappointed, despite it being spectacular – on a good day – as I’d ridden that section six or so years before. Just as well plans were revised, as the thirty kilometres to the start of Cape Palliser Road straight into the wind was slow and sapping. Always memorable having to pedal down steep hills.

At least turning north-east to Martinborough took the gale off the nose a bit, even so it took me three hours and twenty minutes to grind out the sixty kilometres. Most unusually for me, I didn’t stop once – conditions were so inhospitable that I saw no point in it. At least I have a previous trip to remind me what it looks like on a kinder day. Over a long lunch at a local cafe everyone gradually arrived, concluding an excellent trip exploring the southern reaches of the North Island’s east coast – much to see, and we were fortunate to do so. Thanks Andrew!

bikepacking, bikes, friends, NZ

Riversdale to Flat Point

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Winter over and with the excellent previous leg of Andrew’s attempt to ride from Napier to Wellington as close to the coast as possible in mind, I selfishly encouraged organisation of the next, and final, leg – wanting to ride it before leaving Hawke’s Bay. In an achievement I’m somewhat in awe of, Andrew convinced twelve different farmers to generously allow us access through their land (including offers of accommodation and meals), arranged transport to and from each end, rustled up catering, and organised nine riders.

Just a short leg, that which we didn’t quite ride last time, to start on Friday afternoon – down the beach a bit, some gravel, a couple of hilly farms before dropping back to the coast and some more gravel. Three hours, plenty of stops and thirty-odd kilometres was a good little intro to the weekend.

Andrew leading us south from Riversdale beach.

I’ll take this for a Friday afternoon.

A little bit of dune riding and pushing when the coast became impassable.

With the tide ebbing, the sand was mostly firm enough to ride – but not always.

Leaving the coast at Uruti Point, we struck inland ever so slightly.

A brief pause to regroup and determine how far to the first farm entrance.

The farmer met us on the road and made sure we were going the right way. Introductions and chat all around, in which Andrew realised he may have oversold our farming credentials – apart from him (formerly), not a farmer amongst us.

Into the first farm; thanks to Andrew’s hard work we could guiltlessly ignore variations of signs like these all down the coast.

Our escort just before leaving us – the route through to the next farm having just been explained.

A fast drop to the Kaiwhata River blew some cobwebs out before a little valley floor riding and a good steep climb to the boundary gate.

Soggy! Very fortunate with the weather as most of the week had been wet and cold; for the most part, things had dried out nicely and peanut butter mud had gone.

Another stiff climb was rutted in places and did still have some boggy patches, a little bit of walking amongst the grunt to the top. Views up and down the coast as we skirted the end of the airstrip, topped out for the last time that day and bombed back down to sea level.

Exiting at the farm at the buildings, all manner of machinery had to be negotiated – this about the smallest of it.

Pausing to meet the farmer and his workers, they were chatty as were having Friday afternoon beers around a quad bike.

Somehow we came away with a bag of lambs’ tails (whether that’s good or poor timing with docking…) for the townies’ culinary education.

Twenty minutes down the coast to the shearers’ quarters and our digs for the night.

Soon, an old bed frame was found, a fire roaring and the lambs’ tails set to cook.

Loo with a view.

This didn’t get fired up.

While Fergus cooked up a storm inside, the tails disappeared. Having mostly removed the charred exterior, I’m not sold – slimy, yet boney and crunchy. Sharing a large meal on the old door of a table and forms, reflecting on the introduction to the weekend’s riding and speculating as to what was to come was far more convivial.

around home, bikepacking, bikes, friends, NZ, snow

Not-Working Central North Island Fun

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Not working full-time started with a flurry of activity over two weeks. Leaving Pan Pac after six years, that fitted in with the main motivation for resigning – having far more time to be outside and spend with family and friends.

Things kicked off immediately with finally, after vague mention over years, a day skiing at Ruapehu with very-recently former-workmate James. A couple of years since I’d been on skis, it was thoroughly enjoyable to be out on the snow. With a decent dump earlier in the week, the snow and skiing was good. A wee bit rusty, I was pleased not to fall – nor pop a shoulder, a near thing when an errant t-bar sprang back and caught my supposed good arm and put me all in a tangle.

Above the clouds most of the day, it got uncomfortably warm early afternoon. We called it a day early as cloud rolled in and visibility was soon gone.

Bit of a rush back to Hawke’s Bay to arrive on time to finally see the much-Covid-postponed presentation by Mark and Hana of their four-year bikepacking trip from Alaska to Patagonia. While I was familiar with the adventure from following them online, hearing the stories firsthand and seeing the photos on a cinema screen gave a much greater appreciation of their travels. While the photos look impressive on my laptop (a good selection in this article), they were phenomenal with a 4K projector – quite astounding. Excellent evening, thanks to Hana and Mark for travelling up and Andrew for persevering with organising.

There wasn’t enough time to show our guests some Hawke’s Bay bikepacking, but Ricko did manage a great morning tour of Havelock North, Te Mata Peak and surrounds on mountain bikes.

Some of us did find time for a hastily organised and short overnighter to Waipatiki Beach just north of Napier. Even taking the long way around on one of my favourite local gravel roads, it’s only three hours there. Plenty of time to appreciate the evening light, cook dinner and natter before dossing down in the “closed” (Covid?) lounge.

A quick trip over the stream to the beach on leaving the campground.

Brent and Pete negotiating the only place I know to reliably find mud in Hawke’s Bay – on the old bridle path to Aropaoanui Rd.

Heading into the strange sun-mist mix that soon burnt off.

In no time we were back in town for morning tea and coffee with more of the usual HB bikepacking cohort. That may have been a sub-twenty hour overnighter – still brilliant but.

After a day of doing some of the more boring things I should be doing packing up a house, I headed over to Taupo (finally) for a few days of mountain-bike exploring and staying with friends Debbie and Emma. An overcast afternoon on a soggy W2K trail soon brightened and I enjoyed the out-and-back as the views improved. I was taken aback to be recognised as I was hosing off my filthy bike, nice to bump into and catch up with Brian (Wellington) from this year’s GSB.

Joining a different Tuesday night run group gave a nice change of scene, but I’m unsure my legs were impressed with doing intervals. Wednesday held a “recovery” ride with Emma and Debbie at Craters. Trails had dried out by then and it soon became apparent that it wasn’t recovery pace. Much fun riding further out in the park than I had previously, especially on the long relatively gentle downhill Megalicious – plenty of easy jumps that even I could land properly.

Timing of the Taupo sojourn was dictated by the eventual screening (more Covid postponements) of South – the Tour Te Waipounamu film. While I’d shown this excellent account of the race (mine here, not so excellent) to a few groups of friends earlier in the year, I was eagerly awaiting seeing it on a big screen – plus I’d also offered to join Pete for the Q&A session following each screening. It did not disappoint and it was interesting to hear the reactions of a wider audience; we got some good questions too, and hopefully added to the evening.

Somewhere in there, a plan was hatched for me to join Pete and Fay on the first night of three training for next year’s TTW. Bikepacking hadn’t figured in my hasty packing for this week away, but with the generosity of friends just enough gear was cobbled together and affixed to my bike.

Well, this is different. First time using a Freeload rack, I rate it with rear suspension.

From the Waihaha Rd end, Pete and I rode into Waihaha Hut over a couple of hours. The drizzle lessened soon after setting off and that was the end of wearing a jacket for the trip.

Not a promising start and I wondered if my little car would make it up the hill and out of the wet paddock.

Views of the lake lacking a bit.

Tieke Falls on the Waihaha River.

The trail was soaked, but with a firm base the riding was not difficult. Once the rain had stopped, it was nice to take our time stopping often at viewpoints and with much chat along the way. Crossing the road, the modest ascent to the hut began – including a bit of pushing on a section that was just a bit wet, rutted and technical for a loaded bike with a balding rear tyre (Taupo certainly showed that tyres that are fine in dry Hawke’s Bay are not so elsewhere).

These bridges are so much easier when there’s a wooden deck!

Flattening out a bit, great riding through the native bush.

Waihaha Hut – finally made it after fourteen or so years thinking I must ride there one day.

Shortly after arriving dry at the hut, it started tipping down. This about the time Fay was setting off from the carpark – she arrived fairly soaked. A pleasant hut evening catching up and discussing TTW preparations and Fay’s upcoming event. The rain didn’t let up overnight, but had by the time I set off for the car – leaving the others to their all-day hike-a-bike training. The return only took a couple of hours, and with a bit more visibility, I stopped to look at different things.

A bit more water around.

Some more of the lake today.

Back at the car, I ditched my overnight gear and, as the sky cleared, set off north to the end of the trail at a landing on Waihora Bay. With a lighter bike and the trail surface muddy (firm volcanic base still underneath), I had a grand time sliding around corners, getting soaked from the regular splashes and seeing what was around the next corner. Crossing an impressive slot canyon, it was tight and twisty down to the lake for a brief snack – the return wasn’t as difficultly steep as feared.

Legs of two halves.

Back into town to clean-up, pack and say farewell it was then off to Rotorua for a weekend of much time with close friends and a little bit of riding. It’s a little odd, considering how good and plentiful it is, that riding was very much the secondary consideration there. As always, there was a new trail to try; this time Roger showed me Te Poaka – another long downhill with plenty of fun to be had on small jumps. I can see it would be easy to get up well too much speed, even at my pace some of the trees were getting alarmingly close.

Some recent felling has really opened up the Lake Rotorua view from this part of the Forest Loop.

Tarawera – still up there as a most-special place for me.

More riding (so many kids!) and a fork bought for next-bike Sunday morning, the trip down memory lane was strong then catching up with more former Pan Pac workmates over in Papamoa.

Twas not a bad place to grow up.