Monday 21st dawned fine and sunny, AGAIN, and it was a slowish start, i think roughly 9.30ish departure, riding through to and up the Brook then into the Codgers area around and up to Tantragee and on up round the Dun Mountain track. Gentle and easy going it is and we made the 300 odd metre picnic table in pretty good time. Onwards again and eventually getting to the Third House. I was quite tired by this stage, feeling the effects of 3 solid rides and lack of resting or eating. Arse and feet and hands had been getting numb(ish) on the way too. Eventually the rest of the crew cruised in and we rested and talked smack for a while. Nice hot day, lots of sun.
Back into the forest and onwards up, not too far, only a few kms to the opening out of the mineral belt, and on up to a very windy aptly named Windy Point. Cooling us down nicely. Great spin round from here to Coppermine Saddle for another rest in the sun. I'd had enough of sitting around, so got going, figuring if anyone was gonna catch me up the could. Nelson dropped in behind me and seemed happy enough to hang in there for a while. Quite a blast this downhill. Cant really let it all hang out because of traction issues in the corners, and not really knowing what's coming up next. But, still, a good speed on and down we went. At about the 10 minute mark, my hands were getting sore, and my back was aching, so i pulled up for a bit of a rest and stretch. Not long after we stopped Alistair and Nico turned up, with Nico in agony, having only about 50mms of useable travel and crappy brakes he was having to hang on hard to. Nelson led off and i followed, with Alistair on my tail. He seemed happy enough there. From the sounds of it, Nico held back for a good while, til the others turned up. Nelson set a good pace, and Alistair and me held on, letting him set the speed, which grew and grew and grew as we entered the taller scrub, then forest. Massive blast down here, eventually through a couple of fast tight corners onto a boardwalk into a corner for a bridge, then super fast blast down the walking track from here. At one point, with Nelson a safe distance ahead, i came over a jumpy rise and he'd disappeared! I thought, "where the fuck is he?" "oh, there he is" his smiling face off to the right of the trail. He'd hit the air, and ended up off the track, braking hard through the ferns. Not much further down here we left the forest onto an open 4wd track and pulled up for the regroup. A few minutes went by and the others started rolling in, Pete first i think, then most of the rest in reasonably quick succession.
From here, it's a blast down the 4wd trail, past the bottom of Peaking Ridge, then through a creek, climb out of that, then past Bob Taylor Rd onto the singletrack again, with a small section reminiscent of Cullens, then past the bridge and onwards along the pipeline track. But, Mark and Marie went ahead, as did the boys, but Pete had had a blow out further back so Nelson and me cruised back to see what was up. All good got rolling again and the last blast round the Pipeline then down the new section that wasnt finished last time i'd been round here, which was awesome. Nice finishing blast through pines and then into the bush at the bottom of 629.
Finished with road, then Maitai bikepath all the way back to town. Nelson and me went for a feed at Akbaba's and then joined the others at Sprig and Fern on Hardy St, bikes all hung out front. Couple of pints easing the weariness in our limbs.
Showing posts with label DunMtn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DunMtn. Show all posts
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday Dun Done and the Copper was Mine...
Just landed from a fantastic ride... Hit up something i'd never done before, namely, the newly finished Coppermine. Headed up Codgers. Nearly at Tantragee bumped into a local (looked like he might have been guiding a couple of non locals?) who i asked if Jenkins was clear from 3rd house through, and he suggested i do the Coppermine instead, and as i'd never ventured further than not far past 3rd house before, figured i should... So. headed on up. met a few riding down, at intervals, including one really large group, passed one older couple near 3rd House, and continued on past that on up the Dun Mtn trail. gets a little narrower further up, and then eventually bursts out into the mineral belt, much different from the beech forest earlier, open and scrubby and quite spectacular. Trail is quadbikeable up here, wending its way round to the Coppermine Saddle, where you're greeted with a sign saying to the effect, Control your speed, Expert trail ahead... had taken me slightly less than 2 hours to get to this point. lay down in the sun and ate my OneSquare thinking 'fuck i'm shattered'...
then, seat down, just a little, looked at my watch, 12.30, and hit the trail down. Swoop swoop corner, swoop swoop corner, long bit, pumpy water bars, nice and wide, lots of room, and man this track is gonna be primo once its been made a little more difficult by weather. very enjoyable descent back and forward down this big basin of a valley, remaining in the mineral belt for a long time, getting lower and lower, and it seemed the further down you get the longer and faster the straights are, but you cant quite just let go cos you dont know what's coming up round the next bend. anyway, got back into the forest and swooped and flew and flowed down down down. glanced at my watch it it was 12.55, and i was still descending... somewhere in the forest i must have passed the track to the Maitai Caves, met a couple of walkers as i swooped and bombed on down what is tantamount to a wheelchair track, only a little too steep for wheelchairs. finally, popped out on the 4wd track that Peaking Ridge finishes on, and bombed that out down the Maitai, onto the nice little singletrack to the coathanger bridge.
here, i decided to check out the waterpipe track, and rode that round above the river for quite a while, passing the turnoff to Jack's Clearing, and continuing on down til i met a motorbike, then a tracked motorised wheelbarrow, and then a guy with a digger, at the end of the line... chatted with him, couple more weeks he said, oh well, back up and round the track past the tracked thing, and the bike, and on down the steep descent to the Maitai river. do you think i could find suitable stepping stones??? waded in the nice cold water up over my knees, carrying the bike, and then hit the gravel road down down down the maitai. Just after the seal began i headed over that coathanger bridge to Tantragee. Stupidly biked up the saddle, instead of the easy way down the Maitai singletrack, and then rode Codgers down, thereby closing my loop.
total time out riding? 3 hours 15 minutes, not bad for a 4-5 hour ride, eh?
and here's a video of the trail!
then, seat down, just a little, looked at my watch, 12.30, and hit the trail down. Swoop swoop corner, swoop swoop corner, long bit, pumpy water bars, nice and wide, lots of room, and man this track is gonna be primo once its been made a little more difficult by weather. very enjoyable descent back and forward down this big basin of a valley, remaining in the mineral belt for a long time, getting lower and lower, and it seemed the further down you get the longer and faster the straights are, but you cant quite just let go cos you dont know what's coming up round the next bend. anyway, got back into the forest and swooped and flew and flowed down down down. glanced at my watch it it was 12.55, and i was still descending... somewhere in the forest i must have passed the track to the Maitai Caves, met a couple of walkers as i swooped and bombed on down what is tantamount to a wheelchair track, only a little too steep for wheelchairs. finally, popped out on the 4wd track that Peaking Ridge finishes on, and bombed that out down the Maitai, onto the nice little singletrack to the coathanger bridge.
here, i decided to check out the waterpipe track, and rode that round above the river for quite a while, passing the turnoff to Jack's Clearing, and continuing on down til i met a motorbike, then a tracked motorised wheelbarrow, and then a guy with a digger, at the end of the line... chatted with him, couple more weeks he said, oh well, back up and round the track past the tracked thing, and the bike, and on down the steep descent to the Maitai river. do you think i could find suitable stepping stones??? waded in the nice cold water up over my knees, carrying the bike, and then hit the gravel road down down down the maitai. Just after the seal began i headed over that coathanger bridge to Tantragee. Stupidly biked up the saddle, instead of the easy way down the Maitai singletrack, and then rode Codgers down, thereby closing my loop.
total time out riding? 3 hours 15 minutes, not bad for a 4-5 hour ride, eh?
and here's a video of the trail!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Peaky.
I'm on Holiday!!!!!
Today, headed out 1.30-2ish, rode up Codgers to Tantragee and a guy had just come down off Fringe Hill, said its shut cos of the logging (that i could see up on the old devils tail). so, headed round Dun Mtn Walkway. good jaunt up there, probably an hour? less?? the wind damage from last year is madcore, whole faces next to ridges just clearfelled. mental. right pedal wouldnt clip in, had a look and it was bent, and the bolt/screw thingy that holds the whole spring set up for one half of the pedal was out. worked on it for 15 mins or so and just couldnt get it in, so tightened it up as best i could.
had a rest at 3rd House and then tackled the walk up through the decimation to windy ridge... probably 20mins carrying the bike. really messed up in there. then up the ridge a brief distance and whoopee, down Peaking Ridge (see here for last year's)(a year to the day, nearly!).
Absolutely more insane than i remember it. the new 'built' bits are few and far between, the rest is still just as rooty and crazy as before, except that there's huge expanses of it, maybe 40%, that have been windfelled. excellent work by the trail pixies who've been in and re-cleared it... a little way down i spotted my pedal wasnt looking so happy, so i took all the bits off and only had one half to clip into. so, even with that, no real tight moments, quite a bit more walking than last year, cos of the fact that it must have rained in the last 24 hours and the roots were a fair bit slippier than the dry trip down i had last year. the last section especially, i thought i remembered cleaning it all, but this time i bailed on quite a few of the steeper sections... had to keep myself safe, right?
anyway, got to bottom, Maitai River, and stayed on the side i was on (vs switching over cos of track work last time), and nice wee ride down benched singletrack to a bridge, then onto the gravel road alllllllll the way down the Maitai.
When the seal started, i popped over the river, and headed up Tantragee to the top and then down Codgers. back at Flamedaisy at 5.30ish.
Loads of bikers in town, cos Nationals are on this weekend, and a cyclone is about to hit. got this ride in today cos forecast looks like a LOT of rain... wet racers... the track was around Codgers, lots of tape around there.
Today, headed out 1.30-2ish, rode up Codgers to Tantragee and a guy had just come down off Fringe Hill, said its shut cos of the logging (that i could see up on the old devils tail). so, headed round Dun Mtn Walkway. good jaunt up there, probably an hour? less?? the wind damage from last year is madcore, whole faces next to ridges just clearfelled. mental. right pedal wouldnt clip in, had a look and it was bent, and the bolt/screw thingy that holds the whole spring set up for one half of the pedal was out. worked on it for 15 mins or so and just couldnt get it in, so tightened it up as best i could.
had a rest at 3rd House and then tackled the walk up through the decimation to windy ridge... probably 20mins carrying the bike. really messed up in there. then up the ridge a brief distance and whoopee, down Peaking Ridge (see here for last year's)(a year to the day, nearly!).
Absolutely more insane than i remember it. the new 'built' bits are few and far between, the rest is still just as rooty and crazy as before, except that there's huge expanses of it, maybe 40%, that have been windfelled. excellent work by the trail pixies who've been in and re-cleared it... a little way down i spotted my pedal wasnt looking so happy, so i took all the bits off and only had one half to clip into. so, even with that, no real tight moments, quite a bit more walking than last year, cos of the fact that it must have rained in the last 24 hours and the roots were a fair bit slippier than the dry trip down i had last year. the last section especially, i thought i remembered cleaning it all, but this time i bailed on quite a few of the steeper sections... had to keep myself safe, right?
anyway, got to bottom, Maitai River, and stayed on the side i was on (vs switching over cos of track work last time), and nice wee ride down benched singletrack to a bridge, then onto the gravel road alllllllll the way down the Maitai.
When the seal started, i popped over the river, and headed up Tantragee to the top and then down Codgers. back at Flamedaisy at 5.30ish.
Loads of bikers in town, cos Nationals are on this weekend, and a cyclone is about to hit. got this ride in today cos forecast looks like a LOT of rain... wet racers... the track was around Codgers, lots of tape around there.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Okiwi, Nelson, Linkwater, and since...
so much to cover... so many rides done, so many trail miles completed, and soooo much altitude gained and lost. Nelson and me rode ~150kms, and climbed and lost over 4 kms of altitude...
Okiwi Bay
The journey began, departure from the smaug city bout 5.30, dropped my dog off at Surrey's and carried on to Okiwi Bay, north of Kaikoura, just south of the Clarence River mouth. Found the carpark which is on the landward side of the railway tracks, which at this point lie on the landward side of the road. small driveway off the road over the tracks into a nice and newly crushed limestoned carpark, from the corner of which the Okiwi bay track leaves... this pic is from on the way up the track, and is the pic that alerted me to the existence of the track. http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/snaps_summ2006/pages/02-2006.htm It was about 11 pm when we pulled in, so pitched the tent under these old Totara trees. Pretty heinous sleep, cos of trains and trucks hauling past all night. and the crashing of the ocean, and then at about 3.30am we heard a vehicle shifting down through its gears, and obviously pulling off the road into our wee driveway... then heard the engine running for ages, and then this flashing light... "what, is that the cops?" poked heads out of tent and there was one of the Railway workers little Suzuki jeeps equipped to drive on the tracks, heading off. phew. Got a little more sleep then once light, got up, had breakfast, and rode the track. Steeeep. UP. 0 to 600 m in about 5 kms, with a couple of small downs, took us about 2-2.5 hours up. rewarded with WICKED views. and then an incredible downhill, 20mins back to the van.
Annual Trip prePFMTBCInc, in Nelson City
On up to blenheim, dropped some stuff off to N's Dad, and then on to the town of Nelson. Arrived at the house to find the boys, and a nice backyard.
Fringed, Devil's, Third House, Dun Walkway.
Saturday, rode up Fringed Hill, 793 m, then down the Devils Tail to the Dun Mtn Walkway, then up it to the Third House and back down. a hoot. Devils tail is ALWAYS sweet, with a couple new lines experienced this time, including Nanna's, which was a sweet wee section of trail. i utterly bonked on the way up to the third house. was TOTALLY out of steam, and had no boost to get me there, so just had to persevere and plod up the trail to the hut... had a leppin off steve and lots of nuts and raisins off others. fixed me right up.back down we went, speedy speedy, steve and me ahead. what a blast. back to the house, and lots of beer and bourbon'n'drys.
Codgers - before it was called Codgers
next day morning up to Tantragee, up Fireball Rd, down a new track, then round to the Dogs. the new track was steeper than some of the boys had ever done, but was no worse than the Devil's and no where near as long. fun. only dabbed once i think. forgot to mention, we'd hooked up with this local guy, a friend of Tony's. Bloody good bloke he was too, riding a Spec. Enduro. good rider too, especially for someone who's only been riding 2 years and is in his early 40's. the Dogs, i think there's the Tired Dog, the Lazy dog and one other, are a selection of wee trails that traverse and drop in some wickedly steep ass pine forestry, down to the Maitai. we had lots of fun, including Steve who crashed right in front of Pete filming... alas, pete wasnt actually filming bah! oh to have seen steve go down again and again. ne'er mind.
Sharland's Valley
that afternoon we went up Sharland's Rd, up Bob's Fern Rd, to the top of the 506 trig, then down the Doublehappy into the Scotswoods. NIICE. i did this last time i was up in nelson, back at PHoenix's birthday weekend.
Grampians
Sunday, we went up the Grampians, but took the wrong way up. ended up walking alot, up a very steeeep pylon track to the lookout. but then we went down Fuschia, and down Kahikatea, beautiful trails in there. That was good.
NZ Centre
That night, we rode with lights up the Centre of NZ, then round Walter's Bluff and down the zigzag. it was here that Mark had us all trained in the art of quick-cornering. a method that will disturb hardcore XC'ers, and trail makers, cos it involves: unclipping your inside foot, hanging your leg down, and skidding your back wheel around the corner. it makes for very fast and controllable cornering, but it skids on the trails. we promise we wont be doing it too often!
Cullen's first time.
Nelson times over, the next morning we cleaned up, and Nelson and me took off in the Van. on the way to Waikawa Bay, we stopped up the valley behind Linkwater, at the site of Cullensville, a town that had over 600 souls at its peak, and is now just paddocks and trees, and a few indentations in the ground. one gold nugget pulled out of there was 26 ounces! and rode up at track that was built by goldminers between 1888 and 1893, hand cut into cliffs, a nice sidling benched single track up the valley. DoC were blasting a section so on the way up and beyond we heard a couple of really loud bangs... this trail is called the Linkwater Long Cut in the Kennett's 'guidebook'. rode til we were in beech forest, and then turned back. 2 hours up, will have reached about 720 m, and 20 mins down.
Home again, Bottled, Quarried, Crocked.
Then had a week in Waikawa with T and O. lovely. orca. paddling in canoe, little fishing. suntan. then since i've been back, i've only managed to get a friday evening quickspin round bottle lake, and then last night steve, pete andrew tony and me rode up round Halswell Quarry, up Kennedy's a ways, and back down the newish singletracks. down the crocodile and out. quick.
ANNUAL TRIP HISTORY:
Post Script: This was the third Annual Trip I'd done, the 4th of all trips by 'the group' (in future to be called PFMTBCInc...
The very first was just Pete, Steve and Andy, and was on the Queen Charlotte.
The next year, 2003, my first, were Pete, Steve, Andy and me, at Lake Kaniere where we rode the water-race, a loop north of the lake and No Name Rd. Can't really remember if we rode anywhere else.
The following year, 2004, Nelson joined us this year and we went to Naseby and Alexandra. I remember Naseby being really good. Except that it was on this trip that Andrew crashed and nearly broke his leg. Taking the bark off a tree. It was a truly spectacular crash, viewed by Nelson and me, and heard by all the others. Over a jump, flying through the air, leg out to one side, and colliding with said tree, just above the knee. Lower it would have destroyed his knee, higher might have broken the femur. OUCH.l
But I have no recollection what or where we rode in Alex...
Okiwi Bay
The journey began, departure from the smaug city bout 5.30, dropped my dog off at Surrey's and carried on to Okiwi Bay, north of Kaikoura, just south of the Clarence River mouth. Found the carpark which is on the landward side of the railway tracks, which at this point lie on the landward side of the road. small driveway off the road over the tracks into a nice and newly crushed limestoned carpark, from the corner of which the Okiwi bay track leaves... this pic is from on the way up the track, and is the pic that alerted me to the existence of the track. http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/snaps_summ2006/pages/02-2006.htm It was about 11 pm when we pulled in, so pitched the tent under these old Totara trees. Pretty heinous sleep, cos of trains and trucks hauling past all night. and the crashing of the ocean, and then at about 3.30am we heard a vehicle shifting down through its gears, and obviously pulling off the road into our wee driveway... then heard the engine running for ages, and then this flashing light... "what, is that the cops?" poked heads out of tent and there was one of the Railway workers little Suzuki jeeps equipped to drive on the tracks, heading off. phew. Got a little more sleep then once light, got up, had breakfast, and rode the track. Steeeep. UP. 0 to 600 m in about 5 kms, with a couple of small downs, took us about 2-2.5 hours up. rewarded with WICKED views. and then an incredible downhill, 20mins back to the van.
Annual Trip prePFMTBCInc, in Nelson City
On up to blenheim, dropped some stuff off to N's Dad, and then on to the town of Nelson. Arrived at the house to find the boys, and a nice backyard.
Fringed, Devil's, Third House, Dun Walkway.
Saturday, rode up Fringed Hill, 793 m, then down the Devils Tail to the Dun Mtn Walkway, then up it to the Third House and back down. a hoot. Devils tail is ALWAYS sweet, with a couple new lines experienced this time, including Nanna's, which was a sweet wee section of trail. i utterly bonked on the way up to the third house. was TOTALLY out of steam, and had no boost to get me there, so just had to persevere and plod up the trail to the hut... had a leppin off steve and lots of nuts and raisins off others. fixed me right up.back down we went, speedy speedy, steve and me ahead. what a blast. back to the house, and lots of beer and bourbon'n'drys.
Codgers - before it was called Codgers
next day morning up to Tantragee, up Fireball Rd, down a new track, then round to the Dogs. the new track was steeper than some of the boys had ever done, but was no worse than the Devil's and no where near as long. fun. only dabbed once i think. forgot to mention, we'd hooked up with this local guy, a friend of Tony's. Bloody good bloke he was too, riding a Spec. Enduro. good rider too, especially for someone who's only been riding 2 years and is in his early 40's. the Dogs, i think there's the Tired Dog, the Lazy dog and one other, are a selection of wee trails that traverse and drop in some wickedly steep ass pine forestry, down to the Maitai. we had lots of fun, including Steve who crashed right in front of Pete filming... alas, pete wasnt actually filming bah! oh to have seen steve go down again and again. ne'er mind.
Sharland's Valley
that afternoon we went up Sharland's Rd, up Bob's Fern Rd, to the top of the 506 trig, then down the Doublehappy into the Scotswoods. NIICE. i did this last time i was up in nelson, back at PHoenix's birthday weekend.
Grampians
Sunday, we went up the Grampians, but took the wrong way up. ended up walking alot, up a very steeeep pylon track to the lookout. but then we went down Fuschia, and down Kahikatea, beautiful trails in there. That was good.
NZ Centre
That night, we rode with lights up the Centre of NZ, then round Walter's Bluff and down the zigzag. it was here that Mark had us all trained in the art of quick-cornering. a method that will disturb hardcore XC'ers, and trail makers, cos it involves: unclipping your inside foot, hanging your leg down, and skidding your back wheel around the corner. it makes for very fast and controllable cornering, but it skids on the trails. we promise we wont be doing it too often!
Cullen's first time.
Nelson times over, the next morning we cleaned up, and Nelson and me took off in the Van. on the way to Waikawa Bay, we stopped up the valley behind Linkwater, at the site of Cullensville, a town that had over 600 souls at its peak, and is now just paddocks and trees, and a few indentations in the ground. one gold nugget pulled out of there was 26 ounces! and rode up at track that was built by goldminers between 1888 and 1893, hand cut into cliffs, a nice sidling benched single track up the valley. DoC were blasting a section so on the way up and beyond we heard a couple of really loud bangs... this trail is called the Linkwater Long Cut in the Kennett's 'guidebook'. rode til we were in beech forest, and then turned back. 2 hours up, will have reached about 720 m, and 20 mins down.
Home again, Bottled, Quarried, Crocked.
Then had a week in Waikawa with T and O. lovely. orca. paddling in canoe, little fishing. suntan. then since i've been back, i've only managed to get a friday evening quickspin round bottle lake, and then last night steve, pete andrew tony and me rode up round Halswell Quarry, up Kennedy's a ways, and back down the newish singletracks. down the crocodile and out. quick.
ANNUAL TRIP HISTORY:
Post Script: This was the third Annual Trip I'd done, the 4th of all trips by 'the group' (in future to be called PFMTBCInc...
The very first was just Pete, Steve and Andy, and was on the Queen Charlotte.
The next year, 2003, my first, were Pete, Steve, Andy and me, at Lake Kaniere where we rode the water-race, a loop north of the lake and No Name Rd. Can't really remember if we rode anywhere else.
The following year, 2004, Nelson joined us this year and we went to Naseby and Alexandra. I remember Naseby being really good. Except that it was on this trip that Andrew crashed and nearly broke his leg. Taking the bark off a tree. It was a truly spectacular crash, viewed by Nelson and me, and heard by all the others. Over a jump, flying through the air, leg out to one side, and colliding with said tree, just above the knee. Lower it would have destroyed his knee, higher might have broken the femur. OUCH.l
But I have no recollection what or where we rode in Alex...
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