Easter was an opportunity to catch up with Zane and some more exploring on the bike. I’d been looking forward to this trip for sometime, basically ever since my last jaunt down south. Zane loves technical single track, and whilst I find some of the riding he likes really challenging, I do love getting into the bush.
This trip we had a bit more time. 5 days over Easter to ride ourselves stupid. We always knew the weather was going to turn at some stage (and turn it did), but we still managed to ride 4 out of 5 days.
When reading the following posts about our rides, you’ll need to take into account my view point. I consider myself a pretty solid intermediate rider (Ridgeline at Makara is a challenge but fun - Grade 4 on Kennett Bros scale, Deliverance does my head in - Grade 5). I normally ride purpose built mtb trails which are pretty flowy and smooth, not too much technical riding. I don’t mind riding up, but I am not fast. I prefer the downs, but flowing and pumping rather than hucking.
So each of the rides get their own post, and here are the ones we got we to do.
It was a great weekend, and it really opened my eyes to the riding in the top of the south.
Missing from our list of rides was the Nydia Track. We had hoped to do this on the Monday. But the weather had other plans. After driving into Duncan Bay, a truly beautiful part of the sounds, we were greeted with sheets of rain and a road which already had several small slips on it. We regrettfully decided to back out and head to Havelock for a decent nights sleep.
I’ll need to get some more practice on rooty, technical downhills before I head down South again. I really love this kind of riding, partly for the challenge, partly for the beautiful country. But I my confidence on the technical terrain is lacking. Looks like I’ll be heading to Rata Ridge and Spoonhill more often.
One of the best things about riding with Zane is that he is a) a lot faster than me and b) carries a camera. So it gives him plenty of time to set up for shots like the one below. All photos in the posts link through to full res versions on our Flickr stream.
