pesky nz

Member
Sep 13, 2010
296
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After three rainy weekend and endless chores it was time to lay down some tyre tracks, so after loading my Borat/SWAT van I was off to Waimiha (its on google earth) for a reboot and defrag of my internal hard drive. Starting on a twisting strip of uphill gravel road for a few warm up drifts to get the feelingin time for the turn onto twin track with many puddles of increasingly deep water until I sent a bower wave over my head for some unexpected cooling.
Since this was my first ride up here this season it became a turn left day (were you turn left a every intersection) to find any new tracks and since last season a lot of logging has meant a barren landscape but lots of new fingers of track to connect. All these tracks are truck size but not made with any water runoff so big water ruts and silt fiiled holes are common (beware the flat spot how deap is the silt???).The only new connections are over slash (random dead branches run over by a log skidder) so stand up and trials it or get the tyres taken out from under you mens sweatting is mandatory.
Then a new discovery in the form of a freshly machined old track with bollards placed in the ground to prevent anything bigger than an ATV getting in, :nod: you know that means adopt minimum roost and maximum smiles as the new old trail fills in 20 easy minutes of calm and cool-down exploring. After returning I found three more similar style trails bofore entering an over grown and neglected trail loop to get the challeng going again. Part 2 later as lunch break is over
 

pesky nz

Member
Sep 13, 2010
296
0
Time for part 2 Mid trail the storm damage of winter meant it was handsaw time and after a little hard work 2 small windfall trees waere dispached to trail side and progress was made. At the end of this trail is "The Stump Hut" , a 1930 hollow tree stump that was converted into a camp kitchen until the main camp was made, and then a batchelor pad for one. Time for more riding and on my next left turn I attack an endless pair of ruts winding ever upwards till there is no more up and must slither back down the clay serpents path. Next left was a gravel road with car sized smooth rocks ( a bit like an upside down dinner plate) to make you do it right. Which way shall I turn next? Left of course and then I discover a psrfect little footpath, good enough for a wheel chair, winding through the trees on a very flat path until I find a locked gate with a sign on the other side. Yes the sign said Cyclists and walkers only so it was time to retrace my path and hopefully leave no marks on what I have discovered is "The National Cycle-way" , a bicycle track that is supposed to run the length of the North Island (1000km as the crow flies).
Time to be riding above idle so a new direction was needed to be away from footpaths and as luck would have it a left turn put me onto more clear-felled pine forest and a faster logging track getting ever more like a rod until I had to break the cardinal rule and turn right ( only because I knew that if I turned left I was on a gravel road back to the start too soon) It was a very wobbly attemp to turn with the bike tying to resist leaning that way and at the last inch before I went into the bushes I performed a 270 doughnut to the left and fooled the bike into going right without knowing it... about 1/2 a mile up the road the bike got revenge by running out of gas, so switch to reserve and turn left onto a jeep trail with mudholes and short dry deviations around the outside for bikes. until a big log blocked the way (thicker than I am tall) so I had to make my own deviation and it turned out easier than normal. So now there were no big ruts to deal with, just a perfect trail that ended with a short steep downhill so rutted it was not passable to things with a steering wheel. one last left turn and the van was getting close when I spotted one last left turn that put me on a tight single track along side the road with old Enduro arrows and lots of exposed tree roots and scratched trees to prove care, speed and skill needed to be ballanced to pass safely. When th track turned up and over a hill away from the road I probably should have back-tracked but it was too much fun and at the top of the climb the inevitable happened .....out of gas, but don't dispair just yet as in my backpack I had drink, camera, first aid kit, tools, puncture repair kit and almost a gallon of spare fuel I was soon gassed up and on my merry way (all downhill) for about 10 minutes when out of the trees was my original gravel road and my very ugly box van.(I own it so I can say that, in fact it is so ugly young people think it's cool)
Inside the van was waiting one cool can of beer which was very tasty treat after a days riding.
 
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