Day 7
I finally got to sleep, and woke to the alarm at 5:30 am. My hands, arm and ankle were still quite sore and itchy.
After eating breakfast and packing up all our gear, we headed out at
about 7:15 am. Unfortunately it was already raining lightly, though it
wasn't particularly cold. I was in familiar territory, first along part
of the Waikato River Trail, then on the roads heading towards the
forest.
We met three other riders: John and Kevin, and a woman named Katie Underwood, who we had had lunch with back in Rawene.
When we reached the forest our first challenge was the infamous narrow
swingbridge. Greg tried dragging his bike across, which is exactly what I
did the first time. Slow and very awkward. I had thought about trying
to wheel my bike across on its rear wheel, but with the rain I decided
to remove my front wheel and make two trips across instead. That plan
was great, except that when I removed my wheel it rolled off down the
swingbridge towards Greg. Fortunately it snagged on part of the bridge
and stopped before it hit him!
Wheeling the bike across with the front wheel removed was much easier
than with the wheel on. After reassembling my bike, we headed off, while
the others were still making their way across the bridge.
The first 4 km of forestry road had a lot of blackberry on it. I had
been there three times cutting it back, twice with Peter Maindonald when
we cleared the whole track, and again a couple of weeks ago with Oscar
where we managed to cut back the regrowth on the first km of the track.
It was amazing how much it had grown back, even in just two weeks. But
at least the track was mostly rideable, as long as you dodged the
runners hanging out across the trail.
We stopped briefly to eat a blackberry, just to keep Peter Maindonald
happy, and finally made it out onto the more open forestry roads by the
YMCA camp.
When I had ridden these roads a couple of months ago it was hot and dry,
but today we were only riding at about half the pace I had earlier: the
rain has made the road surface soft, and the wet gravel seemed to grip
our tyres, making it hard going.
We reached the Centre of the North Island, another compulsory photo
stop, where we are some more food. Katie arrived, and we took a photo
for her before heading off again.
After another 13 km of riding on the gravel roads (including another big
hill), we finally reached the track leading past the historic tractor
and on to the Timber Trail. There was a guy there taking photos of the
riders...he was the partner of Anka Martin, an amazing Wave 3 rider who is riding
with a broken hand. We had met him the day before on Mangakino.
Once we reached the singletrack through the bush, the riding became much
easier. We filtered water from a stream shortly after we reached the
Timber Trail. The first 10 km were all uphill, and quite open in places.
Unfortunately, it had begun to rain really heavily and we got
thoroughly drenched.
From the top, the trail began to descend. This is where it began to get
really muddy, and we were sliding around quite a bit. The rain had eased
a bit, and at this point had actually stopped. Just as we were climbing
over a big fallen tree, another mountain biker came along. We chatted
for a few minutes, and he said the weather was improving and we had
probably seen the last of the rain. 15 minutes later, it began to pour
down again. So much for his prediction...
At one point we reached a big swing bridge, and Greg stopped to take a
photo of me while I ride across. On the other side, I got my camera out
to take a picture of him, but when he began to ride the last big of
track down to the bridge he slipped and fell right over. I wish I'd been
taking a video -- it looked hilarious. Fortunately he was unhurt.
We kept riding through the rain, getting more and more hungry, and
riding quite conservatively because of the conditions. Finally we
reached a small shelter and stopped to cook some couscous. I walked
about 400 metres down a side-track to the river to filter water, and the
rain became even heavier as I walked back up, while Greg avoided that
downpour in the shelter.
Katie came along, as well as Anka Martin, her husband, who was riding to
support her, and another fast Wave 3 rider. We continued on, the others
in front this time, and finally made it to Piropiro Flats, 40 km along
the Timber Trail. The others stopped for water, while Greg, Katie and I
began the big climb out of the valley.
It was about 4 pm by this stage, and the rain had finally begun to ease
off. The climb out of Poropiro campground was tough, but once we were at
the top and joined the old tram line it was much easier going. We kept
leapfrogging Katie, as she was faster on the downhill but slower
climbing.
This section of the track was much easier riding than the first half,
though it was still quite slippery. The trail passed through numerous
cuttings where trees had fallen across the top, forming a kind of
half-tunnel. We were getting worried about the light as it felt quite
late, so we pushed the pace to get through the trail by dusk.
At one point, Greg got really hungry so I gave him my salami and nuts. He ate 3/4 of a whole salami in one go! Then, later, Greg's rack began to bend with all the pounding. We may need to repair or replace it somewhere if we can. I really enjoyed the ride along this singletrack, and sang silly songs
to myself as I raced through the half-light. It was really dark whenever
we rode through a cutting.
At long last, we reached the Ongarue Spiral, another compulsory photo
stop, before zipping down the hill in the gloom. I was riding really
well, and was loving the flowing track.
At the bottom, we rode through
some forestry track and around a farm. It was almost completely dark by
the time we reached the end of the Timber Trail. At some stage, Greg's spot tracker fell off the bike.
We had ridden a total of 130 km, and climbed about 1,400 metres. We were
out for over 13 hours, covered in mud, and completely exhausted.
Katie pushed on to Taumaranui, where she had booked a motel, while Greg
and I rode in to Ongarue township where there was a backpackers. (Flashpackers) The guy
there was brilliant -- hot food, a hot shower, and a comfortable bed to
sleep in. They even have a washing machine and dryer, so we can clean
our filthy clothes and gear before heading on. Heaven!
