Some friends told me “Hey, it’s not that far…”.

A quick check on Google: 6 Hours. I guess most Australians don’t consider a 6-hour drive very far. They might think differently if – like we did – they try and head southwards out of Sydney on a Saturday morning. Talk about traffic!  So anyway, we’re well on the way, and decide a great halfway pit stop would be Milton. Now, I guess the place must be famous for something. Maybe it’s the town where the public loo is so well hidden, that by the time you eventually find it, it’s a frigging religious experience. Not something I’d put in the brochures, mind you.

Afterwards, we decide to visit Milton’s only Vegetarian Café, where I order a huge mixed salad. My omnivore training buddy asks for the same, but adds…,“could you put some ‘meat’ on it?”. When the lovely lady replies, “Sorry. We’re Vego”, he asks for something, ANYTHING, that they could add that’s similar to meat. A tofu pattie is found, warmed up and added. He screws his face up as he bites into it, but it stays down.

The remainder of the journey is uneventful. “Hey it’s not that far!” is ringing a bit hollow in my ears as we drive our car-crampt bodies into the Event area.

At race check I’m told I am the ONLY Female Single Speed rider.

“You’re crazy!” the guy behind the trestle, says, without a hint of a smile.

This became the mantra that would be spoken at me all weekend. No-one had ever said that to my face – heck, usually it’s behind my back! I found out there were only 97 entrants in the 100km and only 5 of them women – all over 40 years old!

Back in Sydney I’d set myself some tough targets: finish in the top 100 riders; a top 10 finish in the elite women’s category; a place in my age category and geez, a win in the Single speed! This was actually now looking doable except for the last bit, as I realised that my gung-ho training buddy is the only other Single Speed rider. I thought, “Hmmm, I guess he’s goin’ down….”

No-one noticed my smirk as we walked away from check in.

We had booked a beach front cabin in the Tathra Beach Family Park: great little cabin with views of the beach, and a fully equipped kitchen. We’d packed the Atomic coffee machine for a caffeine hit in the morning and we microwaved our homemade Spag Bol for dinner and hit the sack.

A perfect race morning dawned as we rode to the start line. A Le Mans start and off we went. There was a section of whoopingly good singletrack to sort everyone out before heading out on nice firetrail rolling hills, with plenty of screaming, and fast downhill sections where my eyes and nose were watering SO much, I didn’t see much of them. There was a good view over the ocean at one point which I pointed out to riders around me. I heard someone crash but I didn’t look back to see if he had followed my gaze.

There were food & drink stations at regular intervals manned by dressed up locals with Cowbells, musical instruments, yelling, cheering, making sure everyone was in a great mood.

Soon – it seemed – I was at the 50km transition where I was told I was first woman. Hey! I scoffed a banana down, refilled my empty Camelbak bladder, stuffed my little food pouch with more nut bars. I was calmly chatting at transition while I prepared to leave when I saw the girl who beat me at the end of my last race by 6 mins, race out while I was still talking to people! I ran to the bike and chased her for the next 50kms, seeing glimpses of her between the trees and out in the paddocks. Maddening! She DID have gears though. I must have knocked my Garmin GPS because when I next looked it had turned off and so I missed 12 kms of the course.

We had ridden thru some cow paddocks (with actual cows in them) & there was a lovely drumming sound at the foot of a hill, from a few locals playing a jazz beat that helped me power up the hill I later dubbed “Shit Hill” but we’ll call it “Poo Hill” (so as not to upset peopl). The reason for this naming was to be found at the top of this incline where great stewing mounds of cow excrement in full sunlight were wafting their eye-watering stench into riders faces from a headwind. We were forced to suck in great mouthfuls of um, “fresh country air”, and while it makes for a great story afterwards, at the time I was telling myself over and over why I would DEFINITELY ALWAYS ONLY EVER be a city girl at heart. Amazing what mantras get you through these things…

Then began the ‘Doolargharl’ section, where it was said, the local Koori people tell stories of a yeti, or hairy man in this  area (see my map). This was where I became seriously disorientated. The scarred trees are VERY close and I have VERY wide handlebars as befitting a woman of my generous size. At 75kms, starting to get a little weary, the trails all started to look eerily similar and I am still certain I rode a few of them several times because I felt totally lost. At one point I was hungry and thirsty but too focussed on avoiding the trees to take in food or drink and I began thinking the trees were bending inwards trying to get me.

Finally I managed to follow another rider and escape. This then went on into a Big Dipper section where you roll one after the other down these HUGE slippery dips, over gullies with little timber bridges. Momentum carries you back up the other side. It was huge fun. On one such dipper, I’m sure the Doolargharl (Yeti) must have bent the trees REALLY close, as one handlebar end suddenly caught a tree, threw me into another where I hit a shoulder and then my pedal tore my shin. I fell down a gully.

I looked down at my leg and saw white. Not good. “Deep breaths”, I said. I got up, straightened the handlebars, breathed deeply and ran up the hill. Fortunately the Doolargharl had vanished. I threw myself on the the bike, causing pain as I did so, but concentrated on a picture of me crossing the finish line, all the while trying to ignore the throbbing leg.

The last 25kms of the race are a blur of twists & turns which seemed never ending and awfully familiar. A local asked me if I were wishing I had gears? NEVER! What a horrible thing to say! The finish line came finally & sweet relief. 6:05. A Top 100 finish. Also, I beat my training buddy by 45 mins and really, that’s all that counts. He’d been calling me ‘Fat Ass’ for sleeping in a few days earlier. Retribution & goals achieved.

All prizes were local produce or holidays and it was really lovely that the organisers rustled together a prize for me of some Bega Cheese and local honey – both of which are superb.

The Tathra community have built an amazing network of trails to suit all levels of fitness and ability. The Local Koori people have allowed the trails to be built on their land – so we can all benefit and enjoy – so, thank you. It is a naturally beautiful area suited to everyone with great food & produce, beaches, water ways, fishing & all types of cycling, walking or running catered for. I highly recommend the area for a holiday and the race is an adventure well worth the drive.

Just watch out for the Doolargharl.

Moral to this story: NEVER trust a female, blonde, artist’s logic. We SUCK at maths & logic.

I have run the 6 Foot track 5 times. And nah, I’m not gonna make it 6.

Each & every time I’ve said, “Never again”, and then, when the race comes up again the next year, I somehow forget until the next time I’m running it.  Somehow, I get carried away by the bonhomie, the excitement, the nostalgia, the bravery & camaraderie of it all and re-enter. So, when my MTB training buddies said they’d like to ride it one day…I said, without thinking,  “Let’s do it there and back! 6 + 6 = 12 Foot track!”

Seemed like an EPIC adventure for the peak of summer.

Yahoo.

So, the logic was: if I can RUN it from Katoomba to Jenolan in 4½ hours, on WHEELS it should take, um, roughly ½ that! So, if we start at 7am, ride it; then we’ll be at Jenolan Caves by 9:30ish. Have coffee, eat, turn around, ride back and be at The Explorers Tree, Katoomba by lunchtime. Hero Dirt! Reward would be a feast & coffee in a nice café at Leura. Home: mid-afternoon. Sounded like a brilliant plan.

On the day, harsh reality didn’t take too long to set in. Starting in the freezing cold of a Blue Mountains Morning, we set off down Nellies Glen. We ended up walking downhill in bike shoes (with cleats) over slippery mossy rocks, logs and stairs, crossing streams with bikes on shoulders for over an hour. (We kept thinking this is going to be hell climbing back up this later in the day.)

Any time you race the 6 Foot Track, gates are open. Today, we had to unlock, get thru and then close endless gates or climb ladders over fences (hoisting our bikes on our shoulders) which I’d forgotten about. When you run, stairs are nothing, little gullies with rocks are negotiated easily, hopping, skipping, jumping, singing, helicopter whirls, sidekicks for joy….but on a Single Speed 29ner it wasn’t so easy.

I wasn’t singing.

Tommy complained we were taking our bikes for a ‘walk’. I kept telling him it wouldn’t be long before we hit wide open fire trails for some superb riding. Meanwhile there was endless muddy single track, hordes of kangaroos and some mean looking bulls on the trails…Tommy would ring his Barbie bell to scare them away but all I kept thinking was it was making them look angrier…

We finally got to the Cox’s River crossing and decided to go over the bridge as the river itself was looking big and angry, too deep & cold to wade across. The route is Bowtell’s Swing Bridge, and Tommy – being the clown he is – decided to ride across it. He was all bravado until a little way across when he suddenly freaked out; froze, and backed up, really slowly. He said he’d rather swim the icy cold river. I realized I had to walk across it to show him he wouldn’t tip over. So I hoisted the bike on my shoulder and slowly made my way over the tippy swing bridge feeling like Indiana Jones. I figured if I could do it, that meant Tommy had to too. It was touch & go, but in the end he followed. The fact that I had all the food and the car keys had nothing to do with it.

At Cox’s River Camp there were a heap of trekkers, milling about, eating; enjoying their rest stop in the middle of a leisurely days hike.

Meanwhile we MTB’ers were more than 2 ½ hours into what was supposed to be a 2 ½ hour trip but with a mammoth hill climb ahead of us!

When I gabbed that out loud, Tommy disappeared into the toilets with a roll of paper. I mean that. He disappeared. After 20mins I began wondering, what I should do? Most people are out of a long drop toilet in 30 secs….had he fallen in? Then I did what any decent friend would do in an emergency like this; I left him. Hell, he had the EPIRB in his pack; someone would get him out. Not me.

And so began the ascent.

Whatever anyone tells you about the ‘joy’ of riding the 6 Foot Track, let me be brutally honest: these are the hills of hell.

I had forgotten. They give you more when you have no more. On a Single Speed you ride where you can, then push, walking in your cleated riding shoes. Or lie down and cry. My pack was big and heavy. It got hot, then hotter. Then flies….my god, the flies! We were riding in a black cloud of flies. Then the pretty butterflies flitting about – which weren’t so frigging pretty, smacking into your face on the few downhill sections.

Tommy – who’d caught up by now looking a little worse for wear – kept asking me if “this” was the last big hill climb… I said yes an unforgettable number of times, but later I stopped answering because, quite frankly, I’d forgotten how you get to the peak of a hill and then with sinking heart there’d be another long steep downhill so you KNEW you’d be heading uphill again soon. I was also starting to wonder how I’d ride back over this with the clock ticking steadily away… given we were still nowhere near Jenolan Caves.

On top of one of the ridges, amongst a cloud of butterflies, we stopped to eat and pee again and I mentioned how tired I was feeling and the fact that I was dreaming of an air-conditioned coach ride home and if that was not possible…maybe riding back along the Great Western Highway. The shock of it was that a road ride along a narrow strip of 100Km highway amongst speedfreaking bike-hating drivers suddenly seeming very appealing! Tommy said he’d been thinking of calling a cab. Oh, praise be to the god of rubber wheels!

A blur of rutted rocky eroded fire trails & single tracks, more stairs, more walking & sliding, then an interminably long slide down an horrendously steep drop on a narrow shale trail, with a death drop on one side. I remember seeing runners fall down this, never to be seen again. At this stage in the 6 Foot Track running race, this long downhill renders your legs into useless, uncontrollable twigs, shaky, stiff, cramping quads. On the MTB, my biceps, triceps and my hands began shaking just holding onto my brakes and putting my weight into the mountain, as I was skidding and sliding down, ducking under fallen trees.

Then, when we were well beyond thinking we just couldn’t take it any more, we began dodging tourists and we knew we were close to the end.

Jenolan Caves: 5 hours 50mins. Hell, people were clapping us! (They don’t get many cyclists in these parts).

Seems we had descended into little India, jammed with tour buses disgorging tourists in the sweltering heat, eating and drinking Australia’s finest cuisine: deep fried everything washed down with cans of sparkling sugar shit. They were being lead into garishly-lit mountain caves and paying a fortune for the privilege.

It was just after 1 pm. We quickly did the maths. Taking into account tiredness and no punctures or accidents, we would be climbing those wet slippery stairs up Nellies Glen to where the car was parked @ 7pm at best. Maybe 9pm. In the dark.

It was a quick decision: We were not going to ride back.

In the hazy heat we bought one of the last remaining bus tickets.

That trip back to the car was unreal; the best bus ride I think I will ever do in my life.

Postscript:

[Ed: I asked Sarina if she'd learned anything from the trip:]

“Did it teach us a lesson? You betcha. A few…

1/ NEVER refill & drink water from a tap at Caves House. Both Tommy and I have suffered ever since from some sort of EVIL tummy bug.  Tommy was sending me the funniest emails about how he was dying, not going more than a metre from the toilet, thinking of taking himself to hospital….except that would mean going further than a metre from the toilet! Needless to say we’re both a couple of kilos lighter and still not good. [Ed: sounds like Giardia].
2/ ‘Pretty’ butterflies turn into deadly enemies thwacking you in the face at high speed.
3/ My ‘guess-timations’ on length of time/distance are sometimes up to a day wrong. No wonder my husband always tells people who are going to run or ride with me “BIG mistake”. He knows me better than I do!”

In her non-biking persona, Sarina designs the gear at www.cycologygear.com. A Sydney-based cycling tee-shirt company.

Pete and I rode The Womerah Range Trail from Putty Rd to the bottom of Webbs Creek Rd on Sunday 18/11. What a trail! Smooth with reasonable cover from the sun. Great views of Yengo from the top of the range. Some of the downhills are steep, winding and fast with a couple of huge waterbars. We lost count of the ups and downs but it is an absolute blast to ride. At the bottom of Heartbreak Hill is a campground with a shelter, pit toilet and water tank – not that I would drink from it – but for a cool down on the 28+-degree day it was welcome relief. We did this with two vehicles; one left at Webbs Creek Rd and then we drove around to Putty Rd via Wheelbarrow Ridge Track. It’s a long day with a fair bit of driving, but well worth it. Here are the photos (see the long brown snake in the second to last photo…):

At 4:30am we head off. It’s a 2.5 hour drive from home to Rydal (past Lithgow) up the Bells Line of Road. It’s dark and cold and begins to sleet, rain & mist. Tomboy gleefully tells me the temp: 1 degree. We were expecting hot weather and neither of us has packed wet weather gear. He asks why we can’t enter an event out at Ayers rock where it’s warmer. I thought Rydal WAS near Ayers Rock?

We arrive at 7am, register, unpack and put bikes together in the freezing cold. I’m shaking so much I can hardly get the race number on and my teeth chatter uncontrollably.

The Chocolate Foot series has been one of the nicest events I’ve ever done. A series of 6 races on almost complete Single Track trails, hosted by local MTB clubs. The vibe is so friendly and it becomes like a big MTB family. You learn people’s names, cheer them on, recognize them and chat all day between laps and while racing. The pro riders encourage everyone and are SO nice when passing.

Each race course has had its own personality. Rydal feels as though it’s nearly all downhill, there are LOTS of corners, some almost doubling back on themselves and requiring me to track stand to get my big monster wheels around them. You can never get much speed up due to all the twists and turns.

There are 2 jump sections with rolling mounds, one after the other which was loads of fun. No technical surprises–just a few logs to bunny hop or roll over. There was one flat rocky section I called the ‘Paris-to-Roubaix’ that the 29ner wheels didn’t even notice.  It’s just short of 10kms and I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire time I rode it. We both did 7 laps each, just over the 30min mark for the 8 hour time limit. Tomboy had one mechanical –a broken chain – he says due to extreme torque! It was a complete hoot and there were grins on everyone’s faces –even the 8 hour soloists.

Competing in a team of 2 was fun. There’s time to eat a muffin and have a good coffee in between laps. Have a chat, do any mechanicals and basically have a great day riding on superb trails. I highly recommend the Rydal trails-it’s great for kids & beginners as there’s nothing too hard –and always an easy B line if you don’t want to attempt a jump or log. GREAT cornering practise. There are Fire Trail short cuts back to the Showground where there are toilet facilities. Then we went a different scenic way home which was beautiful. It was worth getting up at such an ungodly hour and well worth the drive.

www.cycologygear.com

www.chocolatefoot.com.au

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/238183860

(Ed: we shot this rare photo of an intact Chocolate Foot! Seconds later it was demolished… )

22nd September

Having packed everything the night before, double checked all of the bookings and had a restless sleep we get ourselves ready. I load the bags into the ute and off we drive to Sydney Airport. Traffic is pretty cruisy and along the Hume Hwy – someone has hacked a mobile traffic sign so instead of telling us about traffic conditions or road works it tells us to get our “tits out for truckies”! I tried to encourage Michelle but she wanted nothing to do with it. ?

At the airport our prepaid long term parking barcode won’t scan so we can’t get in! I use the card instead but we don’t get a printed receipt. That should make it fun when we leave.

Walking through with big Evoc bike bags gets us a few looks. Mine is red and Michelle’s is blue. It’s hard work dragging them, and our clothes and a carry-on bag. Michelle had a handbag that could just be slipped over the handle on her luggage, but my carry on was two hydration packs tied together; not quite as easy to carry with everything else.

So we get our boarding passes, check in our bags, wait for a bit in the NZ Air lounge and then get on the plane. At some point in there I was also frisked. On the way to Rotorua we scored a direct flight. I watched Taken during the flight and it was pretty good. Liam Neeson was a better tough guy than I thought he’d be. Landing in Rotorua we get our bags, pick up the Toyota Highlander (Kluger) hire car, jump in and find the Alpin Motel. By the time we check into the motel it’s about 3pm. Michelle wants to find a supermarket and buy some stuff, including a phone, so off we go to do that. We have a bit of an explore around town, grab some bits and pieces, head back to the motel and breathe in the fresh Rotorua air. The sulphur smell took about a day to get used to. Our hosts suggested a restaurant at the Holiday Inn for dinner so we went there and had a nice feed. First day and no riding. I was disappointed but there wasn’t much to be done about it.

The motel room was nice and clean. Two queen beds so naturally we chose the one with the hardest pillows and a zip down the middle where two single mattresses had been joined. The bed was fine but the pillows were a killer.

23rd September

Our first port of call for the day was the Information Centre. We stocked up on activity brochures and bought a Manky Map of the Redwood Forest. That map was the best item I bought all trip I reckon. Stuff it in a pocket for easy access when needed, labelled trails; it was extremely useful.

The Rotorua Museum of Art & History was our next stop, in the Government Gardens. The grounds are fantastic. One of the first things I noticed when driving around Rotorua was how clean and neat everything was and the gardens were immaculate. So we did the museum thing, took photos and went back to the motel to pack the bikes in the car for our first ride around the Whakarewarewa Forest.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived in the car park, but it was really well laid out. A small bike hire shop, two car park areas, pump track and a bike wash station.

Straight away I could see how far behind NSW is! ? We followed the first bit of singletrack that I saw that wasn’t labelled “Kids Loop”, which was “Tahi” [Ed: Maori for ‘one’]. That led us onto “Creek”. On this day we didn’t follow Creek all the way to the end, we unknowingly got off early, rode up Nursery Rd for a bit, into “Piglet”, joining “Pig Link” out onto The Wash Rd. From here we found a start point on “Tickler” and climbed around to the Direct Rd, Pipeline Rd and Red Tank Rd intersection. Down Pipeline Rd for a bit and onto “Bunny Jugs 2” until we ended up at the bottom of the DH track and the shuttle pick up point. At this point Michelle wasn’t keen on much more climbing so we went found “Spring Roll” and “Sweet N Sour” to take us back up to the big intersection. I could now see “B Rude Not 2”, but on the opposite side of the fire road was “Dragon’s Tail” and that sounded pretty cool, so we rode down that one and followed the fire roads back to the car park. Tickler and Dragon’s Tail were definitely the stand out trails of the day. Tickler being a nice climbing trail and Dragon’s Tail being a flowy descending track with a few jumps, roots and small drops.

Still having a bit of energy left we headed out and played at the 3D Maze. I found our way to each corner and then we raced each other to find our way out. Michelle won, I cheated but got caught! Dinner was the cultural delight that is NZ fish and chips from across the road of the motel. Very nice and pretty good value too.

24th September

We started the day with big plans to do Agroventures stuff and quad biking. At Agroventures we rode the Schweeb, which was really good, and the jet boat, which was fantastic. I wanted to do the jet boating on a closed course, not the big river versions with 10 people or so on them. 3 people including the driver in the jet boat was brilliant, although I wasn’t sure if I’d have use of my left hand ever again after Michelle squeezed it hard all the way through!

After that we hit up the quad bike riding. Not having booked it we couldn’t go straight away but we were able to come back in a few hours. Michelle was keen to visit the blueberry farm so we went there, bought some jam, and having noticed the big sign for the international standard go-kart track we went there for a few laps. The go-karts were excellent! That made us a little late for the quad bikes but it all worked out. Lots of fun to be had there as well.

I had the afternoon to go for a ride while Michelle got herself ready to go out for dinner. Back to the forest and out along Tahi then the whole Creek trail. From there I rode along Nursery Rd, up The Wash Rd and onto Spruce Rd to find the proper starting point of Tickler. Today I decided I’d ride B Rude Not 2 and also “Mad if you Don’t”. BRN2 was a great ride, MIYD was okay but it didn’t flow as nicely as BRN2, which had some massive berms and comfortable table tops. From the end of MIYD I rode back along Nursery Rd and found “Dipper”. What a great little skill building trail. An easy grade 2 trail, smoothly groomed, easy table tops and berms flip flopping one after the other. A slower connecting trail back to the main fire road and back to the car park.

Dinner was at Lewishams, and while it turned out to be the most expensive meal of the holiday, the food was excellent and well worth the price.

25th September

When planning this holiday I bought the Kennett NZ Ride book. One of the rides in there was the Waikato River Trail, and that’s what we rode today. It’s basically a gravel cycleway along the Waikato River. We only rode the first part, which is 13.5km each way, but it is a scenic ride with a nice cable stay bridge crossing at the end and a 1/2km long section of very tame Northshore style boardwalk. With the tread surface, the bends being more like angled turns rather than curves and the boardwalk section this could be a really interesting Strava run if you’re into that sort of thing. Especially if it’s a little wet on the boardwalk!

Also in the area were the Waitomo Glow worm Caves. Not a bad little detour. Our guide was excellent and the short boat ride at the end through the caves was a nice way to finish. I wouldn’t recommend the food from the ‘restaurant’ though, it was very average.

26th September

This was another trip away from Whakarewarewa for riding. Drive down to Taupo and ride the W2K Trail, again guided by the Kennett’s book, but also the night before an NZO email came through saying the new section was really good and doubled the distance! Starting from Whakaipo Bay and heading towards Kinloch there is a lot of climbing. We didn’t park right at the trailhead so we had a kilometre of fire road to warm up on before jumping the fence. It didn’t help much for the climb! This trail reminded me a lot of the Kessel Run, but three times wider; and the Wingello Red Loop but with a lot more length and elevation change. We bypassed the Headland Loop but planned to go back for it another day as it is meant to be more technical. At Kinloch we had a burger from the local shop and continued on our way to a great rocky lookout. This marked about 20km of riding and Michelle had had enough so she turned around at this point. I continued on to Kawakawa Bay and then the end at Whangamata Rd. The descent to Kawakawa Bay was excellent, but it was all uphill on the way back. The ride from Kawakawa Bay to Whangamata Rd wasn’t as good, but the first 10km at the turnaround point were brilliant and made it worth the trip out. After a lot of climbing I got to the last 3km which were all downhill and rolled back to the car. At this time the W2K ride had been my favourite so far!

Dinner was very disappointing. I felt like Italian so we went to Nuvolari on Tutanekai St. I should have known that something was up when the only pasta they had on the menu was spaghetti and fettuccini, no tortellini or ravioli to be seen. The service was crap, the drinks tasted watered down, Michelle hated the pasta and I ordered the Snapper after seeing Michelle’s meal the previous night and expecting something similar. It was the worst fish I’ve eaten, way thinner than the previous night, battered badly and overcooked. At least the pea and broccoli mash was okay. I wasn’t about to give them more money so we stopped at Countdown and bought something sweet for dessert. I haven’t seen cookie caramel slice in Woolworths here but they should definitely sell it!

27th September

Today was meant to be the day we walked around the town of Rotorua and checked out all the bike shops. First was breakfast. We’d spied a café that had been busy every time we drove past it called “Fat Dog”. They did a great breakfast and thickshake. The bike shops were a bit disappointing. Bike Culture had friendly staff and a lot of Santa Cruz frames; Cyclezone also had friendly staff and I bought a Specialized S3 helmet from there while Michelle found some shorts she liked. The other shops didn’t have much and didn’t seem interested, but that’s based on only one visit.

With the city sightseeing being over much quicker than expected, we headed out to the Waitapu Thermal Park for a wander. Nice sights, lots of tourists struggling to follow arrows in the correct direction (obviously not a universal symbol language). We got some nice pics, but didn’t get to see all of the colours as different minerals were coming up through the vents and everything was lime to yellow.

Back at the motel I got the bike ready to go for a bash around the forest. I had a loop planned after speaking to some of the bike shop people. The plan was to ride up Nursery Rd and The Wash Rd, join onto “Lion Trail” and from there do “A Trail”. At the entrance of Lion Trail was a massive banner stating the trail was closed due to logging. No worries, I ended up riding up Katore Rd to come down “The Corridor”, then riding back up to come down “Gunna Gotta”. Both nice tracks up top, with 360° views from the top of The Corridor, but once into the trees that had received a little rain things got a bit slippery and pretty severely eroded. Multiple lines at some points where the trail had become too worn, hub deep gullies for some good stretches. It was the only time I’ve ever felt the need to put the seat down a bit. Fun tracks but the bottom sections don’t seem built to last. Close to the end of each is the entrance to A Trail. I thought this was the best of the three trails so far and lead nicely onto Tickler and out onto the big fire road junction.

At this point I decided to ride up Direct Rd, as a few people had said that Hill Rd was steep and I’d feel like I’d cheated if I got the shuttle up. I found my way to the base of “Frontal Lobotomy” and thought “ah, a nice easy grade 2 trail after all that climbing”. Technical difficulty was definitely low, but it’s a bastard of a climb. At this point I had about 800m vertical over 15km and had spent a lot of time in the granny ring. Luckily it was all worth it on the way down “Billy T” into “G Rock” then “Rollercoaster” (every trail network should have a section called Rollercoaster, I’m pretty sure it’s an IMBA requirement ) finishing with “Old Chevy”. Onto “Ball & Chain”, and back along Nursery Rd to jump onto a bit of Dipper and into the car park. A nice 30km loop with the run from Billy T through to Rollercoaster being amazing, and Old Chevy feeling like an old style up and down singletrack run; great stuff!

That ride gave Michelle enough time to get ready and we had a beautiful Moroccan meal at Abracadabra Café. The Chocolate Orange Pot for dessert topped things off nicely, especially after last nights disaster.

28th September

A whole day taken up with riding, or mostly driving to the riding spot! The Friday before leaving I received the latest AMB magazine in the mail, including the new NZ DVD. One of the guys said the Pakihi Track was his favourite ride of the whole trip, so we had to do it. About 2 hours driving from Rotorua we were in Opotiki at the Motu Trails base, ready to be transported to the start. Michelle was a bit apprehensive about this one as one of the bike shop people in Rotorua had her a bit scared about the sheer drop off one side of the trail. The Motu Trails team didn’t help her confidence much with their description, but as a business I can understand why they were covering themselves so thoroughly with their explanation of trail features. After taking our photos and details including next of kin, “just in case something happens and we need to contact someone”, we were off for about an hour drive to leave our car at the finish point. It was then another two hour drive to the start of the track. We had some photos taken and were ready to go, Michelle being extremely nervous. For the first 4kms I was stopping every 500m to wait for Michelle, usually for 2-4 minutes per stop. The trail was as wide as the W2K trail in most parts, but the tread resembled the Waikato River Trail sketchy gravel type surface. There were 25 bridges to cross along the way with #17 being damaged and not in use but with a way around it. Also along the way were some land slips where the trail width got as narrow as 200mm at one point and had to be walked at another because of downed trees in the mix. At the 4km mark Michelle could sense my frustration and said to meet her at the end because it was basically becoming a walk for her. At walking pace it was okay, so I rode on and finished in a bit over an hour. Expecting Michelle to take another 3 hours I rode back up the track to find that from the end to the swing bridge I felt the trail rode better than on the way down. At the point where the Hut walk splits off the main track I met with Michelle again and we walked most of the way back, with some riding.

After another 2 hour drive back to Rotorua and a frustrating time for Michelle we decided to try the NZ hamburger chain Wendy’s for a simple dinner. It was okay, better than Maccas.

29th September

With a fair bit of convincing after the Pakihi Track ride, Michelle rode from the motel to the forest with me and I took her around a fairly easy loop of Tahi – Creek (she hadn’t ridden the whole of it yet) – and finishing with Dipper. She enjoyed that little loop so much we rode it twice and spent a bit of time playing on Dipper, going back and forth riding some berms and table tops.

She was so happy with the riding she wanted to go back to the bike shops to buy some new riding clothes, so off we went. A nice lunch at a Korean BBQ place and we then drove out to and walked around the Buried Village site.

30th September

We’d planned to do a helicopter flight at some stage because neither of us had been up in one. It was meant to be done two days earlier but the weather was a bit foggy around Mount Tarawera so it was put on hold for a clear day. The morning was a bit overcast but the operators were excellent and held out for an afternoon flight. So, in the morning we went out to hold the lion cubs at Paradise Valley Springs. The small zoo was picturesque but the lion patting opportunity was a bit disappointing with it having to be done through a cage because of the number of people trying to do the same thing at the same time.

Between the zoo and the helicopter flight I had enough time to go for a ride in the forest. I rode up “Challenge” and met two older ladies who rode out to and down Mad if you Don’t, then showed me how to get to “Yellow Brick Road” and then “Pondy New” that joined onto Rollercoaster. From there the ladies went their own way and I rode back along Old Chevy, up Red Tank Rd and back down B Rude Not 2 before riding the fire road to Dipper and back to the motel.

The helicopter flight was great with amazing views, and Mt Tarawera offered more of the same. An excellent experience. Dinner was at Indian Star and the food was very nice.

1st October

Napier, a 1930’s style art deco city; supposedly. The drive from Rotorua is about the same as from Campbelltown to Canberra. The town had some nice buildings, but I’m not too sure if anything beyond the main street was art deco style and there were repairs and works going on everywhere. None of the buildings looked significantly damaged, it just looked like we picked a heavy maintenance period to have a look around. We picked a café where the food was crap for lunch. The Information Centre was a bit tricky to find from where we’d parked but we found it eventually and bought our permits to ride around Eskdale, including maps.

Again, this trail area was chosen based on the Kennetts book, so onto Eskdale… The riding was okay. Down on the flats we had to dodge cow pats and the lower climbs weren’t too bad. Pine needles lay extremely thick on the trail tread, making it feel like riding along a soaked paddock. “Nemo” was probably the most fun trail on the flat section. The North Shore skills area was okay.

I wanted to get to the top and pick a few nice trails to come down. “No. 8” started with a push up a massive hill. That continued into a ride/walk up more of the hill on the thick pine needles. At one point the gradient measured 50%!

While following the trail we found a sign stating we were in a live firing range! At this point Michelle wanted to head back so we found Crowley Rd and with her map she followed that back to the car. Apparently she received a bonus magpie attack on the way back! I kept going up “Fenceline”. Then I went up “Ridgeline”. Then I went up “Waipunga” until I hit the trig point. From there it was downhill. Down “Trig”, down “Maxxis”, both of which were pretty slippery and had me just hanging on trying not to lock up the wheels with no grip so I wouldn’t slide off the track and down the steep hillside. I can’t see those two tracks being very sustainable. I joined onto “Swoosh” and was meant to ride down “Klingon”, but somehow missed that and rode down “Upper Twoman” and then “Esk DH”, “DH Link”, a bit of “Pace” and back to the main gate along the fire road. Overall, my least favourite ride of the holiday.

A long drive back and showers to get the cow pats off us before heading out to Yaki Yaki for a beautiful Korean meal for dinner. I dodged the cow pats better than Michelle!

2nd October

My last planned ride in the forest. I had a loop in mind and was determined to ride “Split Enz”. I headed out early, expecting there to be a bit of climbing to get to Split Enz. I rode up Direct Rd to get to Frontal Lobotomy and then ride down “Huckleberry Hound” and “Corners”. At the bottom I headed up Hill Rd. Despite what I had been told, Hill Rd seemed to be the easier climb compared to Direct Rd. It was packed down, smooth and not too steep. Admittedly I didn’t climb all the way to Frontal Lobotomy, turning right onto Moerangi Rd and onto Loop Rd before hitting Split Enz. Split Enz was brilliant and joined up nicely to “Pondy Downhill/Pondy New”. Coming down Pondy Downhill I stopped for a bit and chatted to one of the trail builders for 10 minutes or so. I got moving again and came upon two more guys working on a berm. I stopped and asked if they wanted me to walk around it but they said to “charge on through” the soft berm. That led into a bit of a downhill fire trail with only one good line, or so I thought. The line wasn’t that great and I had the bike going a bit more sideways through a sharp g-out then flipping it back the other way when I saw the next steep ramp coming at me! I held on but it was the closest I came to having a serious accident on the whole trip. Still riding I turned back to the two builders clapping and waving at me. The legs felt a little watery but I joined onto Rollercoaster and climbed up the Chinese Takeaways (Chop Suey, Spring Roll and Sweet N Sour. That brought me out at Dragon’s Tail, but this time I took the “Te Ara Puna” turn off Dragon’s Tail instead of following it all the way to the end. Back up Larch Rd and onto Nursery Rd to ride back to the car park and onto the motel.

Lunch at a Japanese place that was pretty average, mini-golf that was a bit average as well and onto the Skyline Restaurant for another average sort of meal.

3rd October

We headed out to Craters of the Moon based on the Kennetts book. Before riding we found a LBS in Taupo and asked for some info, including a map and the salesperson was very helpful, letting me know that some of the trails were off limits and saying which ones were good depending on how much time we had.

From the car park, through the tunnel and up Q Line Rd we headed for “Debs”. From there we were able to find “Mr” and “Mrs” which were nice flowing trails with a bit of up and down. “Better than P” continued the theme and we found ourselves at a major trail intersection where we headed up “Outback”. Outback was a great 6km loop up and then down a hill. When the trail split Michelle went via “Slalom”, while I headed up “Retro” and onto “Luge”, complete with a massive see-saw. We joined back up about a 1km before the big intersection and from there followed the signs up the appropriately named “Grinder”. At the top of Grinder we headed down “Deb’s Downhill” to finish with a fantastic 3+km descending run. We trundled back to the car park the same way we came in and I headed off to do the other side from the car park, following “Tourist Trap” – “Inward Goods” – back onto Tourist Trap – around “Ferret” and back onto Tourist Trap again to the car park. This second side was definitely the easier, flatter area to ride. I thought that Craters of the Moon was as good as most of the trails at Whakarewarewa.

Back to the motel to clean up and we went to Rainbow Springs Nature Park. Another very picturesque setting to view animals in captivity, with signage on all of the colourful birds stating “native to Australia”! Some nice Sequoia trees too. We felt like a decent Italian meal for dinner and found it at Ciccio Italian Café, great food and service.

4th October

Our last full day in NZ.

My final chance to ride the Headland Loop on the W2K track, so off we went to do it. My original plan was to ride the W2K track to the Headland Loop, ride the Headland Loop towards Kinloch, then ride it in the opposite direction on the way back instead of just taking the W2K track back.

The Headland Loop ridden towards Kinloch had a small, flowing descent to start off with, then a 2 or so kilometre climb followed by some more great descending and a little bit of climbing. This was supposed to be a more technical challenge than the W2K track, but besides having a few more turns and dips the difficulty level was about the same. It definitely flowed better though. Once I got to the end it started to pour down rain and with the amount of descending on the way out I decided to just ride the W2K trail back. I had to stop about 5 times just to clean my glasses and try to find a semi dry patch of clothing to dry my lenses. I got back to the car to find Michelle waiting; she had walked along the lake shore instead of riding. The Headland Loop is definitely worthwhile and would not be that hard to include in the original ride, but not having done it before I expected it to be a lot harder based on other people’s descriptions.

We stopped at Lava Glass for a look on the way back and then at Benny Bee to buy some honey. I needed a shower and to wash the bikes to get them ready for packing. I did that while Michelle cleaned the car out and then I packed the bikes. The Evoc bags are brilliant. About half an hour to pack two bikes safe and secure for air travel!

A quick visit to Lotus Bakery for some sweets and then dinner at Amazing Thai, which turned out to be pretty well named as the food was very light and tasty. A bit of souvenir shopping saw Michelle pick up a stuffed sheep.

Back at the motel the accommodation was paid for and I’d finally worked out the alarm clock to wake us up at 4:30am the next morning.

5th October

The alarm worked! 30 minutes to get ready, pack everything in the car and we were off. We were the only people in the airport for about an hour, except for a security guard that I didn’t see but Michelle said turned the lights on when we arrived! On to the plane for a quick flight to Auckland, then breakfast in the Air NZ lounge and onto the next plane for Sydney!

All in all, a great trip!

Grant Byrne – Oct 2012 

Jake Lambie:

When I was studying I to be a teacher, I was working part time in a sports store at about the time when bike sales were just starting to take off. The manager looked at the bikes going out and coming back in for tune ups and asked if I was interested in learning to do bike repairs.  As it was I hadn’t really ridden a bike for perhaps 4 or 5 years, so I thought, well if I’m going to fix bikes I’d better learn to ride one properly and I bought my first Mountain Bike.

From there, I never looked back. I looked for places to ride and one of the first things I heard about was a single trail that had recently been created in Tathra where I was living at the time.  When I started riding the track with my brother and a few other local riders, it was a few km of pretty good riding….  These days the Tathra trails have exploded and there are now close to 50km of single track and they are absolutely amazing.

Back then, I literally lived less than 200m from the single track trailhead, so I used to ride there all the time. These days I still ride at Tathra but I recently moved to Bega, about 20kms away, so I don’t get back there as often as I’d like.

I moved to Bega as my job is at the , which is located close to town (where housing prices are more within my reach).

Before mountain biking, most tourists came to the Sapphire Coast area for the beaches, which are still a huge draw, but these days there are bikes literally everywhere in the township and the sport has really taken off. This year alone, the Tathra MTB Club will host 7 events, including the Labour Weekend Bike Fest.

The idea of a building a single track at the school in Bega came about when I discovered the school owned a bit of land that covered 5 acres of rolling hills. I found out it was primarily used just once a year for the annual cross-country race.  I went out for a look-see and wandered around the area and thought: what a great place for a MTB track! Then I started thinking about how I’d come to love the sport, how it was growing in the community and how great it would have been to have it as a school sport.

I brought the concept to the school and then developed a proposal for both the school and local council to get approval to build the track.  During the process I approached the designer of the Tathra trails, Andrew Johnson, who was keen to come out and volunteer his time to help with design.

At this stage the single track is about more than 60% complete and the pump track is finished. The whole school is an absolute buzz with excitement about this project, being – as far as we are aware – the only school in Australia that has a purpose-built mountain bike track on site.

These days, lunch times see me and groups of students hard at work building the trail, and I even have kids who are not mountain bikers wanting to get involved.

Later this year a team from our school will be heading to the ACT school MTB championships at Mt Stromlo, and there is also a schools race coming up at Tathra in December.  We look forward to a time in the near future when our school is not only competing, but hosting MTB events.

I’m exhausted as I ride across the line. Minutes later, I saw my computer read 4:42 – so that means I would have been somewhere between 4:41 and 4:50. Fantastic! …Under 5 hours. Never would have expected that… Here’s how it all came together…

PREPARATION After my Mum was unable to find any accomodation in the Wiseman’s Ferry region (not wanting to camp – that would be too in-tents!), we made the risky decision to drive up on the day. Which was fine by me. Through calculations of the worst possible scenario, it was concluded that we must leave at 4:15am. So, setting my alarm for 3:30am, I went to bed just before 8:30pm the night before. A restless night, to say the least. More than once previously, when I’ve arranged to get up early, my alarm had been set to pm instead, resulting in me missing the alarm. But thankfully not this time. So I quickly arose, ate 4 eggs, a large bowl of pasta and two apples. I filled my Camelbak to about 2.5L and filled my water bottle with Gatorade. Attached to the bike were the instructions on how to manage my food consumption, as I filled my back pockets with the food I was to eat. Luckily we live in Hornsby, meaning it’s only 45 minutes to Wiseman’s Ferry, so even if the ferry took an hour (which I thought was quite possible), we could get to St Albans by 6:30am. Luckily, there was no queue at the ferry. We arrived there at 5:05am, and reached St Albans by 5:45am. Sweet. No dramas. I went in to register, asking for my number, etc, and had the surprise of finding myself listed in the cyclocross category. What?! So I went and questioned this. “What’s your DOB” the registrator asked. I told her. So I was changed from CX to junior. Well, looks good. Only 3 juniors doing 100km. I’ve got a good chance of winning a prize… Though I had said to myself, “This is the first time I’m doing this – I just need to finish it and enjoy it…” The aim was to complete it in 5.5 hours.

THE RACE At the start line, after the elite were released, the rest of us were bunched up for the briefing, ready to be released in waves. As the announcer said, “Wave 1 will be starting at an average of 40km/h,” I thought I’d go in the second wave so I could take it a bit easier. As we weren’t told which wave was which, I thought I was far enough back to be in the second wave. Not the case. As the second start is called, I look around me to find those next to me tearing off. “Well,” I thought to myself, “What are you going to do?” So I clipped in and off I went. Turned out that was the right group to be in, as I found myself tearing along effortlessly at 40km/h. It was just like being in a road race – the riders in front shielded the air from me and helped drag me along. I quickly gained places and found myself right near the front soon enough. Once the road turned to dirt, just for the fun of it, I took the lead for a few hundred metres until realizing how much harder it was when nobody’s stopping the wind flow. So inevitably, others got by me again – but it was just a good feeling, being a winner, even for a very brief time. Then we met the puddles in the road.

Now I can stop my bike getting filthy through puddles but I can’t stop others from going through and splashing me. Not a highlight. I’d already filled my water bottle. I didn’t need any more fluid! 13km in, we reached Blue Hill, aka Mt. Everest. Now I understood why the Convict 100 was described on the site as “one of the most challenging mountain bike endurance races.” It felt endless.

As I ground up slowly, I wondered how I’d ever survive all 100km – my legs were already exhausted just 14km in! But the plus was that I was mostly able to hold a position. OK, I didn’t over take many people at that time, but nor did many overtake me. However once I reached the top along Transmission Road, things got easier. Mostly undulating firetrail – some up, some down, but I just kept a steady pace as I let my legs recover from ordeal #1. I was reminded what CAN happen on a bike as I passed a “rider” with his bike upside down. “You all right?” I asked. “My $#%~!#$ chain’s gotten stuck!!” was the reply. Gosh, that would hurt, especially that soon into the race. I remember when that happened to me on a ride; without the tools, you just can’t get it out. He’d have a nice short walk back…

Myself, I was making good time. I made it to the 20km mark in less than an hour, so I realized that if I kept the pace up, I could do it in under five. “Don’t be silly, Tristan. You’re fresh now… you’ll get worn out later at best and at worst you’ll cramp up.”

At Johnny’s Camp, 28km in, it was time for my first rations – I pulled out my first fruit bar, and shoved it into my mouth on a flat section. No drama. But when I reached for the seed bar it was on a downhill section – not the best time to do this – a first time manoeuvre ! I basically had to hold the whole thing in my mouth as I descended. Lesson for next time – make sure you KNOW you’re on a flat section before eating.

Things started to get good once I reached the GNR section of the track. Apart from the numerous puddles (AKA lakes), I was able to cruise along at an average pace of 20km/h. Not bad for such technical terrain. And I liked how I didn’t get overtaken at all in the GNR section between Johnny’s Camp and Ten Mile Hollow (10MH). I was feeling great on this bit – recovered from Blue Hill and familiar with the track from previous training rides, and decided to make the most of it when I was feeling good. Although the narrow terrain made this difficult I nevertheless managed to overtake about 12 people throughout this phase. Sweet!

“Over” Clare’s Bridge (Every time I see the sign saying “Bridge Unstable and Closed to Vehicles” I crack up, and today was no exception!), I pull out my other seed bar on the fast but gentle downhill between here and 10MH. I also finish the last of my gatorade. At 10MH, I quickly snarfle down three slices of watermelon. I then refill my bottle (that being easier than doing the same to the Camelbak) and drop in the tablet given in my courtesy bag. I also grab a handfull of lollies served and eat them one at a time as I ride up the coming ascent. Past the Buddhist place, I see two little kids, apparantly from the forest monastry, waving at me. Nice encouragement. Yes, the hill from 10MH to the Western Commission junction, to put it lightly, is much more fun going down than coming up. I hit into gear 1-4 and again slowly grind up.

I could feel myself getting tired again. I could also feel my bladder coming on. Oh, well, in a race, the concept of privacy disappears, and it was all fine, just pissing on the side of the track. So I hit back into to technical stuff #2, the part of the ride that has made me want to keep returning to GNR. Though starting to experience increased fatigue, I had to focus more on the harder rocky section. Approaching the end of the technical section, I could feel contractions in my muscles as I changed position. “Oh, no,” I thought, “This isn’t good… I still have 40km to go.” Then I wasted 20 seconds when I dropped my bottle… But I just kept drinking – drinking the water, drinking the gatorade tablet. Thankfully, I reached the Shepperd’s Gully descent shortly later, which allowed my legs to have a break, and the beginnings of the cramps dissapated. Good. It’s a great descent, just rocky. Though I do remember the photographer who just jumped out an flashed the camera as I went by. Far out, almost scared my off the bike! The other classic going down was seeing the sign, “Caution, obstacle ahead,” seeing a guy changing a tube metres after. “Are you the obstacle?” I asked…

Just past the bottom gate, I saw I guy on whom cramps were taking their toll. I drank another huge sip. I did not want that to be me. After a fast rush along Settlers Rd, the 70km mark came up. Another 3 watermelon slices, I transferred the chocolate in my bag to my rear pocket and filled my water bottle again, this time with the electrolyte being served there. It was only 10:30. Still not much past 3 hours in. “Well, maybe I do have a chance of getting under 5 hours.” I just had to see what my body could deal with. Despite my initial fears, I decided to ride the canoe bridge.

No issue! It’s mind over matter, really I guess. Just a matter of looking straight ahead and not thinking about the water either side of me. Another few km along road on the other side… I was eating through the distance. Until I reached the Womerah Range track. Although not as steep as Blue Hill, this seemed a lot longer, coupled with the fact that I already had 74km under my belt. This was where the fatigue really started to hit me. The hill felt endless. I was coming to a stage to which I didn’t care how I did. I just wanted it to end. But that was where the voice started playing at the back of my head. “You can do it Tristan, you’re 4/5 of the way through. ‘Think of all the downhill coming your way.”

I did think of the downhill. Unfortunately it wasn’t as soon as I hoped. I repeatedly would see more sections of steep uphill to which my brain would have conniptions. After 15km of a little down and painful up, I finally started going down for good. Thank goodness. From here, it was only a few short km on road and then I could relax big time. Or so I thought.

What I was not expecting was the creek crossing. After already riding 98km, having to run across sand and carry the bike through a creek was about the last thing I wanted to do. But I did, because I had to. Another 3km on road, until finally, finally, I saw a line of parked cars with bike racks. My brain rejoiced.

AFTERMATH After standing, looking dazed for several minutes at the finish line, I realized my speedo said 4:42. That was almost fifty minutes below my goal. I was stoked. Averaging 21km/h, I was very proud of myself. I moved hastily towards the toilets. I was going to be visiting them a lot. Couldn’t have anything to do with the 5.5L I drank during the race. Lying in the shade, eating my lunch, I awaited the presentations, realizing I’d probably get a mention for winning the junior category. But to no avail. Despite being told I was a junior that morning, when I inquired again, I was told I was in fact a senior for I turn 19 this year. And due to this, I had to leave with the rest of the crowd, getting caught in the queue for Webbs Ck Ferry. Dang. At a local’s recommendation, we headed home via Windsor. It’s 45 minutes longer, but considering the ferry queue was 600m long, it was probably the right thing to do. For next time; go back via Wisemans Ferry or leave early. Overall I drank: 2.5L water from Camelbak 650mL Gatorade 800mL water with energy tablet 800mL electrolyte (terrible flavour, but got me through) And ate: 2 seed bars 2 fruit bars Mandarin (before race) 6 slices of watermelon at rest stops 4 squares dark chocolate and a handfull of almond cooks (Two GUs, and extra chocolate/almond biscuits were taken as emergency rations).

Overall a very satisfying and memorable day, and was definately worth the training, money and preparation.”

Tristan White.