Extreme Picnics

Marlborough Sounds tour

2011-06-16T13:47:00.004+01:00

Okay, I'm back for my traditional bi-annual post, literally by popular demand. Mike the Canadian and Lisa from Wellington have both been prodding me to get blogging again, so I have elected to cave in and write up my most recent tour.

June means one thing and that's Queen's Birthday Weekend. For the uninitiated, this is a public holiday in New Zealand, with a Monday off work. I got a day's leave for the preceding Friday and started mapping: http://goo.gl/2tFWs

My mate Old John came down on Thursday in his Hiace pop-top camper with one of his moped bikes tucked away inside. I hadn't seen him since since New Years and hadn't ridden with him since the previous Easter, when we did the Gentle Annie (read: steep-as hill) road from Taihape to Napier. That's another story, but suffice to say there was practically zero traffic and that's a really good start.

Anyway, John arrived at my place in Wellington and had his bike ready to go by the time I got home from work. He was travelling light - just four Ortliebs - which turned out to contain a bare minimum of 3 hats; two raincoats; a pair of elastic-sided leather boots AND a pair of sheepskin ugg boots, plus the usual assortment of lunchboxes, thermoses, mp3 players, battery powered speakers and a helmet cam.

By contrast, this was my most laissez-faire tour to date. I took the Trek, which is at present my daily commuter bike, with it's usual Carradice Camper Longflap saddlebag and the usual assortment of Some Tools in the side pockets. I took with me a pair of Dickies 874 pants, Dickies 13" shorts and Dickies double knee Plus Fours which I had my other favourite old guy modify to my random requirements. (Are they any good? Well... Quite good for riding in chilly weather, but I got cold ankles and they're a bit of a pest when you have to go to the bog). Also threw in 4 pairs of socks and my second smallest sleeping bag. I could have done without it, as we stayed in hostelages every night (something about it being ostensibly cold and the middle of winter). Didn't bother taking food, or extra water bottles.

As is my wont, I'd booked a 3am ferry departure. This is partly because all the daytime ferries get booked out well in advance and party because it gets you to Picton at dawn and it's nice to ride into a new day but mostly because you can usually score a place to sleep and I find the three and a half hour trip across Cook Strait intensely tedious...

Thus we arrove in Pickers bright and bleary on Friday morning to a light overcast sky and the usual sights and smells of a greasy port. I's remound of those times with my parents back in '78 - '79, waiting for the hovercraft at Calais with the two Mercedes driven over from Stuttgart. Long story there too.

So, off we went along Queen Charlotte Drive, which always gets me smiling. On the map you can see the main roads going south from Picton to Blenheim, then west along the Wairau and up to Havelock. This is the optimal driving route to get to Nelson. QCD is actually shorter but very twisty, so only twowrists do it and in June there aren't many of those. We stopped at the lookout above the log yard, which is truly massive and rather intimidating. I assume these piles of trees came from anywhere and everywhere north of Lyttelton, which as far as I know is the next most southerly South Island port. That's one stonking amount of biomass. Mixed feelings there. Ah, NZ, the primary producer. Arbitrage our currency, do, awfully.

Anyway, the day progressed nicely and we arrived at our first destination of Portage (or Potrage, as I prefer it). I've stayed there before on one of my three Queen Charlotte Track excursions, but that's Munty Mountainbadger and John, being a bit 71, prefers to stick to the sealed roads. This was the perfect opportunity to check out Kenepuru Sound (being on the other side of the ridge from Queen Charlotte Sound) and the road rather than the track. I thoroughly recommend doing both.

Since it's winter we had the pick of the hostels so we opted to try the backpackerish bit of the Portage Resort Hotel. NZ$40 a night each for a twin bunk room, with shared kitchen and bathroom. There was nobody else there, so that suited us fine. Problem with Potrage (and the Sounds generally) is that shops are very few and far between. In fact the nearest shop to anything was the petrol station back in Linkwater and their pie selection was, sorry to say, quite underwhelming.

Initially I'd intended to go to Blenheim first - essentially to do the route we took in reverse order - but it didn't really matter. For future reference, don't rely on buying food at the Portage store because the selection is poor and it's REALLY expensive, like $5.60 for a can of baked beans or $7.50 for a packet of Toffee Pops. They're certainly garnering quite a reputation for price gouging among the Marlborough people we spoke to, as you would expect. It's not like they're on an island or anything. Jeez, one might even say. Frankly you could just drive into Blenheim, stick a few boxes of groceries on the back seat and be home in a couple of hours. Mark up the retail price 100% and it'd still be cheaper than their current prices. I'd have bought more if their prices were lower. The coffee was diabolical.

Anyway, no biggie. The next day we ventured further up the gorgeous Kenepuru Rd towards Punga Cove. We didn't go down to the cove itself (should have really, though I'd been there before) but instead decided to push on up the hill heading north towards Titirangi. Apparently it's an old farm, formerly accessible exclusively by boat. Very remote. Unfortunately getting there was quite the slog - a dirt road built for diesels, not muscles - and we abandoned once we were (probably) most of the way up. I was pushing and even John was having tro nurse his motor, which is kinda the opposite of what motors are for, I'd say. Anyway, we didn't fancy having to climb that hill again the following day so we cut our losses and retreated back to Smith's Farm Holiday park in Linkwater.

The Nice Lady who booked us in was Nice Indeed - we each recieved a mug of freshly made soup and a muffin, hurrah! Just the thing. We were assigned a cabin with four bunks, very clean and tidy and practically brand new. It was raining pretty hard by then and it was nice to get into a warm bed for the night.

John was sporting his new bought-on-the-Internet rain pants, which seemed to do the trick. I was wearing my usual touring shoes - a pair of Cordovan laceups with a capped toe, which I bought second hand from Ziggurat on Cuba St a few years back and which are onto their third resoling and counting. I wore these through 4 days of very wet Mountainbam up in Rotorua over Easter and not only did they not fall to bits, they also dried out fast (with feet inside a fresh pair of socks) and a bit of a brush and polish. Respectable asbro! Special clothes are dumb.

Where were we? In a cabin in Linkwater. It was Sunday morning and off we set to Havelock Not North, as I always think of it. You can tell I'm not a Mainlander. At this junkshop I should mention that John isn't either and in fact hadn't been into the South Island since about nineteen seventy-something. He did a mission down south in a VW Kombi van, had a great time, then repaired to Taranaki to build his housetruck and go back again and Do It Properly. "And then my whole life changed!" he explained - working on oil rigs, living in Kuala Lumpur etc etc - and hadn't been back since. Wee bit of a psychological barrier, I felt, and it was nice to be able to show him round some of my favourite bits in the Top o' the South.

So, the hell slap-up breakfast was obtained in Havelock, plus a couple of bits of greenstone and some soap-for-the-wife at the village hall crafts thingo. And a St John's Ambulance-flavoured sausage. Friendly people - the kids say hello to you down these parts. In Wellington they make do with iPodge instead. Just a city/country thing, really.

The rain had eased a bit, so we took a deep breath (so to speak) and headed south on Highway 6. Not really to be recommended - it's just a speed camera shooting gallery for traffic cops. We were immediately caught-and-released by a cop for not wearing helmets, but since we were whatever we were he let us off with a warning. So after being overtaken by cars and trucks doing the usual 100 Km/h (or more, I suppose) it was a Good Thing to finally turn east onto the road to Tuamarina. This is a shortcut to Highway 1 and the optimal way to get to Blenheim if you're us. Nice road, no traff. My favourite.

We sifted around Blenheim looking for Backpaku and eventually tracked one down on the other side of the tracks. We also collected a young Japanese twowrist who'd been apple picking and had hitch hiked in from Motueka. She'd been dropped off at the railway station and was googling up a place to stay on her phone. We'd just ascertained the address of our target residence and took her along with us. She was very appreciative and Japanese about it all, which was charming, of course.

I can't remember the name of the place and I can't be bothered looking it up right now, but suffice to say is was OK and the beds were pretty good. We were sharing with a French guy who was watching the National Geographic Channel and some other guy who got back after John and I had crashed out and was himself crashed out when we left.

So, Monday, the long slow sift back to the Picton ferry,. Blenheim, like many New Zealand small towns, has Secret Interesting Stuff and in this case it's some nice walking/cycling tracks by the river. They go into town and there's even a little amphitheatre. Don't know if it gets used much but I hope it does. So we cruised around and drank coffee and then rode north back to Pickers for the 7pom boat. There are two ferry operators doing the Cook Strait run - the Interislander, which is the maritime bit of the Railways (it changes ownership every few years, I forget what it's currently called) and a newcomer who usually goes broke after a while. This time the alternative is called Bluebridge and they have a couple of ferried which seem to have come from Denmark or some other country with lines through their Os. I'm an obsessive polymath but again, it's half past midnight as I write this and I can't be arsed googling the detaild. You can do it yourself. Anyway, point being, the boat was quite a bit nicer than the Interislander's ferries and they don't bother with the movie, the clown, the extra cafe and bar. The Bluebridge boats have cabin you can rent (we didn't) and no frills but really a better quality experience overall. They're my ferry of choarce.

So, back in Wellington around 10 pm. My lovely wife picked us up, john crashed out in his van and was gone before I left for work on Tuesday. Overall, a very successful trip. My next goal is to do a tour that lasts more than four days. You're barely even warmed up and then you have to stop. Bo-ring!

Lessons learned: Don't worry about preparation. I reckon there are three phases you go through as a cycle tourist. First, you agonise about what to take, get frutsch because you're overloaded and have to keep repacking everything all the time and after you get home you realise didn't even unpack half of what you took. Then there's phase 2, where you get really keen on minimising everything, you buy the little sleeping bag and the short thermarest and the 2 kilo tent. And when you're out on the road you find you forgot your chain breaker, or you left your thermie back at John's place, or you brang the wrong food. And the third phase is you don't even really think about it and you just jump on your usual bike and ride off.

Good pix: John Nagle

Bad pix: me

Lake Wairarapa mushun, Easter 08

2008-11-10T19:15:00.003Z

Over Easter, Frogspace and I did a quick mushun over to the Wairarapa. Train to Maymorn, ride through Tunnel Gully and over the Rimutaka Incline. Very nice!

Had the tandem setup so that the drag brake is connected to my left hand barcon, so I can flick it on quickly. We found that negotiating the steep 4WD roads in Tunnel Gully was fairly straightforward - once you crest the hill you just swip the bike out of bottom gear, flip on the drag brake then squeeze the brake levers HARD. The right lever does the front & rear cantis, and the left lever does the extra caliper brake on the back wheel.

The bike also did surprisingly well on the Cross Creek tringlesack. All bikes are mountain bikes, man.

So we crose up to Featherston, where I drank beer with my friend Matt and Frogspace plew Gears of War on Matt's big liquid cooled gaming PC.

Once the sun had gone down a bit, we had back south and cemp on the shores of Lake Wairarapa. Quite nice. Our plan was to head for Cape Palliser, but that we'd reconsider our position if the wind changed to an unfavourable direction; if we had a mechanical; if we were tired and sore; if we ran out of food; or whatever.

In the event the wind was blowing from the south and didn't stop. We got to the south end of the lake then made an executive decision to double back to Martinborough for a chicken sandwich lunch. We took the train from Feath to Upper Hutt, then clome up to the camp at Kaitoke, where we had friend camping a bit. Was quite a climb, actually, further than I'd thought. But the descent back it the Hutt Valley the next morning ruled prettily. Didn't have a speedo on but I expect we exced 70 Km/h. Frogspace very relaxed in the back - he's a great stoker. Not very big, but lean and a huge power-to-weight ratio.

All the way back to Wellington in one go. A very nice shakedown tour.

Dawes Super Galaxy Twin

2008-02-29T05:30:00.004Z

It's about time I upladled ome pix of the new tandem.
Lovely! It's a stonker. I'll write more when I have some
touring pix to show the bike it action.

The Holdsworth

2007-11-29T02:18:00.000Z

Looking good, the Holdsworth is nearly finished. Stronglight 42/46 rings up front, an 18T cog on the back. Which gives 63 and 69 inch gears. The Gillott has a 42T ring and 16 and 18 tooth cogs - giving the same ratios, near as dammit.

Could really do with a dynohub for the light, which is very nice but there's no room for a battery.

It's a great ride. One thing I can't work out, however, is why, when the Holdsworth and the Gillot are the same size in every dimension - I've measured - and the angles are also apparently the same; why does the Gillott have quicker steering than the Holdsworth? It's noticeably sportier. Wheelbase is the same. Maybe the head angle is slightly different. Dunno.

Peugeotic romanta

2007-10-26T00:03:00.001+01:00

Early morning sunshine. Nice!

Peugeot with fat tyres

2007-10-25T23:27:00.000+01:00

I've been commuting to work on this bike all week and it's great. Cir

cumference of the Maxxis Hookworm 26 x 2.5" tyres is within milimetres of my Schwalbe 27" tyres, and rolling resistance tests - just coasting down Epuni St on the Peugeot then the Trek - indicates that they're on par. Cool.

1990 Peugeot Hurricane

2007-10-17T21:28:00.000+01:00

Another heartbeat, another bike. This is a 1990 Peugeot Hurricane, Made in France (so it says) from fillet brazed 531. Yum.

The colours are typical of the time - I remember trying to buy a sleeping bag at the time and all I could get was purple on the outside and green on the inside...

This is a work in progress, naturally - but the overall look is complete. This will be my trailer towing bike.

It's not an extreme picnic, but it's still extreme and it is a picnic

2007-09-30T22:26:00.001+01:00

It was Graeme's 50th birthday, so we all went round to Martin's place koz he's got all the bikes. Lovely! A spin down Limeworks Loop Road, a picnic at Kaniwhaniwha, then return to Martin's place.

Old friends, new friends, old friends the new friends hadn't previously met. Marvellous!

काम्ब्रिद्गे बोलिंग क्लब

2007-09-27T03:21:00.000+01:00

काम्ब्रिद्गे, इत'एस सो गेंतील। तकेस अ कोन्सिदेराब्ले अमौंत ऑफ़ हिस्टोरिकल विओलेंस तो गेट अ लवन इन्तो थिस सोर्ट ऑफ़ कन्डीशन। पाफुल नोव, थौघ.

Hmm, well, the devanagari transliterator works ok.

Te Anga pub shed

2007-09-26T04:17:00.000+01:00

There's not many people who'd be completely ok with crashing out on a couch in a tin shed with no running water, let alone a bloke in his sixties. Yay for adventurous people!

Te Anga pub

2007-09-26T04:00:00.000+01:00

We rode north to Marakopa with a view to staying at the campsite there, but we were an hour late and it was all shut. We decided to press on to Te Anga. The building is a Lockwood. Never seen a Lockwood pub before. It really made my evening, ish. After a couple of beers and a feed, we enquired about accomodation. None was available, but the publican said we could stay in the garage for free. So we did. All good, except the local dogs could smell us and since nobody had introduced us to them they kept barking all night.

Red clay bank

2007-09-26T00:52:00.000+01:00

No deposit, no return. In case you were wondering, this kind of gradient is about the limit of what I could ride up at this stage of the tour.

Flat out on gravel in a 63" gear

2007-09-26T00:46:00.000+01:00

Slightly shagged but moving fast!

Justification for bringing tripod

2007-09-26T00:44:00.000+01:00

I took a mini camera tripod with me and here's the only semi-decent shot I managed with it. And it's not even really that great either. Next time I are'lln't bother with it.

The hell snooze

2007-09-26T00:41:00.000+01:00

I love sleeping in the sun. Most of the year it's either too cold or too dangerous - falling asleep in the summer sun is a very bad idea in NZ, as there's not much ozone to keep your skin from burning. Midday in springtime is generally ok. Note my new detachable face. Presumably John removed it before taking this shot.

Lunch at Waikawau beach

2007-09-26T00:37:00.000+01:00

West coast! Black sand! Tasman sea! It are drown yoes, mark my words.

I can't see any evidence of a jetty, so presumably all the cargo - livestock, chests, pianos, people - were rowed out to a waiting ship. The day wan't particularly rough but the still looks very menacing.

Waikawau estuary

2007-09-26T00:33:00.000+01:00

Before the road went it, the farm at Waikawau was only accessible from the beach. Trouble was, there was no easy access to the beach. So they drall a tunnel.

Traction engine

2007-09-26T00:24:00.000+01:00

Ooh, a traction engine! Cool. Wonder how long it's been there?

The tree provade scant shelter but my green shoe covers were just the thing for the oozy ground.

I'm wearing Victor Victoria dress pants in a lightweight wool. Had 'em ten years and they're now at the stage where the get toured in until the seat falls out.

Seaview Holiday Park

2007-09-26T00:21:00.000+01:00

We rant a cabin up the road from Mokau at the Seaview Holiday Park. Quite good - didn't get any pix of the cabin so you'll have to imagine it. Think light blue. The photo shows Mount Taranaki, or it would except for the low cloud.

Whitebait fritters

2007-09-26T00:19:00.000+01:00

Pricey; mildly tasty; not bad.

Mokau

2007-09-26T00:18:00.000+01:00

This is Mokau. The big red ball is a German sea mine dating back to the 40s, apparently. I read the plaque which explained how it got there but I can't remember what it said.

Coast near Tongaporutu

2007-09-26T00:12:00.000+01:00

Yay the coast; yay generally.

Yay! A tunnel!

2007-09-26T00:08:00.000+01:00

There's lots of tunnels in Taranaki, though we only went though one on this trip. Actually, make that two.

Pop-up countryside

2007-09-26T00:07:00.000+01:00

There was a lot of this.

Storm damage

2007-09-26T00:03:00.000+01:00

For those viewers who aren't familiar with New Zealand farming practice, this is a shearing shed. They're red, as a rule, as are farm tractors. Some temporal badness has befallen this shed. Farming's like that, I gather.

House on the hill

2007-09-25T23:59:00.000+01:00

A picture says blah. Actually, one thing I didn't take any photographs of btu which was a ubiquitous feature of the tour was parked cars everywhere along the roadsides. Like, a lot more parked cars than you'd expect in the countryside.

They're all whitebaiters - off down the river with the big net and the thermos of coffee, I gather.

Chasing John

2007-09-25T23:56:00.001+01:00

Charging off down the first descent out of Ohura. I've got a watery mixture of oat bran, ground almonds and coconut milk powder - and salt - in the left hand bottle. The right bottle is a water filter. There's generally plenty of water available in most parts of NZ but quality is often dodgy. Travelling with a filter, no more probulations. You have to get off the bike more, but you can travel lighter.

Aero Paul

2007-09-25T23:54:00.000+01:00

Paul's pukudience

2007-09-25T23:52:00.000+01:00

Pauls' aero puku thing. Note sewn-up sleeves on his jacket.

Paul's bike

2007-09-25T23:48:00.000+01:00

Paul builds his own wheels, with drilled rims and 24 spokes. I like people who stew in their own juices - it brings out the flavour. I'm very much following a theme with my bikes, as is John with his Sachs-powered mopeds. Go Paul!

Chasing Paul

2007-09-25T23:43:00.000+01:00

Paul's into Aeroiness. His bike's pretty heavy but yes, it's damn fast on the straights. He made his own micro-fairings out of beer cans. His panniers are slim for aerotude and fold down like those zip-off pants you can get at Kathmandu.

Paul's truck(s)

2007-09-25T23:41:00.000+01:00

On Monday, John and I went round to Paul's place and we all clame the hill. Paul was off to Wanganui the following day so just came as far as the first summit, to keep his legs fresh.

Truck: left-hand projection

2007-09-25T23:37:00.000+01:00

This is the house truck side-on. Note conspicuous absence of truckulence. No truckiness visible from any angle, in fact. I'm more into tents than house trucks, though I did spend a couple of months living out of my Hiace van a while back. It was quite nice, actually. Perhaps it's all my early childhood campervan and caravanning I did.

So that's where I left my watch

2007-09-25T23:36:00.001+01:00

Truck made out of house. No, wait...

2007-09-25T23:32:00.000+01:00

I stayed in the spare house truck. Very nice! A lot more 240V power sockets than one might expect. Quite a few live .303 shells lying about, too. Do not dispose of in fire, etc.

John's new chopper

2007-09-25T23:04:00.000+01:00

It's a good time to buy choppers these days, with tons of styles and a decent second hand market. Here's John's - having trouble with the motor, apparently, but all going soon I trust. Not precisely my thing but I'll ride anything at least once:)

Ferns; bush; grass; bits of road

2007-09-25T03:21:00.000+01:00

A great deal of New Zealand looks rather like this.

Sometime it rine, sometimes nah

2007-09-25T03:10:00.000+01:00

The older I get, the more inflected my English. It's a hobby. Carradice Barley saddlebag did the trick. I was carrying a very small synthetic 'ping bag, a thermarest, half a kilo of oat bran and half a kilo of prunes (they're way jucier than dried apricots, but very sticky). The only unneccesary extras were (in retrospect) a small pair of binoculars which I "used" once, and a Minox camera tripod (ditto). I didn't really need the thermarest, either. For these long solo trips I'm quite prepared to ride another hour or two to find shelter, and don't mind riding and night and sleeping by day when it's warm.

Waiouru to Hamilton via the west coast

2007-09-25T02:38:00.000+01:00

I took a week off work to do a big ride. I wanted to end up in Hamilton, as I was overdue for a visit, and found an opportunity to ride the desert road, which I've wanted to do for a while now.

Here's the route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=14999473811989668122,-38.475094,174.637127%3B14063582621650940356,-38.210669,175.147820%3B14153346181315706832,-38.165065,175.358276&saddr=Waiouru,+Manawatu-Wanganui,+New+Zealand&daddr=turangi+to:taumarunui+to:ohura+to:Mokau,+Waikato,+New+Zealand+to:Waikawau+Rd+%40-38.477500,+174.639440+to:waikawau+to:marokopa+to:te+anga+to:waitomo+caves+to:Waitomo+Valley+Rd+%40-38.210570,+175.147790+to:otorohanga+to:mangaorongo+to:Whibley+Rd+%40-38.165250,+175.358720+to:korakonui+to:parawera+to:puahue+to:rotoorangi+to:Cambridge,+Waikato,+New+Zealand+to:matangi+to:893+Heaphy+Terrace,+Claudelands,+Waikato+3214,+New+Zealand&mrcr=19&mra=pi&dirflg=h&sll=-37.799747,175.370979&sspn=0.09861,0.159645&ie=UTF8&ll=-38.285625,175.253906&spn=3.134595,5.108643&t=h&z=8&om=1

I did 180 Km on the first day, starting at midnight in Waiouru (koz that's when the night bus arrives). Conditions were favourable - 6 degrees, light southerly winds - so I set off right away. Traffic at that time of night is almost entirely large trucks, which are predictable and highly visible. Easier to handle than carloads of skiers, who invariably take the west road round the mountain.

I was going for endurance (read: fat burning) not speed, so I croze through the night and arrived at Turangi at dawn.

I crashed out for an hour near Kuratau once the sun had come up, then continued west to Taumarunui. Had anohter sleep around midday, then anohter 6 hours to Ohura. I learned when I gto there that I'd have been better off taking the north road, which is flatter. Never mind.

I arrived at John's place at dusk, just in time for the hangi-in-a-keg which had just been taken out of its baskets. Yum! I felt pretty good. 180 Km in 18 hours, a personal best for time on the bike and distance travelled. I'm sure I can do 200 Km and 24 hours, so that's my next big ride objective. Starting at night helps, mentally at least.

I spent Sunday crashed out in a house truck, chatting with John and thinking about the next leg of the ride.

The Black Holdsworth

2007-09-10T20:38:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I scored a nice Holdsworth from TradeMe - same guy I bought the RRA from, in fact (thanks Steve! Keep 'em coming:)

It's almost identical to the Gillot - same tubeset so identical sizing, same lugs. It has pump pegs, the Gillot doesn't. The Gillot has rear rack bosses; the Holdsworth does not. They have nice hand-painted detailing at the top of the seat stays, same same but different. Presumably made in the same factory aroudn the same time and painted (or at least had it lugs detailed) by the same person. The Gillot has a metal head badge; the Holdsworth a sticker.

The Holdsworth had the usual problem of bikes of this age, namely a bent bottom bracket axle. Out comes the old Stronglight, in goes the Shimano UN53. Out comes the back wheel and in goes the new Sturmey-Archer 8 speed hub. It's very nice - will still need some tweaking, however. I haven't yet found a suitable place to mount the rotary shifter and it won't change into the higher gears reiably - presume there's too much cable tension. And it needs a new Nitto Technomic stem, like all bikes which run moustache bars.

So now I have two matched pairs of road bikes which fit me. Joy! It's like having four pairs of shoes in slightly different colours. I can choose which bike to ride based on what I'm wearing, how I'm feeling, the weather, anything. Choice as liberation:)

The Holdsworth is cool but it's not read to tour on yet. (Apart from anything else it needs a headset job koz it won't ride no-hands). For my next tour, the Gillot fixie is the steed of choice - stay toon'd for more updates. It's Waiouru to Hamilton via the west coast. Moihaha!

Ho Humm

2007-08-19T21:53:00.000+01:00

I'm certain this photograph will age well:)

Didn't want to get too close koz, well, I wasn't feeling that sociable.

If fixed gear touring bike has an opposite, I think a stretched Hummer limo probably qualifies.

Gillot with motor-quadricycles

2007-08-19T21:47:00.000+01:00

I haven't been blogging much lately koz a) well??? and b) I've been uploading photo series to my facebook profile koz it's easy to do multiple shots at once, whereas with Blogger you gotta do them one at a time.

Anyway. Took the Gillot for a gentle spin yesterday along Oriental Bay and found 2 extraordinary vehicles which I thought deserved to be photographed. This sort of subject ages well. The Gillot is running a 63" gear (42 x 18T).

Out the back, lost again

2007-07-09T00:03:00.000+01:00

This is from a couple of weeks ago (ie the last weekend it wasn't raining). I'm riding the On-One fixie, for this is Tramping Encumbered by Bicycle territory. I think I'm here: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=-41.261622,174.743192&spn=0.002948,0.006748&t=h&z=18&om=1

I was heading south from Mt Kaukau and took a wrong turn out towards the west. Ended up in a gully between Ohariu Valley and the main ridge. Took two (sifty) hours to find a way out. However, it was nice and warm and the gorse wasn't too thick.

Wakely Rd, Ngauranga

2007-07-08T23:52:00.000+01:00

Bottom of Wakely Rd. I spent ages lining this photo up and then, as soon as I press the shutter button, the Johnsonville train comes out of the tunnel. Ooh, it's an 0men, I expect.

Top of Wakely Rd, looking towards the city

2007-07-08T23:44:00.000+01:00

Okay, the horizon's wonky but you get the idea. This is the cool person's way of getting from Newlands back to the waterfront. Sure, you can drop down Ngauranga Gorge at 70 Km/h but I like this track koz it's bumpy and spectacular in it's way. Google maps doesn't know that this is a real road but it's very clear if you zoom in and have a look.

Extreme Johnsonville

2007-07-08T23:27:00.000+01:00

Looking south from the end (almost) of Ohariu Valley Rd towards Mt Kaukau. I think thing new subdivision is called Something Heights, but it's really just Extreme Johnsonville. I mean: "Nether Green Crescent"? Don't you just hate *everything*?

And, for context, here's a view looking north over Churton Park (or Nether Green Heights, or whatever. Call it what you like, I ain't living there for the next hundred years or so...)

Note generic SUV. Wonder if we'll see these on the road in ten years?

Mt Kaukau, out the back

2007-07-08T23:21:00.000+01:00

Mt Kaukau and its TV antenna as seen from the west. 445m. The track which runs from Kaukau down to Makara Peak is usually known as the Skyline and boy, it's hard. I keep getting lost in the Awarua St catchment and end up in an all-night gorsefight in the rain. Bad for the health, you know?

Takarau Gorge

2007-07-08T22:43:00.000+01:00

Pylonage, Ohariu Valley

2007-07-08T21:39:00.000+01:00

Yay for pylons!

Ohariu Valley loop

2007-07-08T21:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday the sun came out, so after sifting around the house all morning I spent an equally siffty few hours in the Wellington hills. Here's the route: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=2%2F10+ohiro+rd,+wellington,+nz&daddr=Makara+Rd+%40-41.219830,+174.712740+to%3ATakarau+Gorge+Rd+%40-41.231490,+174.726350+to%3AOhariu+Rd+%40-41.214260,+174.800600+to%3AHelston+Rd+%40-41.221600,+174.810280+to%3ABurgess+Rd+%40-41.222450,+174.810450+to%3ASheridan+Terrace+%40-41.226820,+174.809960+to%3AHutt+Rd+%40-41.266980,+174.781810+to%3AHutt+Rd+%40-41.267350,+174.781500+to%3AHutt+Rd+%40-41.266750,+174.782050+to%3A2%2F10+ohiro+rd,+aro+valley,+wellington&mra=cc&dirflg=h&sll=-41.255872,174.776688&sspn=0.047168,0.079823&ie=UTF8&ll=-41.253161,174.768448&spn=0.09434,0.21595&t=h&z=13&om=1

It's nice out the back - I was chasing the sun so ended up first at Makara Beach. Nice view, but nowhere private to hang out, unless you wade the estuary and continue north around the cliffs.

Saw a few other Lycroids on bikes, all going faster than me, I'm pleased to say. I rode the Raleigh Record Ace with me Barley bag full of cupsive tea, gingernuts and other Blytonia. And I had long argyle socks on: my tea drinking credentials remain unassailable.

The RRA was good, despite slightly bad B17 saddle (it's in rather poor shape, like ma es) and the stiff Shimano shifters. Fundamentally a very sound bike, though the bottle cage mounts have died so I can't screw anything in. No big deal, though.

Oh, one note to the map - I actually went straight down the gully from Wakely Rd in Newlands and ended up at the bottom of Ngauranga gorge on the 4WD road, which I presume is Wakely Rd all the way. Google doesn't know about this, however, so it thinks I went down Centennial Highway. Which you can do, but I prefer the bumpy, no-cars way.

The picture above is one section of Makara Cemetary.

Route map

2007-06-21T23:20:00.001+01:00

Into Hawera early afternoon. Bumly, the Tawhiti Museum is close for the winter which is a shame - looks really good. Anyway, I sifted around Hawera for a few hours then caught a bus back to Wellington.

Here's the whole route: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=ohakune,+nz&daddr=Whangamomona,+Manawatu-Wanganui,+New+Zealand+to%3Acardiff,New+Zealand+to%3Alowgarth,+nz+to%3Angaere,+nz+to%3Arawhitiroa,+nz+to%3Alake+rotokare,+nz+to%3Amaata,+Taranaki+New+Zealand+to%3Afraser+rd,+taranaki,+nz+to%3Ahawera,+nz&mrcr=8&sll=-39.461644,174.401093&sspn=0.769739,1.277161&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=-39.241826,174.874878&spn=0.772165,1.7276&z=10

Interestingly, the next day I found I had a remarkably acute pain under my right kneecap. My knee was fine for a five day winter tour, then snoozing on the bus I manage to injure it. Ah well, it came right 10 days later.

All in all a great tour. SH43 rocks and I reccomend it highly. Next time, I'd skip Ohakune and start at National Park and I'd spend more effort avoiding SH3. Probably catch a bus back to Welly from Stratford. Alternatively, train to Ohakune, west to Raetihi then down the Whanganui river road through Jerusalem to Wanganui. Could put these togethe into a nice loop, though getting from Stratford to Wanganui - which was my original intention - involves lots of stock trucks, animal food moonscapes and little old ladies who can't believe I'm riding a bike.

Mingimingi stream furniture

2007-06-21T23:15:00.000+01:00

Hey, that's a car. And another one. Jesus! Three cars? And I bet they didn't wash downstream from the mountain, either.

Bet they weren't wearing helmets.

Mingimingi stream

2007-06-21T23:13:00.000+01:00

See that white fence behind the bike? It's flimsy - probably wouldn't stop me and my bike if I hit it straight on. Bet it wouldn't stop cars, either.

Gravel Road

2007-06-21T22:37:00.000+01:00

Exolent! That's Hawera in the distance. After this, we descend to the Mingimingi stream.

Rotokare sunset

2007-06-21T22:36:00.001+01:00

Rotokare

2007-06-21T22:34:00.001+01:00

Heading into Eltham, I was distracted by the big sign claiming that I hadn't lived if I haven't been to their local lake Rotokare. I decided to have a look. Had I known it was about 20 Km off the main road I probably wouldn't have bothered, but in fact it's rather pleasant. You ride through endless rolling hills covered with the fuzzy green animal food endemic in this region, and the when it's really starting to get dark, lo! A patch of old bush, a sharp descent and lo! again, a wee splat-shaped lake designed for water skiing. How groovy. There were pukekos!

Cardiff

2007-06-21T22:27:00.000+01:00

I carried on into Stratford, of which you can find photographs elsewhere if you're interested. After a cafe breakfast, supermarket mission and a trip to the post office to send back a surprisingly large boxload of surplus gear, I continued west with a view to getting south to Hawera without having to use SH 3. This was partially successful. First up, Cardiff, one of hundreds of tiny NZ settlements which died when the men didn't come back from WWI. I headed south here, which was the wrong thing to do and I ended up on Highway 3 anyway.

NZ farming theme park (reprise)

2007-06-21T22:26:00.000+01:00

Like something outta Dr Seuss

2007-06-21T22:23:00.000+01:00

Check this out. Sheep graze here. Notwisthstanding the fact that it's early winter, I can only presume that it's not worth the energy to try and drain this paddock any further. I'm so not a farmer, ay.

Welcome to Footrot Flats

2007-06-21T22:21:00.000+01:00

Vincent Ward Movies II: Vigil

2007-06-21T22:18:00.000+01:00

I camped by the road side and was up early for the sunrise. Very picturesque. The land is still very mangled and marginal, by the looks of it.

Whangamomona

2007-06-21T22:13:00.000+01:00

Whangamomona! Wanna buy a butchery? The pub was open, choarce. I didn't stay, but pressed on up the W. saddle.

John

2007-06-21T22:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, I said to myself, another cyclist. This is John. He's sixty seven and lives in Ohura for the same reason that people live in Aro Valley, Hamilton East, Shepherd's Bush or Hong Kong - because it's central. He's very into wee motors and has no less than four powered bikes. This one has a Sachs 30 cc motor. The fuel tank is on top of the back wheel. John says it cruises at 27 Km/h when loaded which is not at all bad.

He sent me a pic of some of his other bikes, and one he took of me. He made the fairings from fibreglass. Cool.

Pigskins...

2007-06-21T21:57:00.000+01:00

... stinky pigskins.

Several Little Piggies

2007-06-20T04:18:00.000+01:00

Taranaki's very much about pig hunting, as we shall see in an upcoming photograph. However, these little piggies were quite domesticated and weren't too happy about sharing their road with me. Japanese schoolgirls say Ah... now.

Tangarakau Gorge

2007-06-20T04:12:00.000+01:00

Mmm! Yummy land slips. I love this kind of thing. The road here was lovely, perfectly graded and with a good surface and of course no traffic. Freezing cold in the gorge, though. I stopped several times for hot liquidry. Coasting downhill, arms stuck out sideways pulling abunchive yoga stretches. Very nice.

Accidental ninjary

2007-06-20T04:10:00.000+01:00

I never realised I was a ninja until I took this photo. Yep, it was cold!

Water stop

2007-06-20T04:03:00.000+01:00

I'd have stayed longer in my sunny spot, but there was no water source. I pressed on and a few k down the road I found a nice culvert. Gurgle wurgle. Drink, wash pot, wash singlet, spare rinse socks. Nowhere nice to camp here, though, so I decided to ride til it got dark and camp somewhere dumb instead.

NZ farm as NZ farm theme park

2007-06-20T03:56:00.000+01:00

If you were going to build a gigiantic warehouse in Dubai showing what New Zealand farms look like, you'd be hard pressed to find a better example than the one shows in this photograp. So Legoland! So naturalistic! You'd almost think it grew this way naturally and therein lies my point. You may see a picturesque pastoral scene: I see a desert of sheep food. Mind you, that's what NZ is all about. Despite the fact that almost everyone lives in the cities and has forgotten than NZ makes almost all of its export dollars from farming.

Ngutu Reserve

2007-06-15T04:25:00.000+01:00

Yay, sunshine! I found this spot (it's not much bigger than the photo) with a north facing aspect and caught the sunshine while it lasted. Sprawled out here for a few hours and read Plutarch. Got beeped at by the occasional car but since there's no point stopping I was spared passers by telling me how interesting I was (which was not the case while eating breakfast in Stratford a day or two later).

Cold and misty

2007-06-15T04:21:00.000+01:00

Ah, very nice. An empty road, bit of fog, gentle hills. Lovely! This photo was taken at 11 am and the sun was threatening to bust on through so I was looking for a place to stop, dry out, eat and snooze. I'd been riding for 7 hours at this point, albeit fairly cruisilyly.

Vincent Ward Movies I

2007-06-15T04:16:00.000+01:00

So we follow the Whanganui river for 20 Km or so. Took a photo of this structure, which I assume has something to do with measure the river level, not dragon-resistant Rapunzelage from a bygone (or forthcoming?) era.

Here we must reference Vincent Ward's River Queen movie. Which I haven't seen, like most of his output.

The Big Taumaru

2007-06-15T04:03:00.000+01:00

I reached Taumarunui at dawn (7am) to a crowing competition from the town's roosterageses. Now, I'm a city boy and I haven't much interest in small North Island farming towns, so I stopped for a pie then headed off to State Highway 43: The Forgotten World Highway! Can't remember why it's called that, of course. It runs from Taumarunui to Stratford and nobody ever needs to go between these two places AND YET it's a full blown state highway and is graded and surfaced as such.

The way I think of it is: it's a six metre wide cycleway where you're very occasionally interrupted by powered vehicular traffic. The farming in this part of the country is mostly dry cattle, not dairy, so it's mostly stock trucks as opposed to milk tankers.

At first, there were more hills than cars. Then there were more landslips than cars. Then more dead possums than cars. By the time I got halfway, to the border between western Ruapehu district and eastern Stratford district, I was coasting down beautifully graded, picture-perfect country roads with my arms stuck out pulling a bunch of yoga stretches. Very nice. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Descent into Hell (well, Taumarunui, anyway)

2007-06-15T03:55:00.000+01:00

At 3am I'd reached the point where I couldn't sleep anymore koz I was too cold and damp. My broken collarbone (1996) started to ache, which is a good indicator that things aren't going to improve comfort-wise unless Steps are Taken. So, I got up and after an hour's worth of hot cups of tea and trying to fit all my gear back into the saddlebag I was on the road by four. Bear in mind this is early winter, I'm at 500m altitude, it's overcast, with a full moon and it's been raining, so I was wearing four layers of wool and had my raincoat's hood up pretty much all of the time for the entire trip.

It was a beautiful moonlit night, with frost on my legs and cold feet. I stopped every hour or so for hot miso soups. Couldn't do anything about my feet except get off the bike and walk for a bit, which got them warmed up a bit.

Extreme Picnics in the Naki

2007-06-15T03:45:00.000+01:00

So... coupla weeks ago I jumped on a train to do some riding from the central plateau down to South Taranaki. Not a part of the country I'm familiar with, so I was looking forward to it. I chose the Trek and the Nelson Longflap and took with me a Macpac Pinnacle down-on-top sleeping bag, a flash new Thermarest (scored for a pittance at some second hand shop in Nelson last summer) and my Macpac Coccoon bivi bag. These work well together, except I'm a bit tall for the 'ping bag which means I get cold feet. Nothing life threatening, though.

Since for some reason NZ still has a north-south train service, despite everything - personally I wouldn't mind if they ripped out the whole main trunk line and turned it into a rail trail - I took the Overlander from Wellington as far as Ohakune. I chose un 2 as the departure date koz a) it's Queen's Birthday Weekend and b) on that day the Overlander was being pulled by a steam loco between Fielding and Ohakune. Choarce! Most irregular in this age. There wasn't much difference in how it felt along the way, except that everything smelled of steamy coal dust.

Anyway, in retrospect I should have gone all the way through to National Park, as the ride between Ohakune and NP is a trifle dull and a bit traffickey. And it was overcast and raining so Ruapehu wasn't visible.

We reached Ohakune around 1:30 pm and I arrived in NP at dusk. I had an early start planned so I just setup my bags and crawled in. Unfortunately I'd neglected to dry out the insides last time I used it so everything was damp. I loaded up on some hot muesli, knocked back a shot of whiskey from the hip flask and crashed.

Bridgestone T700 with Carradice Nelson Longflap and 3 large pizzas

2007-06-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

I was going to send this to Carradice Hacks (www.wallbike.com/content/carradicehacks.html ) but haven't got round to it. I don't like conventional racks very much - they spoil the lines of the bike and tend to rattle and come loose unless you've gone and sourced some nylock bolts. With a Carradice saddlebag and an old Karrimor rack, the load is suspended from the saddle and has a bit of bounce to it.

One thing I like about Carradice bags is that they're designed to be deliberately imperfect. By which I mean - they don'thave a regular box shaped profile and aren't really designed to sit vertically. A 45 degree angle actually makes them quite a bit more versatile, as the image shows.

Diamondback Ascent - Sorry Unconvenience

2007-06-12T01:40:00.000+01:00

Did a spot of cycletouring in Thailand and Laos last year. Nothing to write home about, to be honest - I don't really like hot temperatures much. After I crossed into Laos at Huay Xai I ran into the stonkingiest roadworks I've ever seen. Hills were too steep to ride up and too steep to ride down with my (overloaded) bike.

So I gave up and buggered off to Honkers (Hong Kong) instead which was much more to my liking. (Oh yeah, and Bangers - Luang Prabang - is totally overrated).

I left the bike in Bankers (Bangkok), though the riding around Lamma Island looks pretty good compared with most global megatropoli.

Does my Trek's arse look big in this?

2007-06-12T01:14:00.000+01:00

The Trek with Carradice Nelson Longflap and handlebars for the eBayers. Like the Tardis, you can get more into it than you think:)

The On-One Inbred 29er fix

2007-06-11T23:28:00.000+01:00

This is not quite my only (so-called) mountain bike, but it soon will be once I strip the Diamondback. I spent a lot of time researching the viability of a fixed gear offroad bike, spurred initially by Matt Chester's titanium creations. I was all set to order a Chester but the prospect of a long waiting list and financial reality dictated a cheaper option.

This bike has Velocity Dyad 700C rims, IRO sealed hubs (same as Kogswell and On-One's but in silver), Dimension moustache bars, 170mm Middleburn cranks - actually a Truvativ on the left side) and a 60" gear (32/16x30") which is good for pretty much anything. Brakes are XT Vs from about 1997 and levers are Dia Compe 287Vs.

While the left crank was waiting for replacement I had 175 mm cranks on this bike and managed to get it up to 51 Km/h one day when conditions (mine and the road's) were favourable. Even so, it's slightly too lowly geared to keep up with geared roadies on the flat most times. Not that I care.

I've done a four day offroad trip on the Heaphy Track on this bike and it was FINE. Good thing about fixed is that on smoothish, flatish but wiggley as hell tracks, where you need to constantly add speed then scrub it off again, a fixed gear is brilliant. You don't need to brake constantly every few seconds to stop the bike running away with you, you just use your legs. Result? Hands still comfortable ,whereas on a freewheeling bike they'd be cramping up.

On-One's service is not great - if I was doing it all over again I might go for a Surly Karate Monkey instead but with decent, reasonably prices 29er framesets rather thin on the ground cheggars can't be boozers. So I'm told.

The Orange Gillot

2007-06-11T23:20:00.000+01:00

Gillot is a marque which began in the 30s, I believe, and whose heyday was the late 1940s. Since then, the brand changed hands several times and in fact frames are being produced even in 2007 with the Gillot badge on 'em, but they're the usual alloy and carbon you get nowadays. This Gillot isn't particularly special, but it's nice and big and it's a lovely colour. Running gear nothing to write home about - this might become a fixie one day but I'm got tunsiv derailleur drivetrains floating about so it's gearied til then. Hubs are Shimano and they're surprisingly good for their age. Bearings move, etc. Bonus.

Raleigh Record Ace 1982

2007-06-11T23:15:00.001+01:00

Since I'm on a bit of a roll with the old 27" touring bikes, I'm reliving my teenage years a bit and buying a bunch and doing the hell hell parts swap from hell. Here's a Raleigh Record Ace which I'm trying to get as close to the Trek 720 as I can. Most of the running gear is taken from my old Bridgestone T700, which was always a bit small, so it's v

ery much like the Trek except it's running Shimano gears instead of Suntour. The Shimano barcons are smaller than the sountour and don't have ratchets.

Apart from that, same mudguards, also has sealed hubs and BB, same bars, same brake levers (all my bikes have Dia Compe levers, they're great), different pedals but still MKS, same tyres (Schwalbe Marathons) and same saddle. And the Raleigh is a 1982, like the Trek. How good!

Trek 720 1982

2007-06-11T22:53:00.000+01:00

So... About time I updates my blog, perhaps? I am very lazy. Which is another way of saying, I've been busy noodling around with bikes to care about blogging. However: time for some more photos.

This is a 1982 Trek 720 which I picked up on TradeMe for the princely sum of Not Much. After putting on the now-obligatory moustache handelbars and removing front loriders, rear rack, handlebar bag and panniers it's now a lean/mean/blahblah machine. Very nice indeed. I ride this one to work most of the time and it's done some way gnarly tramping tracks on a South Island tour earlier this year. Phil Wood hubs, probably a Phil bottom bracket (koz it's done about 2 dozen stream crossings and still works) and Suntour gears. Lovely.

2004-06-09T11:29:00.000+01:00

Alan Tourist. Dad bought this for about a grand in the early '90s and I never really understood why, as it's a bit of a noodle even when unladen. I think he liked the Campag NR triple and long cage rear mech, which is admittedly pretty rare and groovy. This bike is now in the hands of his brother John. An Italian touring bike, who'd have thought?

2004-06-09T11:26:00.000+01:00

Congruent with orthodoxy: TA meets Nuovo Record - gearing's a bit steep though, isn't it?

2004-06-09T11:24:00.001+01:00

Yummy semi-fastback seat stays. Fancy hex bolt must have looked particularly flash in '72!

2004-06-09T11:24:00.000+01:00

Hetchins front end. Note the top tube wire guides and special mounting bracket for the Lucifer dynamo, a nice touch.

2004-06-09T11:22:00.000+01:00

1972 Hetchins Bagnum Bonum. This is pretty much how my dad speced the bike when he had it built. It's hardly been ridden and lives in Auckland at my Mum's place. I particularly like the groovy shallow drop handlebars which I've never seen before nor since.

2004-06-09T11:20:00.000+01:00

This is a Gillot dating probably from the 1950s. It was in my dad's posession but originally belogned to hisyoungest brother, who toured Britain on it in the early 1970s. Note steel, cottered Chater-Lea chainset and pedals, Campag NR derailleur and Airlite hubs. This bike is now back with my uncle.

2004-06-09T11:12:00.000+01:00

"Clamont" 753 road bike, circa 1985. I bought this for NZ$600 when I was seventeen. The wheels are as false as the day I got 'em, and the ring need replacing, as does pretty much everything except the headset and bottom bracket which I've already attended to. It's nice and light, though as you can see, pretty steep and with really short chainstays. Interesting bits include a fully operational SunTour Superbe Pro rear mech and a Brooks Pro which I bought aged 13 at Williams Cycles of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 20 years ago. It was like cast iron when I got it and for years I wouldn't work out how to soften it (and yes, I knew all the tricks but don't really approve of oil soaking and goats entrails and stuff). Eventually I got some movement happening by taking it off its seatpost, placing it in the floor and gently standing on it in stockinged feet. From that moment on we were friends. My dad could never work out why I bought a bike that couldn't accept mudguards or racks, and in retrospect I agree with him. This bike is slowly being restored - improvements happen incrementally, usually when I get stuck for something to ride - and one day will probably be resprayed. Incidentally, Clamont is the house brand of the Clarence Street Cyclery in Melbourne.

2004-06-09T11:05:00.000+01:00

The Bridgestone T700, February 2004. If you were in NZ on this month you'll know about the constant storms, the flooding, the stock losses, the washed out bridges and the families stuck out all night on their roofs of their houses. Fortunately, in my part of Wellington nothing too bad happened and one day it was blowing a terrific northerly and I had to take advantage of it. So, I jumped on a train and went up to the head of the Hutt Valley and got blown 50km home along the Hutt River track. It's mostly gravel with a bit of sealed road and some mud. The Bridgestone was great, with the Conti Toup Touring's inverted tread giving just enough traction while the mudguards and extra flappy thing keeping the worst of it out of my eyes. Also rahter enjoyable getting small amounts of air off wee judder bars:) And I was still clean enough by the time I got to Lower Hutt to nip into an art gallery without leaving crud everywhere. Life was good!

2004-06-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

Bicycular Romanticism volume 2: Aniseed Valley. I'd raced ahead of the party and beat them to level ground by about thirty minutes, which is normally most unlike me. I suspected they'd got eaten by Taniwhaz, but they arrived in due course complaining about lack of brakes. I know the feeling. Which leads me to expound on brake pads for a moment. Now, if you've been reading this blog you'll have a handle on the kind of riding I like to do. So: it all becomes impossible if you cook your brakes and at NZ$60 a pair, Hayes mechanical pads are, like, way pricey. Naturally, your brakes get cooked if you drag them, as XC riders are wont to do. DH riders, conversely, generally ride bigger bikes which are more stable at speed over rough stuff and will tend to brake harder and later than if they were getting bounced around riding something light and nippy. Therefore, the limiting factor in how much brakes you go through on a hard ride would appear to be how comfortable you are descending over rough ground at high speed. My Giant ARSE is a good bike, but there's room for improvement. For someone considering a bike to tackle difficult NZ terrain, they could do worse than to try a Keewee cromoTOZE - like the Giant, but with twice the travel and Solid As! And made of STEEL so it won't disappear out from underneath you when you least expect it.

2004-06-09T10:51:00.000+01:00

Lookout! High above the canopy. Probably the summit of whatever knob we were at between Rocks and Browning huts, Richmond Forest Park. Extreme happiness suffused our vibe, as the honking downhill was about to begin... Needless to say, bu this time I'd caned my camera battery and didn't get any groovy descending shots. Next time!

2004-06-09T10:50:00.000+01:00

Bashing through Beech. Quick stop to run up to the lookout. I've never managed to photograph the NZ bush to my satisfaction - it's usually so dense that not much light gets through, which necessitates long exposures, implying camera shake and lack of detail. One day.

2004-06-09T10:48:00.000+01:00

Browning Hutt, Richmond Forest Park. Freezing cold. We stayed at Rocks Hutt after having scended the Dun Mountain Walkway, then traversed to Browning the following day. Took around four hours, some of it ridable, most of it not. Note extremely low saddle positions. Bicycular Romanticism volume 1.

2004-06-09T10:43:00.000+01:00

Sarah tries to reconcile Eric's GPS reading with her map. Note overwhelming prescence of alloy hardtailage and Marzocchi Bombers. A great day for freedom, one might say. Ah, Nelson! Where else can you ride 100m from the centre of town and then stay on singletrack for the next three days? Gnaw yer bits off, New York City! Also: yer bike won't get stolen if there's no people around:)

2004-06-09T10:38:00.000+01:00

Barry at Pointy Wind. Aptly named - it's calm as on the way up, equally calm just on a bit, and a howling gale at the place itself. Note extensive use of black wool and jowly Karrimor saddlebag which ensured great traction and full on muscle development when carrying.

2004-06-09T10:24:00.000+01:00

Pattersonian countryside shot, featuring Shed. Cute ei? Note ham-fisted "differential exposure" technique yeilding oversaturated sky in the upper right hand corner. Would look nice with a string of penny farthings hurtling down the road. And if you ran into a herd of sheep being moved from one paddock to another it probably wouldn't hurt. As much.

2004-06-09T10:22:00.000+01:00

Pahiutua dairy factory, as owned by Fonterra. Fonterra is New Zealand's - possibly the world's - largest dairy company. Being middle management in Fonterra means stuff like you live in Japan and do heinous deals with all sorts of expensive people. Weirdly, Fonterra isn't a limited company, nor is it listed on any stock exchange. It's a cooperative owned by the dairy farmers. Apparently if it went public it would be about twice the size of Telecom, the NZX's most thoroughly traded, er, thingy. Photographically speaking, note blue sky, puffy clouds and cow food. I wanted to get the discarded black tee shirt and broken beer bottles in as well, but my camera ain't that good.

2004-06-09T00:11:00.000+01:00

Untitled (Abandoned House, Ihuraua) # 1, 2004. Note sheep-food desert.

2004-06-09T00:07:00.000+01:00

Ihuraua Chamber of Commerce building.