NzoLand

A chance meeting with a customer at the Moonride provided some excitement for next summer… a new trail being built through the Pureora Forest west of Lake Taupo is part of the national Cycleway project and follows an old tramline for 70kms through the forest. The trail will include the Ongarue Spiral, a clever bit of engineering that allowed the tramline to traverse some steep country. The trail will also use tunnels and original cuttings used for the tramline. The customer who told us all this is an engineer on the present project, with the company building the bridges required. I didn’t really grasp the scope of this part of the operation until I saw these photos. This bridge spans an 85m deep canyon and will be a hoot to try to ride over. I am fervently hoping they add a bunch of wire mesh or something to make falling off the thing less likely. I am sure they will.

The last day of their visit saw Megan &  Alistair back in the redwoods. We all went for a nice little lap of the lower trails, and got Megan back to the carpark in one piece. She was satisfied with that and had some shopping to do, so Al and I gave ourselves an hour to go and ride Corners.

That was a bit optimistic, but Al swore it was worth the effort of getting up there (a couple of hundred metres above the carpark) and getting back late (I gave him the option, on the way back, of “more singletrack, or quickly back down the road?” He chose singletrack.

We had spent a couple of sessions in Whakarewarewa forest as wisely as I could, and hadn’t even scratched the surface really. I think Alistair got tired of having trail heads pointed out “for next time”. I am pretty sure they will be back.

We had plenty of time to drop back into town, have a leisurely lunch at Capers, and get everybody where they needed to be by flight time.

The rain we have been enjoying down here was clearing, and we started thinking about riding for Day 2. Although Rotorua’s trails dry out after rain faster than most places, they were pretty wet and would be better left for a day or so to get to their sublime best. There is another Rotorua attraction that dries out even quicker that the redwoods: Taupo! We decided to meet Al’s friend Jonty down in Taupo for Day 2 and ride W2K, a great trail for almost any weather.

Megan had figured out that there is more to Rotorua than bike riding and was planning a day of R&R, a visit to a spa, and the pampering and hot soaks on offer there.

So it was just me and Al, headed south via the Mihi Cafe at Golden Springs, my new half-way-to-Taupo coffee stop. We met Jonty and headed out to Whakaipo Bay where the W2K trail starts. The sun was shining and the carpark was more or less empty when we rolled out at 10.30. The trail was mostly dry but in places where the sun could not reach there were small mud patches, usually really slippery on top of a hard base, and right in the apex of corners. They were not on every corner, just enough to make barreling into a blind curve inadvisable unless there was clearly a berm to fetch up against should the corner prove to be one of the slippery ones. Good fun.

The Tickled Trout cafe was open in Kinloch, the halfway point for our ride, and the lunch was really good. It would have been easy to kick back there for the afternoon but there was a hill to be climbed and a downhill to be enjoyed so we gave the meal about 10 minutes to integrate with our systems and headed back up the trail.

Day 3 for Megan and Alistair is a day off the bike, and a drive down to Hawkes Bay for some wine tasting. I told Al that is a long way to go for the day, but he reckoned 2.5 hours each way was only a bit further than a trip to the dairy (he actually said milk bar) where he comes from.

Megan and Alistair are the lucky winners of the competition we ran in conjunction with Air New Zealand, Rotorua Airport, Central Park, RideRotorua.com and Okareka Cottage. They won a direct flight from Sydney to Rotorua, accomodation at Okareka Cottage, and a bit of assistance form us in getting around and doing the things that make Central Park such a great visit.

Although it is very simple to bring a bike along for a weekend, we decided to source bikes locally. Bike Culture came to the party with a Santa Cruz Blur for Alistair. Cycle Zone has a great fleet of hire bikes and we selected a Specialized for Megan.

Arrival at 2.40 into Rotorua meant we could transport the visitors to their lodgings at Okareka, get Alistair set up for a ride, and be in the woods by 3.30. That is one the great things about a direct flight into Rotorua and we were keen to make the most of it.

We got in a magic loop of the lower trails, there were a fair amount of puddles and a bit of mud around but Alistair still came out with a huge smile on his dial.

One of the things that still amazes me after over a decade riding around here, is how quickly it comes good after rain. Even biblical type stuff, all it takes is a couple of days of wind and a bit of sun and the trails are mostly dry again. Still, there are times when the weekend doesn’t coincide with one of these dry spells, and you have made the trip anyway. Your bike is ready, your buddies are here with you, and your motel room is getting smaller by the minute. You GOT to go riding.

You can, and not get in too much of a mess or damage the trails too much. You just have to choose your trails wisely. I will assume you have a map and can follow it. Your big loop if you are pretty good riders should start from the carpark and go up Nursery and Katore Roads to Gunna Gotta. Unless it is pissing down this trail is cool. It drains well. Follow it through to A Trail and Tickler, then go up Direct Rd, Lobotomy, to the start of Billy T. Ride that, turn left to Loop Rd/Split Enz. Head down that to Pondy New, follow the road to StirFry and Sweet & Sour. Take Dragons Tail or Be Rude Not To, then ride the road back to your car.

If you are not up for such a big ride, or your group is less skilled, ride out of the carpark onto Tahi Trail, follow on to Creek, then on to Nursery Road. Take the road to Ball & Chain, follow that through to Yellow Brick Road, turn left after that to go up to Pondy New, then follow the directions above back to the carpark.

Other trails that hold up well in the wet are Genesis, Challenge, Turkish/Soakhole, Hot X Buns, RockDrop, Rosebank.

Trails to avoid are the Dipper, or up on the hill any of Tuhoto Ariki, Huckleberry Hound/Little Red Riding Huck, and Corners. Unless you LIKE mud and carnage, in which these are the ones to head for.

On Saturday I went along with a posse of friends who had entered the inaugural T42, a race though the 42 Traverse near National Park in the middle of the North Island. As this group don’t own a geared mountain bike between them, I took my singlespeed along to show solidarity. Driving through pissing rain on Friday night I was feeling pretty good about  that feature of the weekend – mud was on the menu. The only  thing worse that riding a long way on a hilly course with one gear is grinding a perfectly good multispeed drivetrain into a worn out pile of junk in less than three hours. On arrival The Park was awash with bikes (literally, as DoC insisted on de-Didymising bikes and shoes prior to kickoff, and the forecourt was covered with suds). Registration was in the bar, which had various beverages flowing and a fire to sit around. This is a great concept I think all events should get into.

Race day dawned grey but dry, and we got ourselves up to the start courtesy of Kate’s mum Jen, 4 riders and their bikes constituting almost the entire singlespeed category (not that there was one) crammed into Kate’s little wagon. C T-B worked his way up to the front of the horde, while DB and Kate joined me near the back. The race started in a sort of semi-swamp of cowshit, but soon enough we were on the 42, which turned out to be very onespeed friendly. The quads that haunt the area have created excellent berms on all the corners – the downhills were really good fun. The climbs were interesting – the single gear meant I was either climbing faster than I usually do or walking, with no other option available. The race finished in a paddock behind Owhango, which was surrounded by forest and must have looked much the same for the last 50 years… fantastic kiwi setting for a race through the heart of the North Island. Factoid: Owhango means “the place of wheezy noises”. I certainly made some of those getting  there.

To our collective amazement, we all finished in the top half of the field. We chose the early BBQ sitting (excellent), but the combination of the long and arduous day and a huge pile of food knocked us out like Nelson’s eye, and we were all asleep by 9, sort of wasting the fireside ambience of the crowded bar.
The morning after presented a bluebird central plateau scene, with Ruapehu carrying a fresh dusting of snow. The photo is from our breakfast position, has my corn flakes cropped out and a goofy sign we saw on the way home grafted in.

All in all a great weekend away, give this event serious consideration next year. Yes, yes I know it is a long way from your place, but you can fly into Rotorua, ride yourself silly, and do this as well.

We have come up with an excellent addition to the Soigneur range, which I can’t show you yet (secret) but I did wear a sample of it for the T42. It was as brilliant at maintaining optimal temperature and looking generally cool as you would expect, was lusted after by my roommates, the race winner Cabin and the Olympian Kashi alike, and was completely caked in mud by the finish. Today it hangs in the breeze after laundering and looks like new. If you are game to take a Soigneur top off road, it will handle it.

This week we are launching a new type of product we have been trying to land for a long time: the T shirt that thinks it’s a sports top. And to get you started down this new path we are doing the first week’s sales at $25 a pop.
Most of us live in T shirts, and a lot of you ride in them. They feel nice and comfy, and you can wear them on any occasion, not just when you are riding. Life is complicated enough without having stuff you can only wear at certain times.
Nzo and Schoeller have collaborated on the 3XDRY cotton T. That is right: 100% cotton, a regular T shirt (admittedly, a very nice one) that has been made to wick and disperse moisture on the inside, and repel water (and dirt and and other debris) on the outside. This stuff happens at a microscopic level so the whole thing still feels like a normal T.
I am always dubious about the claims of fabric designers regarding the performance of their products, I run best in cooler temperatures and am inclined to be dripping sweat when it gets warm, moreso than most people. I took one of these 3XDRY Ts for a comprehensive trail test yesterday, and here is my honest report:
It was a mint late summer day, a little humid, little cloud cover.
The ride was 2.5 hours at an honest pace, and took in two decent sized hills, one of which took half an hour of solid climbing including 15 minutes in the granny ring on a gravel fire road in direct sun.
First off, it felt weird but kind of neat just stepping out of the car into my riding gear, and hitting the trail. After half an hour or so we started to really go uphill, and into the sun, and I confess, I got pretty warm. It is a cotton T shirt, no doubt about it. After the big climb we staopped for a minute ot two and I was sweating like a monkey, but strangely the shirt was not really wet and felt quite cool against the skin.
As soon as we started the long singletrack descent I was cooled off, at least as quickly as in a polyester riding top. The Schoeller info had said this would be one of the effects of the 3XDRY treatment, and it worked. By the bottom of the hill I felt dry except for the bit under my pack. We had half an hour of undulating trail to get back to the cars and worked up another head of steam, but on inspection at the end of the ride the shirt was only noticeably wet directly under the pack pads, and some of the harness. The whole thing felt kind of damp, but not even as wet as my bike top would feel after the same outing. I have decided that for me, the 3XDRY will be the go for any ride in the woods except a real epic or a race.
I was guiding some American visitors as well as testing the T shirt, and they came out to the barn to see the global headquarters of NzoLand. They browsed the website and departed with a couple of pairs of Dobies (never seen anything like them) and a small bale of 3XDRY Ts. Perfect day really, from my perspective.