I’m a “Super Randonneur” again..

 

The Super-Randonneur award is awarded for the completion of 200km/300km/400km/600km rides within a Randonnuering year (Nov 1 – Oct 31). It is also the qualifying requirement for many 1200km events, which was my primary motivation. This is the second time I have completed a Super-Randonneur series, the previous time being while qualifying for Paris-Brest-Paris in 2011. Here is the 2011 medal, I’ll need to wait a while to see what the 2013 edition looks like.

 

 

 

 

Randonneuring (or Audax) rides have a low profile in New Zealand, which is a shame because we have found some nice rides, in very scenic areas. If you would like me on any of these rides give me a yodel or see http://www.kiwirandonneurs.org.nz

 

 

400km – Marlborough Mayhem

Riders: Craig (22h36m); Rita (AB)

Time-limit: 27 hours

 

It is often argued that 400km brevets are the hardest to complete due to being longer than a 300km, but not reducing the average speed enough for a sleep break like a 600km brevet. So, naturally that is what I started with, jammed into the Christmas crunch, was our Marlborough Mayhem 400km brevet. With a desire to qualify for  1200km ride further afield later in the year, I promptly rescheduled my flights home for Christmas and booked a ferry across Cook Strait and back again.

 

As I rode up the long false flat that is the Wairau Valley the misty morning cleared albeit, not enough to allow us to see the mountain vistas of this area. As St Arnaud approached the false flat was replaced by real climbing as we made our way up to this alpine village. With Elaine's cafe which I frequented on many a past tramping trip no longer trading, I bought a snack from the general store, before heading to Kawatiri Junction and up over the Hope. It was soon obvious that I was not a climber as I struggled up the steep pitches.

 

I had a brief flat patch, with zero energy and feeling mildly faint just before reaching Nelson and had to stop for an emergency snack on the cycle way, just moments away from Nelson. I must say that I was very impressed with Nelson's  integrated, and signposted cycle network.

 

Leaving Nelson required climbing the Whangamoa Hill, with sea fog set in on a warm and humid night. There was another bump before dropping into the Rai Valley and onto Havelock well after the shops had closed for the night.

 

I waited a few minutes for Rita to arrive but unfortunately it getting too late, and tiring, she chose to abandon and take a 20km shortcut back to Picton via the hillier route on Queen Charlotte Drive. Meanwhile I proceeded the flatter, but more distant route via Rapura Rd, although I will admit that I did sneek in a much needed needed a ten minute snooze to manage my tiredness en-route back to Picton.

 

 

 

300km – Round the Tararuas

Riders: Craig; Simon; Tim – All 17h51m

Time-limit: 20 hours

 

After Christmas I returned home to Wellington and was joined by Tim and Simon. We were able to meet Paris-Brest-Paris ancien Ed Allen for a snack at our first control in Carterton. Before the devastating heat of the afternoon kicked in, with the thermometer well over 30 degrees for most of the day. In Wellington we think it hot if it reaches 20 degrees! This led to us many time consuming rest-stops to eat more ice-creams, in all contributing to over four hours off our bikes.

 

 

 

600km – Picton – Westport – Picton

Riders: Craig (38h57m); Rita (AB)

Time-limit: 40 hours

 

It briefly looked like we may have had up to five riders for the 600, but after late withdrawals, it was just ride organiser Rita and myself.

Two days beforehand we swapped the route around so that more services would be open, and the overnight rest stop at Murchison could be at 382km instead if 440km. This seemed like a good idea - until getting our bikes at 5am on Saturday morning and riding into a headwind up the long false flat that is the Wairau Valley. At the top at St Arnaud we were a mere 40 minutes ahead of the time limit, so it was starting seem a tad tight even at this early stage. Time for fruitful hours of sleep was already seeming unlikely.

 

We met up with Kiwi Randonneurs stalwart Duncan and Tony in Murchison, where after 290km into the headwind Rita decided it wasn’t much fun and chose to abandon. As for me, this was the only 600km ride I had available for qualifying so I pushed on into wind and rain down the beautiful Buller Gorge to Westport, where all businesses decided to celebrate my arrival at 9pm by either closing or ceasing to be serving anymore food. So, it was nuts and snackbars on a concrete step outside New World (thanks for the extra snacks Duncan – was looking grim).

 

Then it was a climb up to Murchison for a 90 minute sleep in the motel before setting off over the Hope and into Nelson. No sign of the rain of the Buller from the night before as a sun shone and the temperature soared, especially felt when climbing over the Whangamoa Hill. The strategic placement of a control point at Pelorous Bridge for a good pie, didn’t quite work out as all I wanted was anything frozen to help cool me down before the final push around Queen Charlotte Drive and back to Picton.

 

 

200km – Taranaki Spin

Riders: Andrea (12h30m); Craig (12h30m); Rita (8h45m)

Time-limit: 13h30m

 

This was “multi-sport” weekend for Kiwi Randonneurs, with Rita backing up from a half-ironman the day before, and myself from an ascent of Mt Taranaki. I mostly rode with Andrea who was visiting from Brazil, although I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish when I broke two spokes near Stratford. Thankyou ‘Z Stratford’ for the loan of some tools, which enabled me to loosen the in tact spokes so the wheel would turn between the forks and enable me to complete the ride, and my Super Randonneur Series.

 

Our route was a variation on the Round the Mountain which would have only been 150km. Ironically, some of the best riding was in the quiet rural roads, and the scenic finish along the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway (a shared path) which had been added to bring the distance up to the required 200km.

 

Tramping the Lake Dive Loop

Date: 25-27 May, 2012

Punters: Anthony, Craig, John, Paul, Rebecca and Tommy from the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club.

 

I had signed up to lead a trip on Queens Birthday weekend, so after a few years of ultra-distance cycling and not much tramping I thought it best to remember how to walk beforehand. After an ever changing list of punters due to withdrawals (including the assigned trip leader whom I replaced in a bloodless coup) and late entries, six of us met on another WTMC tramping trip that began with introductions as we made our way up to Taranaki where we stayed at the DOC managed Konini Lodge with unusual tramping luxuries including hot showers.

 

Throughout the weekend, the expression of outlandish theories on how to resolve the issue of New Zealand's immigrant Brushtail Possum population dominated the conversation. Suggestions by the Australian member of our party that Brushtail Possums in New Zealand were not fatter than Brushtail Possums in the western isles were soon resolved when an over fed specimen was perfectly lined up under headlights by Paul - until he showed more mercy via the brake pedal to the possum than the possum will itself provide to our native flora. Needless to say as many theories around possible biological, genetic and birth controls were found to be flawed and thus quickly dismissed in the manner as any poorly thought-out conspiracy theory.

Mt Taranaki and Fanthams Peak

 

We rose on Saturday to a clear day with perfect visibility to the snow covered peaks of Fanthams Peak and Mt Taranaki. There are people who visit Taranaki many times without seeing the mountain, so with half our party having never been here were lucky to see a great view of mountain.

 

By sight the Upper Lake Dive Track looked only marginally affected by snow, but after talking with DOC staff before leaving I was advised of the possibility of gullies filled with refrozen snow. I took my ice-axe a precaution to make some big foot-holes if such an eventuality made any members of our party uncomfortable..

 

Sir Edmund Hillary Memorial

Hooker Shelter

 

Stairs leading towards Upper Lake Dive Track & Fanthams Peak

 

 

Our tramp began with the steady, often staircased climb past Hooker Shelter and Kapuni Lodge to the junction of the Upper Lake Dive track and the track to Fanthams Peak. During this steady climb we could see a group in the distance trying to cross a gully filled with firm snow on their way toward Fanthams Peak. With this observation any prior thoughts of dropping our packs for an optional side trip to higher ground quickly evaporated.

 

A little way above the track junction to Kapuni Lodge we met another party coming down the mountain who kindly offered some advice. It is often hard to assess the quality of advice provided by other parties when you briefly meet for 45 seconds or so. There is after all a continuum of advice received in such circumstances ranging from never leave the house paranoia to quality advice all the way through to the she'll be right gung-ho. Therefore it is of course useful to assess how any advice provided might apply to your own party or trip. On this occasion I was advised of treacherous snow and ice filled gullies, "People have here died you know", and that I would drown the survivors in the streams when returning on the lower track with some rain in the forecast.

While I appreciated their concern, the lack of snow and dry streams did suggest that of absurdly paranoid advice. My grandfather once told me you tell a lot a about person by looking at their shoes. Whilst I couldn't care less weather their boots had been freshly polished I did note that while they had nice shiny gear, they were currently walking on dirt in crampons having just walked down wooden steps that had neither ice or  snow covering then. I thanked them for their advice and that I was aware that there were showers in the forecast and continued on to Lake Dive.

 

We had no wind and mostly clear clear conditions across the Upper Lake Dive Track. There were some small pockets of soft snow and certainly no ice or hard snow. The track offered views across to inland Taranaki farmland "Somewhere" and overlooking the native forest surrounding Mt Taranaki. There are few places that show possum damage to the forest as evidently as here with numerous skeletons of solid native trees that now have neither foliage nor life.

 

Having not been tramping of late I could feel my knees a little after what is an easy descent down to Lake Dive Hut. On arrival we met a group of students who were using this tramp toward their Duke of Edinborough awards. While they were doing there homework we began playing the cardgame "Hearts". Seeing the Duke of Edinborough students studying their maps and recalling what they passed through during the day did make me think an easy trip using this approach could be an alternative method of delivering the clubs Bushcraft courses.

 

Our epic battle over cards was temporarily interrupted by more important things - our stomachs. A minor crisis was averted with some surgery performed with the help of Anthony to recover the fuel hose which detached from the fuel pump of my primus into the the middle of the full fuel bottle. Once reattached we set about getting on with the meal. We all had a collection of ingredients assigned to us by trip leader Paula (absent), and whilst Paul, flatmate of Paula lived in the same house as Paula he hadn't a clue as to the recipe. A fine team effort was co-ordinated to create a fine meal of satay noodles which was gratefully consumed by all.

 

As our card game resumed, the DoE students began playing "the famous person game" and become more and more boisterous. No matter how much sugar we ate via our oversupply of chocolate biscuits we were simply unable to compete both in decibels and pitch. Some funny lines were heard which I am sure we can credit the students as providing solely for the means of our entertainment:

"Is the fire on?" "No, the fire is going. You can't just turn it on"

and

"Invented the iPod" "Isaac Newton"

errr, I think Mr Newton was inspired by a different apple!

 

As the students suddenly ran out of sugar and disappeared to bed promptly, the lack of background noise and distractions made the game ever the more tense. Once Paul completed his convincing win while subtly hiding in the corner and not bringing any attention to himself we soon followed suit.

 

During the night, a gale westerly came up with the express purpose of proving to us that Lake Dive Hut is in fact, very securely fastened to its foundations.

 

 

 

With the arrival of daylight we timed our exit of the hut perfectly. It started to rain the moment we stepped out the door. The track appeared to have a lot of recent maintenance and was nowhere near as muddy as I recalled from a previous visit. Without the warmth of the sunshine, we walked faster, rested less and made good time back to Dawson Falls via the Lake Dive Lower Track. Thoughts of extending the trip around the Dawson Falls loop walk were quickly dashed with the kind offer of a hot shower at Konini Lodge.

 

Driving home

Yarrows Taranaki Cycle Challenge 2010

A night under my tent at North Egmont shared with possums chewing - the trees, not my tent! With a clear and moonlit sky I knew I was about to actually ride in an organised cycle event on a beautiful sunny day. I am not sure when this last occurred but it was long enough ago for me to appreciate it. I have ridden around this mountain and barely seen it four times before – twice in cycling events and twice while cycle touring. Could riding around the cloud be replaced with riding around the mountain on this day? Yes it can!

Ride Data:
Distance:	152km	7,549 Calories
Time:	5h03m50s	30 km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 1145m	Descent: 1142m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	New Plymouth, NZ	30 January 2010

The Yarrows Taranaki Cycle Challenge is a well organised and supported event. There were close to 2,000 participants this year, while dwarfed by the 12,000 Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge participants it is one of the larger cycling events in New Zealand.

With the undulating hills between New Plymouth and Okato at the start of the route I was quickly into a group of cyclists relative to my current (non) fitness level. Without much breeze this time, the route through to Opunake went quickly in 2h31m, some 38 minutes quicker than in the gale force winds of the Round the Mountain on a similar route two weeks prior. While I had already made a sizable time improvement, better conditions were most noticed after turning left out of Opunake for the climb up to Kaponga and onto Eltham. The Te Kiri relay interchange wissed by as bunch that was moving well. Quite a change from the previous time struggling just to move in a forwards direction. I stayed on the bunch until just shy of Kaponga when I dropped a little off the back swapping my drink bottles around. As I pedalled harder to try and rejoin the bunch it went down for no obvious reason. Lack of concentration and wheels touching I suspect. Not such a bad time to have let them go. Safely around the bunch (for me) it was mostly solo riding to the finish. Through the first 100km to Eltham in 3h21m I was now a remarkable 1h17m ahead of my time at the same place from only two weeks ago.

With recollections of barely pedalling from Eltham to New Plymouth I was looking forward to the last 50km. With no 120km/h southerly at my back on this occasion I quickly noted the fact that from Eltham to Midhurst it is uphill. With an afternoon breeze building, while not strong was enough to hold back a little on the way through to Inglewood and down to New Plymouth. It was a warm day and just shy of Inglewood I was finished my third and final drink bottle. As I past each of the remaining organised drink refill stations I looked at the stations and at my bottles and thought to myself “There’s no way I’m stopping” as continued in an ultimately futile pursuit of a sub-five hour ride. With the temperature close to 30degC and I was feeling a tad dehydrated when I reached the finish in 5h3m50s. Under five hours would have been nice, but can’t complain about being 1h7m faster than a mere fortnight ago.

With good weather there were some fast times set today. Unusually however, the quickest recreational riders finished a minute or so quicker than the winner of the more serious premier race which started after the recreational event as the temperature rose. Warmer or not, an amazing 61 riders from the recreational solo category were around the mountain quicker than Matthew Gorter’s Premier winning time of 3h53m33s.

Egmont National Park: Pouakai Circuit “closed”?

My original intentions were to climb to the summit of Mt Taranaki today. I chickened on the forecast for high winds and periods of rain. Having cycled Round the Mountain the previous day in gale-force southerlies and seeing the dark clouds dumping rain on the Tararuas to the south I decided to believe the forecast with a leisurely non-alpine start of 10am.

Trip Data:
Distance:	25.37 km	6,029 Calories
Time:	8:03	19 min/km
Elevation:	Ascent: 1697m	Descent: 1711m
Trail Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	North Egmont, NZ	17 January 2010

 

The Pouakai Range lies to the North of Mt Taranaki and as such generally offers much better weather during a southerly weather pattern. I last did this circuit as a two-day tramp way back in 2001. Today I intended to use just a day before the “convenient” five-hour drive home to Wellington.

 

I began the walk passing signs that said something similar to:

Pouakai Circuit:

Track closed between Pouakai and Egmont Road closed.  The swingbridge over the Waiwhakaiho River gorge has been washed out.

I consulted my map for alternatives should I not be able to get across the river. There seemed to be a few alternatives to avoid the gorge, or a worst case three-hour diversion around it. This was enough for me to proceed and figure out what to do when I got there.

 

On the way to Holly Hut I passed two other parties that were returning to North Egmont having not proceeded beyond Holly Hut after seeing similar signs posted inside Holly Hut. Since leaving Holly Hut the second party had spoken to someone checking stoat traps whom was adamant that the swingbridge had been replaced and that they now had regretted not continuing around the circuit. Cool! I may not need to make use of the three hour diversion later in the day :). With all the track closed signs posted I never saw anyone else until after I had returned to the carpark at North Egmont.

 

The route from North Egmont to Holly Hut is well marked and very easy to follow. The

travel is easy apart from a few sections crossing land-slips where a little more care is required. The route starts off climbing from North Egmont before becoming gently undulating as you traverse the North-East side of Mt Taranaki. The expanse of the Ahukawakawa Swamp comes into view with “The Dome” as you head towards to Holly Hut.

 

Holly Hut is large and sophisticated with a solar system charging electric lighting! Now theres something you never see in the Tararuas.

 

Heading off to Pouakai from Holly Hut you walk around The Dome which is essentially a large lava bubble from past volcanic activty and follow the boardwalk system over the Ahukawakawa Swamp. Whilst walking over the boardwalk and swamp views ahead of the climbs up to Pouakai, Maude and Henry Peak are in prominent view. There is a nice picnic and viewing area part way across the swamp.

 

Once across the swamp, a staircase (Stairway to Heaven No1) has you rapidly rising towards Pouakai. After passing a side track up to the Pouakai Summit (no time for this for me today) the track down to Pouakai is soon reached – 1h30m from Holly Hut.

 

Pouakai Hut is sun filled with a huge deck overlooking New Plymouth and the Taranaki coastline. Of course, inside the hut there were the obligatory “Track closed to Egmont Road…..”. Best I get moving in case I need to make that diversion.

 

Soon after re-joining the track after leaving Pouakai the “Henry Peak staircase” (Stairway to Heaven No2) is prominently visible. The track leads around Maude Peak rather than over it before dropping into a saddle before what is surely the most extensive staircase I have seen in the backcountry. Last time I was here I was walking a waist deep trench from the erosion of trampers walking over it and then the water flowing down it. Now, wow what a massive staircase. Thankyou to all those who have put so much effort into building it.

 

Once at the top of the “Henry Peak Staircase”, about an hour from Pouakai Hut, a large viewing platform offers views over Holly Hut, The Dome and Ahukawakawa Swamp. An excellent overview of the past five hours of walking.

 

The descent from Henry Peak begins on boardwalk before descending into the beech forest that leads to Kaiaua Shelter which is about a further hour down the track. It is a bit of leap from Kaiaua Shelter into the Kai Auahi Stream before the stepped and laddered theme of this route resumes. Once reaching the Waiwhakaiho River the brand new swingbridge recently installed my the Department of Conservation was a welcome site.

 

As I passed a sign saying: “North Egmont Visitors Centre via Road 45 min; Visitors Centre via track 1hr 30min” I made what I consider a mistake of following the shorter route via the road. It was a 27 minute walk among the smell of the possum roadkill. While for the New Zealand forests, possums are better dead than alive, I was ready to dive back into the forest edge if an oncoming vehicle came speeding around the next corner. Becoming the next item of roadkill was certainly not on my agenda! I would certainly choose the track if I did this again!

 

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Walking times:	Signposted:	Me:
North Egmont to Holly Hut:	4hrs	2hrs 30min
Holly Hut to Pouakai Hut:	2 to 3 hrs	1hr 29min
Pouakai Hut to North Egmont Visitors Centre:	5 to 7 hrs	4hrs 3min
Times shown in this table and inline blog text above are indicative only. Travel times in the backcountry are variable depending on fitness, terrain, the size of your party, weather conditions and stopping times for snacks, photography, your interest in botany and such like.
You can find more information on the Pouakai Circuit at DOC's website.

Round the Mountain against a Southerly Draft

The Round the Mountain is a 150km recreational event around Mt Taranaki. It also offers relay, and ‘bone collector’ events for teams of riders that do not wish to ride the 150km on the roads around Mt Taranaki. With Mt Taranaki shy and hiding behind the clouds all day “Round the Cloud” may have been more applicable.

Camping at the sheltered Lucy’s Gully the night before, a balmy 28degC in my tent I had no idea of the strength of the southerly gales until I got out of the car at the start at the Pukekura Park raceway.

Ride Data:
Distance:	149km	6,396 Calories
Time:	6:11:22	24.1 km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 1539m	Descent: 1530m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	New Plymouth, NZ	16 January 2010

Although I have ridden in plenty of strong winds before (it comes with living in Wellington). What was new to me was how persistent they were. In Wellington it is very hilly and you fight into the breeze and find a cutting, gully or bay for an ever so slight breather before the wind hits you again. The Taranaki is largely flat, dairy farmed plains and aside from the significant bump of Mt Taranaki in the middle is relatively flat. This leaves absolutely nowhere to hide to get a brief respite from the gales.

Once away from the lee of Mt Taranaki, the southerly hit somewhere near Okato, it was all gale-force head and cross winds from here all the way through to Eltham. Fortunately I found myself in a good sized bunch climbing up from Opanake but unfortunately it lost its form after relay riders with fresh legs joined at Te Kiri. I was relieved when we were through to Kaponga but had forgotten it was still a good 15km to Eltham and the alleged tailwind. Heading toward Eltham I was starting to wonder if I would make the finish in under seven hours! Something I never contemplated prior to the event!

Once in Eltham, with an average speed a mere 21.4km/h the going certainly did get easier. There was a tailwind this time and not that all too frequent riding in a circle with a headwind the whole way. This was a very good thing!

From Stratford to Inglewood was a gentle downhill with a gale-force tailwind. A very sweetride often at over 60km/h, even after being tired from the first 100km/h of headwinds! For some reason the area between Inglewood and Egmont Village was slow going before picking up the pace again.

The 50km of tailwind was a fantastic way to finish the ride after questioning myself why I do this most weekends when I was riding into the gales for near 100km! Phew! Made it in a 6h11m.