42nd Traverse ride

I have been a bit slack lately. Not really sure what the issue is but I am suffering from a motivational crisis that seems to be impacting on most things - work, blogging, bike maintenance, at the weekend even riding suffered. I am going to have to drag myself out of this rut I am sliding into. I mean this was an awesome ride, but it happened over a week ago

Last weekend was the Vorb "mobbing" of the 42nd Traverse ride. 38 riders from all over the North Island, mostly Vorbii, headed to National Park in Tongariro National Park for a sifty ride of the 42nd Traverse. My friend and I took a day off work and left Auckland in the Audi, earliesh Friday morning to ride "Tree Trunk Gorge" as well.

Tree trunk gorge is a shared walk/ride track 22 Km's south of Turangi. We arrived at the trail head in the middle of the afternoon, after a leisurely drive on a very nice day.
The ride starts off with 5km sealed road descent down to the Tongariro River bridge.

















There were 2 crosses at the bridge and a sign warning rafters to exit the river at this point. When you look down into the gorge you can see why, the river is very fast even though the water level is extremely low. Faster the bridge there was a further 500 metres of sealed road climb before the track began.





















The track itself is only 4.7kms long and is primarily double track with some nice river crossings and rocky sections thrown in.
Even though the track is down inside the gorge the scenery is great, following the river through lovely native beech forest. The ride is generally downhill with a gentle gradient with 1 steep climb in the middle which we walked up. The track ends at a section of road that goes to the “Pinnacles of Hercules” bridge, sadly the bridge had been taken down when we arrived and a new bridge was to be built. The view from the bridge would be awesome!

This also left us with having to ride back the way we came, which was a shame. We did however use a piece of walking only track to avoid the road back the main track.







This kilometre stretch of tight, twisty, flowy single track was a highlight of the weekend for me – and we were not the first people to ride it either. The return trip through Tree trunk gorge was more enjoyable, the climb was easier and the downhill section was steep, rocky and a blast, so much better than the climb up. To cap it all off I got into a good rhythm on the road section back to the car and actually enjoyed the climb, my inner roadie was showing itself!











After the ride, we drove down to National Park, to check into the lodge and find some food, a beer (or 3), and some of our riding colleagues for the next day. We had a fairly early night ready for the 42nd.

Saturday dawned as a stunning day, completely cloudless sky, not too cold that shorts and short sleeved shirt would not be the perfect riding gear. Breakfast was had and by 9.00 AM the 2 buses and trailers with 38 bikers and their steeds were loaded up. (A good sign – we were on time, a rarity in biking circles).



















We had a very slow 18km drive to the start of the ride, a few group photos were taken, a few warnings given about the nature of the ride, the conditions and how quickly the weather can change and we were off. I chose to ride with the fast pack and we quickly chewed up the first 17km to the top of the first of the steep downhill sections.




















The trail is a four wheel drive track with a mix of rutted clay, large stones and gravel surface. I had a nice crash on the down hill, my front wheel shot out on and dropped into a clay rut and I was over the bars before I knew what happened. I lost a thin layer of skin in patches on both arm and legs but nothing major, after a quick lowering of the seat I was back on and off down the track again.
The downhill went on for a long time, finally ending in a great river crossing at the bottom of the valley. There were some awesome views of the park and surrounding mountains, and occasionally we stopped for snaps. After the river the track ambled up hill for 8km;s were there was a group stopped for ‘lunch’. At this point I found I had broken a spoke, so we I ripped that out, tightened a couple of others and took off after my friend. About 10km’s after that I snapped my chain and had to wait for someone with a chain tool to come by and rescue me. With 38 riders I knew someone would have 1… After a slow chain repair we took off for a final stop at the Owhango pub.




The pub is the official end of the ride and where the bus comes to collect riders and return them to the start. After 3 half hours of riding, 45 kms of track and a total of 900 metres of descending it was great to sit in the sun and sink a couple of beers.