South Canterbury Mountain Bike Club

Hey all,

Just a note to let everyone know that it’s that time of year again, (where has the summer gone?)

The Monday night, night rides are starting up again!

All riders are welcome (the more, the better!) and the rides will be a no-drop-ride!! i.e. riding pace will be set by the slowest rider!!

All riders should have their own lights capable of riding in the trees!!

We’ll be meeting at 6.00pm at the Church Street entrance to the Scenic.

Any queries, come and see me at the shop or email info@bikeinc.co.nz

Cheers

Darren

The Government recently purchased St James Station in the back of Hanmer and reverted it to a conservation area. Being 78,000 ha it has some great day and multi day rides in it and below are two of them.

The best one I have done so far is the Lake Guyon loop starting from Lake Tennyson over Maling Pass and down into the Waiau River valley to Lake Guyon.

Lake Guyon (above) has a small but comfortable DOC hut (below) on its shore.

The track then heads around the lake past the historic Stanleyvale Hut then turns to up to Fowlers Pass. Much of this section to the summit is un-rideable, after which is a great single track ride down to Tophouse Road then an 8km ride back to Lake Tennyson.

The second ride is over Edwards Pass and following the Edwards River until it meets the Waiau River.

Below is an old musterers hut called Scotties Camp which is still usable today.

The track up the Waiau River can suffer from washouts as shown below, this one was about 10m deep.

I headed up river hoping to cross at an old swing bridge as the river was high and unsafe to cross.

But on arrival I found the swing bridge closed and a bit unreliable.

So I had to back track to the car and head up to Lake Tennyson to do the Lake Guyon loop.

Above is the view of the Waiau River valley from Charlies Saddle.

Article and photos by Wally Guise

This is wide river valley on the edge of Arthurs Pass National Park and is a trial by DOC to see how mountain biking goes within a national park.  The ride starts from the Mt White road and drops down into the valley.

The track then generally follows the river up the valley on a well formed 4WD track.

This track eventually runs out and you can either turn back at this point or as I did carry the bike for about 2km to the Poulter hut for a nights stay and explore the area.

There is a small amount of singetrack past the hut heading up to Lake Michin pictured below but probably better to walk I think.

Here’s a map…

Article & Photos by Wally Guise

The intention is to run regular club evening rides out at Taiko over the summer. The first ride will be Tuesday 15 December. Meet at 6.30pm at the gun club. (Pareora Ford rd). Any queries email Simon.  literati@xtra.co.nz

In the new year we will look at a regular fortnightly time slot.

4 October & 11 October 2009

Over the winter, Club members have built a downhill course and cross country course in a forest block on James Jameson’s property - Pareora Ford Road. We have previously held Choc fish races out there.

The Downhill course is rideable by cross country riders with average skills, but does have jumps that you may wish to (and can) go around.

On 18 October we are assisting with the Aoraki Secondary Schools MTB champs out there and would like to get the course run in a bit.

Meet at SBS Stadium 8.30am both days.

Please do not enter the property independently as the gun club also utilise part of the property and we do not want to get in their way.

Simon Coventry

literati@xtra.co.nz

Leaving Timaru about 8am, 13 keen Mountainbikers headed  to North Opuha on what promised to be a stunning day.

Starting off with a short climb to get warmed up, the spectacular North Opuha basin loomed into view  after a few kilometers, showing why it is now a conservation area.  

On arrival at the historic musterers’ hut we had a poke around, a bite to eat then back onto our trusty steeds for the ride back out.

A great ride on a great day  - many thanks to Kelvin and Paul for organizing it.

Well worth a look if you’re up that way.  Total distance to the hut and back is about 19km.

Here’s a ride profile:

Hi All - please see the following from Alan Johns

New track just opened for anyone who doesn’t know about it already. It starts from the railway track, Claremont end. It turns off 100 feet before you get to the first seat, you turn to your right and it drops down through the creek and joins up with the original low track - as you can see in the photo - Kev’s showing how it’s done. Kev’s hard work in building this for us all should be acknowledged. Thanks Alan

McLeans Island in the morning

• 11km one-way loop - no oncoming traffic
• Buffed singletrack, bermed corners mostly through pine forest
• No climbs (other than up ‘n’ down stopbanks)
• Suitable for all abilities - great for families, even with quite young children (so long as they can cope with the distance)
• Suitable even in inclement weather
• 25 minutes to 1 hour per lap - the fast guys ‘n’ gals can do multiple laps!

Check out http://www.onyourbike.co.nz/ for details. McLeans Island is between Christchurch Airport and the Waimakariri River - the entrance to the MTB track is opposite Orana Park.

BYO lunch

Port Hills singletrack in the afternoon

• 20+ kilometre loop
• 2+ hours

We’ll start from a car park above the Sign of the Takahe in Cashmere, so no huge climb: 5 minutes of tarseal up to Victoria Park, then climbing offroad for 15 minutes will have us up to the Summit Road, just below Sugarloaf Transmitter. Admire the view across the city and plains to the Alps and catch your breath before turning left (East) and ride flowing singletrack along Bowenvale Traverse Track probably as far as the top of Rapaki Track.

Return the way we came but continue past Sugarloaf, dropping down Thomsons Track past the Sign of the Kiwi (maybe an icecream?) and a short tarseal climb along the Summit Road to the top of Worsleys Road, then down Marleys Hill Track (aka “Flying Nun”) onto Old Dyers Pass Track then a short climb back to the waiting cars.

This ride is 80% singletrack, 10% 4WD track, 10% tarseal

I would describe it as moderately difficult singletrack - narrow, with frequent obstacles - a few (mainly very short - often only 10 metres or so) stretches may be easier walked. Some technical ability and confidence is required. If you aren’t comfortable riding the more technical tracks in the Scenic, you may find this ride challenging in places.
Check out http://www.onyourbike.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=30 for some good photos of what to expect on the easier sections of track.

Check out http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Cycling/TracksRides/PortHills.asp for more details on the tracks, and track reports. Note that as at yesterday many of the tracks were closed due to the recent rain, however the tracks I’ve selected above are very quick-drying (except for Old Dyers Pass Track, which we can avoid if need be). In the absence of any more significant rain, I’m reasonably confident the tracks will be open by next weekend.

Obviously, the Port Hills are exposed and so this ride is weather-dependent. It’s not a nice place to be in a howling southerly! We’ll keep Bottle Lake Forest as a backup - lots of great tracks with plenty of shelter.

More details next week as to car-pooling, meeting times and places

Hope lots of you can make it

Ken

Chris Thomas has organized the following Club Ride for this weekend.

Start and finish the ride at Michael Little’s farm, (Little Road, off Cave Pareora Road). Start time 10.30am.

Meet at the Aorangi Park car park on Morgans Road, Timaru at 9.30am to car pool.

The proposed course is quite demanding and hilly, exposed to weather and wet so members will need to be well prepared with wet weather gear and good fitness levels. The track would not be marked out and we would be riding through areas with stock so we would need to ride as a group.

Approximately 20 kilometres and 2 – 3 hours

If the weather is looking dodgy, watch out for an email or listen to cancellations on Port FM on Sunday morning or contact Chris Thomas: chris@specialevents.co.nz