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 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

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

Lucie Urbanicova was the most successfull South Canterbury rider being the first open woman and 2nd female overall in the elite woman. David Ashby-Coventry also had a great battle in the elite under 15 age group for 2nd place with pushbikes rider Jacob Stutheridge before crashing near the end.

Emma Prestige, Milan Bodina and Cameron Fitzgerald also competed strongly, unfortunately Kyle Wood , (who was up near the front) and Craig Atwill did not finish.

Emma, Craig, Cameron, David and Simon (who did not race) spent 4 day’s in Hanmer enjoying the tracks. If you get the chance ride “The Threshold” track, after a significant climb you get a very cool piece of endless downhill single track. Brilliant. Sadly my favourite track “Bigfoot” is closed due to forestry operations. If you want an mtb event that is a challange but also a lot of fun ride the Hammerhead. (any race profits also go back into track building) - Thanks Hanmer MTB club.

Simon

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

Wanting to ride in the upcoming XScenic race and want a bit of pre race practice?

The race starts and finishes on the picturesque farm property of Tannaghmore on the south side of the Hinds River, south east of Ashburton.

The Tracks:

• The 35km Classic Track for the seriously competitive rider.
• The 23km Recreational Track for those who may be new to Mountain Biking or who just want to enjoy the challenge of the ride without the pressure of racing.
• The 23km Corporate Track for highly competitive teams.
• The 12km Family Track.

For more information, click on: www.longbeachbikeride.co.nz 

Five South Canterbury teams took part in the event with amazing success.

6 hour - 1st senior men’s and 1^st overall – Wilson Bros Racing ( Kyle Wood, Kelvin Fox and Daron Colvill)

6 Hour – 1^st Junior boy’s – The Mouldy Toenails (Cameron Fitzgerald, Ollie Austin and David Ashby-Coventry)

6 Hour – 1^st Vet mens and 2^nd overall – Save me a Sausage 2 (Craig Atwill, Trevor Prattley and Simon Coventry)

12 hr – 2^nd Open Woman’s – G-Force (Rachel Richards, Emily Watson, Kika Miederhoff and Emma Prestige.

The day was very cold and windy but fortunately the rain stayed away. The previous few day’s rain had left puddles all throughout parts of the track however the actual track is impervious to rain and you could hit the berms as fast as you liked. McLean’s Island has been extended by 5 kms so it was cool to ride some new track and if we weren’t racing there would have been heaps of little jumpy opportunities.

Kyle Wood and Craig Atwill put up the quickest times of the local riders but we were all put to the sword by the incredible young pushbikes boy’s who took out the 12 hour event with some stunning lap times. It is hard to see anyone coming near these boy’s in the Timaru 12 hr.