After yesterday’s tiring ride I decided to take a flat route and go north up past the airport before turning east and seeking out gravel tracks. Early on in the ride the gravel was pretty good for the most part, taking me through forests and through rural scenery past fields of cows.
The first “memory” on this ride was made when the navigation took me through a stone quarry land, past their Private Property sign… well the red line on my GPS said go straight through, so I did. I was soon riding through a lumpy grass field and over some gravel trails. Everything seemed to be going ok until I came to the end of the trail, there was a locked gate and fencing with barbed wire everywhere. There was no way over the gate with a bike, so I had to “carefully” go through the barbed wire fencing. First the bike, then the backpack, then me – trying not to get caught on the wire!
Safely through that obstacle course, I was riding through more forests and gravel tracks for miles when I came across a guy in a Range Rover who was marking the start line for a gravel race that starts on Sunday – 2 days away. This company puts on several races each year https://www.bridgetobridge.co.nz so would be a good one to follow if you want to race in NZ.
Once the packed gravel trails ended, I found myself in the wetlands of the South Western Pacific Ocean, and this is where the riding sometimes turned into walking… Let me explain. The wetlands are subject to tidal action and so that tends to move a lot of silt and sand over the trails. There are places where I was making good time as the trail was mud but firm. Then out of the blue I hit 2″ deep sand, and the bike just stops… abruptly! There were a few occasions where I was sure I would launch over the handlebars and join the feathered friends in the air :-). Narrowly missing a few falls from the bike in deeper sections of sand converted my bike ride into a “hike a bike” walk. The scenery more than made up for this inconvenience and the solitude was absolute, it was just me and the birds, plus the ocean audio track.
In a few places the trail was overrun with water, and where there is water and silt there is deep mud. Sometimes you can circumnavigate it, and sometimes you had to go right through the middle and hope that you didn’t get stuck and fall… I was lucky and managed to remain relatively clean 🙂
The challenges were worth it though for a view like this…
Eventually, the trail got so sandy it was pretty much impossible to ride anymore so I found a road that ran parallel with the coastal track and kept heading south, at a normal speed rather than 2 mph. Those roads landed me in Spencer Park and the start of a really wonderful forest trail. The locals called this a mountain bike trail, but a gravel bike had no difficulty on this packed, relatively smooth surface.
This forest trail seemed to go on forever and was the most enjoyable part of the ride in my book! The bonus was it ran parallel to the ocean which was just behind the trees on the left. There were small clearings where you could make your was up through the tree line and get a pristine view of the Pacific Ocean… Hardly a soul in sight on the sandy beaches, if you want to have some alone time… this is the place!
Finally, it was time to return to Christchurch after a ride that turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. Riding through sand saps your energy, provided you can even stay on the bike! Christchurch has some nice promenades for mixed use (walking, biking), and it was a wonderful experience to ride the bike through the city center in these areas without competing with the cars and buses.
All routes back to the hotel seem to go through the park. It is enormous, and the trees are absolutely fantastic. The city has done a great job keeping and maintaining its green spaces. On this sunny day it was host to a lot of locals and some tourists for sports, picnics, and leisurely walks among the towering shade trees.
The route today was ridden in a clockwise direction and although I knew the weather forecast was for strong winds out of the North East it was amazing that no matter which direction I was riding, the wind was nearly always in my face… I mean… what’s up with that??
Gallery
