Veeery nice ride on Sat. Started out under the clouds and freezing cold, but by the time we got 20 min up the hill we popped out into the most gorgeous day in the mountains!! Sooo nice when you know it is freezing down in the valley and you are up on the tops in beautiful weather 😆

Couple of hours to get up to the top of the hill. Amazing on the ridgeline… and then dropping off down the scree slope to the pass on the other side was a real mind blower!! You cant see the pass that you are dropping to down the scree because the hill slope starts gentle and gets steeper and steeper… so as you start to roll (sllide??) down the scree the vista just opens out and it gets steeper you get to see more and more of the scree slope untill the whole thing is opened out in front of you and you are miles up the hill with no apparent way to stop!! 😕

8)

Looks really sh1t.

😉

very nice

you lucky barsteward.

Glentress in the pissing rain looks better 😛

pffffft

Peak is rockier.

Stunning pics. Those scree slopes look interesting…. 😕

if at anytime you feel the urge to swap it all for a life in Swindon, I’m your man!

Well…I’m not jealous

So that’s mountain biking! 😆

Beautiful…!

Yeh, I was in the UK for a bit, but I must admit I do rather like the biking around here better 😀

The 2 guys I am riding with are both ex-brits. Neither are thinking they should be off home any time soon 😉

Beats my pair of jacks…

Nice pics – dunno about all that scree though.

Good trails but it looks too crowded for my liking. 😛

Grumm. There was plenty of single track in the forest as well, but the dappled light makes it hard to get good photos… and the riding is too much fun to bother stopping to take photos…

Here go a few photos from a ride I did before Xmas. 8 and a half hours of biking goodness (with a couple of hours of bike carrying)! Absolutely knackered at the end of the ride, but it was oooooh sooooo gooooood!!

Oh, and because it was overcast I was able to get a few shots in the forest to come out well 😉

Now I’m jealous, looks even better than Chamonix

Hmmm Chamonix is pretty hard to beat. I would say this is different to Cham rather than better.

Definitely more outback and remote. You have to make sure you have everything you need to get you home again. When you are halfway through a ride you are still 4 hours from the road end… and there are no short cuts or phone reception to get you out quick!!

Bit more hard work to get to the riding too. Chamonix there is often a lift to take out some of the climbing. Here we often have to hike-a-bike for an hour or two to get into where these photos were taken.

Very Nice.
Where are we looking at by the way?

Up Craigieburn way. On the way to Arthurs Pass from Christchurch.

I’ve ridden in the area years ago, between Craigieburn & Broken River. Didn’t go so epic though.
Sensational area through there.

Looks pretty cool. Just in NZ at the mo living in Wellington.

U tried greg from fat tyres in Queenstown? Some great riding round there. Was having too much fun to stop for pictures 🙂

though I do have a bit of free riding in Rotorua!

Hey Giddyrob. Nah, never been out biking with Greg, but have done a lot of the riding that he guides. There is some good riding in the area, but it depends what you are into. I like forest single track, and find there is better riding in Canterbury, West Coast and Nelson/Blenheim if you are into epic beech forest single track.

I did do the Brake Burner event that Greg organises. Damn fun 6 hours of chair lift up and downhill trail racing!!

Where’s my passport?

though I do have a bit of free riding in Rotorua!

Hah, if that is the best freeriding you can find in Rotorua you need help my friend 😆

Nah, just shows I’m in NZ 🙂

Rained sooooooo much when we went into the forest the camera stayed in the bag 🙁

In Queenstown Greg took us down rutty stuff the sheeps make so not much room for error as it was really over grown. Great fun, especially when we reached the old gold mine. It’s like it was purpose built for bikers. Nothing too technical but bl*!*y good fun 🙂

Guess where we’re moving to later in the year??? 😉

We’re looking forward to it. Not just for the cycling, of course, although that does look fantastic.

Very nice indeed.

Thought I recognised Craigieburn in those pics. I really must get down there in the summer sometime instead of just going every winter.

This happened while I was there last winter which meant a bit of digging before we could ski again.

Giddyrob, I’ll give you a call soon about going for a ride. My bike is in bits for a major service at the moment. As soon as I get my rear shock back I’ll put it back together, should be no more than a week.

Dan

Inzane – were you a guide for MBMB back in 2002?

i knew i shouldn’t have opened this thread 🙁

fack me – amazing! my bro’s just moved to NZ, must get along soon…

Inzane – were you a guide for MBMB back in 2002?

Yes. Do I know you? 😀

Mtbike guided in Bolivia for a couple of years, then guided here in nz for a while… now have a real job and a house here in Chch

Not really, I was a guest in the first week of the season that year, my first ever trip to the mountains.
I buckled a rim, and you managed to fashion a wheel-jig from bits of a broken bed while we drank beer and watched in awe. Happy days 🙂

Right! Happy days indeed! That wheel-jig lasted the season and got a fair bit more use with other wheels 😆 although people gave me strange looks when I pulled out some cobbled together bits of old bed to true their wheel 😆

That first week of riding was hard out… had to ride all the climbs as the lifts were not running for summer! Was it a San Andreas you were riding??

As you might be able to tell I still ride my bike. I dont guide anymore, but I do teach mtb skills for this crowd http://www.mtbskillsclinics.co.nz/

Yes we deliberately came out before the lifts were open to do more climbing :-p

Sadly it was my mate Nik who was on the San Andreas, I (Dave) was on the £300 Haro which wasn’t really up to the job, but then neither was my riding!

There was one other guest, who didn’t actually seem to like bikes – he was really miserable and no-one could quite work out why he was there…weird.

May be coming out to NZ for some riding next year, might pick your brains for some info if the plans come to fruition – good to hear from you 🙂

Speaking of picking brains…I’ll be out in NZ in a few weeks time, I’m working on blagging a day off (ie on bike) in Rotovegas – any recommendations for bike hire? and are the trails way marked like say Afan or would it be worth finding a guide? only having one day wouldnt want to waste it!

There was one other guest, who didn’t actually seem to like bikes – he was really miserable and no-one could quite work out why he was there…weird.

Yeh, the guy who arrived with his bike wrapped in shrink wrap…

Dave, if you do head on out definitely drop me a line. I can help with recommendations etc. Easiest way to find me is to jump onto Vorb http://www.vorb.org.nz/ and find a post by Inzane. There are options to email or send me a private message from there.

Vorb is also a good place to start a thread asking for which rides etc to do where and other general NZ questions. People are generally very helpful over there.

Jacksta. Sorry, I dont know who has the best bike hire in Rotorua. Trails are well marked and signposted, and there are maps available. It is much easier to go for a ride with someone who knows their way around but you can figure it out easy enough with the map and signage. Again post these questions on Vorb and people will help you out. Someone might even offer to show you around.

Cheers Zane, its only a vague idea at the moment, but if it looks like happening I’ll definitely get in touch 🙂

Oh – great pics too!