Solo road ride
Some time ago I had promised to help drive a club van to Ruapehu for a ski weekend thinking to make it a rest week in the training schedule. But, as the date nears the idea of circumnavigating the volcanoes starts to germinate. It looks like a loop of either 160 or 174K (depending on start point) through some pretty spectacular landscape. The route is simple; State Highways: 48, 47, 4, 49, 1, 46, and 47 and 48 again.
The trip up starts a little late as I exit work to pick up the van from the ferry terminal. The logistics are incredibly complicated but cars, bikes, vans and punters end up in the right places and we have an easy trip with the usual dinner stop in Bulls.
The van drops a few of us at the Forest and Bird Lodge (just up the road from Whakapapa Village) and heads up the hill to the club lodge.
The F&B lodge is pretty standard with bunk rooms and common areas. It's comfortable, warm and everything seems pretty new and clean. As a skiing and biking base it's perfect and is even within walking distance of the pub (serving ok pub meals but just main stream beer).
Saturday dawns misty and the promise of a strong westerly on the high slopes is enough to make a bike ride the order of the day (the skiing in fact turns out to be superb).
This will be the furthest I've ridden in a day so a careful carbohydrate breakfast of muesli is first up. But then someone starts frying bacon and, inevitably, second up is a big protein and grease breakfast.
The skiers head up into the clag and I drop quickly down the 7km to SH 47 and a left turn towards National Park. It's cold and drizzly but it dries within 20k and the wind isn't too bad so the 50k to Ohakune pass easily (apart from mild regret about that second breakfast). The gully with the Makatote viaduct is a breeze and the net drop from National park to Ohakune is 130m so it's basically flat.
The town is quiet with all the skiers up the hill, I refill the first drink bottle at the BP, and cast a longing eye at the chocolate éclair shop. This is a traditional stop for a generous, cream filled treat with lashings of choc icing, but not on top of that breakfast.
Playing 'spot the carrot' helps pass the time during the 27k and 200m rise to Waioru through rolling farmland and forestry. Carrot farming is big up here and they tend to be lugged around in large unsecured loads so the game is simple, spot as many carrots as you can that have fallen on the side of the road. This is not so easy since they eased many of the corners and less fall off the trucks, but you generally see a surprising number. Today I can only rustle up one suspect.
Waioru is a bit dank but I have to stop at the Z to top up a bottle, buy some batteries and text. So it's a cold start up the desert road.
This is the part I'm a little worried about; it's a long way with no services, and quite exposed. I have no idea how the strengthening westerly will affect the ride and am conscious that the road winds through a number of gullies which could be dicey given traffic loads on SH 1.
It turns out to be an excellent section. It's drizzling as Waioru disappears behind but the weather starts to steadily improve. The wind pushes the bike along as the skies clear and the sun shines on the northern slopes of Ruapehu. From Waioru at 800m the road rises to 1000m, meanders up and down a bit before dropping from 820m to 520 at Rangipo. This all happens over 50km so is hardly dramatic.
Bar the occasional interesting side gust it's a fast trip through to Rangipo with views of Ruapehu eventually giving way to a distant vista of Lake Taupo. And the shoulder is much better than I was expecting. Then it gets tough.
Turning left on to SH 46 it's directly into a firm wind for 35k and lots of gentle but unrelenting up hill. Tongariro and Ngaruhoe are shrouded in cloud as the road passes Lake Rotoaire, rising to 740m then dipping to 660m at SH 47.
It takes a long time into the wind to undulate up to 910m, then the whakapapa road intersection (870m) and the last 310m climb over 7km to the lodge. The wind finally provides some assistance again and the sun breaks through, but it is a slow finish.
Approximate times (when I took notice):
0845 Depart Lodge
1120 Waiouru
1300 Rangipo turn
1505 Lodge
Sunday
The following day looks about the same at first brush but news from up the hill is not promising on the skiing front. Angela and I decide to head off by bike for Taihape whilst the skiers check out Turoa to see if they have a better class of white out. Someone starts frying bacon as I'm finishing my muesli and a second breakfast soon joins the first.It starts drizzling soon after we start and intermittently rains through to Ohakune. We potter along exchanging comments of mild regret about our choice of breakfast.
The rain settles in in earnest half way to Waiouru. There is mercifully little wind but the road is awash, we are soaked and the cold saps energy. Angela however makes a clean sweep of the carrot game spotting a pile in a field, not strictly by the road but good enough. All I can claim is a manky parsnip.
By Waiouru it's still cold and wet and doesn't look inclined to let up any time soon, the wind is also starting to strengthen. I convince Angela to take shelter at the army museum cafe for hot chocolate and wait for Mike as I recall the stretch of SH 1 to Taihape is busy, very hilly and perhaps not best with low energy in these conditions.
This proves to be not such good advice on my part. The car is a bit delayed so she has plenty of time to get cold in her wet gear. Meanwhile I'm skipping down the hills in improving weather and make excellent time through to the brown sugar cafe. The hills are of course mainly down travelling south (800m at Waioru to 450m at Taihape over 30km). It's all so different in a car.
At 107 km it was a good stretch-out after Saturday's effort. The net drop makes for easy riding overall and although the weather could have been better at least it wasn't windy. And Mike remembered to stop for éclairs.
I have a few hours to wait as the van has diverted to the Tokano hot pools, but the outdoor shop and cafe take care of that nicely.
So...
The plateau tour is a good ride for the bucket list. If you start and finish somewhere on the loop it's about 160km; from Whakapapa village add 12-14k.
It was pretty much undulating with no steep hills although some long, relentless rises depending on direction of travel. There are few settlements so plan your water stops. It is highly exposed so take the right gear and put some thought to your direction of travel given likely wind direction and strength through the day. Road verges were generally pretty good and traffic well behaved. Some of the roads can get busy though and there are a lot of big trucks. I would recommend going with a buddy or two for support and sharing the lead.
The trip to Taihape was if anything busier and would be a bit of a grind from south to north.
For future reference; a few spot heights:
F&B lodge 1180m
Intersection SH 48 and 47; 870
Intersection SH 47 and 4; 830
Intersction SH 4 and 49; 620
Ohakune; 600
Waiouru; 800
Desert road up to 1000
Top of downhill to Rangipo; 820
Rangipo; 520
Intersection SH 46 and 47; 660
Highest point along SH 47; 910
Taihape; 450
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