Taupo - more training

Weekend around Taupo with Angela

I thought it was time to potter around the Taupo course to re-familiarise myself with all those hills, Angela was also keen so this weekend was duly set.

Friday away from work by 4.30 (OK; 5pm) and off up the coast via Lower Hutt to pick up my stuff.  For a change the traffic is light and it's a relatively quick trip to Levin New World for dinner and snacks.

We arrive at the intriguingly named "A Plus Samurai Lodge Backpackers" in Turangi by 10.30pm and check into our not very secure room (some kindly soul has kicked the door in at some point so the lock is more symbolic than secure).  The host is a little like the facility; a bit rough around the edges but fine for us ($96 for the room for two nights).  He suggests keeping the bikes in the room for safe keeping and gives a larger room to accommodate.  We set the alarm for a ridiculously early hour and crawl into our beds; I grab the bunk so I can spread kit all over the top bunk and gallantly cede to Angela the double bed closest to the door (and therefore any unwelcome guests).

After the normal morning routine sorting out essential kit for the day we head up the lake side for Taupo in the car.  Angela gets the benefit(?) of a pedal-by-pedal-stroke analysis of this part of the course with plenty of positive noises about Hatepe hill being: "about 2km from here and not as bad as everyone says."

Eventually we are parked up near the Tennis club and set off around 8.30 into a cloudy day. 

Just after the start ... Angela and giant bike

Angela has up loaded a course map from the Challenge website but it has bugger-all details and I'm a little vague about where we are supposed to turn off Pohipi Road.  Angela recognises the road name (Whangamata) whilst I am muttering about not recognising it from the last three years at all.  We follow it down towards Kinloch and it seems flatter and more down hill than I remember, then narrower and more up and downy as we head west towards SH 32.  It does however appear to be the course route for 2013 so either they have changed it from previous years or I'm developing Alzheimers; both are quite plausible explanations.

The turn-off to Kinloch marks about 20km in and it's all going swimmingly but then the little hills start; and there's quite a few.  As the course is running along the top of the lake it means jumping over the ridges between the streams that are flowing towards the lake.  The hills are short but steep and make it difficult to settle into a rhythm.  It's also straight into the westerly which is mercifully light.

We potter along and take a break after about 43km to apply sunscreen.  The clouds stay in the north and during the next hour we gradually leave them behind.

The backside (west) of the lake is hilly and somewhat unrelenting.  On a hot day the climbs just seem to keep on coming and even when you have been over the course a few times it still feels like they will never end.  It also doesn't help that you remember certain parts of the course and completely forget how much real-estate there is before the next bit you remember.  Hence Angela being told that after the grind to the top of the Kuratau hill there is a glorious down hill to the lake (which in fact is a small matter of 8km away).

71km in; top of another hill and time for a breather

We cruise down the windy hill (me trying to see whether you can do it without using your brakes - you can) and onto the flat at last.  It's about 7 km past the hot pools and over the tail race to the A plus Sumarai Lodge.  Angela has understandably had enough by now (having knocked off the hardest part of the course) and decides to give the (mostly) flat ride back to Taupo a miss (about 50km).

This leaves the dilemma of how to get the car back from Taupo and only one option.  I refill water bottles and head off up the lake.  It's fairly quick going and I push it up Hatepe arriving at the top fairly knackered.  Which is when a black and white bandit (probably sensing my weakness) swoops in and gives me a number of  hurry-along attacks from behind.  By the time I fish my pump out he's tired of the game so I put the pump away again which is when his mate decides to have a go.  Tempting as it sounds I suspect a spring loaded net canon mounted on the back of ones helmet would probably end in tears; you can see the headline: "Cyclist Crashes With Enraged Magpie Strapped To His Face."

As per tradition, it is a head wind off Hatepe hill which saps all the energy out of what should be a gravity assisted speed-fest.  The rest of the trip passes as expected although there is a distinct lack of cheering crowds and the indignity of having to stop at traffic lights in what should be the finishing chute.  About 1hr 40 after leaving Turangi I'm loading the bike on the car to head back to the digs.  It's been a 153.4 km loop according to the website Mapmyride.

After a soak in the hot pools and Chinese takeaways by the river in the setting sun we head back for an early night.

Sunday
Angela has unfinished business with the course so is keen to head up the road to knock off Hatepe (about 61km return).  I fancy doing the desert road and seeing how far south I can get before Angela catches up in the car and figure a head start is in order.

It's about 7.40 when I hit the road; cool in the shade but promising to be a hot day so I pack light and put up with the cold air for the first few hours.

The road climbs from lake level (about 360m) to a little under 1100m over about 40 km (it doesn't sound like much but it feels a bit relentless and some parts are steepish with some interesting gullies to navigate).  However once at the top the wind is light and it's a fast pace through to about 10km shy of Waioru where the wind picks up.

It's a cloudless day and the mountains are splendidly white against the blue sky.  It gets warmer and eventually Taihape rolls around (93km) I'm out of electrolyte so stop in at the supermarket, text Angela (no response - must be still cycling) and push on.

Mangaweka (with the plane and 'international airport') is a chance to sit in the grass, reapply sun screen and calculate when Angela is likely to turn up.  She has responded to my text at 11.37 ("Back at the car now.  Will leave soon") and I figure that she should catch up shortly behind my arrival in Hunterville (28km away).

In the end, Hunterville has disappeared behind and it's about 13km to Bulls when I am relieved to hear a cheerful toot from behind.  It's about 2pm and a bit over 166 km from Turangi so I've pretty much had enough for the day. We head to Mother Goose in Bulls for a good lunch and to swap stories.



They make a good iced coffee

All I have to relate is two more magpie attacks (Angela one) and lots of looking at white lines and pedalling with a few stiff hills to contend with.  Angela is quite casual about getting up Hatepe without resorting to her granny gear and even took the opportunity for some lake side photography.



Bike and

Angela by lake

We're lucky with the traffic again and take just one stop (Swazi in Levin) before heading over the Paekakariki hill and home for family dinner.

Comment
I forget that the hills for the first 90km are quite different to riding in Wellington.  Although most are less than 100m there are plenty and they are certainly steep enough.  You can get some good hill climbing in Wellington but it's hard to string together a ride that gives you quite the same relentless series.  Although Angela was a bit down about the pace this should be viewed in the context of: no drafting (it's hard on the hills and I was keen to let her set the pace), there's a definite lift from the crowd on the day and there is still time to get a bit more training in.  After all, it was the hardest part of the course.










Course profile; sourced from Taupo Challenge Website.  Or it could be the heart rate monitor read out ... 

The ride on Sunday gave a good taste of the lake side riding which is likely to be in sizeable bunches on the day and picking off the one hill on that side has got to be good for morale.

Turangi to (almost) Bulls is one to do on a good day.  If the wind is unfavourable it would be pretty tough.  The road margins are generally ok although suffer from the normal roading engineer casual disregard for cyclists (no margins on passing lanes, rumble strips, rough seal etc).  The elevation maps don't really do it justice as it has about the same vertical metres of climb as the Taupo loop (1,170m) despite a lot of long flat straights.  Overall, I don't have any great desire to do it again from Waiouru but have enjoyed the desert road from both directions (being very fortunate with the weather).

Around the volcanic plateau

7-8 September 2013
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