Old Coach Road

As mentioned in my previous post, I had a decent mountain bike ride planned for last Saturday.  Mark and I were on the road early with the bikes on the back of the car and heading for Ohakune.

After a quick stop in Waiouru for some Subway to take along for our lunch we pulled up in Ohakune at the carpark at the start of the Old Coach Road.

After gearing up we hit the trail and were straight into some hill work on a reasonably rough bit of track through some farmland.  Along the way there were plenty of information signs to look at and some great views to take in.

Nearing the top there was a turn-off where we got to check out an old tunnel - it was fairly dark inside...

After another short climb things leveled out a little and we road under the new viaduct and got a great view of the old Hapuawhenua Viaduct.

Just around the corner we got to take a side-trip to cross over the viaduct.

On the return trip I flicked the GoPro onto video so you could enjoy the trip from your armchair...

Next up was another climb up through bush with the odd level or slightly downhill piece to give us a rest.  Riding through here we came across another couple of riders - one with a broken chain...no, we did not have a tool to help him out...

We then hit what we thought was quite a long downhill and had a blast tearing it up all the way down to a little bridge crossing a stream.

We then ended up on a short climb under another rail bridge and carried on up the hill until we got to another abandoned rail bridge where we stopped for our lunch - just 3km short of Horopito.
 

Lunch finished it was time for the return trip.  A short squirt down the hill to the bridge then got us onto the downhill section that was now an uphill.  It turned out not being too bad and we were rewarded with another downhill section.

The rest of the ride to the farmland section tended to be mostly uphill but still it didn't seem to be quite as steep as the trip in.  And then of course we got to take in the long final downhill section.  This was very fast but also very rough.  Six and a half minutes later we were back at the car after a nice final shot of adrenalin.

I was fairly happy with how I coped on the ride, my uphill pedalling muscles were fairly tired but overall I managed ok and was right as rain the next day.  Both Mark and I really enjoyed the ride and are already thinking about our next excursion.  I've also had to put on a new front tyre (the other was looking fairly old when I got home) and also need to do something about brake pads...

Another lap

So it's been a long time since the last little excursion along the Bridle track but today was the day to fix that little issue.  The weather was not the best but we went anyway - this time in an anti-clockwise direction.

Leaving Mark's place it was pretty chilly with the odd spit of rain so we were both sporting light jackets and wishing for gloves.  Not very far up the road the rain stopped and we warmed up a bit.

Depending on which direction we were heading in or what sort of shelter we had the wind made itself familiar with us but besides that it wasn't too bad.  Down along the river front the damage to the tracks we saw last time had all been fixed and it was only pedestrians using the entire width of the track that slowed us up.  We only took one wee diversion off the main track to enjoy a little blast through the trees:

By this time we'd done 20 or so km so I was feeling it a little - especially heading into the wind - but we kept on trucking.  We ended up getting one last shower as we neared the turn-off that would take us away from the river and up the hill to Mark's place.

Another pretty good pedal of just over 30km.  The hot shower at home afterwards was pretty good too...

The Bridle Track

Yesterday I finally got out on the mountain bike.  I met up with Mark at his place to take in the Bridle Track which follows along the Manawatu River.

We then took in a bit of road followed by the nice tracks along the Mangaone Stream.  Plenty of damage to be seen after last weeks flooding.

Very muddy!

That used to be a nice limestone track

When I got home I noticed a small issue:

No, not the muddy bike...

After a quick look today, I found the issue - a nice hole in the tube.  Unfortunately my glue had dried up so the bike is going nowhere for a little while until I get some...

Here's a wee slideshow of the 1200+ pictures the GoPro took along the way...

It was a great ride of just under 2 hours and 31.3km at a moving average of just under 18km/h.  Not bad for a fatee who hasn't been riding much at all over the last while...

Too cool!

To be this guy...

3D printed jet engine

Hmmmm, technology...another topic for this blog I guess...

I came across this article on the Kneeslider and had to share.

Truly amazing what 3D printing is starting to achieve.  I'd suggest that development in this area is going to continue to get more impressive and will make us rethink how we manufacture and transport items - why ship things when you can make 'em locally.

I wonder how long before we've all got some sort of 3D printer in the home making basic items...