Motu Part 2

To disturb the family as little as possible, I decided to ride directly from Opotiki, rather than have Tom drop me off some distance up the Motu Road.  Also, maybe, the idea of riding as much of the loop as possible did appeal.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.......

The dunes trail is very pretty, a nice warm up of rolling hills.  If only I didn't have to stop all the time to get my bike through those motor-bike stoppers!   This section takes about 45m minutes, with the obligatory 'remove a clothing layer as you warm up' stop.  I head into the Motu Road keen for adventure.  Up, and up, and up.  It's a wide gravel road, so no great technical demand, but a 6km long hill does get a bit tiring.  Especially when it's followed by another one!  The gradient is no great issue, it's just a consistent slog.

The bush is beautiful, and as I ride further, it feels more and more remote.  I see only a couple of cars, including one close call with a hunters' ute, which I could hear was coming too fast so I bailed into a ditch.  It's a logging road, and there are big signs which say "Ensure you are able to stop in half your sight distance".  At this stage, I could close my eyes and still stop in half my sight distance.  Grind, grind, grind up the hill.

I have a snack at the top of Meremere hill, where a lady stops to check I'm ok on my own.  "Just hungry" I say through a  mouthfull, then feel a little silly.  It's not quite the tough chick image I like to portray is it?  Next time I'll say "Just doing hill repeats."

Apologies for the poor phto quality, I didn't want to take my good phone out in the rain!

At 48km, 3 hours 40, I hit the Pakihi Track.  My work is done, now I just need to fly down this hill.  Yeah Right!  I'm a bit nervous about downhilling on my own, the Pakihi track details are quite clear "Narrow track with drop offs, not to be ridden at high speed".  How is it supposed to be any fun at all?  Fortunately I meet a couple of riders at the top, and I know they'll be following me down and can pick up the pieces.  If they even see the skid marks where I've gone off a precipice.

I actually find the Pakihi a bit hard going after four hours of grind.  Most of it is the sort of rocky surface that makes me dream of the carbon-fibre dual suspension bike which I just can't afford.  Still, I have some fun, how can you not on a 20km downhill.  Except actually, I find that only 10km of that is really downhill, the rest is such a minute gradient as to be negligible.  I actually had to pedal, and I really wasn't banking on that.  Then, because of the big storm which had just passed, as I rode along the river there were many rocky slips, making me stop and drag my bike over them.  Just the sort of rhythm-killer you need after over four hours of solid riding.

Makeshift bridge over a slip

It's very pretty though, lovely bush, winding along a river.  And winding along a river, and winding along a river.  Do you get the impression I was over it?  It gets worse, then I got to the road.  And wound along the road, along the road, along the road for 9km.  Having to do hard yards at the end of an epic journey is just defeating really.

Fortunately, I've organised for Tom to meet me at the end of the road, to save the the tarseal k's into town.  I have 15 minutes of absolute panic when I realise I've forgotten my map of the meeting place, and he's not where I think he should be.  The thought of riding all the way to Opotiki is awful, and knowing that Tom will be sitting somewhere in the hills, with no cell phone reception, worrying about me...........  I know I'm going to be in BIG trouble.

I head back down the road, aiming for town, and nearly cry when I see our car, right where it should be except he took a detour before parking.  

79km, 6:10.  Maybe just about 20km past my fitness and enjoyment levels.  

It's testimony to the remote location of this ride, the first time ever I have lost Garmin satelite reception, and I have no elevation graph for the ride.  That's a bit gutting considering the amount of climbing I did, so I've tracked it down elsewhere!  Please note, I did the Motu Road in reverse to that shown, starting at Jackson road and climbing UP to the Pakihi track.  Credit where it's due!