This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Easy MIB - 13 September by Pete Gent
After a late addition and a late subtraction from the line up, a grand total of 2 rolled up ona sunny Wellington Saturday morning to face the tip track in almost perfect Biking conditions. Alex and myself both having never ridden up the tip track, set off at a steady pace up the steep, slightly rutted but often loose surface that tries to make you walk up instead. After around 10 minutes of climbing, the full extent of the southern landfill came into view, encompassing such sites as the methane powered electricity generator and the full glory of the Brooklyn wind turbine above! A few minutes further on, shamefully 2 runners passed us also going up. Maybe that was one of the extra fit trips running that morning? Heading towards the castle and the raydom, the bleat of goats could be heard, breaking the silence that only comes when you’re trying to ride a rather steep track.
Just before the end of the track (ridden in a respectable 30 minutes), a sharp left was taken along with a drink, food and photo stop to the beginning of the red rocks track. Here seats were lowered, nerves tingled and the sight across the southern end of Wellington, across to the Main land, the rimutakas and up into the city was one to behold. What followed was another 30 odd minutes of descent, puddles, views and sunshine. The second half of the track contained a serious amount of rutting, resulting in picking any line was a wrong choice at some points. A quick push and a small bluff later and the last section of the track came into view. This mainly consisting of some windy bits and the last 300 meters where loose rocks, ruts and angle meant it was just crazyness to ride. I did try but bottled out rather soon afterwards. With a tiny flourish at the end around the gate, red rocks was in sight, just a ford and a couple of 4 x 4's to negotiate. To round off the ride, there were still many seals on the rocks and clear views across the cook strait.
The ride to the new visitors area and car park was enjoyable with a number of fords and stunning views of the cliffs above, There were even Jet planes from the Ohiro valley dairy to try and ease the ride back up another 2 hills...
My thanks to Eamonn for organising and Alex for putting up with my lack of speed
- ride may or maynot contain tracks that are in Karori