Posts from 22-1-07 to 6-2-07

22-1-07 I’m on Waiheke Island on holiday, but Simon Kennett is trying to bike up the TT 10 times! He wants to see if he can do 4000 metres of climbing in a single day as that’s the average daily amount on an 18-day epic ride over the Rockies in the US he’s thinking about doing. I reckon he’ll need someone slow like me pacing him or else he’ll go too fast and blow out. I wonder how he’s going?

25-1-07 Waiheke is great – swimming every day. But today I hired a bike and cycled round the island. It’s not such a big ride – probably 40-50 kms. There are a few reasonable hills in the loop, but nothing too challenging. I hope they never seal the road round the loop. It was stinking hot – I managed to go in the heat of the day. Stopped a few times to admire the views and eat. Took about 3 hours? The few cars were considerate!

2-2-07 Back in Wgtn. Had mum’s car so drove up to the Turbine and biked along to the Golfball with Anna (9). She did well, because it’s still a long steady road climb and she’s a little small for her bike and not used to gears. She stopped three times on the way up and none coming back. It took us about an hour.

In the afternoon – perfect weather, by the way, no wind – I went up Makara Peak. Just went up Koru, Sally Ally, Missing Link, Aratihi to the top and down the Ridgeline, Magic Carpet, Live Wires (difficult line) – all cleaned. Ridgeline has been made easier by people avoiding the rocky obstacles – and it’s always easier when dry. My forks felt very dodgy, so stopped in at Jonty’s and he pulled them off and lent me a pair of Surlys. So now my bike is fully rigid.

4-2-07 Got lent a kayak, so paddled to tapu te rangi with Tessa (7) – the first time we’ve been there. Catherine and Anna went in the afternoon. A bit breezy, but hot. Tessa jumped off the wharf.

5-2-07 Simon only managed six times to the Golfball a couple of weeks back. He did three up the TT and three up the road, then got called away to work. He thinks he would have ‘been fried’ by eight. I guess going up the road counts; it’s a lot longer than the TT, but an easier gradient – which probably just makes you go harder. I’d get bored trying to go up the TT more than once. I sometimes go up to the Golfball a couple of times in a ride, but always by different routes. Usually up the TT then down to Red Rocks, then round the coast and up to Long Gully and back round to the GB from the south and down the TT. Sometimes up the TT, over to Makara Peak via the Sanctuary and come back to the GB the same way and back down the TT. Going up twice is a good solid ride, but if I throw Makara Peak in as well it’s a big day out and I struggle up to the GB on the last climb.

6-2-07 Waitangi Day. Went round Karapoti with Ben Wilde and two friends of his – Nathan and Toni. Ben and Nat were on single speeds and I had no suspension. Toni had full suspension. It was a beautiful day – it’s lucky the Karapoti is so shady. Made the warm-up climb, but dabbed three times on the first climb – arrgghhh! Rode the first two drop-offs of the Rock Garden, but baulked at the third. Big-ring boulevard was even worse without suspension, but I made the third climb – so there were no dabs from the top of Devil’s staircase to the river crossing that completes the loop at the top of the gorge. I like no dabs. The others whizzed away down the gorge, but my upper body was feeling it by then. I think we did it in about 5 hours?

Stopped in at VIC cycles, which was having a sale. I like the look of the 07 Giant XTC 1, but would prefer a Reba fork with U-Turn, as I’m used to dialing down suspension on the TT. But they weren’t interested in changing it or in giving me more time to think about it (the sale ended that day). Sorry guys, but that’s crap service. It’s basically buy the bike or don’t. I didn’t. The thing is: I’m in the market for a bike and I’m prepared to pay about $2500 for a reasonably good hard-tail. It’s a lot of money (to me) and so I want something I’m totally happy with, and that includes the right fork. I also may need time to think about it. Bike shops who aren’t prepared to try and accommodate the vagaries of customers may as well just sell online.

18-1-07 TT 27.42. Splits 6.48, ?. Steady but not strong NWer. This was with a group of people on Simon Kennett’s weekly Thursday 6 pm Tip Track climb for all-comers. Meet at the bottom gate at 6pm. Going up with others certainly makes you push yourself a bit harder. Also, I left my backpack at the bottom. It’s probably only about the fourth time I’ve climbed the TT without a backpack. I wasn’t aiming for much, but I wanted to keep ahead of Paul Kennett if I could, and apart from that go under 30. Got stuck on the top gate (again!), which cost 10 seconds. Paul started about 10 seconds behind me and got up in 28.50 (he’d already ridden in Belmont before work), so I imagine we’re fairly even.

The big excitement was John Randal, who’d just spent $800 lightening his bike (now a feathery 29lbs). He got up in 22.37 – 8 seconds faster than his PB of 22.45 set a couple of weeks back. That’s $100 a second – money well spent!

The big mover was Simon Kennett – 22.01! His halfway split was 10.38, so he stopped to smell the flowers a bit on the second half. Some talk about Tim Wilding’s possible TT time in the Owhiro Bay car park to the Golfball climb. I think his time was 24.37? Simon reckons he could do the road bits in about 4 minutes, and Tim Wilding was probably quicker, so did he go up the TT in under 20 or not?

Have to do something about my front forks (Dukes). The stanchions are very worn and I can now wiggle one of them laterally. Was so worried they might snap that, just as I was about to set out for a big ride, I decided not to go. Went back down the TT carefully, but even so it still would’ve been painful if the forks snapped.

12-1-07 TT 29.17. Splits 6.50, 14.20. Stinking hot. I got home early from work and waited for the southerly change to come in before setting out. It did, but it was too mild and I went a bit soon to get any cooling advantage. I was tired after a week of commuting, so didn't hammer it, which just goes to show that the TT is running really fast at the moment. No recurrance of the lower-back pain that I had on the last ascent. Went up to the Golfball and felt weak so just went back down the TT. Timed myself from the top barrier to the 2nd-to-bottom barrier - 8.41. I'm a tentative downhiller. My best time down the TT is 8.20 - which I don't think is bad for a hardtail with skinny 2.1 tyres (what I had then), though I'm sure people go much faster. Now I've got 2.3s, which are great for going down, but big and heavy for climbing. The TT grading has made the descent harder, I think, because of the new water-bars and the number of crucial cambers that have been lost - especially on the top half. There are, however, a couple of good new cambers on the second half - especially on the quarter-way bend - which make the last quarter faster. Got home and my blood-sugar was 1.7 (it's supposed to be between 4 and 7 - below 4 and you're heading for a coma), which explains my lethargy at the top. Going down the TT with low b/s doesn't help.

7-1-07 TT 29.59. Splits 6.48, 14.26. Mild southerly but sunny – I find heat more debilitating than cold. I chased some guy up – he had about a minute start – but blew out and he pulled away. My head wasn’t focused and I was relying on my body, which wasn’t up to much. My lower-back hurt. In the end I eased off and was lucky to make the road under 30. Ran into James Graham at the top – he of an unforgettable midwinter ride round the Karapoti when we just about froze and I nearly hit a motorbike in the gorge (I was so cold I just shut my eyes and somehow he avoided me). We headed to the Sanctuary, the Windmill, down Car Parts and Planet, then I went up through Brooklyn and down Happy Valley Rd home.

3-1-07 TT 28.41. Splits 6.48, 14.08. Steady southerly. With Ben Wilde – this time he gave me a minute’s start, but blew up. (I usually push harder if my splits are OK, otherwise I ease off.) Down Red Rocks – all climbs cleaned first pop plus descent – round coast and home. Ben tells me that John Randal went up last Sunday (31^st, strong southerly) in 22.45, and then went down and did it again in 23 something-or-other! That’s impressive. We debate whether John might be able to break Simon Kennett’s record of 20 min flat set in 1997. No backpack could gain him a minute or more, and a light bike – like Simon’s Schwinn - could also gain him a minute – so maybe? However, the law of diminishing returns says that once you’re going as flat out, it takes a whole heap more effort to go even a teensy bit faster. He would still need to lose 2.45. Depends how blown out he was after 22.45. The second time of 23 soemthing would suggest hardly at all!

There is plenty of debate over Simon’s TT record. There’s little doubt that people have gone faster – Tim Wilding, who won the race earlier this year from the Owhiro Bay car park up the TT to the Golfball – I think his time was around 24 something? – must have been under 20 for the TT portion. Also, Trevor Woodward’s 18.52 up to the top barrier – was it from the bottom gate or the second barrier? - would probably have put him close to, if not under, 20 mins as well, but for our purposes the distance is bottom gate to sealed road. The track conditions are good and getting better at the moment, thanks to the smoothing of the initially terrible grading done in Nov last year. A few more water bars have been added, which slow you down, but otherwise the record is just waiting to fall.

30-12-06 TT 29.41. Splits 7.05, 14.26. Mild southerly. Spurred on by two guys coming up behind. First, about 2 mins behind, catches me just before Red Rocks junction; the second is miles behind. Up to Golfball, south over Te Kopahou (484 m), down into Long Gully, down to coast and home.

27-12-06 TT 31.28 (but only to top gate, so probably nearer 31.50 to seal). With Ben Wilde. Gave him 2 mins start but never caught him. Gale NWer – blown off twice in first quarter – that’s never happened before! North to Sanctuary, down Car Parts and Planet – sweet. Up road to Brooklyn and down Happy Valley Rd home.

24-12-06 TT 30.45. Strong NWer. Down Red Rocks. Five attempts to get hard climb. One dab on final descent.

21-12-06 18 km road ride into town and back. Still sore from Karapoti!

18-12-06 Karapoti with Ben Wilde, Simon Kennett, John ? One dab on warm-up climb. Bashed knee on handle-bars. Struggled on 1^st climb. Rock Garden, rode first 2 drop-offs. Made 3^rd climb easily (bashed knee recovering). Perfect weather. Conditions good, except the 1^st climb was loose and slippery.

I'm not actually racing the Karapoti. I last raced it in 2005. I don't really like being nose-to-tail with hundreds of other people in cattle class for half the ride because riding the climbs is my (small) strength, and all the people pushing up the warm-up and 1st climb make them impossible to ride. People say go in Pro/Elite, but I'm not really an elite rider. My time in 2005 was 3 hours 42 mins. I reckon I could go under 3 hours 30 mins if the way was clear to ride the warm-up and 1st climbs, but I don't think I'd ever get near 3 hours - which is where the elite riders are supposed to be.

My favourite Karapoti ride was when I went round by myself on Jonty's fully ridgid bike. It was torrential rain (but warm) until the top of the first climb, then, amazingly, the sun came out. I didn't take a coat - there was no point the rain was so heavy. There was a group of young-guns being taken round by an older guy, and we kept leap-frogging each other - I waited for them at the foot of the 3rd climb to check I was going the right way. My time was 4 hours 15 minutes, and it was a thoroughly good ride.

14-12-06 TT 33.57. Steady NWer. Heavy new tyres. Up to Golfball. Down Red Rocks. Climbs cleaned. Final descent cleaned, but slip off on loose corner just before last climb (going too fast). Round coast over Hell’s Gate, up into Long Gully, up and over (407 m) into Sth Karori Rd. Stop and eat opposite where Leaping Lizard comes out. Up Sth Karori Rd, up Skyline to Wrights Hill, round Sanctuary fenceline, up road to Hawkins Hill. Down Tip Track and home. 1500 m climbing. 4 hrs 15 mins.

13-12-06 Makara Peak. Up Koru, Sally Alley, ML, Aratihi (40 min). Down Ridgeline, Swigg/Starfish. Fun ride.

9-12-06 Bike to Revolution Cycles, Northland. Test ride Jamis Dragon Pro 06 round Sanctuary fenceline. Bad ride. Bike’s geometry not set up for me so have trouble climbing out of entrance to Sanctuary. Good descending Scout Hall track. But blood-sugar drops away and have trouble on Bird St switchbacks – which I can’t do anyway. Back home through Brooklyn and Mornington. Sigh.

6-12-06 TT 28.39. Splits 6.50, 14.05. Perfect weather – sunny, mild southerly. Down Red Rocks. Two goes on steep climb. Small dab on final descent. Great ride.

3-12-06 Makara Peak Rally. Punctured 5 mins from end of Sport class. Took 20 mins to change tyre – not a strength. Cost me 1^st or 2^nd.

Welcome to the Tip Track blog

I’ve started this blog to share my records of mountain biking up the Tip Track (Wellington, New Zealand). The Tip Track is a 4WD track that starts next to the entrance to the Wellington tip on Happy Valley Road. It winds up about 3.5 km to a height of about 450 m where it joins a sealed road on Hawkins Hill. The sealed road goes up about another half km to a trig near a radar station (the golfball) at a height of 495 m.

I live in Island Bay and have been biking up the Tip Track regularly since 2002. Because I’m diabetic and keep records of my blood-sugar levels, I also note down my rides, so have Tip Track records stretching back 5 years. Hence this blog.

I time myself from the bottom gate to the sealed road, which means negotiating a couple of other barriers – one near the bottom and one near the top. The total height of the climb, which is all off-road, is 400 m. Some people just time themselves between the two barriers. It takes about 30 seconds from the bottom gate to the first barrier and about the same (less if you're going fast) from the top barrier to the sealed road. Sometimes I note two splits: at the big left-hand bend (quarter-way) and at the hard right-hand turn at the post just before the old stockyards (halfway). My best time is 27.10, but my times vary hugely and I never really improve. Mostly I just try to go under 30 mins. To go faster I’d have to be fitter, not be carrying a backpack with 2 litres of water, have a lighter bike (I think it's about 27lbs) with thinner tyres, not ride in crap weather etc.

Anyway, I’ll start the blog with my December 06 rides.

James Brown