Capital Singletrack

With Karapoti in our sights again we decided a week in Wellington sussing out the singletrack scene would be really salubrious. Rob Kay and Dennis Barlett, keen to sample the delights of the capital, also joined us for a couple of days.
Our intention was to ride the Karapoti and check out other rides in the area.

Straight off the ferry we headed up to Makara Pk with a route up to the top pylon and down Ridgeline, Swigg and Starfish already mapped out. The uphill tracks were quite easy, certainly by Nelson standards and less than an hour had us on the top. Ridgeline is grade 4+ and it lived up to this expectation. There is some nice steep rocky sections without any loose stuff which we negotiated without any bark off. Swigg and Starfish are cruisy grade 3 tracks with some nice bermed corners.

At top of Makara Pk looking down Ridgeline	Top section of Ridgeline
Dennis on descent, Ridgeline	Swigg, Makara Pk

The following day started out with showers, but we headed up to Karapoti regardless. As it turned out the weather was better up there and we only got a few drizzle patches all day so riding conditions were good. The climbs are as good as any around Nelson and got our lungs into top gear. It was all worthwhile though when the Rock Garden was reached. I find it a real blast with some loose babyhead sections and several rocky ledges to drop off. That's was all over too soon and we were into the carry up the Devil's Staircase, which actually seemed shorter than last year. Must be getting fitter or the memory worse.

One of the ledge drop offs, Rock Gardern	River crossing at bottom of Pram Track

The reward now was a good blast down Big Ring Boulevard and the Pram Track before the final grunt up Dopers Hill, always the kicker in the race. The final descent off Dopers is exhilarating with some good corners on the 4wd track.

Next day was clagged in with drizzle about, so we headed off into Belmont Regional Park and climbed Danzig which climbed up through a pine forest in a series of switchbacks. Higher up the hills were shrouded in mist, but we followed a poled route and some signs and ended up where we wanted to although not by the intended route. There's a lot more exploring to do in Belmont when the weather is better.

On our way to take Rob to the airport one day we stopped in to take a loop of Mt Victoria. There's a maze of tracks here, but we didn't have time to sort out the juicier ones.

Next exploration was of the Wainuiomata MTB project. From the top of the Wainuiomata Hill we headed north on Labyrinth and hooked in to the top of Spoonhill which is grade 4+ and has some tight, steep, rutted switchbacks. The Jungle Gym track took us back from street level to the top on an easy grade for a run down Snails, which had some cool linked switchbacks that are beautifully bermed. Another climb up Jungle Gym had us poised at the top of Beeline, designated a downhill track which in flowing style took us down to midway on Jungle Gym for a final climb back to the truck. There's a couple of hours riding here and well worth a visit as it's work in progress.

Climbing Labyrinth to the start of Spoonhill	Descending Spoonhill

There are still plenty of rides we'd still like to do over there so we'll have to scoot over there again when the schedule permits. For anyone going to ride Wellington, pick up a copy of Kennett Brothers "Wellington's Best Bike Rides" from any of the bike shops.