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Thursday 14th May 09 - Limeworks Loop and Sunday 17th May - Ngutunui

We've had two good wet winter WAMOs rides on the slopes of the above mountain within one week. One was the advertised ride on Thursday from Te Pahu. The other rose out of that one and was quite impromptu so we didn't get around to telling you all about it until afterwards really - apologies! But when you hear what that ride was like, you'll thank us - honest!

Limeworks Loop Ride at Te Pahu 14th May
We had Brendan Haigh, Chris Couldrey, Tui Allen, Andy O'Regan, Ray Long, Scott Miller and his son Aiden. We rode from Tui's place on Te Pahu road, into Limeworks Loop Road, over the hills to the Kaniwhaniwha Stream, over the stile, up the track beside the river and back down to the bridge, on around the gravel road section at the back of the Loop, onto Whittaker road and out onto Te Pahu road and back to Tui's. We searched for whales in every stream and nearly saw some. Very dark and wet in the rain and mud. Ate lots of soup afterwards at Tui's place. Good ride - good company.

Ngutunui Deathmarch - Sunday 17th May
When some WAMOs at the Te Pahu ride heard that the two female WAMOs Annetta Tegel and I (Tui Allen) were planning to do the infamous 53k Ngutunui circuit on Sunday, Andy O'Regan and Eric Van der Wel decided to join in.

The weather was not looking too friendly up there on the mountain that morning but fortunately everyone remembered to bring warm waterproof gear. If we hadn't we might have been in trouble as the weather turned extreme. We had to deal with extreme rain, extreme high wind and extreme cold.

We rode through a tempest along the high ridge on Pirongia west, with the rain driving painfully into our faces, and the wind doing its best to stop us dead and blow us off our bikes. We dreamed about being snuggled up at home beside a roaring fire with a book and a 'special' hot chocolate and we all wondered why we were out here in the rain instead. It was one of those rides.

Water was cascading down the mountainside in torrents and there were rivulets rushing across the road everywhere. The river was high and rushing beside the road much more aggressively than usual. The traditional stopping place under the "Big Tree" at the Okupata intersection was looking inhospitable since we suspected that tree might leak. So Andy found us a (comparatively) warm haybarn with dry haybales to stop for a bite instead. It felt like Heaven just to get out of the deluge for a few minutes.

The final climb was long and hard as always but there was a strong following wind pushing us up, so that was one consolation. The last descent of the mountain down the Pekanui was the wettest I can ever remember with driving rain all the way.
But it all helped that hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards taste more glorious than it ever would have otherwise.

These are heavily cropped miniatures - click to see the complete pictures
	After the Te Pahu ride	Discussing the ride over soup and coffee	Andy found us a dry hay barn to shelter in.