Published by Tristan on 13 Apr 2009 at 09:49 am
Easter cyclocross ride
To get away over the Easter weekend Erin and I headed over for pizza at Cockoo and a night in Greytown. I took my Salsa La Cruz cyclocross bike for some gravel road riding while Erin browsed the shops on Sunday morning.
I left Greytown and headed west towards the Waiohine gorge – I’d driven up the paved road on the north side of the gorge but the map showed a gravel road on the south side which I wanted to explore. Only a couple of kms out of Greytown the road turned to gravel.
Gravel road ahead – just west of Greytown
Heading into the hills the road climbed gently and gave some amazing views of both the Waiohine river and the Waiarapa planes.
View south towards the Waiarapa
View north of the Waiohine
The views really were astonishing and I snapped quite a few photos as I climbed up into the hills. The road got narrower and rougher until finally finishing in a farm paddock – time for another couple of photos before turning around.
Paddock at the end of the road - turnaround time.
Riding quickly on gravel is one of life’s greatest thrills, so with the road gently pointing down the valley I gave it a bit of stick and got the speedo up to 50kph :-) I only stopped once on the way back down the valley to snap a final picture of the view and of the Salsa.
View of the speedy descent
I headed back down to the valley floor and after consulting the map decided to take the gravel road through Woodside and Fernside to Featherston. According to my map the road went all the way though however the map maker neglected to metion there is no bridge across the river. Not to worry as the water wasn’t too deep but I suspect it was fresh run-off from the snow on the Tararua’s as it was freezing! Note to self: Carbon-soled road shoes make crappy hiking boots.
Heading towards Fernside
Cold water!
Across the river I faced a maze of farm paddocks and electric fences’ to get back to the gravel road. I only got zapped once :-)
From Fernside it was a few more kms of dirt road before arriving into Featherston and heading north along the main road back to Greytown. I snapped one final pic while riding which shows the Waiohine gorge in the center of the frame. After a quick shower Erin and I drove to Lake Ferry for fish and chips (and a beer) by the ocean before heading back to Wellington. A perfect weekend away.
Waiohine gorge (in the middle of the frame) from the State Highway
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John Schouten on 27 Jul 2010 at 3:05 pm #
Hey Tristan, that was a great report on a great ride. I know the area well and it’s really fabulous. Another good metal road ride is around the back of Hinakura, back towards Admirals hill. It’s one valley East of the Martinborough to Masterton road
I like the look of the Salsa, how/where did you source the frame? I still use the Surly but it is a bit on the heavy side and is getting near to retiring age.
Cheers John
Tristan on 27 Jul 2010 at 3:11 pm #
Hi John
I’ve been planning a ride around Hinakura for what seems like years now! I’ll have to get over there.
I got the Salsa through the local importer Cycle Supplies in CHCH. David is super helpful. It’s interesting that Salsa have dropped the La Cruz for 2011 and replaced it with a titanium rim-brake version. Hopefully they bring back the steel disc version (or a titanium disc version) as it’s a great bike. Although the frame was lighter than my Cross Check with the discs and heavier fork it worked out almost the exact same complete bike weight.