Greg's Timber Trail/Mountains to Sea

Recently Greg got away with a few of his mates over the Christmas/new years break for a short bike adventure. Here's some details he was happy to share about his trip, and a few images of where he went along the way. 

Where did you go?

Day 1 

First we started from the start of the Timber trail in Pureora, stayed at timber trail lodge that night, after a day of light off road/gravel riding. This was a short day, of only around 37km of riding.

Day 2 

We then continued through the second half of the timber trail that went all the way to Ongarue, and then took the back roads all the way to Taumaranui where we stayed at an airbnb. This was a much longer day, of about 100km, but had a significant section of road at the end, which made it still relatively chill.

Day 3 

We rode from Taumaranui to Blue Duck Station, which we linked up with the mountains to sea trail, and was a mix of roads, gravel roads and bicycle paths. 70km day, that was more challenging than the last due to the terrain.

Day 4 

Continuing along the mountains to sea, and going through the bridge to nowhere. Due to this road literally leading nowhere, we ended up jetboating down the river which was heaps of fun, and dropped us off at Pukehinau. From there we continued down to Whanganui, which was largely road riding. This was the biggest day, with about 110km of riding, and an additional 70km/h jetboat ride, but was the most fun and had some of the best riding around the bridge to nowhere.

I won't go into all the car relocations because it was quite a confusing process the way we did it, but we had three cars all in different locations, but you could simplify this as there are car relocation services and shuttles available.

Here's the route, from the start of the ride till they hopped on the jetboat at Mangapurua Landing:

And then from the end of the jetboat ride to Whanganui:

What were your highlights?

Bridge to Nowhere was definitely a highlight, since there was not a lot of people, riding was quite challenging but excellent, it had some really beautiful bush, and the jet boat ride was lots of fun!

 

What did you ride?

I was on Brother Cycles Big Bro which I custom built with the intention of bikepacking. This is a rigid mountain bike, which was ideal for the range of terrain we were riding. I was also running a saddlebag, half framebag, small handlebar bag and snack pouch, which was enough space for me to carry a spare change of clothes as well as tools and snacks.

Any advice for someone wanting to do a similar ride?

Big group meant slow days and lots of breaks, which was really nice. Travelling with minimal gear is also really useful as it allows you to get further, easier, and have more fun. To allow for this we stayed at fully catered accomodation each night, which meant we didn't have to bring any tents or bedding, and only brought water and snacks for the day of riding.

Thanks Greg!