Makara Peak MTB Park in Wellington, New Zealand
Thought I’d share my experiences and a couple of photos of a recent trip to Makara Peak MTB Park in Wellington, New Zealand. I was over for a couple of days for uni and Vaughan, a Wellington local, offered to show me around.
The weather
Despite the rumours about Wellington’s weather, it was a balmy 23 degrees, sunny and only a gentle breeze on the afternoon of Friday 28 November 2008.
The bike
I hired a bike from the local shop at Karori, Mud Cycles ($45NZ for 24 hours). It was a Jamis Durango and generally well maintained although there was some ghost shifting which I just couldn’t seem to get right on the trail. The bike came with flat pedals so I took them off and attached my Candy Cs which I’d brought with me.
The tracks
The tracks I rode were generally what I would term easy to intermediate trails, but with high consequence if you go off the side of the trail. That is, either you'll tumble down somewhere between 2 and 500 metres, or be stopped by evil looking gorse bushes. The trails are reasonably smooth with only a few loose rocks here and there. Most are one-way so you don't get too many head ons happening.
Ended up doing two loops. The first was Koru/Sally Alley/part of Ridgeline/SWIGG and starfish. About halfway up, I lost a bearing in my Candy Cs and the whole body of the pedal came free from the axle. I tried in vain to cable tie it and hold it on through sheer force of will, but had to concede that it was safer to go back down to the car to change pedals back to the flats the hire bike came with.
Once that was done, re rode Koru/Sally Alley then did Missing _link_/Aratihi to the peak. Some views from the peak - you can see trails covering the hills in every direction.
If anyone wants to see the full size photos, they're here:
[url] http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj227/adrog/MTBDirt/Makara/ [/url]
The trip back down
The Ridgeline track near the peak is apparently pretty hairy so Vaughan suggested we take the fire roads down to an easier section of trail. Unfortunately, coming around a sweeping bend, Vaughan and his bike became separated. He fell hard on his shoulder and (as it turns out) fractured his clavicle. It was a long trip back to the car park - much longer for him no doubt! We ended up at the hospital and he received a sling and some nice drugs to ease the pain.
General impressions
The tracks are great and there are masses of them around Wellington. If you have to be in Wellington for some reason and have good weather (there are rumours it can be variable!), go for it.
Further info
Heaps of info available online:
http://www.makarapeak.org
http://www.makarapeak.org
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Daniel Mintz
said:
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... Excellent Post Adrog. Souind slike there is some great riding to be had in your parts. Thanks for sharing. |
marcel warner
said:
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... Great to know people are out and enjoying the trails from here to the other side of our planet... Cool blog Adrog  |
