In a variety of four wheeled vehicles with a variety of two wheeled vehicles accompanying us, fifteen members of the Canterbury Mountain Bike Club set out from Christchurch. Our destination was a Holiday Park three kilometres from downtown Wanaka. Our mission was to get out and ride. Initially, this was to prove challenging, as on our first day there a 10:30 AM ride start turned into a 1PM departure. A handful of intrepid explorers refused to be deterred, and headed out anyway for a morning entrée. This first jaunt took us to Sticky Forest, an absolutely delightful network of single-track trails reminiscent of Snakes and Ladders: ride up one trail, slide back down, go up in another direction, all trails joining either on the fire road (“Easy Street”) at the top or “The Hub” at the bottom. The trails all had great names, like “Kooza” and “Scooby”. We rode the Tunnel of Love, but shied away from the G-Spot.

A thorough play in Sticky Forest whetted our appetites for the afternoon adventure, a ride out to Aspiring Hut. First, though, we had to get to the trailhead, which required a forty-five minute off-road adventure including multiple river fords. (Okay, I’m exaggerating slightly here. It was a gravel road with some puddles.) Once we switched to our two-wheeled entertainment, we were away laughing. Ten minutes into the ride we were treated to a breathtaking view of the Godley Glacier. Further on we stopped to admire a massive trout in a brilliant turquoise pool of water formed by the river and the rocks. Finally, we made it to the Hut, enjoyed a rest and some snacks, and rode back taking various single-track detours. The next morning brought us back to Sticky Forest for those who hadn’t joined in the fun on Saturday. This time the mood was even more playful. Darrin, a.k.a. Tigger, attempted to ride up a fifty-degree scree slope. Of course Rick then had to try, followed closely by Robbie. Although the boys all reached approximately the same height, Tigger takes the prize for being the only one to pick up his bike, run the rest of the way up, and then attempt to ride down, an adventure marred only by one circus tumble over the handlebars. We have it on film if you want to see it.

Additional exploration of the web of trails led us to Wanaka’s own version of the Canadian North Shore: a wooden bridge ending in a ten foot drop off, followed only a few metres later by a teeter-totter with a fulcrum higher than my head. All of us cross country dorks stood around gaping at it with our bikes lying by the side of the trail, saying things like, “How could anybody ride that?” and, “I wish I could see someone do it.” Our wishes were granted, as a body-armour-clad, full-face-helmet-wearing, twenty-five-kg-triple-crown-fork-bike-riding maniac came tearing through the forest, up the bridge and off the drop and over the teeter totter neat as you please, not even glancing back as a group of strangers whooped and hollered and called out for more. Sunday ended with a ride on Outlet Track along the shore of Lake Wanaka toward Albert town. Although we cruised on the way out, the return was somewhat more adventurous, leading us away from the water’s edge and up through the blue and black trails.

Eventually, utterly exhausted, we made our way back to camp and enjoyed the kind of stone sleep only possible after two days of spectacular riding.

Thanks to Rick and Trudi for organising an absolutely terrific weekend!