Wanaka weekend

With Canterbury’s anniversary weekend mid Nov we took the opportunity to head down to Wanaka to see our mate Harry and take in some of MTB rides around this beautiful area in Central Otago. Harry’s is a new immigrant to the region and we were very impressed at his set up in Albert Town just a mare 50m from the beautiful Clutha.

Our mate Harweeee

Day One

Took in the Mace town track – We’d done this back in Easter so were keen to see were our fitness was in comparison, we were pleasantly surprised at taking off over an hour on our ascent however it was slower descent. The Arrow River was pretty high with the combination of recent rains, warmer weather and quite a bit of snow melt – so most of the crossings were mid thigh height at a minimum, so river reading skills were put to good use! We worked out later we spent 1h 20m in river crossing alone. But it was a great day out, the weather played nice and Stumpy the pre loved purchase from Wendy got a test and it could be said one's riding was improved just by standing beside it!

(Right) Arrow River from Macetown Track

(Left) Made it to Macetown! Ruth loving her Stump Jumper!

Day Two -

Started out along the gorgeous river tack along the Clutha to the inlet of Lake Wanaka – you get absolutely stunning views of the river and if a kayaker can be constantly being distracted by the clear blue/green water and forget which sport you're partaking in! Once hitting Wanaka town we headed out along the Glendu Bay track which is awesome - undulating and some fun switchbacks in parts where you really need to dig it in and gets your heart rate up but mainly graded so pretty accessible to all. We then headed back to the way we came and were pleasantly surprised on our return to Albert Town we’d clocked over 60kms in our legs for the day.

(top) Andrew at the start of the inlet track

(bottom)Looking toward Glendu Bay - 1/2 way

Day Three

Saw us having to return to Chch but not before we took the chance to check out the newly opened single track out to Dublin Bay and return. The local club has down an awesome job on this track – lots of smooth flowing single track plus a few nice wee grunts and enough technical thrown in to keep your mind on the job

Start/finish loop - Dublin Bay track

Clutha from Dublin Bay track just before hitting the forrest

We were really pleased with the riding we got in our legs over the weekend – still so much we didn’t ride Wanaka is really a MTBers paradise - so we’ve decided to head back down again for some more fun in the New Year.

Safe and Happy Riding - A&R