TA days 54 and 55: Facing the wood path

One of the special things about the Te Araroa (TA) trail is the ability to kayak, cycle and canoe in certain sections.

The last two days, I gave my feet a break by biking the Timber Trail.

Part of the New Zealand Cycle Route and known as the Great Ride…the timber route runs through forests and follows an old railway trail.

I’ve never done mountain biking and I’m afraid of falling and breaking myself, so I was a little nervous.

Covering 83km in two days, the first day was 37km of up and down forest trails and some wider gravel roads.

Over the course of the first day, I went through every emotion, making it feel more like a roller coaster than a bike ride.

The heavy rain and wind the night before prevented me from sleeping well. Tired and a little cautious of the trail conditions, I didn’t particularly like having about 30 people starting at once.

Immediately sweating out my rain gear in the first kilometer, I only wore my shorts and long sleeve merino shirt. Needless to say, I got soaked!

I went from flying through mud puddles to pedaling like crazy along the fairly flat and curved forest track thinking; “I love mountain biking!” To the hills, where I suddenly began to hate everything. Unusually for me, a lot of bad words were spoken and I gave up on even the slightest inclination and just wanted to walk.

Sure I can walk all day, but biking is a completely different beast. I broke down a little from the stress of knowing that a group of older people on electric bikes would be hot on my heels, and for the first time, I was struggling with a physical activity. Talk about ableism!

Having to stop every time I needed water or snacks (which was often), I nearly had a mental breakdown going up the mountain for the first 12km. Finally, the downhill came and my mood took a 180 degree turn.

I was in the cruise zone. I’m sure it didn’t hurt me. I’m a speed demon, which makes going down hills a lot of fun. Don’t worry mom, I was very focused and definitely had my hands on the brake!

Being completely soaked and covered in dirt, I started to get quite cold and just had to keep pedaling. I knew I still had a long way to go to get to my things at the Timber Trail Lodge.

The last four kilometers the rain let up enough for me to take some photos. By then, my thighs were so tight that I had a hard time riding the bike anymore.

The hostel was magical. I was going to hose myself down under the bike wash, but they had free showers and towels instead. I went straight into the shower with my clothes on to wash everything off. They also had a drying room to hang wet clothes overnight.

Inside the dining room, a cup of hot tea, chocolate chip cookies and a pear gave me some energy. Later, I also taught my streetcar to play “Monopoly Deal”; one of my favorite games. For dinner, I was able to enjoy a vegetarian pizza before heading to camp for the night.

Absolutely exhausted from the long day, I was asleep in my tent at Piropiro camp by 8 p.m.

With an early wake up at 5:30am to avoid the crowds of cyclists, I was at the lodge swapping the backpack for the bike and back on the trail by 7am.

My butt was sore and my knees were badly bruised from the first day, but at least my ego was intact. Today I was not ashamed to climb the first hills walking on my bike.

As the day progressed, I became more confident and better at biking. It was a 42km day to the end of the trail, plus another 4km to Ongarue to drop off my bike. Being quite far away, I was careful not to exhaust myself too quickly as I had the day before. Plus, with an early start and better weather, I was able to take my time and enjoy the trail.

I passed several swing bridges and especially loved the long downhill stretch at the end.

Overall it was a beautiful trail and it was nice to explore the trail in a different way than just walking.

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