Karioi: Around Again

Raglan

Mount Karioi stands majestically on the coast to the south of Raglan township.  It is a dominant feature of the west coast, draped in a mixture of native bush, green grass, and windswept scrub (and a number of sheep).  The foothills of the mountain disappear into the vivid blue ocean by way of steep bluffs and cliffs, hemmed with a winding gravel road.

The road vaguely follows the coastline and contours of the mountain; dipping deep into valleys and cresting with eye-popping vistas along the coastline from each little ridge.

I'd ridden around Karioi with Megan in 2011, doing the lap at a relaxed pace on our mountain bikes.  This time I was alone, riding my cyclocross bike and hoping like hell I could make it to the end because I had no backup plan.

Setting off from Te Kopua Domain, I headed up Wainui Road and turned into Te Hutewai Road to go in a clockwise direction around the mountain.  I figure it's best to get the inland portion of the lap done first, so that you have the big views to look forward to and hopefully give you a bit of a boost on the final leg home.

I started to struggle as soon as I got onto the gravel.  The camber of the road meant that keeping left often resulted in me riding in the drain after the bike slipped and skidded on the loose stones.  Riding in the centre of the road was much easier, but dangerous if a car came the other way because the road was so narrow.

On some of the corners I would be riding with my front wheel pointing at about 30 degrees towards the centreline of the road, but maintaining a straight line - that was how much the bike was slipping.  So I was clawing my way up the camber a little and slipping down a little in a bit of a zig zag.  Hardly efficient.

Some corners were cambered so much (okay, superelevation for all those civil engineering nuts) that it was like riding on a velodrome embankment covered with marbles.  The photo below is a very poor attempt at catching it in pixels.  I ended up walking through a couple of the steeper corners because I got so frustrated with riding sideways along the road.

Tilt your head 45 degrees to the right

This slow and awkward progress wasn't doing much for my confidence.  I got to the turn off at Waimaunga Road and knew that the next part was a little downhill run to the turn off at Ruapuke Road.  I settled in to the downhill, calculating how long I wanted to ride for on these roads before I had to make a decision; keep going or go back.

The condition of the road improved on the downhill leg and I started feeling a little more positive.  Ruapuke Road was sealed, so I decided to continue on and take my chances on the final section of gravel being in better condition (more trafficked).  I wanted to try out the gravel hill climb after Ruapuke Beach as I remember it being a killer last time around.  Surely it would measure up to the hills of the Coromandel and be a good test?

The road goes up from Ruapuke Beach

It certainly tested me. I ended up in my easiest gear, struggling to stay on top of it.  I stared at the road 5-10 metres ahead of me and got to work.  Just keep going.  It worked, I got to the top (quite pleased with myself) and looking at my watch, thought I was doing pretty well for time too.  This wasn't a race, but I didn't want to muck around or stop for a picnic.

I did stop for a number of photos, though.  The weather was perfect and the views were amazing.  Even though I will probably do this ride again, I wanted to capture the scenes in some photos to help relive the experience.

I was feeling increasingly fatigued on the final long ride north up Whaanga Road.  The stops for photos were serving me well as a form of micro-recovery and I stretched out my legs a couple of times too.  I was fairly comfortable on my bike, but I could feel my shoulders and neck were tiring of the riding position.  My hands were also tired and after almost losing my grip on the bars bombing through a corrugated corner, I had to make a concerted effort to wrap my fingers around the hoods.  I soon figured out that descending in the drops was more secure and also got my weight more balanced between the wheels to avoid the front wheel skittering about.

Te Toto Gorge (again) - it's a long way down

After my final photo-op at Te Toto Gorge (wow!), I was focussed on getting back to my car asap.  I had a huge descent ahead of me.  Awesome!  The corners were a bit tighter on this section and included one ford to cross (of course it was dry).  I was soon back onto sealed road and the descent past Whale Bay and Manu Bay flew by.  With one last hill after Manu Bay, I was stoked to almost be at the end.

I rolled into to Te Kopua Domain 2 hours and 45 minutes after I left.  I had somewhat optimistically hoped to get around in under 3 hours and I'd done that.  All with good pacing, rather than racing.  The planets really had aligned for me, because it was high tide and it was a perfect time for a swim.  I lay on my back in the cool water, looking up at the clouds in the sky.  I couldn't help but laugh as the light planes swooped in above me on their approach to the neighbouring airfield.  I felt like I could reach up and touch them.  My confidence was starting to gain some height, too.