The day dawned grey and uninviting, but I was determined to have a ride and wanted to try the Wee-Strom on gravel somewhere. By mid afternoon the rain had stayed away for a few hours so I geared up and headed for Denniston plateau. Just past Waimangaroa I had climbed a few hundred feet via the lovely twists of Denniston road when I entered cloud, visibility was down to about 10m for the rest of the trip and I had to keep my visor raised to see.
The seal runs out just beyond the (invisible through the murk) old Denniston School (now an interesting museum) and I was able to call on my past mountain biking experience to remember the route. That memory did not include the new extension ladder lying in the middle of the road that I stopped to move (got to use my hazard lights for real...); I made a mental note to look out for a possible Telecom vehicle ahead en route to service the Mt Rochfort tower.
The Mt Rochfort road is reasonable gravel with some soft patches, a few stretches of bedrock and a couple of pretty loose steep sections. I was riding nana style, but standing on the pegs which felt just right - the seat and tank fitting snugly between my knees. In the conditions there was no distracting scenery and I was forced to concentrate on the dim foggy 5 metres of road barely visible through swirling mist and near twilight. It was probably just as well I couldn't see the sheer 1000 ft drop just metres from my left hand grip that I knew was there at one place near the top.
The attached photo is the best I could do - you can get some impression of the day, just add swirly mist and an eerie moan as the gale tore through the comms tower above this shot...
An awesome taste of the kind of riding I wanted to get into, the Wee handled it with aplomb. Am planning my next adventure already!
[There was no Telecom vehicle, so if you want a good ladder...]
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Originally Posted by carver
I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED 
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