Brother time
A poorly timed self timer photo of us at the summit.
It all started with a random idea thrown out to my friends, which then turned into the reality of attempting four trips to the radar dome (495m above sea level). We started at 9 am on Saturday, a few days later, it had all begun. The first leg of the trip was from Thorndon up to the dome via Wrights Hill, and proved a decent first lap. We met a bunch of guys doing Community service, and one of them told us that it was always good to have “brother time”, which turned into a bit for the next six hours.
Lap 1 on fresh legs
After completing lap one which consisted of riding the open section of barking emu then back onto the road we headed down trail 16, after stopping briefly to remove my shock to remove a rock that had threatened to end the ride by putting a hole in my frame, we continued down through Ikigai turning off onto a heavily overgrown gorse infested sneaky walking path to tick off the first three tracks of our big day.
Sunscreen and energy drinks
The next lap took us up Aro, then onto the fire road, which takes you up to the turbine. This was a particularly punishing lap given the perfect sun-baked day we were given. Having been given freezing cold accents the past few weeks, we were only half complaining. After suffering the same gruelling 200-odd meter climb up to the dome from the turbine for the second time, we demolished our stashed snacks at the top, sat down for a moment and discussed the plan for the coming laps.
Radar dome from The turbine.
At this point, the logistics of the ride probably make sense; it’s a lot of up and down. We carry on! After completing lap 2, we decided to stop at Aro cafe for a sandwich and a coke and we joined civilisation for a brief moment before stocking up on supplies for the remaining few laps. Making our way up the west side of Waimapihi in by now full-on midday sun, we took the more bush-covered way. Another part of the challenge was to ride every uphill and downhill track in some way to tick off the whole park, and this took another two off the table for the day.
A water break at the turbine.
Lap three was very similar to lap two, another up, another down, and we prepared for the fourth and Final lap. Having experienced most parts of the hill at this point, there was no wondering what was to come. By this time, hour five had passed into hour six, and we were well and truly feeling it! The last pinch was as hard as imagined, and much talk about the false finishes and how we thought we could design the road better was had. We made it to the dome with the final push, gathered up our previously left supplies and headed down for the last time, powered by the expectation of a cold beer at the local pub.
High above wellington lies “the dome”
Metro hates Polhil but he still came for a celebratory drink.
Long story short, we ticked another off and shared some good “brother time”, much easier to do a mission like this with mates. The climbs don’t feel so hard, and the laughs shared add the best layer on top. Having done similar-length missions solo, it was really fun and satisfying to tick a few goals off others had on this one!
76.43KM 2710m 6h 38m
