Riding around Wellington, NZ

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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campbellrae
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:20 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

by campbellrae

Me and my other half are looking to move to the Wellington once she finishes her post grad.

I’m very curious about the riding in the area, I know it’s only a small part of life, but it’s an important one for me! Where we live at the moment has a huge variety of riding which I really love, the only thing missing is a big climb or two. Our biggest is just over 300m of vertical gain. I do quite a lot of mountain biking, but mainly road and gravel at the moment, so it would be great to hear what sort of options there are.

Cheers,

Campbell.

by Weenie


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TerryatSecondPeak
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 4:08 pm
Contact:

by TerryatSecondPeak

Eagerly awaiting a response to your inquiry. I hope to move to NZ (from California, USA) eventually. My wife and I got married there and just love the country and people. We visited the south island and also some parts of the north (Auckland, Waitomo, Rotorua). I was constantly jealous of the road riding potential although I didn't see too many riders out there. Came across some good trails for MTB everywhere we went (except for Auckland). I must say, the mountain biking potential seemed really high to me. Queenstown (south island) reminded me of an up and coming Whistler, BC. Wanaka (next door to Queenstown) had a decent cycling culture too. I imagine Wellington should offer a lot just outside of the city there. I'm hoping some Kiwis will chime in here soon. FYI, I typed in Wellington MTB in youtube and saw some very inviting footage.

Good luck with the move!

-Terry

glam2deaf
Posts: 712
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 4:36 am

by glam2deaf

Not too much help for Wellington itself, I'm from Hamilton. But just slightly north of Wellington is Masterton where there are some great roads and climbs.

Probably would be best to get in touch with a local group down there. PNP is the first club I can think of. For shops Capital Cycles seem to have a pretty strong following.

defride
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 4:26 pm

by defride

Been a long time since I was last in Wellington but from memory it's plenty hilly with loads of steep suburban streets. It's on a bit of a peninsular that's built up on one side and empty hills on the other, little if any roads, expect there must be some MTB in there. In terms of road the Hutt's/Petone to the North may be easier to access countryside without having to get through city traffic, there must be great MTB, the Tararua's are pretty much wilderness, you might very well get lost but there's nothing nastier than a boar. Not sure what access is like these days but MTB is big in NZ generally.

campbellrae
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:20 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

by campbellrae

Thanks for the tip, I've emailed PNP so will see what they say when I hear back from them.

I've been having a look at areas, the plan is to rent for the first few months after we move so we can explore a bit and find somewhere we like before buying, it'll probably be out of the city, we'd prefer a small town or village if it's anything like here.

fromtrektocolnago
Posts: 1145
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:15 pm

by fromtrektocolnago

I can't help with Wellington, but I biked the South Island a little over 15 years ago. It's an awesome experience. You are very fortunate to be so close to something so awesome. -Mike G
Colnago C-59 (Dura Ace)
Firefly(Ultegra)
Colnago C-64 disc(ultegra) with Bora 35 wheels

CamW
Posts: 301
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:26 pm
Location: New Zealand

by CamW

Wellingtonian reporting in. I'm also pretty sure there is another one which will see this post eventually.

If you are into mountain biking there is ooodles of the stuff. If you look at a hill and its green, it probably has mountain bike tracks on it, even in the middle of the city. It even hosted a round of the world cup waaaaaay back in the day. Makara peak is probably the most iconic mountain biking spot in Wellington though. Look here for a rough idea on maps. Its not the greatest of layouts but lists the vast majority of the tracks.

Road cycling is typically devoid of flat apart from the odd section. The most classic of Wellington loops is "The Bays" (which is actually mostly flat) which starts from the city and winds around the shorefront. There is a Wednesday lunchtime "ride" round this route at a mental pace throughout the year. Next most common would be the "Makara Loop" which winds through a quiet farm valley. Its hard to tell you are about half an hour from the CBD. If you feel like some self flagellation "Hawkins Hill" is probably the highest paved road around at about 400m of elevation gain right by the central city and offers some amazing views in all directions on clear days. Going further afield is the "Blue Mountains Loop" which includes a fair amount of flat straight boring roads but a sweet climb and lovely wind through the valley. If you feel like a nice hilly loop you could take in Moonshine (painfully steep), Paekakriki hill and a some other stuff. Probably the most iconic ride would have to be the "Akatarawas Loop" which takes in it namesake, heads down the coast, up Paekakriki and you can throw in the Makara loop on the end for a touch more pain. All of these can be mixed up with variations and a bunch of suburban streets. A couple of my friends are running a 90min challenge from the centre of the city to see who can climb the most meters without covering the same climb twice. I feel like the winner will hit 2000ish meters or more.

Wellington is renown for its winds which on rare occasions can make road cycling dangerous for flyweights like myself but is generally otherwise just annoying.

For some mixed surface rides there is the "Big Coast Loop" and this other sweet ride some of my friends did. Both include a mixture of gravel and road and are most definitely not road bike friendly. The Wairarapa where these two rides primarily are contains a cool mix of flat roads, gravel and some climbs. I think there is some more gravel/dirt type stuff closer to the city but I'm not really up with the play on that.

Feel free to fire question my way about riding, general life, places to live or whatever else.

PJCM
Posts: 198
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:44 am

by PJCM

I live in Wellington and its a great city for all types of riding year round. It is very compact and there are loads of options for riding and groups to ride with.

The road scene is vibrant and generally centres around various local group rides rather than clubs. The terrain is pretty hilly with lots of climbs up to around 250m, peaking with the Radar Dome at almost 500m. Waterfront roading provides lots of options for uninterrupted flat rides too.

Club racing is generally north of the city or in the Wairarapa which is 60-90 minutes drive out of town depending on where you live. This is due mostly to challenges with local authority traffic management requirements.

There are lots of mountain biking options too, ranging from the Makara Peak park through to more informal trails in various reserves.

Cyclocross is growing rapidly and track racing is going through a resurgence too.

I'd suggest joining in a few group rides to start with to find one that fits what your looking for as the speed, duration and culture is pretty diverse. Some of the groups are SANZ Wheelers (probably the biggest), iRide FFC, Capital Cycles shop rides, Wellington Wednesday World Champs (fast), Onslow Tarbabies. Google those and you'll quickly get a feel for things.

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

Hey how's it going? I'm probably the biggest poster of Wellington based WW on the forum here. Riding, there is heeeeaaaaaps of variety. As mentioned before there are multiple climbs around the central city of 250-350m. The climb up to the radar dome overlooking the city is about a 30-45 minute climb from the bottom to top, around 9km in total. Lots of options of lunch time riding eiter on or off the road and within minutes of your doorstep, so easy.

MTB riding up Polhill/Brooklyn tracks (about 7 minutes from my work doorstep) has the advantage if you time it well, you can get a great ride in and stop off at the best local brewery for a tasting on the way back to work. Mt Vic has challenging trails which are either up or down, bugger all flat in between. As Cam mentioned there is the Wednesday Worlds lunch ride which is a massive smash fest of Wgtns big road hitters, great for form building ahead of the racing seasons.

You can easily do 1000+m of vertical climbing in a 1hr lunch break in the central city if you put your mind to it.

Cyclocross is big in Wgtn with our local series averaging 100+ racers across all grades, and the cool thing is it's a great community atmosphere - bragging rights ony for winning - no prize money as entry goes back into the series (the nationals are in Wgtn next year as well). I would say the NZCX scene has the Wgtn scene to thank for it http://huttcross.blogspot.co.nz/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009524893828

Really it's awesome riding here, you just need to get good at riding in wind. You can do fantastic rides from Wgtn out to the Wairarapa over the Rimutaka Hill, out the Akatarawas (22km climb to 550m or from the other side 11km) loads of 100+km loops etc

MTB wise is awesome too with, from memory 3 dedicated MTB parks, Makara, Wainuiomata, Miramar - and also Maidstone park in Upper Hutt but not sure of how extensive that one is. Upper Hutt every year also has the annual Karapoti classic MTB race, which is the oldest MTB race in NZ, and the biggest too. You can also do the big loop from Wgtn, out to the Hutt, through the old rail trail, out to the Wairarapa coast and back around, either a looooong 1 day ride over 12 hours or break it into a 2 day trip - it's part of the classic cycle trail network now.

Really there is a lot of riding opportunities and lots of networks to hook up with. And if you're not satisfied, it's easy to jump in the car and get to other regions north or south.

http://www.pnp.org.nz/ - PNP club road and mtb
http://www.sportsground.co.nz/wvcc Wgtn Veterans Road Cycling Club
http://www.makarapeak.org/ Makara Peak MTB park
http://nzcycletrail.com/trails/rimutaka-cycle-trail/

campbellrae
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:20 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

by campbellrae

Thanks for all the replies, really appreciate it! I'll dig into it a bit more over the weekend if I get the time.

I'm hoping I will be OK with the wind, I grew up on the coast and still live near it. There are plenty of days in the winter(well, October to April, so Autumn and winter and most of spring!) where it's gusting 60kph, days with 80-90kph gusts are also common. If it's gusting above 80kph I tend to chicken out and stay home though. Our weather is pretty rough/crap, lots of rain and wind year round. Thankfully we don't get many day with really strong winds, over 140kph is very rare, generally only 1 or 2 storms in the winter.

velomane
Posts: 243
Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:44 am
Location: Winnipeg, Canada

by velomane

A question for the Wellingtonians: how are the motorists? Respectful? Belligerent?

CamW
Posts: 301
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:26 pm
Location: New Zealand

by CamW

A mixture as always but I would say generally leaning towards the respectful side. Although I hear stories of people having weekly problems but when I used to ride a lot I only really had a problem ~1 time a year.

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

I think better than other parts of the country, but narrow roads don't help at times.

PJCM
Posts: 198
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:44 am

by PJCM

Motorists are generally pretty good though the growth in cycling and related infrastructure (cycle lanes etc) brings out some extremes of opinion in the media that you might come across online. On the road as long as you ride defensively and avoid some of the narrower roads you'll be fine.

The only hot-spot I know of is Whitemans Valley north of the city which is a quiet semi-rural area where the local residents are getting fatigued with the volume of bunch rides and events going through there. Maybe scratch that off your list of areas where you may wish to live.

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

If you do make the move. Flick us a message and we'll hook up for a ride around the city

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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