Trip Report
Remutaka Rail Trail Mountain Bike Ride
11- 7 – 2021
Ange, Nigel and Sandra left Masterton on a sunny Sunday morning. We loaded up the bikes and discussed our planned trip – via the eastern side of the Remutaka hill. As we travelled further south, the clouds arrived and by the time we reached Featherston, the drops were hitting the windscreen. Laughing about our sunny departure point, and the forecast that said ‘overcast’, we continued down Western Lake road and arrived at the car-park to misty and drizzly conditions.
Unloading our bikes we put raincoats on and got our packs ready. We headed along the track, meeting a couple of runners early on. The track had quite a few puddles, some bumpy rocky sections and short hills to start with. After a brief stop at Cross Creek we began the slow ascent up the rail incline. The track was in good condition, wide and fairly empty except for 5 other cyclists and 2 walkers. The rain was light showers and we got some brief blue skies at the top. The tunnels and new Siberia bridge were highlights on our way to lunch at the Summit.
After hot soup and tea, we put on some more layers for the cooler descent, returned to the rain and headed off. Our descent – although cooler – was definitely faster. The puddles seemed slightly deeper on the way back, but the car-park was dry for re-loading the ute with the bikes. We laughed at being out in the winter weather and getting muddy on our 14km bike ride.
We stopped in Carterton for a cuppa before heading back to drizzly Masterton.
