Night Unicycling - Makara Peak, North Face

Having bought some Ay-Up LED lights (which are absolutely awesome) in December for an outing at Unicon (which I never actually went on), lately I've been getting into night unicycling - so far mostly on Mount Victoria.

Last night I finally got back up to Makara Peak - somehow I've not been since December - for what became a 3-hour ride, half of which was in darkness.

This was also the first Makara Peak outing for my new KH24 mountain unicycle, which is the only thing I've wanted to ride offroad since I got it in December. I've been riding it on Mount Victoria and having a great time on the steep tracks there.

The KH24 really likes Makara Peak. With its long 165mm cranks and huge 3-inch-wide tyre, it's much better suited to the steep rocky parts than the 29" uni, especially with the trails in their current eroded, rocky condition. At least, it's better suited now that my balance and skill is up to it and I don't have to rely on the big 29er wheel to smooth out the bumps.

KH24 at top of Sally Alley track

Eventually, in darkness, I reached the summit, after stopping to chat to two surprised evening mountain bikers. The climb was a bit of an ordeal - my leg muscles are apparently a bit out of condition since I haven't done any multi-hour rides lately, just shorter intense ones on Mt Vic. I had to walk much of Aratihi, though the lower tracks were ok.

The summit was in cloud and very windy, so I didn't linger but headed over to the new North Face downhill track, which is now open for careful riding, and has recently been conquered by mountain bike.

I'm not going to say too much about whether it's a good idea to ride a new, unfamiliar, unpolished, rough-edged track by unicycle, alone in the dark, when somewhat tired... suffice to say that I survived.

So, what's it like? What can I say? North Face is awesome! This is already my new favourite track in the park for unicycling (previously I would have said Sally Alley/Missing Link, then Aratihi downhill). Never boring, but still good for a bit of speed. The right mix of interesting steep bits, twistiness, sudden humps and grade reversals.

KH24 resting on North Face, lights of Karori in background

KH24 and a treacherous bump on North Face, cloudily illuminated by Ay-Up lights

Some of the many steep switchbacks defeated me, but I'm still fairly rubbish at unicycling even the easy ones (even those on Lazy Fern), so that says more about my riding than the track design. They will provide a good challenge for some time I think!

After North Face I was tired enough to take the easy option, so headed up then down the 4wd track, then down Lazy Fern. Unfortunately I then got an agonising cramp in a thigh muscle, leading to an abrupt dismount, and leaving me helplessly cursing on the ground for a while until it relaxed and I could bend my leg again. Ouch! Maybe I overdid it slightly. I had to walk down from there - it felt like it might cramp again, and the results could be spectacular if descending a switchback at the time!

Fun ride. A lot of muscles are going to hurt in a day or so, but I will definitely be keen to ride North Face again soon. Just for a laugh, I might try it in daylight.

Unicycling Makara Peak - summit

I've been on a few more weekend unicycling trips to Makara Peak since the ankle incident, now kitted out with ankle braces, and this week with some elbow pads as well following some scrapes and bruises last week. Ankle is mostly recovered now despite continued weekend abuse.

Last Sunday and yesterday I managed to reach the summit, via the very rocky Missing Link, and the long uphill Aratihi track.

The uphill rocky parts of Missing Link are still a bit much for me, though I can manage most of the downhill.

Though mostly not very steep, Aratihi is quite a long climb, and it's still well beyond my current endurance to ride the whole of it without stopping. Yesterday though I managed to ride intermittently for maybe 2/3 of it, and tried to keep walking up during the recovery periods in between, rather than stopping completely.

After a quick rest at the cloudy and windy summit, I came back down Aratihi and found it to be just right for my current skill level - an interesting and fast downhill route, but not too tricky even when I'm really tired from the uphill. (Last week I tried to go down Ridgeline instead, and had to walk it - much too hard at the moment.) Then back along Missing Link; the downhill first half is fun, but the climb back out of the valley is the disadvantage to this route: had to walk it. Then down the 4WD track and Lazy Fern - still a favourite. By the time I reached Lazy Fern my back was aching and I was glad to reach the bottom!

I took the camera along this time - there are only a few pictures because mostly I just kept riding / falling!


Here is the gallery with the rest, and captions.

The park will have been very busy today with the Makara Peak Rally, so I'm guessing it will be pretty torn up next weekend (as if I needed any more obstacles). Next year I hope to be good enough to enter the rally on a unicycle - would be an interesting challenge. At the moment though I would just be a semi-stationary obstacle in the way of the mountain bikers!

In a week or so there is a shuttle day (4WD lifts to the summit, so you can repeatedly ride the downhills) - I'm taking the day off work to go along if the weather is decent.