Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Wow! Guy Fawkes Rogaine in NZ. Talk about vertical! Thick jungle, very obscure trails, lots of muck. We didn't do all that well, but loved it! The Kiwis found it a bit tough and frustrating too, but there are some awesome Rogainers here. Really amazing cloud forest up on the mountain tops, 1000 metres above the start. We spent the last bit of time struggling up a huge climb for an 80 pointer, which we didn't find, and had to run back hard the last 80 minutes to finish on time.
Nav was more like AR nav- bushwhacking was impossible, and controls were sometimes obscure or possibly misplaced/missing. A tough and fit lot, these kiwis. One team was still missing when we went to bed at 10pm!

C • Hope you're having a tonne of fun 2

Yes, we went rafting in caves by light of glow-worms. Very amazing! We wore wet suits, and did some scrambling, some jumping off waterfalls, and lots of floating and paddling in innertubes, gaping at the glowing ceilings way above us. Mainly tall narrow fissure caves with rushing rivers in the bottom. We came out into a lush forest river and paddled the last bit in the open.

We did the Tongoriro crossing. Started at the South end, then climbed up over a saddle into a huge flat crater. We kept up a good clip, and although there were some 600 hikers doing the crossing, we were the first and had the crater to ourselves. We went up to the summit of Tongoriro, again practically alone. Got some views of Mt Ngorigo (sp??) which is Mt Doom in LOTR. We hit the crowds on the return, but it was still spectacular. Last hour was through lush forest, to our surprise.

In New Zealand!
We rented bikes in Rotorura, and had a great ride amongst lush jungle and 3M diameter trees. Hard to ride singletrack while gaping your mouth wide open and gawking around. Excelent trails here, and we only explored part of them. I'm sure not used to a "regular" MTB. Ouch!