Success at last!

Well, I've actually been up it before but after two failed attempts (weather) I finally got up to the top of Whariti on the DL!

It was great to get the fork seal done the other day and so have the opportunity to get out and find some gravel again.  I had planned for Sunday to be my ride day but today was a pretty reasonable day (not too hot at around 25 degrees and not as windy as we have had it lately) so just before lunch I decided to go for it.  As the wind was not too bad I decided on Whariti as it's just a short ride really and that was pretty much all I was after.

Riding out to Ashhurst I did notice that there was still a reasonable amount of wind and I wondered what it was going to be like as I climbed up to the summit.  Oh well, I guess I was just going to have to find out.

After a quick lunch in Ashhurst I rode over the Saddle Road which is in very poor condition - I guess now that the gorge has reopened they've decided that they've spent enough on the Saddle - and then turned into Whariti Road to begin my climb.

After the last attempt with the BRR guys I decided that I was going to take it very carefully climbing up the hill and to be particularly careful turning any corner which brought me into an exposed area.  In the video you'll see me practically idling up the hill in places and there were definitely some sections where the wind knocked me around a bit.

But after 20 minutes of careful riding I finally popped out on top of the ranges and got to take in the views and play with my new camera.

Made it!

Exposed in the open up top, it was very windy and I was concerned that the wind was building (it possibly wasn't) so I didn't muck around too much at the top.  Coming down the hill I also had to take a lot of care - in a number of places the road is very steep and rutted and I didn't want to lock up my brakes.  Slow and steady was the motto for the day.  There was still plenty of nice views on the way down but I was too busy to take them in properly - good thing I had the GoPro with me.

Back onto the tar I decided to return the way I had come and visit the Te Apiti wind farm so I could take some photos of Whariti from below.

Whariti in the distance

From the wind farm I dropped back down towards Ashhurst and made one more stop to get a picture of the bike parked up by the river.

Pohangina River

The rest of the ride was just a quiet ride back into town and home.  Not a bad outing of around 2 hours and nearly 100km...

More pics here.