Tasmanian East Coast MTB

The family lives in Swansea on the east coast, just south of Freycinet National Park.  The park is famous in Tasmania for the Hazards, 3 Peaks which rise up from the coast and also the crystal clear water of Wineglass Bay.

I had gotten leave after helping Dad mow the paddock next door on his pre-70’s ride-on mower, a delapitated old machine that goes ‘like the clappers,’ as Dad describes it. 

I had dreamed of an epic trail over there; a 10 km loop that passes through one of the Hazard cols overlooking Wineglass Bay,  then down to the beach, crossing over to the other side and then back again.  I had hiked the trail a few times before, once when a bushfire started and a wallaby followed us out to safety.

It cost me $24 just to get in the park, not knowing that the parents had a year’s pass stuck on the car already.  Must have slipped Dad’s mind.  At the carpark next to the start of the track and there are no ‘Bicycles Forbidden’ signs. Armed with a touring bike that was dumped at Dad’s place after a relative had toured the island, figure I am good to go. Looks like a mountain bike, rides like a touring bike.

Only November and there are already quite a few tourists coming down the hill.  Half look at me like I am foolish and the other half offer words of encouragement.  Quite a few stairs, but not so bad to the top, especially with the views of Wineglass Bay.  Down from there and quite a technical and tricky section which I am not so game to ride, especially with the bike I have.  A nice bush trail to the other side and then a few kilometers along the beach.  Scare the hell out of a few tourists as I came up quitely behind them, they probably thought that I was some sort of rabid wombat.

The trail was a mix of rocky sections, winding parts, rolling and sandy parts which made for 10km of goodness.  Will be back, hopefully with a mountain bike.

MTB in Hobart, Tasmania

I took up mountain biking after coming to Japan, so had never experienced some of the trails of my home town of Hobart in Tasmania.  After some internet searching, found a sky diving operator that rents Merida bikes, which are all hard-tails but adequate enough for the trails in the area.  (also rent paniers for touring) http://www.derwentbikehire.com/
The owner pointed me in the right direction and recommend Radfords Track and the North-South trail on Mt Wellington and then to head over to Glenorchy and the mtb park; http://www.tasbikepark.com/

It is a short drive up Mount Wellington from the city center.  Found a lot of hiking trails up there, some which are legal and others which aren’t.  The North-South Track was designed by Glen Jabobs who is a world renowned course designer, apparently the council decided that there were too many bikers on the hiking trails and decided on a bike specific track that hikers can also use.  Anyway, if you are in to mtbing and are in Hobart, you must take a day out to do some of the trails on Mt Wellington and in particular the Nth/Sth.  Definitely one of the best trails that I have ridden. Check out a short video here.  ;
http://www.hobartcity.com.au/HCC/STANDARD/PC_1483.html

After a morning of riding, got back to the car and realised I had left the car lights on.  No jumper leads in the car, and the German tourists didn’ t have any either, so had to ride down the hill to the local pub and ask to burrow some.  Back up again with leads in hand and the Germans are still there, but don’t seem to notice me.  A friendly Canadian couple give me a hand and am on my way again to Glenorchy.

The Glenorchy Park is mostly jumps, but there is some good singletrack further up the hill.  Best to get a map, something which I didn’t have.  Quite a slog up the hill, especially after a few climbs on Mt Wellington in the same day.  A network of fire roads can get you to the top. 

Going down I was reminded of being back in Australia as a rather large snake made an escape from the trail in to its hole. 

The Hobart Council is planning on joining the North South Track with the mtb park in Glenorchy which would make for an epic and extremely long descent.  Would be worth bringing your own bike to Tassie for this one when it is completed.

Back at home, a cold shower and some Coopers dark ale,  finishing off a great day.

Taipei Bike Shops

Prices for bikes are really cheap for anything which is made in Taiwan, which is a lot, in particular Giant and Scott.  Most are about half price of what they are in Japan.  Almost all the shops are Giant distributors and are marked by Giant signs, like  shops in Japan are marked with Bridgestone.

Trek bikes are a lot more expensive, the frames made in China, shipped to the States to get assembled, before being sent back to Asia to sell.

Shops can order anything you want from the catalogue as long as it isn’t a large size.  Most frames sold in Taiwan are small or medium frames and larger ones are sent to North America and Europe.  If it is a large size you want, it could be a wait of a few months before the next shipment of bikes is available from the distributor. 

Went to the Shilin Market before catching the flight.  This is a must go to place in Taipei, even if markets aren’t your thing. 

Taiwan visit

Asparagus juice

abandoned

lunch

Nice to get out of the cold of late Autumn Hokkaido and land in the warmth of Taiwan.  My first time here and taking everything in.  The roads are definitely scary and only the brave ride bicycles on them.  Caught a bus to one of the many bike shops and was aghast when the driver took his hands off the steering wheel to open a can of drink and signal a cheers to another bus driver. 

Scooters are everywhere.  I guess it is the quickest way from A to B in Taipei.  Saw a young couple with what looked to be a shopping package wedged between them on the scooter, but turned out to be their baby!

I followed my nose from one bike shop to another asking directions numerous times along the way. Best to have the address written in Chinese if your mandarin is as limited as mine.  Taiwanese seem to be really friendly and have so far gone out of their way to steer me on the right track.

October ‘Playground of the Gods’ Self-Guided Trip

Farewell at the airport

Riding on the second day

We hosted Stephen, Wendy, Alisa and Keisuke from San Fransisco recently.  All residing in San Fran but from different parts of the world; England, Taiwan, Russia and Japan. All keen cyclists back home, a few commute to work by bicycle and go on longer rides, including some century rides on the weekends.

They were a little unlucky with the weather as there were a few days of rain, but that didn’t dampen their spirits. There was also plenty of snow on the peaks  of the Daisetsuzan National Park, in particular Asahidake where they rented long rubber boots to walk the circuit below the volcano.  It snowed on their 5th night as well when they were staying in the southern end of the park, the hot spring outdoors while it was snowing was a highlight apparently. We thought we might need to drive them to a lower elevation, but  the road soon dried in the morning.

This is their first time on a bicycle self guided tour and had a great time. They said they would like to make this their mode of travel from now on.

Cape of Divine Power, Oct 09

Team Singapore, Jakarta

lonely road

Pool

Young volcano

Dinner

Kaiseki dinner

Nice ride!

Lake Toya

Hotel hot spring

Claudia

Evan, Teddy, Derek

Big climb

Recently hosted a largely Singaporian contingent of riders who live in all parts of Asia, including H.K and Shanghai; Evan, Claudia, Teddy and Derek.  One of the members is from Jakarta; Masha. It was interesting to hear  how cycling is in the big cities of Asia.  Masha has to wear a mask while riding in Jakarta due to the pollution and apparently the roads become congested with traffic as early as 6am.  Singapore is mainly flat and drivers do not sound so friendly to cyclists. Derek rides in his apartment in H.K on the roller.

Anyway, it was a group of super keen riders and it was their first time cycling abroad and for some, on quiet country roads. We had a favorable spell of weather for the riding days with mostly sunshine and cloud and temperatures in the mid teens. Perfect temperatures, although sometimes would get a little cool in the shade.

The tour started at Lake Shikotsu and then headed to Lake Toya, before finishing at Niseko.  Everyone enjoyed the hills, including the mountain climb on the last day. Rides were around 80km in distance.

I have realised that Singaporians love to eat, and so we made the rounds of some of the local restaurants in Niseko and Lake Toya such as yaki-niku, yaki-tori, sushi and traditional drinking establishments called Izukaya.

Everyone brought with them their own personal bikes. Pinarello seemed to be the bike of choice, although there were 2 Wiliars, one of which was the bike ridden by the world champion last year.

The scenery got the thumbs up and Teddy even said that it was more picturesque than the south of France. More pictures on the facebook page;

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Cape of Divine Power Course Check

Mt Youtei

Caldera lake

Sunset

Youtei in distance

Rice Fields

Road

Back road

Falls in fall

handle-bar cam

Mountain vegetable ramen

The last three days I have been riding part of the ‘Cape of Divine Power’  cape_of_devine.html route as we have some clients arriving from Singapore and Hong Kong in mid October. They are avid cyclists and so were looking for more than the average 70 kilometer distance each day, so I rode some of the extensions which will make their rides longer.

There is very much a volcano theme as part of this tour.  We stay on two nights on the banks of Hokkaido’s 2 caldera lakes and ride around some of the live volcanoes of the region.  The hot springs are everywhere and the hotels all have hot springs which are nice after a long riding day.

Family Journey

Margaret, Bob, Emily, Haley

Recently we hosted Bob, Margaret, Haley and Emily on a self- guided trip, the ‘Playground of the Gods’ tour. This picture was taken on their last riding day where they descend from the highest road point in Hokkaido down to the town of Biei which is about a 1,000 meter vertical descent. The trip was timed well with the Autumn colors happening in the higher elevations of the Daisetsuzan National Park.

This was their first cycle tour journey and according to the family won’t be their last.

Testing the Trail

Together with a local friend and a bike shop owner from Sapporo we trialed some of the trails which had recently been cleaned up.  My buddy Kenji is a Sapporo local who used to ride trail bikes before switching to downhill mtb.  He races whenever he can and often places in the top 10 in Hokkaido. Takafuji san owns Road Kids and often brings groups of his shop customers to the Furano area and who I guide. I have seen him descend things which I previously wouldn’t have thought to be ride-able, but he changes my perspective. So I was in pretty formidable company for the day.

We first climbed in to the volcanic area of Tokachidake in the Daisetsuzan National Park. The ground is steaming in some places and has a very moonscape type appearance, a lot different from the lush forest just below it. The climb is short but it adds some vertical and length to the trail. On the descent I realized that one brake didn’t seem to be working and when I got to the bottom we found that one of the brake pads had fallen off. Not a good start! How was I going to keep up with these guys?

It was on the back, so decided to swop a pad from the front.  Found the riding a bit skiddy, but was manageable. At various technical sections I was inclined to reluctantly walk as was not comfortable with just the one brake.

Anyway, we had a great time as you can see from the pictures.

New Trails

Fall colors

Roots

Once the snow melts off the ground here in in Hokkaido, the vegetation grows like crazy.  Some trails that I have had my eye on had not had any trail maintenance for about a year and were in desperate need of a brush cutter’s razor. I tried to walk through one of them in early summer and found that it was nearly impassable. A machete would have been handy.

The maintenance has finally been done and they are still fixing some parts of the track, including putting in some new stairs, hopefully not too many.  Quite rooty and techincal at the top, but then faster and easier down near the bottom.

The fall colors are really impressive presently.