Folding Goldies Ride – Akatarawa

On the 1st of November, the Folding Goldies group went for a long ride over the Akatarawas. The plan was for us to meet at the Waikanae Station for the uphill ride.

The leader, Alastair Smith, described the ride thus: “The Akatarawa Road leads through farms and bush, making for a ride with a really remote feel. From Waikanae, the road winds steadily to the summit then it's downhill for a café stop at Staglands. [On the way down] we'll turn off at the newly reconstructed Birchville Bridge to come down the (now motor free) road that was built on the west side of the Hutt river after the 2015 flood. We'll probably catch a train back from Upper Hutt, though keen folk can carry on down the Hutt River Trail”.

He ended with a bit of a warning: “40km, 800m of climbing – if you're using electric assistance, make sure your battery is fully charged”.

We have done the Akatarawa Road once before with the Folding Goldies, but on that occasion we approached it from the Upper Hutt side. That was a hard enough slog (we did not have our e-bikes at the time), but I remembered the downhill into Waikanae as being incredibly steep. So I had a few misgivings about going up from the steep side.

On the appointed day, Alastair was not able to come along on the ride, as he was not well, so Lyn took the lead for this ride. We had a good number there - 11 people all up. We even had to fold our bikes on the train because there were already three bikes in that carriage.

Lyn, in the orange vest, was waiting for us at Waikanae station (photo by John)

Actually, the climb up to Staglands wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared. In fact, I used level 3 assist most of the way, and even level 2 some of the time, as John had said not to use too much battery in case it wasn’t going to last the whole trip. But it was fine.

The road between Waikanae and Reikorangi was not very steep (photo by John)

Outside Reikorangi Church (photo by John)

Still outside Reikorangi Church (photo by John)

The road became a bit steeper … (photo by John)

Waiting for the stragglers after a pretty steep bit (photo by John)

When we got to the highest point, we found that the view was pretty disappointing. A bit of a dump, actually. I think the council should do something about this. But perhaps neither Upper Hutt City nor the Kapiti District think it is their problem, since it’s sort of in between the two.

When we got to the top, the view was less than inspiring (photo by John)

From here it was a nice descent to Staglands, where we stopped for lunch. A very pleasant interlude, with the conversation revolving around bikes and bike trips – of course. All punctuated by the calls of peacocks, the squabbles of geese, and the funny squeaky sounds of the guinea fowl as they strutted along in the dell below the café’s terrace.

Lunch at Staglands (photo by John)

Then we had another 20 km ride down (and up and down again) to Upper Hutt. At Birchville we crossed a new bridge, which led onto a narrow, but tarsealed road without any car traffic, winding along above the Akatarawa River – much nicer than having to ride on the Akatarawa Road itself. We got to Upper Hutt Station in time to catch the 2:30 train back to Wellington.

Simple for those who had boarded the Kapiti train in Wellington. But we had boarded at Takapu Road which is on the Kapiti Line, so that was where our car was parked. And we were now coming into Wellington on the Hutt Valley Line. I was thinking we would take the Kapiti train back to Tawa from Wellington.

However, Colin, who had to get back to Titahi Bay, said he was getting off at Ngauranga, and would bike up the Gorge and go home that way. John reckoned we should do that too. I balked at the thought of biking up Ngauranga Gorge. I really didn't want to, but John and Colin “ganged up” on me, telling me I was a wuss, and what was I worried about since I had an e-bike. So of course, I gave in.

So we biked up the Gorge. It wasn't as bad as I feared either, although it was not very pleasant with all the traffic rushing past. We biked through Johnsonville, and into Churton Park. From there I went home, and John went down to Middleton Road to bike to Tawa to fetch the car. I had done 47 km. John another 3 km more.

It had been a pretty good ride, despite my initial misgivings. And I had conquered my fear of biking up Ngauranga Gorge.

Folding Goldies ride – the Akatarawa Road

On Thursday 23 October, we went on our fourth Folding Goldies ride.

As planned, we rode the Akatarawa Road, from Upper Hutt to Waikanae. For me, this was a really ambitious ride. If we hadn’t been involved with the Folding Goldies, I probably would never have done this. And John does a fair bit of egging me on. It was not an easy ride, and I am moderately proud of myself for having biked it, even though I did have to walk some stretches.

The plan was to take the train to Upper Hutt, bike the Akatarawa Road, stopping off at Staglands for lunch, and take the train back to Wellington from Waikanae. John and I boarded at Petone, as it is easier to park there than in town. Though returning on a different line meant that we would have to take another train back to Petone, to get back to the car. We weighed up the pros and cons, the other options would have meant a much earlier start, and we are not exactly “early birds”.

We were met on the train by Alastair, Russell and Daryl. Two of the folding bikes had already been folded up, to make room for our bikes. I ended up folding mine too, when another cyclist came on board at a later station. Lyn, who lives in Paraparaumu, would be biking up from the Waikanae side, and would meet us at Staglands in time for lunch.

From the Upper Hutt Station we biked to the Hutt River trail, and to Harcourt Park, at the far end of which is the start of the Akatarawa Road. There, we stopped for a group photo. Daryl, still without helmet, but not wearing his trademark suit this time – "it would be too sweaty a ride for a suit", he said.

No MAMILs here! From left: Daryl, Alastair, Russell, John, Désirée (photo by John)

The Bridge Street bridge over the Hutt River

The early stage of the Akatarawa Road is quite sedate, though I was surprised at how many cars and trucks passed us. But soon we were into the countryside, and the road started to climb.

Initially there were quite a few cars and trucks on the road (photo by John)

An old farm shed

We rode past Bill Tito’s place, and John liked the sign outside his property, especially his admonishment to the speeding “bar”stards. I’m glad we didn’t meet any of those on the road. Bill Tito is a renowned specialist in repairing/restoring old books and documents. We occasionally see his advertisements on TV, and he sounds like quite a character.

Bill Tito’s sign (photo by John)

The undulations in the road were quite manageable most of the way to Staglands, thanks to the modification John had made to my gears. The ups were not too steep, and the downs were a nice relief. Even so, I was the slowpoke of the group. Russell and Daryl were way ahead of us, and I think Alastair stuck with us out of kindness.

The road up to Staglands was not too steep (photo by John)

The Akatarawa River, from the bridge

We met this cheerful fellow in the middle of nowhere

It took us nearly two hours to get to Staglands, and by then I was well and truly ready for coffee and lunch. My legs were certainly feeling the effects of the climb, and I was glad to sit down on a chair rather than on a bike seat! Russel, Daryl and Lyn, who had arrived by this time too, had already had lunch and were onto their second coffees. They took off ahead of us, after we’d agreed to meet up at a café by the Waikanae Railway Station.

The driveway out of Staglands is steep enough to warrant a warning to motorists!

Before leaving Staglands we turned on our tail lights, just as a safety measure, in case of cars coming up behind us. But in fact, no cars passed us at all on this stretch.

We had to climb for another four kilometres to the highest point of the road. And this was the steepest and most testing part of the ride. My leg muscles were already fairly knackered, and even the not-quite-so-steep bits were a test of endurance for me. I had to step off and walk quite a few of the uphill stretches, as my legs simply would not do it on the bike. Ah, but the bits of downhill were lovely. John was very patient, and either rode very slowly behind me, or at intervals, rode ahead and waited for me to catch up.

I biked some of it … (photo by John)

… and had to walk some of it (photo by John)

The downhills were a soothing relief. Note my tail light for safety (photo by John)

I felt triumphant when I finally made it to the top! (photo by John)

Before tackling the even steeper downhill run to Waikanae, we donned our parkas, as it was kind of misty/drizzly at the top, and the wind was cold, soon to feel even colder with the speed of freewheeling down the hill.

I had been worried about the downhill, because I would have to tightly grip the brakes, putting pressure on my painful thumb joints. But John adjusted the angle of my handlebar so that I was able to keep my thumbs around the bar, rather than on top (which is how I usually ride on the flat), and still grip the brakes.

Wow! It was such an exhilarating ride down! It was six kilometres down to the valley floor. I didn’t quite freewheel all the way, being worried about coming a cropper, but I think we did about 30-35 km/h. Alastair must be used to such runs, as he soon whizzed past us and we didn’t see him again till we got to the station.

John loyally stayed behind me, to keep an eye on me. I know he would have loved to pass me and hurtle down like a bat out of hell. He reckons he used to do 80 km/h down Ngauranga Gorge with a strong northerly behind him in his younger days. But today he said that I was going like a rocket, and couldn't catch me up! Ha!

Actually, the strong northerly headwind that we'd had to struggle uphill against, provided quite a bit of resistance on the way down. Which was good in a way, as it kept us from careering out of control.

It was still a bit misty round the top of the hills

We stopped at a look-out point to take a photo, and when we got going again, I found that my chain had come off. I don’t know whether it had come off when I stopped, or whether I had been bombing down the hill with the chain off! John restored it, but by the time we got to the bottom of the hill, it had twice come off again.

Fortunately there was a nice wide grassy verge where John could effect repairs. It was the same problem we had on another ride – a plate on the chain was splayed – but this time, he had the right tool with him, so it was soon fixed.

John had the right tool this time

Having got to the bottom of the hill, this was not the end of the ride yet. We had another five kilometres to go before Waikanae.

It was another 5 km down this road to get to the station

From here, it became a race against time to get to the station to catch the 3:00 pm train back to Wellington. Never mind meeting the others for coffee at the agreed café. We actually didn’t see the café as we raced past, and got to the station with just a couple of minutes to spare.

But the others weren’t there! I was trying to ring Alastair, to tell him that we were on the train, and not to wait for us at the café, when they all turned up. Whew, made it in time!

Back at Wellington Railway Station, we caught the next train to Petone (we could no longer use our Gold Cards, of course), and headed home.

What a day! Forty-two kilometres all up, including 20 km during which we climbed 350 m to the top, and a crazy 6 km downhill run, dropping nearly 400 m (there is a profile at the bottom of this link, courtesy of Alastair). My quads were knackered, my calves on the verge of cramp, my hands crippled, but I was feeling very pleased that I had actually DONE IT – biked the Akatarawa Road!

Then, in the evening, I went to my regular Scottish country dancing club night. I could have done without that, feeling as I did, but as I am the only person with a key to the hall, I couldn’t get out of it. I had a good time anyway, as I always do when I go dancing.

Testing – a new chain wheel and the Akatarawa Road

The Folding Goldies’ suggestion of cycling the Akatarawa Road for our next ride, and my misgivings about the hill climbs, got John thinking of how he could modify the gearing on my bike so that it would make it easier for me to bike uphill.

So he had a chat to Francis at Johnsonville Cycles and got the necessary bits. Then he spent a fair few hours in the garage tinkering. In essence, he has replaced the 52-tooth chain wheel with a 39-tooth one, which gives me greater leverage in the lowest gear, i.e. more oomph to get up the hill! But I’ll let John describe the details of what he did at the end of this post (or you can look at his website. You’ll have to scroll down to the last three paragraphs of the Technical Details section).

I had the first try of the modification on the steep dead-end road round the corner from where we live. It seemed reasonably OK to get to the top of the hill, but the bike was making some noises. John doesn’t like it when mechanical things make noises they shouldn’t, so more time was spent in the garage to remedy that. So far, so good.

The next thing to check out was the gradient and condition of the Akatarawa Road.  Since it was fine last Tuesday, we drove to Upper Hutt, and headed up the Akatarawa Road (in the car, not on the bike!). Much of it is very tortuous, with lots of twists and turns, and lots of “blind corners”. On the whole the inclines do not seem too bad, as they are short-ish, and interspersed with dips or flat stretches. And the surface is good. But the road is quite narrow. There is only just enough room for two cars to pass each other, and there is no shoulder for a cyclist to get out of the way in a hurry. I must admit that this aspect of the road worries me. What would be the chances of getting hit by a car coming up behind you around a blind bend? Then again, there is very little traffic. We met only three cars during the whole trip.

But there were dozens of cars at Staglands that got there before us. This is the first week of the school holidays – as we found out when we got to Staglands. We pulled into the carpark and had trouble finding a spot. There were two big buses – one of the drivers informed us that the passengers had been children on a school holiday programme. The valley was ringing with excited children’s voices and the calls of birds of various descriptions (peacocks, geese, tui, chickens). I hoped the kids and their minders would not all be in the café where we were planning to have lunch.

It was after 1pm, so it was relatively quiet in the café. We sat out on the deck, near a tree that was labelled “Native Bird Feeding Station”, and lots of little wax-eyes and a tui or two came to feed from a container that contained a milky-looking liquid.

Waiting for lunch on the deck at Staglands (photo by John)

Wax-eyes at the “Native Bird Feeding Station” (photo by John)

Staglands is about 16 km from Upper Hutt, then it is another 4 km to the highest point – probably the most testing uphill bit. The downhill stretch to Reikorangi is quite steep, and there is a drop on the left side of the road – you can’t afford to lose concentration, lest you tip over the edge. It will require a firm grip on the brakes too, I think, as I’m not game to go hurtling down at full speed.

Once out of the forest cover, the view opens up over a beautiful valley (photo by John)

When we got to Waikanae, we decided to try the bike out some more by cycling the Waikanae River track loop. We parked near the estuary, and headed up the north bank. We had gone only a couple of kilometres, when the chain of my bike fell off. John restored it, but it fell off again after the first couple of pedal strokes. This happened several times, much to John’s frustration. He tried taking off the new chain wheel and turning it around (outside-in), hoping to improve the chain line. That did not solve the problem. In the end he discovered what was going on: one of the chain plates was splayed, which caused the chain to keep falling off.

Trackside bike repairs

Out came the full toolkit, but what he needed – a pair of pliers – was not in it. What to do? Squeezing it by hand did not work, banging it didn’t either, but in the end, with the help of a rock and a spanner, he managed to coerce it into the correct shape, and hooray! the chain stayed put, and we were able to continue on our way.

There were quite a few people on the track, and families having picnics on the little beaches. We saw a trio of cyclists – two by the water’s edge taking their shoes off, and one emerging from the bushes – so I reckoned that they’d gone for “a pedal, a piddle, and a paddle”.

A great school holiday activity – a picnic by the river

Approaching the SH1 bridge, you go though a nice wooded area (photo by John)

We crossed the SH1 bridge, and made our way down the southern bank of the river. We stopped to take off a layer, as it was getting quite warm. In the photo below, you can see the difference in the size of the chain wheels on our bikes (click on the photo to enlarge it).

Compare the size of the chainwheels on our bikes (photo by John)

A bit further along we saw some ostriches in a paddock. I wanted to take a picture of them, and here I discovered what was wrong with my camera (it had misbehaved during our last ride). It was the zoom that didn’t work. The camera must have been knocked inadvertently, as there were a couple of small dents in the lens surround. Darn!

Four ostriches in a paddock, eating cabbage leaves (photo by John)

The estuary, with Kapiti Island in the background (photo by John)

Apart from the problem with the chain falling off, it was a very pleasant 12 km ride. But John spent more time in the garage that evening to deal to the errant chain. And today (Friday), he removed a link from it. So we had to go and give the bike another try.

We drove out to Plimmerton, from where we biked up the hill to Pukerua – the hill that had defeated me a few weeks ago. That day there had been a slight southerly, which probably helped me up the hill to nearly, but not quite, the top. Today though, there was a near-galeforce northerly, i.e. a fierce headwind as you go uphill. It would be as good a test as any.

I made it to the top without having to step off! Yay! I won’t say it was easy – but it was easier than before. The new chain wheel had definitely made a difference.

I made it! (photo by John)

The downhill, of course, was a blast! Not only did I not have to pedal at all, but we were being pushed along by the tailwind. I did find it a bit disconcerting that once at the bottom of a downhill, and starting to pedal again, in top gear, I had nothing to “push against”. John said that this was the trade-off for having the different gearing. Well, so be it. I think that with this change, I will probably do OK on the Akatarawa Road ride in a few weeks’ time.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I asked John to write about the technical details of the changes he made to my bike.

Technical details – by John Patterson

In cycling most people have a comfortable gear which they use often. Ideally, this should be in the middle of the available range. With our bikes, that range is limited to a factor of two, when three would be ideal.

With difficulties in hill climbing the simplest way to help is to reduce the size of the chain wheel. The chain needs to be shortened to compensate. The number of inches to remove from the chain should be approximately:

(old chain wheel teeth – new chain wheel teeth)/4

Another inch may be required if smooth running is not obtained.

I replaced the 52-tooth chain wheel on Désirée's bike with a 39-tooth chain wheel. Therefore I needed to remove (52–39)/4 or 3.25 inches from the chain. In order for the chain to join up, only whole inches can be removed. I started with three inches, or six half-inch links.

My old chain tool was not very good as it was hard to get the pin and plate set right when joining up. This caused the chain to come off later, when running in the highest gear. A new Park multi-tool fixed that.

In the lowest gear, the top derailleur wheel also conflicted with the largest cog, which made a rumbling noise. As the chain is shortened, this top wheel moves in an arc upwards and then downwards. Adding an inch to the chain made it too loose in high gear. The final solution was to remove four inches of chain.

Longer term, a 44-tooth chain wheel would be ideal. In that case, two inches of chain would need to be removed.

The gear range is now from 27.2 to 54.5 gear inches, or 2.17 to 4.35 metres development, or a 2.03 to 4.07 gain ratio. The lowest gear is the same as that on my Jamis Allegro road bike. The highest gear is now similar to the set-up found on some single-speed commuter/shopping bikes. (An explanation about gear ratios can be found here.)

I also added a recycled BMX chain guard as shown below. These chain guards don't have the "right look" for BMX cyclists, so they are often removed from new bikes before sale. Enough room was left to allow a larger chain wheel to be fitted.

The new chain wheel and chain guard (photo by John)