42nd Traverse

Region

Bay of Plenty

Type

MUni

Level

Advanced

Average rating

4

Contributed By

Steve Pavarno

This is one of the best mountain bike rides in New Zealand. The 42nd traverse is a 44km ride through the Tongariro forest with amazing views of the mountains and some awesome riding.

The ride follows a four wheel drive track and crosses several streams and one river. The river is impassible after lots of rain. Note you will get your feet wet on this ride! Around half the ride is uphill and you do almost as much climbing as you do down hill. There are some really steep technical descents which are very challenging and a total blast to unicycle down. The track is 99.5% rideable on a unicycle with the last 0.5% being extremely steep uphill. I did the traverse with some mountain bikers and managed to ride more of it than they did.

Allow a full day to unicycle the 42nd traverse and organise to be picked up from the Owhango end. Information centres at Turangi and Whakapapa have info on people who will pick you up and drop you off. It is common for riders to drive to the end at Owhango and then get dropped around to the start for a fee.

A good level of fitness required, ride includes 20km of hill climbs, 2km of technical downhill, 5-7 hours riding time.

The ride starts off at Kapoors Road (near Whakapapa) and finishes at a camp site near the small settlement of Owhango. Unless you know the area already a map is essential. Before you start the ride visit either the visitors centre at Whakapapa or Turangi and pick up a map. Alternatively there are good instructions is "Classic New Zealand Mountain Bike Rides". You should be able to find Kapoors road on a detailed map of the Ruapehu area. Drive down Kapoors road until you find a fork off to the right. The right fork should be marked by doc markers just before and after the intersection. A normal car won't be able to go much past this area so its time to get the unicycles out and start riding. Follow the DOC markers and your map for the rest of the ride.

Comments

Rated 4/5 by Peter Bier on 17 Dec 09
Great views but a challenging ride. Make sure you take a well maintained, reliable unicycle. It is a good idea to take spare parts and tools to deal with punctures and common mechanical issues. Both times I have done it riders have been plagued by mech