PRE CHRISTMAS GHOST.
A good friend /customer and I embarked on a pre-Christmas riding adventure on Friday December 22nd, tackling the Old Ghost Road, New Zealand's longest mountain bike trail spanning 85km. We set out from Christchurch early in the morning, aiming to hit the trail by 10:30 am to tackle a 30km climb up to Ghost Lake Hut from Lyell Creek Campground. Before we arrived at Lyell creek. We stopped in Culverden for some fuel in the form of pies and coffee from the local bakery.
The weather during our trip was a mix bag of sun, rain, and very little wind, creating humid conditions. The initial 5km proved to be challenging, but a shift in the weather offered respite. After 18km of climbing we stopped at Lyell Creek Hut for lunch before continuing on the next 12km leg of the route, met with rocky terrain and a continuous uphill climb. Traversing around the rugged Torrs shrouded in mist and fog, added an eerie ghostly experience.
After six hours of riding, including a lunch break, we reached Ghost Lake Hut and unwound with some cold beers sat on the edge of the Heli pad and took in the scenic views, Before having our pulled pork dinner in the hut. Accompanied by a 2017 Syrah red wine carried up in Damiens camel back bladder.
The next day, we took on on a 38km leg to Specimen Point Hut, featuring exhilarating descents and a challenging climb out of the bone yard. A mishap with a dropped dry bag added an extra challenge, where I had to walk about 2km to locate it. but we pushed on reaching Specimen Point Hut around 2pm and staying the night.
Damien wife's and kids hiked in to Specimen point hut from seddonville and joined us for the night. It was a hot humid restless night with the hut surrounded by sandflys.
Specimen point hut is stunning hut and sits on the edge of the Mokihinui River looking strait down a gorge this would be our route out tomorrow a 17km single-track following the gorge.
The final 17km leg of the ride on Christmas Eve brought intermittent rain and warm temperatures, we pushed ourselves to beat my previous times. Despite a recording issue with Strava only 8km of the 17km had recorded I concluded that I had beat my previous times but was racing my own Ghost.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip even though it was my 4th time on the Old Ghost road.
My Specialized Chisel bike and bike packing setup served me well, and my overall performance made this particular journey a standout.
Reflecting on the adventure, we highly recommend the Old Ghost Road Road and I am open to answering any questions if you are thinking about tackling the Ghost.
Yaz
