A while back I asked a.b for advice on the surface condition of the
Central Otago Rail Trail (South Island, NZ). I got sketchy advice, so
now having ridden it I can at least update the group with more accurate
information.
I led a group ride (12 riders) mostly on MTBs, but with two riders (self
and spouse) on road bikes with Continental Contact tyres, 32mm on
front, and 37mm on the rear.
The surface on the rail trail is entirely unsealed, and the is quite a
bit of variability in the surface material and the ride quality.
The best surface is sandy soil/clay that is level, and relatively well
bound. On this surface you could survive on even a road bike with 25mm
or 23mm tyres such as Gator Skins.
The worst surface is aggregate (blue metal, basalt) angular loose rock
with a particle size of around 20-30mm diameter. At one (and only one)
place this resulted in my bike diving into the surface and coming to a
complete stop.
About 70% of the ride was "comfortable" on the Contis. For the remaining
30% it was a matter of carefully picking the line, and dealing with the
vibration. The MTB riders seemed to have it easy. Having said all that,
on the hardest section we passed a guy coming the other way, also on
drop bars, (tri bars no less) on what looked like 25mm rubber, who
seemed deliriously happy to see other 700C bikes on the trail ;-)
Section by section:
- Clyde to Alexandra - good, no problems
- Alexandra to Lauder - good to excellent
- Lauder to Oturehua - pretty ordinary, bumpy, lots of rocks, riding in
the tunnels on narrow tyres with no lights a little exciting...
- Oturehua to Wedderburn - good
- Wedderburn to Ranfurly - good (the fastest four had a pace line
running at around 30-35kph, which is pretty good on dirt), of course my
road bike gave me an unfair advantage in the sprint which I was happy to
utilise ;-)
- Ranfurly to Hyde - Variable, mostly good, but with some very rough
sections
- Hyde to Middlemarch - indifferent, with sections of good, and then
lots of rocky bits
Having said all that ... we met a guy en route who told us that there is
a plan (and even funding) to bring the entire trail up to
wheelchair-accessible standard. This would make it the equivalent of the
Mountains to the Murray rail trail (easily doable and comfortable on
touring tyres). So look out for things to improve over the next few
months/years.
For more info on our trip visit www.keogh.net.au/NZ