The Ghost Road Enduro

I haven’t been to an enduro race since arriving back in New Zealand, so I thought that if I was going to, I’d start it off on the right footing, with the relatively new, but much acclaimed ‘Ghost Road Enduro’. Held in a place called Lyell, in the Buller region of the West Coast of New Zealand. where there's no cell reception, one-way bridges and lots of rain. We're talking proper West Coast conditions!




I jumped in the ute and drove up the night before, forgetting there was no cell reception up in these parts. I had no maps or GPS, however arriving just after midnight in the Lyell camp ground I could see I was at the right place by the number of tents, utes, vans with bikes leaning up against them. 

I spied a nice gap under a big ‘ol pine tree and parked underneath. Cleaned my teeth and jumped into the tray of the Freeride New Zealand ute for a kip. In typical West Coast fashion, it rained. Sounded more like a snare drum under the alloy canopy - it sounded like WW3 was going on above and that everyone would be awake, but alas it was just me that could seemingly hear it... 




I woke at dawn when the search and rescue team began to set up for the day ahead and the early risers started to crawl out of their tents. The weather was looking awful and the morning news wasn’t good either... The Ghost Road Enduro relies on helicopters to set up the radio responders and to shuttle the riders to the start point. At this point in time the visibility was too poor for the heli pilots to fly in, so we were in a holding pattern. 




Credit to Adam and Glenn, and the other organisers, we were kept in the know every 15-minutes. This was 9am, and it would go on like this until lunch time. At lunch time, unfortunately the race would have to be trimmed to two stages rather than the original four. This was due to the weather on top at the alpine stages. However, there was still too little visibility to drop the radio receivers.




In the end the race itself had to be cancelled, but to the credit of the crew behind this event, they didn’t want the riders, especially those who had come from far and wide, to miss out on the amazing riding that this newly opened trail has to offer. 




The weather finally cleared enough in the afternoon for the heli’s to operate. They got everyone who was still keen to ride and lined up their bikes in their wave order and everyone was to be shuttled by heli to the mid-point where they could ride down. One Heli shuttled bikes - a Robinson 44 - whilst a Bell LongRanger was employed for the riders.

 It was truly awesome stuff watching the talented chopper Pilot Wayne manoeuvring the custom built heli-bike rack swinging underneath, in and out of the narrow valley, door open, backing it in like a casual Sunday driver backing a trailer. 




I got to head on up the trail about an hour after the first riders left with fellow photographer, Jase Blair, to catch the riders as they came hooning down the trail. We had to be very careful as there was no room on either side of the trail. We had to move quickly in-between safe shooting areas, employing a buddy system.




With my usual subjects being downhill racers and freeriders, I found the action to be a bit slower than what I am used to. But the amazing scenery more than made up for it. The riders were pretty quiet so there wasn’t much notice of them arriving into the frame, not like at a World Cup event where you can track the rider by the sound of cheering, frames and rims being beaten and chainsaws being revved.

 There was this guy though - when he saw the camera he laid it on for the boys!


What I was 100% not prepared for - and seemed to have forgotten since my last trip to the West Coast - was the bloody sandflies. If you’ve never experienced the hospitality of the West Coast sandfly, then you’re lucky. They are terrible. All in all, I think I got around 200 bites. And they last about four days. So, word to the wise - bring insect repellant and wear long trousers. You’re welcome.




Sandflies aside, this is a beautiful part of the country. Amazing rainforest, rivers, trees, and waterfalls. Really typically New Zealand stuff. The bridge shows the height of some of the rivers, and the drops.




Be prepared for the weather as well - this part of New Zealand can change terribly quickly - the Buller River is very susceptible to flooding at a moments notice.




The track itself is pretty flowy, with a rock surface, singletrack mainly, but not too tight. However you won’t want to put a foot wrong as off the left side of the track lies certain death.


The trail itself (The Old Ghost Road) is about 85km long and there is a fair bit of climbing, where you stay in a series of huts along the way (more info on The Old Ghost Road website) but the enduro section was primarily a downhill affair due to the shortened course.




It’s pretty sheltered in the trees, but still expect to get wet and muddy if it’s not hot and dry. Which it rarely is.




Damn New Zealand, you're so photogenic!




Well I think I’ll be back next year - quite fancy riding it myself. So stay tuned for that. Thanks to The Buller Cycling Club, The Old Ghost Road, Trail Fund NZ, Ground Effect Clothing and everyone involved for putting on a great event, you can’t help the weather though!

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