Coppermine century the goal for 70th
A Nelson mountainbiker’s milestone 70th birthday is being overshadowed by his personal goal to clock up his 100th Coppermine ride on his special day.
Duncan Cunningham has ridden the Coppermine loop 98 times, and he’s rounding it up to a century today, when he hopes to complete two laps of the gruelling track.
The Coppermine Trail is has a consistent climb up Dun Mountain, reaching Coppermine Saddle, nearly 900 metres above sea level, before a descent through the Maitai Dam takes riders on a downhill spin. Depending on where it is started from, the ride – graded intermediate to advanced – ranges in length from 38 kilometres to 43km.
Cunningham started slowly stacking up his tally of rides at the end of 2011, not long after he moved to Nelson.
His wife Rebecca Mason said he did 50 rides of the popular trail between December 2011 and May 2018, but since he had ditched a manual bike for an Ebike, his numbers had spiked. What used to take him 41⁄2 hours now takes him just under three hours.
‘‘When he got to 50, he said to people, ‘I’ll do 70 by 70’. He was told, ‘No, you’ll do way more than that’ – so then it was to do 100 by 70.’’
The trail gives the former Department of Conservation employee and keen biologist a diverse range of flora and fauna to entice him on to the mountain.
‘‘I cannot help but stop and look at stuff, and do things. And go wandering off to the side and seeing what’s there,’’ Cunningham said.
‘‘It’s just an endless loop of biological wonderland.’’
He said that since the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary initiative was set up, he had noticed a considerable increase in the amount of bird life during his rides.
‘‘The bird numbers, particularly robins and tomtits, have gone from almost none to huge.’’
And if there’s any doubt about statistics, Cunningham can go back to check his tracking methods.
On the Sports Tracker app, he uploads pictures from his rides, stops made and times, while on the iNaturalist app, he uploads his findings. And for a final piece of record-keeping, Cunningham has a spreadsheet with comments including who he rode with, the weather, and when he went.
His love of mountainbiking began when he was 50, getting ‘‘switched on’’ by riding Wellington’s hilly Tip Track loop through Owhiro Bay, but it’s Nelson’s diverse mountain landscape that keeps drawing him into the saddle.
‘‘I get the best of all the worlds – I get the biology, I get the mountainbiking, I get this open beautiful place, plus a whole lot of fitness and health.’’
Despite learning the skills of riding on rugged tracks from professionals, he’s still had his share of spills, including one that left him with a broken neck, putting him out of action for four months. He has also had two hip replacements, not caused by accidents, since his passion for the track began.
Cunningham said racking up 100 Coppermine loops might not seem like an achievement to some, but to him ‘‘it’s a significant number, and one to celebrate’’.
His riding friends dubbed him ‘‘Sir Coppermine’’ on his 50th ride, so he wondered if the new milestone would earn him another witty title. ‘‘They’ll come up with something.’’
Cunningham will do his 99th ride with mates today at 8.30am, then the 100th ride at 12.30pm, starting from Maitai Valley Motor Camp with anyone who wishes to join him.