Mad Dawg 2025

"First weekend out for the MD. Rain in the am, sun in the avo. Great day out. Had to round it up to 200km."

"The challenge of a gruelling day of climbing awaits, running out of water and beginning to cramp, will the body break? Salvation in the first dairy since Scenic Drive. Just one climb remaining, feels like the steepest yet. With tarmac melting, can I keep the cranks turning. Yes, with the feeling of completion, strength returning."

"Terrific idea to start with a crack at stage 3 Elmore Punishment! With this in the bank, leg and lungs burning, we commenced knocking off the remaining climbs at a more leisurely pace. Very grateful to have Rex Lyes for company, generously providing a draft for my increasingly tiring a**."

"A great day out, finishing with the flat 'hill climb'. Not much left in the legs by that point! A good endurance training ride ahead of Taupō."

"AHCS Mad Dawg with Glen — wet but then long enough to dry back out. TORQ Events thanks for the challenge! And boy did it rain."

"Only regret was starting too early and Hallertau wasn't open yet."

"Early effort on Atkinson. Got the bulk of the climbing done on the first half then timed the tailwind to carry me home. Haven't seen that much of Auckland in a few years. Man, it's growing so fast. Just a sea of cars. Bottom line: Auckland is a damn good big city for riding. Love it."

"Went for the new school loop with the new final segment. Stunning summer day for a ride and a couple of coffees. Seemed to avoid the worst of the wind at the end also. Great idea by Carl!"

"Just filling in time between Metallica and Tool concerts. There are some insane climbs in Auckland."

"Up for a challenge on the bike, not much of a hill climber to be honest but couldn't pass up doing all of them in one ride. Only entered the series for this! Hard work today in the heat but got it done. Elmore last was punishing!"

"Because I can... Might do it again next week. Thanks for the Challenge."

"Decided to do the "Six Pack" given the shuffling segments! Day started beautifully... Remmer, Airport, with Nigel and David in tow. Collected Simon at Titirangi... donut and coffee at the market. Then the rain hit. By Taupaki it was torrential. Up Ridge and finished with Elmore. Back to Riverhead Market for a smash burger. Beaut day out."

"Seemed like a good idea (Tony's) at the time. But what a day. Spectacular. Enjoyed riding with Tony Griffiths."

"Laziest Mad Dawg? Least km. Least elevation."

"An impromptu attempt. Portland Road segment only down the road from work, so made this my start/finish point. Pleasant ferry journey in the mix. Cheers Carl Wells for all your efforts in running this event!"

"Stage 5 changed and DQ'd my original MAD DAWG — so it had to be laid down again. A steady loop round the 5 stages in Mist, Rain, Downpours and Sunshine. A break at work for 8 hours to recover then a little spin home between further downpours to complete the loop. All in a days commute. Thanks guys!!!"

"Have a bit of a streak going here, can't stop now! With the luxury of a day off, managed to link up this Mad Dawg with the Wednesday Worlds ride to spice things up. A strong Northerly headwind meant I only just managed a new PB to post up for the leaderboard."

"Only being familiar with 2 of the 5 climbs, figured what better way to scout them than to link them all up in one ride! The Welly winds wanted to put a kibosh on things, starting strong and only getting stronger throughout the day. Still had a great time."

"If it's worth doing once, why not twice? Had a great time out a week ago so linked up the climbs with a new, more streamlined route. As luck would have it, the forecasted Westerly became a proper Southerly and aided several of the day's climbs."

"Continuing the streak, but adding a twist! In addition to this year's Mad Dawg, added in the 5 climbs from the Welly HC series back in 2024. Wellington obliged by having the winds pick up overnight just in time for my start, and then continue to strengthen all day into a wind warning! Only one more week to go!"

"Another early morning pre-workie. Went hard on both Stage 3 and 5, setting pretty good times on both! The rain finally came and was drenching for the last 2hrs. Contemplated skipping the final climb, saving an hour and heading home early — but thought to myself "that's the Mad Dawg difference" and carried on."

"A typical windy Wgtn day. Ended up being the 4th day in succession riding Hungerford. My riding companion wasn't even doing the HCS so he's madder than I am. I was unable to convince him to do Horokiwi at the start so we had to finish in that. It took a lot longer than expected."

"Originally wanted to do this in sequential order because I don't like 1,2,3,5,4... but the Wellington northerly was just a bit much for me to battle twice for the fun of it."

"Went out, rode all the climbs, didn't die. So that's a win."

"Fun* challenge. *in hindsight."

"Beautiful day and I needed to do a long ride. Tried to smash Wright's hill to see if I could get a PB — success! Also had forgotten how hard Horokiwi was (particularly in a northerly)."

"That was frickin hard. Stiff northerly on all segments and in between. Only relief was on the way home."

"Not my maddest ride this week...but my wife would fancy a cap."

"Ridin bikes is pretty sick aye."

"Kid free weekend so made the most of it."

"I'd been talking a big game at work, so when my mate Simon reckoned there was no way I could tick off all five Mad Dawg segments in strict chronological order, I had no choice but to prove him wrong. I kicked off early with fresh legs and far too much confidence. The morning was calm, the air cool, and for a moment I thought, "This might actually be fine." Spoiler: it wasn't. By the second climb the rhythm settled in."

"A day off work. So why not Mad Dawg it."

"Dodged the Christmas parade. Reverse mad dawg in 30 degree heat, was magic."

"Well it was a nice day and was riding into town anyway, why not tap on all the hill climbs... It was also a 28 degree day, followed by a swim in the lake."

"Double mad dawg. Because if you can't be fast, be tough."

"I had thought about doing this all season and left it to the last day! Was a great morning for a ride, felt strong over the first 2 climbs, but legs feeling it after that! Thanks for putting on the series Karl!"

"Why not?"

"A quick mad dawg post Taupō round the lake."

"This ride was sponsored by my Mother — thanks Mum for looking after the kids so I could go ride my bicycle around the city like a madman before the traffic gets going!!"

"Seven Mad Dawg attempts in, 3 to go. Had a particularly eventful ride: almost got bowled by a car, raced some Taupō challenge riders, got a puncture which I repaired roadside. Managed to score a floor pump roadside to finish my loop. Fyi, baggies for life and disco beats."

"Make your recovery ride a Mad Dawg, because why not."

"Taupō 'recovery' ride with ACG team. Cracking morning for it!"

"Little bit of a warm up prior to LTCC. Cracking day for some climbs!!"

"I finished the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge and had a few hours to kill before prize-giving, beers and dinner — what's a boy to do... Want fat, want pretty, want easy but we got the job done."

"Was getting too used to Wellington, so had to branch out. Managed to create a nice big counter-clockwise loop to link everything up, quiet roads and fun climbs made for a great day! Heat kicked in for the final ~2hrs but managed to finish strong and roll back home in good time."

"If there's a badge with the word 'Mad' in the title I'm there! Te-Mata Peak, Coops, followed by 40kms of flat Hawkes Bay roads, Ohiti Climb, then 37km to the final stage Torran Hill. 122km deep and I had nothing left but to hang it there. Oh but wait, it's a headwind home!!! I'm a Mad Dawg 100%."