Andrew, Wayne, Matt, Hubby, Stealthy Steve, Al and me all congregated in the carpark bout 6.30. Andrew on his long legged (42:16) singlespeed marin running the magic ratio (no tensioner), and Al and me both on singles again. headed in, hung a right, and out towards beach, good spin through there, bit muckier than sunday i think. then along beach, in to pond and back out on main track, north all the way up to Spencer, breather at the picnic shelters, then back in for the final slog. some slick ass bits, greasy corners, and muckiness, but all in all a good spin.
(i have to put this next bit), i led most of the way, but matt was riding my ass the whole time, and andrew was hard to keep up with on his long gear...
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday Arvo Bottle Lake 3 Singles
spun over to Al's at 3.45, we headed to Bottle Lake to meet Alister, first ride for him for a while. so, 3 singlespeeds, one of which a 29r, one rigid. headed in, south, loop back onto main, north, and back. stopping and talking a fair bit. good spin, quite mucky in places, and was getting REALLY dark towards the end. Al had a good little off right in front of me on that last leg, front wheel just went out from under him. quite hard to see through the last section. and spun home. by about 6.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday night, Rapaki, Summit, Vic, Cashmere
overcast easterly, nearly drizzly riding across to Steve's for 6pm start. got there, and riding were Steve, Andrew, the other (accountant) Steve, , Matt, Tony, Jo from work and me. headed up Rapaki, good climb, into heavier and heavier fog, making for any speed tricky. good moon out, lighting the way too.
avoided the single track on Vernon, took road, then hit Summit Traverse. excellent ride round there, coming out of the fog around the Sugarloaf. down through vic, Gums, to skidder site, then down road to Dog Exercise Area, dodgey down side of pines to top of cashmere, with big drips falling off the pines onto their roots making for very interesting riding down there. once next to the houses the lower section of walktrack was closed (must've been a tree down or slip?) so bailed out onto Scarfe Pl, then down Longhurst briefly, then Derrynane lane through park to Takahe/Kidson. a few of us bombed down Kidson, but the others lost their way and went up Takahe, meeting us finally down bottom of Kidson. into Macmillan to Marie's place where she had laid on some delicious Muffins and warm drinks... then down hill, and i rode home down Colombo whilst the others peeled into Beckenham back to Steve's.
avoided the single track on Vernon, took road, then hit Summit Traverse. excellent ride round there, coming out of the fog around the Sugarloaf. down through vic, Gums, to skidder site, then down road to Dog Exercise Area, dodgey down side of pines to top of cashmere, with big drips falling off the pines onto their roots making for very interesting riding down there. once next to the houses the lower section of walktrack was closed (must've been a tree down or slip?) so bailed out onto Scarfe Pl, then down Longhurst briefly, then Derrynane lane through park to Takahe/Kidson. a few of us bombed down Kidson, but the others lost their way and went up Takahe, meeting us finally down bottom of Kidson. into Macmillan to Marie's place where she had laid on some delicious Muffins and warm drinks... then down hill, and i rode home down Colombo whilst the others peeled into Beckenham back to Steve's.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday a.m. Kennedy's Marley's Vic
totally different riding buddies yesterday. Rode across town to Paul d'S's and met with Derek there. then we picked up little Dave from work at bottom of Westmorland. Headed round to the Quarry, and up the Crocodile. it was in good nick all the way. even the 'bad bit' was okay, little sticky on some of the upper reaches. then headed up Kennedy's. always forget how long Kennedy's is. tho, good to go up it again, its been a while. everyone kept good form up there. then round the road, and up to top of Worsely's. Dave peeled off here, down what looked to be a muckfest, there was SO much standing water down there. the rest of us headed up over Marley's. i lead. it was great. in very good condition, dry with only one or two slightly soggy bits. the new section rocked! then the lower bit was good, tho the top rocks were pretty greasy.
from kiwi, headed up Thomsons, top of Vic. down Coffee Break, first few jumps of Brakefree, then down through the gums. excellent cruise down there, then Dazza's which rocks at the moment, then down Brents, round Flow (nasty big deep rut formed here) into Bridges, dropped the k2 washout drop, and out the bottom of the valley. i was home 35 odd kms later, by 12.15, tired.
from kiwi, headed up Thomsons, top of Vic. down Coffee Break, first few jumps of Brakefree, then down through the gums. excellent cruise down there, then Dazza's which rocks at the moment, then down Brents, round Flow (nasty big deep rut formed here) into Bridges, dropped the k2 washout drop, and out the bottom of the valley. i was home 35 odd kms later, by 12.15, tired.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Late night Thursday solo Bottle single spin.
left home bout 9. headed River Rd, Banks, Archilles, Ajax, New Brighton, Burwood Park, Horshoe lake. counted 6 possums through there, and that was just on the track, hate to think how many more are in there. good spin, tho very sticky in the middle. boardwalks bit slippy.
up Burwood Rd, into the forest. hung a right, headed out over the dump, along beach, then back in and north, round and back to carpark. all good. one or two weirdnesses, where for example i'd come round a tree thinking the trail was gonna keep going straight, or veer left, when it actually hung a right, thereby throwing balance and flow off, nearly crashing, being saved only by emergency squirrelly braking...
hardly saw anybody out there. one group of three fixing a puncture, a couple leaving as i entered, that was about it. cruised home catching the short section of Horseshoe, park, then from Archilles a right on Banks to clean up the last section of singletrack. flying over this hump - there's this huge tree down across the creek and trail. nice dirt encrusted squirrelly stop. clamber back up onto road, around it and back on trail and down North Parade home.
Hour and a half or so all up. sketchily, i'd forgotten my cellphone.
up Burwood Rd, into the forest. hung a right, headed out over the dump, along beach, then back in and north, round and back to carpark. all good. one or two weirdnesses, where for example i'd come round a tree thinking the trail was gonna keep going straight, or veer left, when it actually hung a right, thereby throwing balance and flow off, nearly crashing, being saved only by emergency squirrelly braking...
hardly saw anybody out there. one group of three fixing a puncture, a couple leaving as i entered, that was about it. cruised home catching the short section of Horseshoe, park, then from Archilles a right on Banks to clean up the last section of singletrack. flying over this hump - there's this huge tree down across the creek and trail. nice dirt encrusted squirrelly stop. clamber back up onto road, around it and back on trail and down North Parade home.
Hour and a half or so all up. sketchily, i'd forgotten my cellphone.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Wet Hills.Dyers, H.Ell, Traverse, 'paki
Too long off bike, weather's been diabolical...
bout 8, i drove over to Nelson's with the Cotic in the back. we rode down colombo and up Dyers Pass Rd. Past the Takahe, we hit the walking track which sidles along above the road, all the way up to the saddle. nice easy climb, good track surface, no damage whatsoever resulting from us. More and more snow as we got higher... Summit Rd was closed, which was nice.
headed to top of Vic Park, then hit the Traverse... we appeared to be the first to have sliced through the snow along there. was fun. we stopped to aid guttering drainage a few times. otherwise, the trail is holding together well, and survived our riding it very well. hitting a patch of snow was like someone putting your brakes on, and the front wheel would dart left or right randomly too... interesting... the rocky bits near Lava flow were tricky as all hell. few other tire tracks round there too...
then we took the road around vernon, into a bitterly cold wind down to Rapaki. then hoisted it down Rapaki. the most fun Rapaki can be. foot deep ruts, greasy clay, slippery rocks, limited visibility... mint!
cruised back across town, invigorated, splecked with less mud than you'd expect, toes like blocks of ice, or as Nelson put it, his feet felt like they'd been through a planer...
bout 8, i drove over to Nelson's with the Cotic in the back. we rode down colombo and up Dyers Pass Rd. Past the Takahe, we hit the walking track which sidles along above the road, all the way up to the saddle. nice easy climb, good track surface, no damage whatsoever resulting from us. More and more snow as we got higher... Summit Rd was closed, which was nice.
headed to top of Vic Park, then hit the Traverse... we appeared to be the first to have sliced through the snow along there. was fun. we stopped to aid guttering drainage a few times. otherwise, the trail is holding together well, and survived our riding it very well. hitting a patch of snow was like someone putting your brakes on, and the front wheel would dart left or right randomly too... interesting... the rocky bits near Lava flow were tricky as all hell. few other tire tracks round there too...
then we took the road around vernon, into a bitterly cold wind down to Rapaki. then hoisted it down Rapaki. the most fun Rapaki can be. foot deep ruts, greasy clay, slippery rocks, limited visibility... mint!
cruised back across town, invigorated, splecked with less mud than you'd expect, toes like blocks of ice, or as Nelson put it, his feet felt like they'd been through a planer...
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