Thursday Long(ish) fast(ish) Late Night blat

T had yoga so i couldnt get out the door til after 7.30. droved to Nelson's and there met a new rider (to us), Chris, on a Cove Stiffee.

got going about 8.15, rode usual routes at a good clip across to bottom of Rapaki. kept a really good pace and rolled, 3 abreast all the way up, til the last bit where i started flagging and Nelson started burning. reassembled at top and hit Witch Hill, me at the back, all of us blowing one or two lumpy bits, but having a pretty good run too. then, up the road to Castlerock.

I led off down here and kept a really good pace, having a blast, flying over all the rocks and hammering down the trail. trail in really good nick, with no mud, and barely any sign of even soft soil. regrouped at top of bridle path and hit the road.

round and up to John Britten, singletrack nice, me at the back. i got caught up in the ruts once over through the trees, balance seemed all outta whack. quick blitz down road to Greenwood.

hoofed onto the singletrack, and we blazed round the top section and regrouped just before the ruins. sat and admired the view and had a snack. then the descent began. Nelson leading, me 2nd and Chris behind. good pace, tho i tended to follow nelson a bit closely and therefore was reacting a bit randomly to the rocks the trail was throwing at me. we had an excellent descent. nelson had one weird point just after gloomy-gulch, nearly toppling. my backache kicked in at its usual place, around there. excellent blast down through the switchbacks and over the jump and round to the stream, then i was chasing nelson down the straight and both of us were bailed up by the narrowish rocky uppy bit. 'sgotten pretty bare in there. then a sweet flow down and round to the end. Chris enjoying the whole blast too.

aannnd, onto the Captain. Chris's first time down here. still damp where nels and me did some digging a couple weeks back, but the rest was good. blew my most recent nemesis, whereas nelson and chris both cleaned it. but i cleaned the lower two ex-nemesises nicely, the first of which caught Chris out a little. rest of the blast was sweeet. then we had a nice long but fast haul back to nelsies, via some parks and backstreets... back to his around 11, a beer, then i gave chris a lift home via takeouts on way, so i was home for the midnight news... coupled with small person waking at 5.30, tired today.