Saturday, hungry Poulter singlespeed slog

in Arthurs Pass for weekend, so Saturday, Tom and me headed down and through the Mt White road to the Poulter. Cotic still with Kris, so i had the singlespeed. parked up, and there's a DOC truck with trailer (for quads) and white subie with bikerack (the maxxis tread we followed all the way)

Starts off nicely, with a quick wee blast down a rocky 4wd track to the valley bottom, then meandered up following a mob of merino with a big climb in view ahead. hit the climb, i rode lots and walked lots. especially the really bouldery messy steep shit. once up tho, a nice descent flowed down, lots of line options and fun, then round a few tight bends and across a rough creek, and then down this wicked scree infested rock fest. needed to stay waaay off the front brake down here or you dug in and had no steering. steep too. over all, lots more ups and downs than i expected.

we met a hardcore 4wd coming out. as well as the fellow cyclist (who'd been in for a couple days, was carrying a MASSIVE pack (+ gun and fishing rod).

once in the National Park proper, the track becomes a DOC quad track, ie, narrower. we cruised up through this to the Tarn (where we met a couple of trampers), about 3kms shy of the Casey hut, and it was the 2 hours in mark and we figured we ought to get back. plus, we'd not banked on it being so long, so hadnt had lunch or brought much food with us. ie, Tom had brought an orange, and i'd only brought a One Square, which i duly shared with him. we reckoned if we'd not had them we'd have been toast, crawling back... turned back, slogged up the fun descents that had been on the way in, and bombed down the previous slogs. came across another DOC quad heading in too.

all up: 4 hours riding (and walking), lots of fords, shoes soaked, frozen feet from snowmelt, spectacular views, bikes well and truly beaten into submission, along with our legs and bodies.
not entirely uninteresting riding, just not sweet singletrack. next time, i reckon take a whole day, big lunch to be had at the Trust Poulter hut. or, stay night, check out Lake Minchin, etc...