Tuesday Night, poached Quarry, Crock x 2.

picked up Nelson and met Tony Andrew Warren and HelMark outside Quarry Park gates. kitted up and headed into a nasty cold easterly. up over the top of the quarry and down to bottom of the Croc, it being dark, meeting no walkers, then into the trees and up up up. got a yell from behind to hear Tony had a pinch flat (prob from the steps above the quarry). that fixed we headed off again, me struggling on the ups which seemed to never end. dusty trails, but i'll get to that later. regrouped a couple times, then on up to top of singletrack, sheltering from the wind on the ground in the tussocks while we waited for the stragglers, then down to the next gate, and back up the single to top again, then Nelson, followed by Mark then me et al. headed down down down. wind coupled with narrow ruts offsetting balance and control.

into the top of the croc and the dust began. chasing Nelson chasing Mark, i was getting a mouthful of dust at every breath, and my eyes were catching it too. clouds of it billowing off their tires and getting caught by the wind. the worst cloud (i couldnt see through it) was just after the cattlestop before that rocky narrow derailleur eating twisty bit. then down the switchbacks, grunt up the slope aaaaand rest. others catch up, then into the pines and blast, catching smooth smooth air on the first jump then down into the lower switchies. regrouped on the field and half the crew bailed... leaving Nelson Mark and me to head back up for another lap.

again, up up up, good spin, feeling it tho, really tired last night for some reason. then the descent, a little smoother this time, i held right back to let the dust settle and had a much fast run, catching up quickly after each time i'd held back. back through the park to car and home by about 9.