Friday quick Sharlands

Swimming in the Maitai again wth the family I scarpered back to base, grabbed the bike and then drove back up past them and parked up at the bottom of Sharlands.  Rode in, in the heat, about 3pm, up the road for a while, then pulled off down onto the creekside tracks, moseying up and finding the bottom of What The DOCtor Ordered, hung a left and followed the Sharlands Creek Track up cos it looked okay.  Wasn't long and it got steep, so rode til I had to push a bit, ride and push for a bit, singletrack which seemed to become more and more overgrown.  Then I passed the exit of Supplejack, then a couple more ups and downs and the exit of Matai.  Continued on up for a bit to a bit of a juncture.  Hmmmm, figured I wanted to look at one or t'other of those previous two so kept left and ended up pushing a lot, and riding a little, up some unknown to me trail, all in native forest, very nice, thinking all the way up, 'this'd be nice.  this'd be tricky...' until I eventually got to an intersection of Matai and the one I was climbing, Rimu.  Carried on climbing til I reached a fire-road and from here the view looking across towards Fringed Hill was telling me I was probably pretty near 400m up (actually only about 300 and something - ed).  Headed back down Matai, and actually followed it all the way.  Looked totally unridden for ages, and yet Ian had said they'd ridden it earlier this week.   The leaf litter on it was undisturbed and it obviously doesn't get that much use, whereas Rimu had been well trodden.  Quite a few corners I wasn't game to even think about attempting, too steep, too much exposure into the bush below, and my rib wouldn't thank me.  As it was, I scuffed my wound on my thigh with my tire (exactly how it came into existence...), yowchy!  Eventually got to the bottom of Matai and continued up Sharland's Creek Track which involved a few walky bits, and then crossed the creek where another one meets it, and climbed up for a bit and through to eventually where What The DOCtor Ordered 'officially' begins.  Seat up here, and headed down this, at full tilt...  Fast scuffy descent.  One or two close calls, but mostly pretty good control.  Lots of vegetation overgrowing the track, scraping me a bunch and killing sight lines.  Blasty flow on (semi) familiar trails.  Ending up back out to the car just after 4 and I went and joined the family and hit the swimming hole, cooling down nicely.