With trails posted shut or otherwise likely to be mucky we did a weird thing and rode three different rides in three different locations...
First off was checking out Farside which we hadn't been to since before the park closed. Parked just up hill from the corner. Rode up, rode down. It wasn't mucky, but it wasn't exactly hardpack either... no spleck, but plenty of grease and a fair bit of fun. Short and sweet - 1.16kms, 60m gained.
Drove back down around and up Hackthorne, Dyers, parking at the halfway Nun park. Headed up the walking track, and right at the start noticed what looked to be a newly built trail... hmmmm... Nelson wandered up and looked and came back, then we got riding up the walking track, walking around any mucky flat bits and up the various steps, onto the road and past all the Nun Closed signs, actually finding that the Nun would have been fine, except that we saw the new trail entrance, unfinished, and decided to explore... Fun, DH oriented trail, one or two reasonable sized drops (off big rocks), but mostly pretty rideable, and in nice condition, no damage done. It petered out when it crossed the old 4wd track in there, so we followed it's route down through the scorched earth scrub to find the Nun just before the final bends into the carpark. Short and curly this time (with a big MMR skip). 2.45 kms, 109 m altitude.
And finally, drove round the Summit Road to the top of Rapaki, and headed into Witch Hill, (past the Track Closed sign, again, it needn't have been there, there wasn't a wetspot on the whole thing). Climbed over and around, across the road onto the walking track, this is quite techy in this direction, and only 2 puddles and one cowpoo the whole way. We'd thought about exploring over the fence in a new area of trail Quetty had told us about, but decided it looked too cattle pugged and mucky, so off up the road to the Castle Rock corner. Up above the corner onto the Tors track, and a wonderful blast down this. Two flat wet bits, and the most techy rock also had water and muck over it, so I walked that (but Nelson rode it, of course!). Last tricky descent was a bit clipped out but rode it all. Then back on the walking track just above the road, around, and up Witch Hill, stopping for a nice rest out of the wind and to look at the moon and view, before a final fast blast around, enjoying the boniness of the trail back to the car. Slowly increasing in ridings - There and back again, 4.8kms, with over 200 m gained.
Making a grand total for the night, 8.4 km, 375 m altitude gained. Third day of riding in three days (nearly 80kms ridden), my legumes are burned OUT.
First off was checking out Farside which we hadn't been to since before the park closed. Parked just up hill from the corner. Rode up, rode down. It wasn't mucky, but it wasn't exactly hardpack either... no spleck, but plenty of grease and a fair bit of fun. Short and sweet - 1.16kms, 60m gained.
Drove back down around and up Hackthorne, Dyers, parking at the halfway Nun park. Headed up the walking track, and right at the start noticed what looked to be a newly built trail... hmmmm... Nelson wandered up and looked and came back, then we got riding up the walking track, walking around any mucky flat bits and up the various steps, onto the road and past all the Nun Closed signs, actually finding that the Nun would have been fine, except that we saw the new trail entrance, unfinished, and decided to explore... Fun, DH oriented trail, one or two reasonable sized drops (off big rocks), but mostly pretty rideable, and in nice condition, no damage done. It petered out when it crossed the old 4wd track in there, so we followed it's route down through the scorched earth scrub to find the Nun just before the final bends into the carpark. Short and curly this time (with a big MMR skip). 2.45 kms, 109 m altitude.
And finally, drove round the Summit Road to the top of Rapaki, and headed into Witch Hill, (past the Track Closed sign, again, it needn't have been there, there wasn't a wetspot on the whole thing). Climbed over and around, across the road onto the walking track, this is quite techy in this direction, and only 2 puddles and one cowpoo the whole way. We'd thought about exploring over the fence in a new area of trail Quetty had told us about, but decided it looked too cattle pugged and mucky, so off up the road to the Castle Rock corner. Up above the corner onto the Tors track, and a wonderful blast down this. Two flat wet bits, and the most techy rock also had water and muck over it, so I walked that (but Nelson rode it, of course!). Last tricky descent was a bit clipped out but rode it all. Then back on the walking track just above the road, around, and up Witch Hill, stopping for a nice rest out of the wind and to look at the moon and view, before a final fast blast around, enjoying the boniness of the trail back to the car. Slowly increasing in ridings - There and back again, 4.8kms, with over 200 m gained.
Making a grand total for the night, 8.4 km, 375 m altitude gained. Third day of riding in three days (nearly 80kms ridden), my legumes are burned OUT.
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