Hustled my way through rush hour traffic and parked up top of Huntsbury. Cold, cold night. Headed up the dirt, taking it nice and easy on the wheeze. Quite a few damp spots, water running etc, but trail was firm. Up the old way onto the singletrack then up the landingstrip and up the gravel to the top. Straight across the road into Vernon, gradually increasing speed, and getting used to the newly recommissioned handlebar light (new battery). Good bomb down Vernon, with a couple of guys ahead of me who I was slowly winding in, tho not before the end.
Across Rapaki top and into the Witch, ignoring the Track Closed sign, seeing as it really wasn't mucky at all. Dabby climb around, just didn't have my grinding grunt on, and a wee breather before the descent, which was a tad slow, and almost cautious, given the slightly damp rocks. Stuck to the road and cruised around and up to Castle top. Seat down, suspension engaged, and off, (also ignoring Closed sign, figuring the ranger just hadn't made it there yet). Slow to start bomb, lights not seeming to be in the right place, but wound it up and before the first hairpin was going a pretty normal speed. A couple of wet spots where there has always been, but all pretty tidy now given recent work. Into the climb and felt pretty good, tho a couple of near stalls, then across over and down the finish to the Bridle top.
Up the Summit Road back towards Castle watching a train below disappear into the hill in Heathcote, then clambered up to the Tors Track where I had a rest and a snack and where my MMR stopped (I think due to battery on phone hitting 15%). Got rolling again and the going was careful. I dabbed a couple of spots I wouldn't normally, due to what could have been dodgy traction that wasn't actually bad, and nearly lost it over the bars on a very tight spot before the final descent. Phew, survived, and across the road, onto the wee single walking track above it. Struggled on the intial climb but the rest was okay, and got sweeter as I rolled.
Across into Witch again, clamber clamber, descend descend, deciding to hit up Vernon and pulling over to let a few descenders pass, then Climby McClimbface, up to top, across onto Traverse, along here, then dropping into the upper Huntsbury fun descender. Mildly greasy, but not as bad as I'd thought it might be, jumps, (but not the last), and then across the landingstrip, over the fence, back down the singletrack, this time all the way, jumpy jumpy, cruisy cruisy, not very nice wetstuff near the bottom, and back to the car.
MMR only says 8.75kms with 446 elevation gain to the point I stopped on the Tors. So, based on previous similarities, more like 15 kms, and 600 m climbed...
Across Rapaki top and into the Witch, ignoring the Track Closed sign, seeing as it really wasn't mucky at all. Dabby climb around, just didn't have my grinding grunt on, and a wee breather before the descent, which was a tad slow, and almost cautious, given the slightly damp rocks. Stuck to the road and cruised around and up to Castle top. Seat down, suspension engaged, and off, (also ignoring Closed sign, figuring the ranger just hadn't made it there yet). Slow to start bomb, lights not seeming to be in the right place, but wound it up and before the first hairpin was going a pretty normal speed. A couple of wet spots where there has always been, but all pretty tidy now given recent work. Into the climb and felt pretty good, tho a couple of near stalls, then across over and down the finish to the Bridle top.
Up the Summit Road back towards Castle watching a train below disappear into the hill in Heathcote, then clambered up to the Tors Track where I had a rest and a snack and where my MMR stopped (I think due to battery on phone hitting 15%). Got rolling again and the going was careful. I dabbed a couple of spots I wouldn't normally, due to what could have been dodgy traction that wasn't actually bad, and nearly lost it over the bars on a very tight spot before the final descent. Phew, survived, and across the road, onto the wee single walking track above it. Struggled on the intial climb but the rest was okay, and got sweeter as I rolled.
Across into Witch again, clamber clamber, descend descend, deciding to hit up Vernon and pulling over to let a few descenders pass, then Climby McClimbface, up to top, across onto Traverse, along here, then dropping into the upper Huntsbury fun descender. Mildly greasy, but not as bad as I'd thought it might be, jumps, (but not the last), and then across the landingstrip, over the fence, back down the singletrack, this time all the way, jumpy jumpy, cruisy cruisy, not very nice wetstuff near the bottom, and back to the car.
MMR only says 8.75kms with 446 elevation gain to the point I stopped on the Tors. So, based on previous similarities, more like 15 kms, and 600 m climbed...
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