Wednesday Couple Laps of Old Skool

So, after munting my pedal last ride on the Rocky, I'd forgotten all about it, til I'm about to rush out and grab a last minute ride about 4ish this afternoon.  "Oh, that's right, damn!"  Slight change of plan, drive to hills via Torp7 where I'd spotted my pedals for $70.  Bike in car, gear, forgotten anything, nah.  Drive.  Cross Glandovey Rd, "whooah, HELMET!"  4.15, Turn back, 5 minutes later, back on the road again.  GRah.  traffffffic...  Make it to Torpedo about 4.30, grab pedals, in and out in 2 minutes. On the road again.  Traffffffic.  Finally get up Bowenvale Valley, and have to install the new pedals.  3 minute job.  done.  Check adjustment, none needed, yay!  Get riding, 5pm.

Up the valley, puffing and chuffing getting more and more laboured the steeper it gets, ie, under the kowhais in full bloom (petals everywhere!) just before the gully.  Then steeper still up through the trees.  A lecky overtakes me at the turn off to Hidden Valley (bonus) track.  Turn up, clean first, clean second, nicely tidied track along here, slightly wider, less tech than the past.  Around into the pines, and really climbing now, bah, blew the first of the hairpins up here.  Cleaned the 2nd and on up to the gate, feeling pretty okay.

Suspension onto middle setting, around under the pylons, then stop and full open mode for the rest.  Bombing.  Slow start but warmed into and no squirrels.  New 'features' most of the way down.  Pretty slow on the pumpy bit back the other way, and not very pumpy in the bits below that.  Then there was pressure, in a couple of riders (miles back) behind me, thinking, "I hope I'm not so slow they catch me up."  So, speed up a bit, bomb bomb bomb, swoop swoop, and out the bottom straight into the climb again.  No sign of the other fellas. 

Climbing again, once it gets steeper I'm starting to feel it now.  Feeling more drained, and up the Hidden, 2nd hairpin makes me dab (cut corner too steep) but then cleaned the upper hairpins this time, but I'd had to stop just before them (in the pines) cos I was just about to puke.  Calmed that and then cleaned them, but the sick feeling didn't go til after the stile.

Under the pylons, photos taken (timestamped 5.37pm) and got the bomb on.  Nice fang this time, faster through all the bits that were slower earlier.  Bomb bomb bomb.  Sweet.

Out to the car and it was still not 5.45.  Which was perfect cos I had to pick up O and Soph at 6 at the Rink.

Not a bad little 6 kms, with 279 m climbed. 

Almost certain that's my last ride before Surgery on Saturday.

Sunday Crotchal Planting in the Groyne

First off, have put the Surly Sunrise bars off the fatty onto the Troll (and will either buy another set or retrieve the ones off the Little Ak bike to get some back on the fatty), and I must say, they've really buttied up my Troll.  It feels like a giant BMX commuter now.  Firm, surefooted and strong.

Left home after 9 and met Steve and Pete at Northcote Rd / rail-trail juncture, to head for the planting at the Groynes.  I left home earlier than necessary, and thought they'd probably come via the Trafalgar St, Rutland, Northlands, Sawyers Arms route, so after a few laps of the bmx/pump track I waited facing Sawyers Arms direction.  Ring-a-ling from behind me, and they had indeed traversed Northcote Rd.  Got trundling along at the fancy pace of Steve's leckie and we cruised Tuckers round up Cavendish to the Cosy Cafe.  Coffee, and onwards upwards through Regent Spark and across to Northwood, through here, Englefield Park and up Connemara to Johns and around into the Groynal region wheretoforeto plant the Trees for the Canterbury.

Easy digging, lots of mulch and I seemed to be able to put my back into it..,  Anyway, couple and a half thousand plants and we were done by midday, so pretty good going - largely thanks to the Phillipino Brotherhood bros.  Troopers, they are.

Scoffed some sossies and hit the road home, same way, dissecting at Northcote again, and I skipped home via St James Park.

8.9 kms there, 8.5 kms back again.  With (a pointless even recording) 12 and 14 m of altitude gained respectively.

Tuesday Night Pleasant and Unpleasance; Malfeasant Peasant

Dinner at Joy's so we got going from home early and the fam dropped me up on Parkridge... Rode around and up, chuffing along quite well, to the bath (which is gone!), over the fence, and across and up onto the trail now known as V-Twin (meh).  Climbed this, horrendous easterly wind blasting across the slopes, tho, around to the first hairpin it was sheltered and quite nice, then tail wind to the next hairpin then nasty headwind climbing up and blasting across as I climbed.  Around the front, with the tail wind pushing me nicely around onto the other side of the trees, to find all the sheep sheltering there.  Lovely clean run through the rocks up to the cattle grate and onto the road.

Straight up over the fence, climbing up and around and up, cleaning all of it surprisingly nicely, and feeling pretty good.  I think that so much time off the bike has left my muscles packed with glycogen, whereas previously, riding every day to and from work plus the mtnbiking, my legs have always been a tad depleted.  So, after all this rest, seem to have some power.  And stamina - to a point.  Plus, my back wasn't bad at all and again I'm asking myself if I really need surgery (until I do something else, or bend over too often or forget to take my pills... - so, there is that).

Rode around the building and up to the top, where surprisingly the summit was super calm.  All the sheep were hanging out up here because of it.  I negotiated with them my route over the rocks towards the trig, then I hit the down.  First the gate, then shortcut down and across, flowing beautifully across the rocks, and up to the stile.  Wind howling through here, and yeehaa, down I blasted, swoop swoop, battling the wind, float, squirrel, blast.  Down on the last long grassy straights, I noticed, too late, a jump off to the left.  So I stopped, turned back up the hill a ways, then back down into the line, jump, around a big berm, around another, jump, maybe 2, with nice landing faces if you had the speed, then g-out and into the first jump of the Greenwood.  Swooped over that landing it nicely, and down through the first few corners.

Cut off under the trees and rode back up to get into -  what Trailforks calls  - The Green Line/Greensticks/Swoopy.  Got into this but after the 2nd left-hander, my right pedal smacked a rock so hard it pinged me a metre and a half to the left, nearly toppling me off the bike.  Ouch!  Kept riding and immediately could feel my pedal axle was bent, foot wobbling as it rotated.  Got some crazy speed on, pumping through the (usually) swampy section and kept on cruising after that.

At the pines, headed up Sheepshit Alley, climbing away, overtaken by a couple of fucking fast electric bikers (wankers) who I'd seen coming, and thought how much fun the climbing must be on them, but also jealously thought they were dicks for having all the fun while I was suffering old-skool stylez.

Onto the road, and climbed around under the cafe-house and up into Britten for the final blast.  And what a blast.  So flowy, so much fun blazing down the hill, tail wind across the main face, veering off on the first hairpin and continuing across the hillside, all the way, blasting down and then finally under the pylons.

Then, last bits, down the track next to the houses, ooh, a jump off to the right, next time, and speeeed down Major Hornbrook and right into Madeleys, left and blitzing down to Joy's.  I was tempted to drop into the zig zags and pop down that, then up to Drayton, but I was done with climbing.

Hoo, long post for a short ride...  9.2 kms, with 300 m climbed and 90 extra metres descended (albeit, on the road).

Saturday Planting South Shore, Nearshore to the Foreshore, for sure

A year or so since my last planting...

Drove in the frosty morning to Steve's and from there the two of us biked to the South Shore Planting. 

Stayed on the true-left of the river all the way there (except for McBratneys Rd to cut a long loop shorter).  Was good, kept a good pace with him on his Electric Moustache.  The trail continues through what were once houses now all the way along the estuary side.  A mint 12.8 kms. 

Dug lots of holes, Steve and me both, given neither of us can get down to plant.  Ate a few sossies and hit the trail back.  Crossed the river at Bridge St and took that side of the river all the way up til the Avondale Bridge.  A whole km longer than the way there, because we detoured around a squiggly bit before and near Andy's old 'hood.  A bit bumpier in bits, 13.8 kms.


Saturday night, T and I went to friends for dinner and one or five drinks.  Left H there (with Roddy), and got an Uber home.  So, Sunday afternoon, I biked across and picked up the car.  Quite a good zig-zaggy backstreet way - 7.8 kms.

Thursday Lunch "Hour" Bottle Ache with Go-go

Higgs and me skedoodled out to Blotto-ed Lake with the bikes on the back.  A couple laps around the pumpy jump tracks firstly and then headed into the lake.  The right hand turn is closed right now, but we wanted to go the left route anyway, so headed on in.  Great being on the fatty, it really is like a giant bmx (with gears).  And I can't believe how much the trees have grown.  That first section, Go-go had referred to as "the Open Section" which is certainly not open anymore.  Bomb bomb bomb, I started catching up to a guy so stopped and H and me got our asthmas under control and took off again.  I caught the guy up in the next section, a bit before the pond in there.  Stopped here and waited for H.  Good stop here then back into it. 

Good flowing and fun riding from here onwards.  I stopped and gave the tip to Hugie wherein you power on the downs and ease up the ups.  Good fun.  Got caught up by some dudes at the Spenser Park turn off.  They'd left the cars a little before us, but must have gone out the beach way, somehow.  Anyhoo, they headed towards Spencer, and we took 'Muddy Rd' along the way, and on into the forest. 

Everything has grown so much.  It's crazy.  It is basically 2 years since I last did a proper Bottle Lake loop... 'course, I've skimmed the beach edge a couple times more recently but the seedlings of not that long ago are now towering over the trail with lush foliage.  Those guys passed us again in the dark of what was one time called 'Andrew's Favourite Bit.'  After this, they've resurrected a section that had been blown out for a few years from logging, the replacement trees are all quite tall already, and you don't have to go into the 'temporary' dark tall forest with a terrible surface anymore (you still can tho - we just chose the 'new'/old way).  It flowed into a section I remembered from days long passed, and then back into the recent sections to finish. 

A whopping 9.3 kms, and 70 m climbed!

Now, the question is, are we going back into Lockdown?

Augmented Augustness

Well, welcome to August.  No riding to speak of, although I did ride home from Cuzzie Matt's place on Saturday night, and MMR'd it just for a laugh.

Finally a date for my surgery, the 29th of August, which leaves me this month to attempt a few more rides than of late and see what I'm like.  Wont be much happening for quite a few weeks afterwards, but finger's crossed I'll be riding again with aplomb.