Rebuilt rear wheel, new (40mm internal) rim, and a new Dirt Wizard on front, and new (to me) Nobby Nic on the back (biiig volume with the 40mm rim!).
O and H (and a friend of his) were going surfing so I drove them out to Redcliffs and got out there, riding back around to McCormacks Bay and hitting the climb. Hot work in the valley. Took a call from Steve in the shade below the lower switchbacks, eating a couple of blackberries (just coming on) while talking, then got rolling again. Cleaned the first, but not the second, as usual. Exhaustingly hot up the rest of it, same (2nd) switchback making me dab as seemingly always, but got the rest to the steps. Then it was up the road for a stretch to the steep wee connector park, then up the Upper Major to the entrance.
Clamber clamber up the Britt, gasping in the heat and taking a direct line at the top to the macracarpa shade on the ridge. Sat here for a bit to cool off, then rolling again, around towards the cutting - rocks knocking me around a bit - bike felt really noisy too. Up over the fence and up zig and zag-wise, through a clusterfuck of walkers and with another rider who was struggling with the rocks, to the aerials. Bit of a sit down up here in some shade too. There were 3 others up here, and all of us bopped off down through the gate to the stile at the same time. The solo guy had gone ahead, but the 3 let me through here and I never saw them again. I eventually caught the solo dude down in the tussocks, not sure where he went, but I turned right and hit the Greenwood.
Bombed all the way down feeling tired and slow a good portion of the time but good and flowy in other bits - definitely not a record time. I'd let a bit of air out of my tires earlier, but I think they might still have been a little hard. Jarred and rattled my way to the bottom
As I finished Greenwood a rider coasted through the pass and into the Captain. I got to the trailhead and released a little more air from the tires, watching for the other dude to appear (eventually) on the other side of the valley. I got rolling then. Slowly winding up the speed, had a good run down through, until the first of the rocky steppy bits (the one with the wee sideline cut that we still ride the tech line on). Fucked it up on the tech line, dont know what I did but I was almost passengering it watching the rocks coming towards me and expecting the pain any second. Amazingly I managed to stay upright and survived, shaken and strained, but not pasted on the rock. Ugh... Got rolling again, shakily, and cleaned out the rest of the trail, catching the other guy just as he was about to drop into the first hairpin on his way down and out, I bombed past behind him to the O.G gate. He'd stopped and was looking at me enquiringly. I said "it's open again" "gate used to say 'No Access' but now just says 'Please shut'" and I took off, relishing the tightness and bush and fun. Great descent, fun all the way, and finally along the back of the gabions, out onto the road and down to the beach to find the boys.
Ended with a swim.
A rather knotty 14.7 kms, with 575 m climbed.
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