Andy CAPped

Second ride for the day, down in the car with H, parked up in the CAP carpark. Popped up into the office to check our passes.  He surprisingly still had 8 on his card, not expired, whereas mine had 5 left but expired, but the nice young woman on the desk gave me until the end of June to use them up - sweet as! 

Hit up the lift, seeing for the first time close-up the carnage from the fire, and we dropped into Summit Connector, then onto the road and into Choir Boy for a good bomb.  A few people overtook H, so I stopped to let them by too.  Down past 3rd Base, Askins closed, Gungho, and then stopped at Rere Pia, unknown and new to both of us.  In we dropped and it was fun.  Not too tech, quite fast, and quite readable.  Bombed it out behind the Cafe. 

Onto the lift again, turning on MMR half way up, and we dropped in fo rthe same again, doing better with a little knowledge of it.  Not bad. 

2 uplifts, 2 descents...  probably 8km each, so maybe 16kms and 800 uplifted.  So now I have 3 left and H has 6 (before Sept)

Saturday Midday Singlistic Hits

Good aerobic singlespeed blast, hoofing it up out of the hood through Vic, Thompsons #1, then eastwards across the Summit Rd to the top of Huntsbury Track.  Onto the Traverse and all the trails, Rabbit, Rocks, Gums out, Vic Park Rd into sweet singletrack all the way down to the actual H'Ell,, clamber up and home again. 

A well-worked 11 kms with an ascetic 372 m hard wrought

Phat Paparoa Weekend In Clemency

Great blast of the Pap in inclement conditions with Paul.  Druv to Moana on Friday night, grabbed a feed at the pub and then went and enjoyed the hospitality of Mary-Anne and Wazza.  A very pleasant evening ensued chatting over a couple of drinks.  

Up very early to make Blackball by 8am.  Loaded up, handing the keys to the driver of the shuttle, and shuttled up to Smoke-Ho ready to ride.  4 hikers and 2 other bikers departing with us.  Weather started out just cloudy, with the occasional glimmering of sunshine attempting to break through, but as we climbed the moisture consolidated into eventually a very light rain, only slightly more robust than a drizzle.  We stopped for quite a long break at the 'pub' site (2nd??) and then again to watch a kaka in the canopy in a couple of the switchbacks.  Paul walked a bit here or there, but I struggled onwards on the fatty, tire pressure possibly a little hard, but rolling really well.  We stopped at the Garden Gully turn off and our fellow riders arrived in short shrift - we didnt have the lead we'd thought we might've, and it turned out Paul knew one of them (another Richard).  Then the first walkers hove into view.  Paul and I got riding and the 'rain' got heavier, foliage dripping a lot.  Out of the trees, and into nothing but persisting mist, walking a bunch of the super annoying serious rocks.  The walkers were catching us!  Stopped to check out the old hut and the walkers walked by and we met them at the Ces mere metres above.  Most of the altitude done with, conditions not clement.

Munched some kai and I brewed a weak coffee.  The walkers went ahead, and then the other two bikers a little ahead of us.  More climbing begun, into the mist, and eventually caught the other bikers.  Riding riding, walking, riding, depending on the up or the rough of it.  I was amazed how fast we seemed to make the Barrytown turn off.  Then further along we caught the walkers about where I'd stopped when Hugo had the broken derailleur last time.  From there, there were some flowy downs and when I stopped Paul was no where to be seen.  I started riding back for a bit, and met the walkers, then him - his seatpost had decided to stop working! dropped, so he'd put it as high as it could be.  Not far then and we were on the last descent and the flowy fun blast around through the Dracophyllum truffula trees and then down to the hut, first ones in.  Grabbed the best bunks and got the fire going, and changed to dry and warm.  It was like not even 2 pm.  Fun!, Day One done.

Rain showers got heavier through the night, and what a lot of night there was - probably got 8 hours sleep of the 11 hours spent in the sack.  Only 7 in the hut, with the original 6 of us, plus a walking woman solo who'd come to Smoke-ho on a later shuttle.  All her compatriots had gone to Ces Clarke.  No one else had turned up.  In the morning, no luck on Paul's seatpost, so he rode it as is, lowering it slightly for the main descent later.  We left the hut after the two biker boys and the solo woman, but the couple waited for us to go ahead.  Didn't see them again.  Overtook the boys on the first descent, then the woman not long after.  Climb, descent, climb descend, climb and finally descend, down the escarpment, only imagining what was out there.  Brief stop at the shelter for a look and quick snack then on down, spectacular waterfalls and boulder fields, fun trails, wet to the skin.  Eventually we got to Pororari and had, some hot and some not, food.  The boys turned up maybe half an hour behind.  We all got ready to go about the same time and we got away first.  Best riding from here onwards, some lovely descending, flow and groove.  Hardly any climb.  Lovely.  Stopped at some point and the other Richard turned up, so, not that far behind.  We rolled on, bridges, and nearly done, then horrid final climb.  Ugh.  Then gloriously fun final descent and flowy flow, swoosh swoosh, weaving back and forth, then flat, and final bridge and out to the shelter and unoccupied Waikori carpark.  Paul had a very long 'rest stop' and the other two guys arrived just after he'd finished.  They rode on, we rode and eventually caught them on the rise over Punakaiki and I guided them down to where theirs and our cars were parked.  Phew, day Two, through.

Sunday Trails Along the Summit to get the car

Bandi-Gig last night at Greg's on Bridle Path Rd and neither T nor me could drive home so we left the Leaf there -  and I rode from home today to collect.  

On the Rocky, I headed up through Vic, taking Worm to the Traverse.  Not bad run round here, bit of a head wind, pulling over a few times to let people through and having the same courtesy applied to me a coupla times.  Onto Vernon, good descent, fast in places, leaping through the usual Rapaki-top and hoofing it up into Witch, clamber clamber.  Bit of a breather at the highpoint then down to the Summit Rd and a-cruising up it to Castle Rock for a very fun blast down, railing, weaving, wending.  Clamber clamber it's up bits, back onto Summit for the roll round under the Gondola and climbing climbing up to the cutting and straight into Britten.  Around the front - dont often do it this way, was alright, then bombing down the socalled VeeTwin blasting and railing, across the front to the down track - missing one section of the across the front track cos it's seemingly been unused and I couldn't see where it went, down, connecting back onto the main across track and descending rock section under the pylons to the bottom.  Over the stile and onto the technical Kenton ("walking") track - fun times had, popping over most tech issues, but dab-scooting through a couple too.  At the steps at the end I headed down, bike on rear wheel then riding a little, dab-scoot or pushing through the techest of the tech and descending all the switchbacks and steps down the Heathcote Quarry track. Great technical ending, and finishing directly where I'd parked the car.

Close to 16 kms of sweet (mostly) off-road goodness, with 574 m escalated and a coupla hundy metres bonusly descended. 

Saturday Cooper's hob Knob

Took the Troll for a hoon up through Vic Park (not that much of a hoon, tbh) then Thompson's #1 and down to Kiwi, then up around the Summit Road, climbing and cruising, eventually getting close to where I thought I was going, to undertake another notch in the Summit Rd Summits series. Got off the road a little too soon, so, back to it, then rode a bit further along to a low saddle and pushed up a walk track for a ways before riding a bit then parking the bike and clambering  up the rocks to the top. Highest point on the greater Port Hills at 573m.  Quite the view...

Walked back to the bike and rode sweet smooth singletrack back down to the road (the way I'd come) and then treadled my way home again, for some fun stuff in Vic (surprising some DH boys, I think, as I headed over the rock garden into the Gums.  Down via 234 out to H'Ell exit and down to home.. 

23kms bombed, with quite a good 727 m climbed