Monday, Troll to the Bach, the Hard Way, With Inclemency

Miserably wet, but surprisingly enjoyable journey to the bach today.  Kitted up the Troll, 'guards and all, everything sealed against the elements.  Getting excellent use out of the 3 bags I used.  Encountered pissing howling southerly, trying to wrench control of the bike on certain sections of all of the tops I traversed.  

Left home 1.30 pm and headed up to the Summit through Vic.  Onto Summit Rd and headed around, with gales trying to make me crash below Sugarloaf, then Vernon/Rapaki-top, and most of the way from Witch, especially the saddle before the Tors - so strong!  Sections of wild tailwind too, and pedalling into the wind on a couple of the downhills.  Whiteout just before Bridle Path.   - all actions to be repeated on all the higher sections of the trip.  Troll'stopher rode much better than last time, brakes holding out nicely and new Fast Track tyres gripping accurately.  Across top of Ticehurst Tce and down the valley into Lyttelton and straight down to the Ferry, 2.30 pm for the 2.50.  1 hr in.

Off the boat, up the hill and grabbed a bite for later from the cafe above.  Patches of sun around.  Down into Purau nice, then into the climb.  This went better than last time, not being nearly as hot.  Hunger got the better of me part way up so I stopped on some dry dirt under a Kanuka on a corner and ate.  A few cars up, one or two down.  Got riding again and felt heaps better.  Slow and steady, grinding away at it.  A couple of short walking stints and lots of grind.  Amazing moody views everywhere, and long periods of time with the whole road to myself.  Gale just over the top, from the side, and behind as I was heading down.  Fast fast fast down, and brakes much better than last time too, scrubbing off speed before the 25kph at the bottom, then rolling around to the church.

Stopped here and looked for a tap, finding none, so I captured rainwater dribbling out of the downpipe - enough in the filter to refill my bottle and headed down to the waterfront and around.  Climb over into next waterfront and then up to the Pigeon Bay turnoff, a sheep leading the way.  Gravel began and biiig climb ahead.  Wetter and wetter as I climbed, grinding away, 

eventually I got to a dry spot under some macracarpas out of the wind where I stripped off and put on dry singlet, longsleeve and windvest under wet raincoat, and my hat.  Much better.  Texted T from here too, it was 5.30pm, 4 hours since I left home.  Onwards upwards, short walk up around the corner, higher and higher then finally over the top, gusty winds on the initial descent then down down down narrow gravel rd, fast and controlled and fun as heck.  Nice and long, then around down and through Holmes Bay and over to Pigeon.  Not a single car encountered all the way until a local in Holmes Bay.    

Up valley here it was dry, and I think the sun tried to come out, but moody and dark over Mt Pearce and the rest of the tops.  Stopped in at Hays Reserve and ate a OneSquare and explored the tracks a little - lovely big podocarps, then riding again, on up the valley, a lonnng grind, walking, riding, walking, riding, taking a call from dad, and texting T "nearly at the top" (it was 7.10pm) and only finally making the top at 7.30pm -  not 'nearly' at all.  "Nearly" if you were in a car, for sure.  Fun steers all running to see me and follow me up the last paddock to the top.  They were great company.

Onto the Summit Rd here and the final leg.  Seemed surprisingly flat around to the old water-trough corner, then that tight wee climb and surprisingly flat around to the corner that's just been cleared of the big macracarpas.  But then seemed to take ages to get around this corner and up to the logging entrance, then encountered the first 2 or 3 cars I'd seen since the bottom of Pigeon, climbing up around the tight corners before Little Ak. around the last tight bushy corner and a mac was roaring in the wind but I wasn't feeling it, then the powerlines were screaming and I was barely buffetted, then around the corner, uphill straight, gale wind pushing me along.  Spectacular!  Over the top and the tailwind pushing me down hill at a rate of knots, it wasnt until coach corner that I felt the wind in my face from the speed of my descent.  Fast down, very enjoyable rolling with speed down the steeps and then through the lower rolling valley section, finally up the drive to the bach, 6 hours, 45 minutes since I left home.

The long and hard way, 60 kms, 2150 m in dead-slow ups and exhilarating descents.  Added bonus of 220 m extra down - steep as they were. 

Sunday Lap of the Harbour: Summit, Bayview, Ferry, Bridle Path and Summit

Biiig ride today on the Troll.  Bit drizzly around the tops and so I wasn't wanting greasefest riding in Vic or elsewhere so I headed up on the Troll, not really sure how big or far I would go.  Up through Vic, walking the usual section and then tentatively negotiating the traction free Thompson #1.  

Onto road and rolling, through Dyers and upwards along the summit.  Drizzle at times quite heavy, so ended up pulling over and swapping out some clothing.  On around the ups and downs of the summit, eventually pulling over to the Living Springs seat, but there was a foul wind howling through the saddle so I bailed back up into the bush for a bite to eat.  Some walkers turned up from below.  Said our pleasantries and I got rolling again.  Nice cruise around over Omaha Bush, pulling into Ahuriri for a wee look.  Then back onto the descent, lovely long rolling fly down the 'bastard' to Gebbies, still undecided which direction I was heading.  At the pass, I could see Motukarara basking in sunshine, vs less so, but still some, in the harbour.  Got my maps out and worked it out.  Via Taitapu was going to be further distance, so I turned left.  

FAASSTT down Gebbies, so fast.  Then kept a good pace rolling across Teddington flats, turned right and headed towards Diamond Harbour.  The climb from Loudon over to Charteris was longer than I recalled, but was good to cruise down, and across Charteris around the water front, for some weird reason I decided to take Bayview Rd.  Steep bastard.  Up and up, stopped to commune with kereru, then finished the climb.  Nice drop down through the gully and then climb again.  Past Elaine's place, and the first turn off to the left, dropped into the next gully and took a walking track down, meandering very level gentle descent slightly greasy, thinking I was on the next one over and thinking I'd come out Whero Ave, I was suprised when I didn't recognise anything as I exited the trail.  Ngatea Rd it turned out to be, curved down and around onto the main road and onwards I progressed, dropping into the next valley and climbing past Whero Ave dropping down past the Mt Herbert track crossing and up to Waipapa Rd.  Flew down this and straight ahead into where Godley House used to be, down the pathway.  Filled up water at the loos, then took the sealed walktrack down to the steps, budump budump budump down to the wharf to wait for the boat.

Across the harbour and into Lyttelton, climbed up Oxford, across London, up Hawkhurst into Ticehurst acrosss, riding all of it ugh, and then into the Bridle Path, walking from here, all the way to the top.  Ugh.

Summit Rd, good climb to Castle, then the bomb.  Wind caught my helmet visor and slammed it down onto my face, briefly blinding me.  Tail wind and descending very nicely around under Witch Hill then climbing began from Rapaki around over Farm Track and up onto the singletrack - Traverse around, quite splecky from the earlier rain and drizzle, then down through Vic, greasy, and down the grunter, fast through Skidder, and out onto the road for the final speed blast down home.

Extensive 47 kms ridden, trod and bombed, with 1446 m vertical ascended  

Boxing Mini-tour to the Bach, mostly

Long one today... Quite the ride... Boxing Day, 11.43am, Troll equipped with frame-, seat- and basket- bags with sufficient gear to keep me clothed whatever the conditions, I headed up from home.  At the park the rear disc started to rub the mount so I pulled up in the shade of the pines at 19th to bend and adjust.  Got rid of the rub and kept moving.  Push up the worst of the skidder track then at Brake Free stopped and chatted to a couple I'd met at a Halloween party (the night before I got covid, so I asked "did you get it then??" Thankfully not).  Onwards up to the Summit Rd and a nice cruise east along this.  Good pace, feeling good, nice descent to Rapaki and nice descent to Bridle, with the requisite climbs in between.  

Into the Bridle Path and it's a lot steeper than I'd remembered...  Gravel surface, and scared pedestrians.  Jesus some people over-react to a bike riding past.  ffs, calm down, old lady, I'm not gonna hit you, and if you didn't hear me coming you should fucking be more in tune with your surroundings instead of away with the fae.  Anyway, my brakes started to heat up, then make some god-awful sounds.  And by the bottom of the road section it sounded like they were already metal on metal, and were rubbing again (but it was pads this time, not against the mount/frame - cos it went away when you slightly applied them).  So, down through town and to the ferry, with 5 minutes to spare for the 12.50 sailing.  Yay for metrocards!  Hot on the ferry, until out on the actual water, nice breeze and some salt splash through the window.  

Off the boat, onto the wharf and climbing up the road, to the shop.  Bought a peach ice tea and filled my first empty bottle.  It was quite hot.  Little more climb and then a glorious brake free cruising coast into Purau.  Been ages since I'd been here.  Into the climb, and feck it's hot.  I stopped a little way into it, in the shade, and plugged my t-shirt onto my helmet to protect my neck.  This made it better and occasionally there was a nice breeze would kick in. 

Quite the climb up here, took a good hour or more with some walking thrown in.  Very few cars, couple of motorbikes.  T-shirt off head, and into the descent.  A 4WD had been past not too long before, but I figured they had a good lead.  But no, caught them up about 2/3rds of the way down and had to pull over to let them go as they weren't going fast enough.  But because the brakes were cooked and sounding even worse now I didn't want the risk of overtaking and then getting into trouble.  Totally horrible sounds emanating from them the whole way down, then zz zz zz zz once I was on the flat.  2.30ish, hour and half over from DH.  Baking hot in Port Levy, heat from the low-tide rocky shoreline.  Brief climb then here's the Pigeon Bay turn off.  

Narrow gravel road, nice gradient, cruised up this for a bit then decided to stop for a rest.  Nice shade, tree, text out to T warning I might need a lift - those brakes were not going to survive Little Akaloa Rd.  Snack.  Feeling better. 

Had met a silver toyota coming down, then a "Virtual 4WD Tours" Range Rover bombed past, uphill.  And prior to him I'd heard a motorbike in the distance.  Seconds after the Range Rover goes past I'm hearing the motorbike, then seeing it sideways then stop.  I ride up and the guy is pinned under it.  He was okay, obviously in a bit of shock.  Japanese.  Couldn't lift the bike, so I helped and we got it upright.  He'd been going really slowly, the Rangey had given him a fright, then he was kinda in the gutter and couldn't see properly cos of the dust, and had lost it!  I rode on, seeing the Rangy on the road above on the other side of the valley.  The climb continued.  At some point, around 3pm, I rang T and said I'd probably be an hour to Pigeon Bay, could she?  A little while later I see another 4WD heading down, across the valley.  I got quite a bit further up, monitoring their progress towards me, and surprised them somewhat.  Young teen driving, sedate looking father in the passenger seat.  Good on him teaching his kid gravel road skills.  Onwards and upwards.  A couple of walking sections, quite steep.  Quite tired. 

(this second picture is more-or-less looking directly home, the way I came, that saddle being the Purau-PortLevy one, and Cashmere is straightline behind it).  More riding, more walking, meeting a couple more 4WDs in convoy.  Then, nearing the top finally, one last one, and a final steep to walk to the summit at 500m(!).   

Into the descent into Holmes Bay.  Decades since I brought the Marina up over here.  This descent would be glorious on the fatty, or the Rocky.  But the Troll with no brakes, it was kinda nerve-wracking.  I had one close call, sudden appearance of a fast moving white Ford Ranger (Cord or Corde emblazoned on the side).  I kept well left, he 'freaked' foot off gas, veer towards fence, past and onwards.  Rear brake was barely doing anything, front was threatening to skid out on the loose gravel the whole way.  I wonder how Extra-terrestrials would handle this.  Likely a lot better than the Big Bens.   Hairy downhill, final glidey lovely speed into the bottom of Holmes valley, then the road widened up a bit and I was passed by a couple of smaller suv 4wds full of young folk on the final climb, leading to a glorious gravel, sealed, gravel descent of cruisy coasty goodness.  Past the refuse station and an interesting looking kid of the dump guy and through a busy party bach zone, arriving at the Pigeon Bay Valley Road end T intersection at exactly the same time as Tra'y.  

In the end, I'm quite glad I had to call short the trip at Pigeon Bay, my body wasn't really up to it - I was shattered from the heat and work of it all, and that final climb up PBay valley would have nailed me, let alone the rest of the climb up Summit Rd to LA turnoff (520m in total).  And no brakes on the LA Rd is no joke.

A rather solid 41 kms, with 1600 m altitude gain.

Sweltering Sunday Singlist rear tire flattery.

scorcher of a day, heading for 34 or 36, was pretty darned warm when I spun over to Pete's on the singlespeed (seen here later on...

and we headed for Marie's. when we hit Dyer's Pass Rd, I struggled on ahead, in the only gear i knew, and waiting at Marie's were Steve, Wayne, Rex and Marie. Off we headed up the road, me getting out in front, on account of my one and only gear. got to Takahe and headed up into Vic Park. had to walk the first bit of the track, then back on the road was okay and pete and me waited in shade with slight breeze for a little bit then off up and onwards and taking in the wee singletrack to reassembling at the skidder site. here's Steve and Rex heading in

most walked up steep, Rex rode up turned around and back down and up, and Marie just grannied on up nice and slow. up through Brake Free and on up to the new(ish) uphill only track another regroup at the top of it.
The view from there


and here's Steve's nomad and the SS gettin' it on...

the antithesis of each other.

off round the traverse. this is where the singlespeed really sings. flew on round here enjoying the crap out of the rigid and one gear. one hairy moment near Scott's Reserve heading down fast and suddenly there's another rider coming up. two wheel lock up controlled slide. nice.

pinchflatted on Vernon on the last of the rocks as you're heading down towards Rapaki. pulled out my spare tube, checked it, found a hole, patched it, put it in, rode down and it was flat by the time i got to Rapaki. pulled it out, patched the other tube, put it in, blew it up, went to ride off and it was flat again. pulled it out, patched it AGAIN, blew it up and it wouldnt stay up. fuck fuck fuck. thankfully, the Singletrack Club had a couple of guys promoting the club up there, and one of them gave me a tube. sweeeet. put it in, pumped it up and i was off again, chasing after the others (minus pete who'd bailed down here). needless to say, I'm now NOT a fan of Muc Off glueless patches. never again.

round the road to top of Castle Rock where I found the other 4. so, off down here, loving it, bouncing about a bit, but finding the rigidity not so bad, then after the second hairpin I took a call from home, and the three boys past me, then I took off again just ahead of Marie. caught the back wheel on a rock and pssssssssssssss. FUCK! walked on up the track to the shelter at top of Bridle Path, where I used my last two patches on the two snakebite holes. pumped up, started riding again and then this high pitched weeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeee followed by a pssssssssssss and I was ropeable. I said my goodbyes turned around and rode down Bridle Path for a while til it got too flat to ride then walked, calling home for a lift. walked all the way down, then down Port Hills Rd (where a kind mtnbiker offered me a tube - thanked profusely, but "cheers, getting a lift") to Martindales before my lift turned up. thankfully a swim at Mary's was on the cards, so I cooled off nicely.

36 degrees. too damned hot for riding.

Dreary Sunday cloudscaped hillage.

a good wee group of boys, wayne andy pete steve and me, assembled at Steve's for a jaunt. we hit up Huntsbury to climb into the clouds. first ride of the year as a group again. trail up hunts was damp but not soggy, but at the summit road we turned left, and stayed off vernon single, bombed down road to top of rapaki, and continued round below Witch hill, again off the singletrack, even tho it was probably reasonably rideable with little impact. the cloud was at about rapaki summit level, so we were in it right round to Castle Rock. wasnt your usual damp cloud, was kinda dry really. At Castle Rock, we had a look at the singletrack and decided it was dry enough to ride. rode it, had a blast. skittery skattery on the damp rocks, but the dirt was just damp, not sticky or soggy at all. there were about 3 wet spots / puddles on the whole track, in all the usual places (ie, at about 20 m in, then a puddle between the two switchbacks, then on the way up out after the wee wooden bridge after the 2nd switchback). sheltered out of the wind waiting for the others and then we hit Bridle Path. been a long time since i've descended it, and for good reason, its basically a waste of altitude. but, blasted down, pulsing the brakes in a futile attempt at keeping them cooler. several of us tarnishing our rear rotors. up onto the Morgan's Valley track, and rode under the Gondola, turning left at the [no bikes] sign, great wee blast down next to the pine trees, then instead of dropping down through sheep to the play-centre and gunclub, we stayed above the planted shelter (wattles and a few natives)ending up at the bottom corner of a paddock (nice light brown horse looking down the fenceline at us), with an empty section between us and Morgans Valley Rd. quick bale across it and down we rolled, then down to Ferrymead, round the Heathcote to Tunnel Rd Bridge, then back down Heathcote, tow path round behind all the industria, checking out Ground Effect's new premises then to WAC for a (very good) coffee and bickies/sausage rolls as appropriate. the others headed back to vehicles at Steve's, i split down Linwood Ave home.

tuesdaynite, full moon, rapaki, witch, castle, bridle, morgans

minor disaster, but i'll come to that... so, heading for T's Mum's for dinner, left home 5.40 cos had gotten caught at work, and hoofed it across town, up rapaki, passing several, nearly catching one (and from above, there were HEAPS of lights following up). hung a left, round witch hill, helluva wind blowing, full moon, clouds skudding, up road, nearly being plucked off the road by the wind just by the Tors where the wind whips over the top to Cass Bay... then bombed it down castlerock, nearly being blown into the bank most of the way, then down Bridle Path... cooked the brakes, they were starting to sound glazed and were getting a tad spongey by the time i veered onto the Morgans Valley track. along and up that, grunting up the steep, then nice cruise (quite sheltered round there) round back of commarc guy's place, and then onto what must be one of my favourite sections of singletrack... then disaster struck. all of a sudden, there was a sickening crunchy noise and i came to a stop, before i even knew what i was doing i was rolling backwards to disengage the derailleur from the wheel. it had been completely snapped in half, the actual thicker alloy fatigue broken right through on the first bit, and it was jammed. must have hit a rock, cos there's no way it would have done it just on its own. it wasnt even in one of the big cogs at the back, but probably 3rd or 4th down... i txtd T to let her know i was gonna be a while, she txtd back that she'd come get me. so i got the chain off, and tucked the broken derailleur into its own cable so's it was out of the way, and i rolled what i could, scooted what i could and walked the rest... had quite a good descent. down past the quarry wasnt bad in places, and down the steps of the quarry walkway was good too, all downhill. T turned up as i was walking along Bridle Path Rd... so. the damage. slightly bent hanger, completely destroyed derailleur. a few scratches on my nice new frame. boo hoo.

two in a row

Monday night. after O was in bed i drove over and parked on centaurus. headed up rapaki, was about 8.45pm by the 2nd gate. headed up and up, turned right, round mt vernon, crossed the road and turned the light on, 9.15ish. single track round to top of vic, dusky light and headlight dont mix well, so visibility wasnt great. then Thomson's to Kiwi, up road a bit, then tried to turn light on but it wouldnt go so had to stop and tweak it. got it running and didnt wanna risk it again so left it on from then on. up to lower section of Flying Nun, back to kiwi, back up Thomson's, both sections, then down through gums, down dazza's, down into macrocarpas, taking a new line in there, very dusty, poor contrast on trail, then down valley track, cleaned the 'washout' bottom of k2 and then bombed it down to bowenvale, back round to car. home about 10.05... Tuesday night. rode home at lunchtime and grabbed bike gear and mtnbike. left work at 4.30, across town to meet Jo from work at rapaki centaurus corner, got there at 4.45, she turned up at 4.53, headed up, hung a left, along singletrack, then up road to Castlerock. bommmmbed it down there, beautiful run, waited for her after 2nd switchback, before climb. fire at top of bridle path. first of the season. then down bridle path, start of morgans valley track, exit off that down to gunclub/bridlepath road. she peeled off, i headed for GG's.

Single Haul...

Al turned up to my place at 7.30ish on his new rigid 29er singlespeed, and we spun across to Nelson's. headed across to Rapaki, and up. ugh. i had great difficulty, tho, with a couple of rests, managed to ride all the way up. the 29er has a lower ratio than Nelson and my 2:1's, making it a bit easier on the climbs... had a go on the 29er on the climb around witch hill. swapped back for the descent. then continued around summit road to Castle rock. let Al cruise off down there, nelson and me watched him go, and the light looks amazing. then honked into it. nelson on my tail all the way down, pushing pushing... bombed that til just after the second switchback Nelson's chain jumped off, then by the end of the climb i was just catching Al as we rolled into bridle path. waited up for nelson then headed down it to Morgan's Valley track. headed round that, i walked a bit of that climb up to a horse, then nelson got a flat, pumped it up, rode on following the fence, thats a blast that section. then he changed out the tube cos it was getting too low again. then hit the single track, me leading. mint trail that, absolutely mint. except for the pesky sheep with lambs scattering left right and centre... switchbacks down, then into the scrubby stepped section, then beautiful cruise into and through the quarry, and then down the steppy switchbacks to the bottom. rode all of them, nelson had one off, Al stepped off a couple times... then, ferrymead singletrack to Tunnel Rd bridge, then new trail along to the cut, opposite side of river to usual, potential for mintiness... then up the cut, and along the singletrack on southside of the bank to Radley St. then ferry road, nelson departed us at nursery road, stanmore, home... 11pm.

before whitsundays...cleaned the bridlepath...

didnt get a chance to post this before heading off to the Whitsundays... nice break there, cept no riding to be had. only saw one good bike there the whole ten days, it was a S.Cruz superlight i think, obviously a tourist's. all the other bikes i saw were crappy warehouse type bikes - repco's, blade's etc cheap rubbish...

anyway, back on the 19th of May, i had to get Joy's jeep back after borrowing it previously, so, from her place, i rode up bridle path road, up a side track next to the gun club, which joined the Morgan's Valley track, under the gondola, then up the Bridle Path. my first time ever to actually clean it entirely. i stopped for a few rests, but i rode the whole thing. unbelieveable. then, i rode up the singletrack to Castle Rock,

from there headed above the road and down around to the left for a start, then up around to the right, above Cass Bay up to the Tors, on walking tracks, with a few steps, and mostly rideable. i didnt feel bad riding these because a) there was no one else on them, and b) if you saw the damage cattle have done to the trail, there's nothing a mountainbike is gonna do thats worse than that... startled some climbers hanging about below the tors as i descended very slowly lots of steps, a lot of which were unrideable, but with some practice might be.

then, poached the usual craterrim ahem walkway to witch hill, then onto legal summit trail to top of rapaki, and bombed down rapaki.
nice ride all up, nearly all singletrack off road. nice..

oh, i'd fixed my pedal before hand too. and i got my pedal back from whworralls for the singlespeed too.

sunday, out of fog and an overgrown return...

had to deliver my dad's car back after borrowing it for saturday, so drove up with bike and told the boy's (turned out to be Steve, Tony, Andrew and Matt) i'd meet them at top of rapaki. from my folks (top of Cashmere ~200m alt), headed up through fogginess into vic park, up the main fireroad from the skidder/jump site out of the fog into glorious sunshine, then along the singletrack traverse, feeling good. then crossed the road, and up round and down the Mt Vernon singletrack to the top of rapaki, flew it, was all good except for one deadstop on some rocks. waited a bit, fog coming and going a bit.

no sign of the boys, so headed round the Witch hill singletrack to the highest point and then turned back. still no boys, so figured what the hell, and bombed down rapaki. met them on the flat section, and headed back up, feeling really fresh, well warmed up but with heaps of energy.

we turned right, and headed up the road past Farmtrack up to where the singletrack crosses, then took it back to top of rapaki (my 2nd time that day), then on round the singletrack below Witch hill, then up to Castlerock, down to Bridle Path, hummin'!, then for a bit of a break in the shade of the stone shelter. then down Bridlepath and along the farm track above the motorway (see this when we rode it May last year). beautiful flowing ride along the farmtracks, but where it entered the scrub near the tanks it got nasty. Fennel, broom, bit of gorse, bit of barberry, all scraping and scratching at our arms and bars. lots of it unrideable now. needs major work... shame tho, cos it was a great spin last year... then across the motorway, and had to drop into some people's yard, then down Martindales, under railway, past Ferrymead, then round the devils elbow section of the river... and back to steves for muffins and boston bun and coffee, then home for a nice rest.

beautiful day, a fair few miles, lots of laughing and smiles in the overgrown trail.

on my way to a party...

T's mum had her birthday the other day, saturday, while i was up planting trees... and so she was having a bit of a party lastnight. it was to start around 7, so i had time for a wee ride.

oh, firstly, i must say, we had some wicked snow. here's a pic of the island covered in it. Chch is under that cloud on the right, this was taken 10am ish on tuesday morning...

So, anyway, wednesday, most of the snow had melted off the hills, meaning they'd be pretty wet, but i rode up anyway. i swapped off the Kenda Blue Groove on the back cos it was pretty worn and its been slipping out on a lot of rides recently, in the wintry conditions... anyway, reinstalled the old Green Wildgripper, 1.95, good treadpattern for mud. best darn mud tire i've had so far...
across town, about 5.30ish, closer to 6 actually, then up rapaki, lights most of the way, turned left, walked a little of single before riding cos it was so muddy and i didnt wanna thrash the track. then along road, and onto the Castle Rock - Bridlepath singletrack. interesting. flowy in places, but then messy as all get up in others. especially, before, between and after the switchbacks... i stopped and assisted a couple of drainage spots... then, as time was starting to run short, i headed down Bridle Path. then, after zipping up and swapping back to the windstopper gloves, down Bridle Path Rd to Joy's, where eventually T arrived with clothes so i showered.

i might add. on these frosty cold nights, town is at 0 or less degrees celsius, but hit the hill and its up closer to 10 degrees... inversion. keeps the smog down on the city too. i love it up there on these nights. but its yucky riding back across town.

foggy start sunday morning...

a whole week of busy nights and crappy weather. so. along comes sunday. early start, 8am at Steves. woke up to a fog-bound city. visibility about 20-30 metres, got quite damp riding through it across to Steve's. Steve couldnt make it on account of his guts, so it was just Pete, Hubby and me. headed up rapaki, fog starting to clear a little and as we got into the trees on Rapaki we could already see the sun shining on the hillsides above us. looking back over the city, all you could see was the tops of the CBD buildings and the 4 light stands of Jade Stadium (where there'd been a fogged in rugger game the night before). over the course of our ride we watched the fog dissipate. up into the sun, nice gentle ride up rapaki, cept for the last leg i switched to a 2:1 ratio a la singlespeeding and cranked it up, just to see what it was like. hard. but doable. but man, you gotta have yourself a whopper set of lungs, standing in that gear and honkin' it up that slope. at top of rapaki the harbour was beautiful, a cauldron of fog, hills ringing it in basking sun. we turned left along the summit trail. the first section i walked cos it was so muddy, my back tire spinning and digging it up, so i gave it a rest. further up tho, the trail was in good nick, our tires barely marking it... got to the end of the first section and hopped over the fence and down to the craterrim walkway (not strictly legal...). it was very very muddy, and technical, slippery rocks (and one clump of Urtica ferox, native stinging nettle (which took a swipe at Hubby)), singletrack, cow trodden. our bike tires doing much less damage than the pugging and pooling of cattle hooves. if anything, we provided channels for the water to actually drain off in... then from the tors the last bit of road up to the Castle Rock section of bike track down it, which was in surprisingly good nick. cleaned it all nicely, slippery rocks being the only major technical issue... then down Bridle Path. i bombed it for a change. seems to be quite nice after wetness, well packed, not too loose. we stopped next to the Morgans Valley track, and headed the other way. there's a sign on the gate that said something, but its unreadable now. (i suspect it was something to do with Property?? cant imagine what tho!). headed along the farm-4wd track that follows above the bush thats above the Tunnel Rd Motorway, great wee spin, medium to big ring rollin', with a couple of little climbs, nothing major, then at the end, a gate, hop over it and there begins the barely followable 'secret singletrack'. down to the first of 2 big watersupply tanks, all under a treelucerne and various natives canopy. this trail snaked down and down and around the lower of the two tanks and then sidled down to a turn off that is adjacent to Martindales Rd on the Motorway. We skedaddled across the motorway, and then made our way down to Martindales Rd. from here, we travelled along martindales, under the railroad, left down Truscotts Rd to Ferrymead historic park, past that to the lower reach of the Heathcote, and then along the true right bank of that, up stream to the Tunnel Rd bridge. This section of riverbank is great, its walked by people with dogs quite regularly, so the trail is sweet, twisty, well defined. and of course, like all the trails today, muddy in places. once done with that section, we made our way to a Trees For Canterbury planting in Charlesworth Reserve. at this stage, it was a beautiful sunny day. planted a heap of natives, and i biked home along Linwood Ave after 12... later on, the fog rolled back in.

sunday morgans

Met at steve's, the usual suspects, Pete, Andrew, Steve, Tony and me. up rapaki, i was cruising nicely. had a few chats with people on the way up. one guy asked me what i'd had for breakfast, Fish i said... cos i had, had Red Cod for breakfast. yummy. then turned left around the singletrack, i thought i was getting a flat back tire, but it was fine... along summit, overtaken by a sporty dude training for CraterRim, on a Cannondale. down the single track from Castle rock, i ROCKed, flying down it, running really smooth at the mo. then we plummetted off down the Bridle Path, (where i'd walked up the other week), town side, wasnt as loose as usual, seemed to keep quite a good speed on and didnt feel out of control like usual. then peeled before the bottom onto the Morgans Valley Track, which, tho is officially a walking track, fails to mention this until you're already committed... and, when dry, its a perfect bike track, bar some steps near the end. anyway, its a nice wee track, without too much altitude, sidles around the valley above the new subdivisions in the Heathcote valley, and ends at the Heathcote Quarry. then there's a ton of steps to ride down, tho, i managed to only ride on about three steps total, riding to their sides... then back around the riverside of the Ferrymead industria, and i treadled home from Radcliff St. quick ride, i think i was home by 11.30. Bloody hot day too. 29 or 30.

walkin' huffin' skiddin' chuffin' blowin'...

well, following that last sunday ride, on the wednesday i ended up having to go to Lyttelton to pick up Otis, so i biked across to the Bridle Path and walked up it, 20 mins bottom to top, then, and this is on my town bike, not the switchback, let a bit of air out of the slicks at the top, and proceeded down into Lyttelton cautiously. quite hairy, but it is how we used to do it, what with the vee brakes and the rigid forks etc... anyway,
went to little ak for weekend, took swtchbck, rode it around the property but thats about it. i did take it up to Chorlton to try to get a celphone coverage, (which i didnt) but had the dogs with me so couldnt speed back down. anyway, one loop i had going fast in the orchard ended up sending me over the handlebars... that was fun.

on tuesday, nelson and me rode, met at bottom of rapaki, there was a HOWLING easterly blowing, a warm muggy one, we turned left at the top. i was huffin and a chuffin to keep up with him, he always pushes me harder than i would myself, whereas riding with the other guys i'm always taking it easier than i would by myself. anyway, bombed down richmond hill. oh, before that we trialed the new John Britten Reserve trail, just being built, not open yet, but i figure, riders riding it makes it. shows the builders where to build it... so, bombed down Greenwood (called it Richmond Hill at the time), then down Capt Thomas. i baulked on only the first of the doubletroubles... and there's a stupid new set of posts just before you're about to enter the pines near the bottom... and i lost my endcap on the eggbeaters, so a service kit is on order. so yeah, major tail wind home across the causeway, but linwood ave was tiring. took a good 20 minutes longer than that time i did it myself in 2 hours... must have been the head wind along the top, and i did stop and re tune the gears at the top of rapaki too...

riding tomorrow with the usual suspects.

Couple rides... couple weeks...

Sad, but only had three rides in the last two weeks. tonight will make four i guess. anyway, where am i. last i spoke with thee was that monday night i spun round rapaki and capt thom. well, didnt ride again for a week and a half, to Thursday last to be precise. Otis had his preschool Eczemass party at 5.30, so i got T to take my bike and gear in the car and i bussed thru straight from work. and then about 5 past 7 i left the preschool and headed up the Bridle path, Lyttelton side, rode the whole thing, road inclusive, and then onto the single track heading for Rapaki. that was all sweet, was a very muggy warm evening, overcast but not cold. took the craterrim walkway section from the Tors to the singletrack that blips round Witch Hill. then i rode up the Vernon singletrack above the road to the highest point, turned around and back down it, then down Rapaki and home. it was fun.

then sunday a bunch of 5 of us met at steves, we did the same loop as i did in my last post. up rapak, round summit over richmond down capt thom. once again, i was ON FIRE. sweeeeeet ass riding. stopped for coffee at Dot Com and then i departed a little a head of the boys as i had my olds coming for lunch. 20 mins, countem, 20 mins door to door, sumner to home. i thought that was pretty good timing.

tonight we're in for a quick ride ithink. not sure what. but sounds like steve's out.