Saturday Morning Heated Steeps

Nelson, O and me left our place and headed up Vic Park Drive, O powering off and causing Nelson to comment as to what a hurry he seemed to be in.  We went up to the main park area and dropped down the old access route to the top of Loess Rider etc. Across the road and O dropped over the normal entrance, whereas N and me took the new way straight off the road into Capt Cooker, dropping down the rocks and around, finding O waiting at the Karma/Shred/Loess start.  

I led off down Loess and at the first corner, pulled up and peeled off the trail.  O continued on down while Nelsie and me explored this new (to us) access trail across towards the 35s...  Several options off the left of it, and maybe 2/3rds along there's this massive rock wall with a route down it, leading into a jump and a berm and off down.  Nelson pushed to top to check it out but decided against the drop.  Who knows the speed you'd have into that jump and corner!?  We continued on across the trail, eventually getting to the 35 zone we knew, and were pleased to see cool 'rules' signage up here "Dont talk about it, dont facebook it, dont instagram it..." (So, officially, i'm not talking about it here).  Dropped in, holding on to the right hand side all the way down, weaving and dodging.  Nelson left me behind and then I wondered if he'd peeled off to the left somewhere because the dust had cleared and I couldn't tell where he was.  I caught up eventually.  I think we'd ridden the bit we finished on before, but who can tell?  Rolled out, much nicer end to it now (not having to climb up to Loess, for a start), finishing down at the skills zone.  Rolled out and around up to the base, spotted O, filled up water, cruised in and caught up with O and friends, then left them to it.

Down the carpark and into the climb.  Foosh...  First bit to the base of long zipline is a prick, but then it's not so bad, zigging and zagging, zigs and zags getting tighter and tighter and tighter.  Passed a few walkers up and down.  Eventually up the ridge and then nice cooling descent and around into the later climb, reminiscing about Daves (ACJoint) track and Fight Club and the likes...  Through the gate and up the Worsley.  Oh joy.  Cooled off in the shade next to the Park gate and then hit the body bag.  Ugh.  Nelson cleaned it, amazingly.  I failed at the usual spot then kinda caused another rider who'd snuck up behind me to fail too.  He practically ran the rest of the way to get ahead.  Nice cool breeze at the top. 

Climbed up to the top of the Nuns and decided on the Gnar.  Nice start, quite easy and relaxed corners, nothing too tech, then you hit the rocks.  We stopped and examined several sections before (or after) riding them, giving a couple of bits 2 goes to get the best lines sorted.  Then, across the Park track and bloomphity bloomph bloomph down the roughest line, near the bottom of which I'd taken a new (to me) line and just perched on top of a ridge of rocks between two nasty bits I did not want to fall into.  Then, as I re-entered the Nun proper, my front end bottomed something wicked and a very weird noise emanated from it...  ugh.  Rest of the run was fast and fun, until the exit to the road, some dipshit had left their bike right across the exit...  I commented "pretty dumb place to leave your bike" as I rode past.  Wish I'd ridden over the back wheel.  Filled up water at the Kiwi, and off up the road we went.  

Into Vic, usual down and around over the jump, loads of people standing around the jumps, and then next to the see saw, guy said "watch how the pros do it" as I went over it, lookin' good.  haha..  First few BrakeFree jumps and out down the rabbit paddock, and hard right over the cattlestop, into the pines, Nelson led down over the log and then I led down through the gums, usual route, swooping back and forth on the edge of traction.  Onwards down, then quick right and walk out the top of the CAP track, and up over 19th, down, around the road, into the carpark track, (broken window glass all over the carpark), bombing, swooping, getting to know this well now, and final climb before final blast down behind the houses...  

A hot af 13.5 kms with, what felt like a lot more than, 541 m climbed.

Saturday's Park Lot

O and me headed for the Park. Nelson was at the top when we got there, so said he'd wait.  He was on his DW DH Rig.  O and me got to the turnstiles and no swipey! - I discovered I didn't have my card, so I sent O off up to meet Nelson while I went to the office and sorted out a spare. They came down Yeah Yeah and Jandal, and I didn't have to wait too long. 

Up we went, and off into Summit Connector, across Nun and down the lower Gnarly rocks into the lower Nun, bombing it.  Into Choir and bombing through, fast fast fast, then climbing round to Captain Cooker, dropping down and into Shredzilla.  Chasing Nelson, O on my tail, we all cleaned everything smoothly.  Good fun, fast run. 

Back up the lift again, and this time into Swinger's Party.  Another good run, tho some groms caught me up and I let them through.  Otie did good again, and then we hit down DOHC, which was better than the last time I did it...  Slightly less rough.  Good finish for me, and O's hands were blistering cos he'd decided he didn't need to wear gloves...

MMR output.  Basically none climbed, that's all the lift.

Sunday Coupla Lapsa Th'Adventcha Park

10.45ish O and me met Nelson at the bottom of his first lap for the day - on the DH rig.  Got Otie a 5 pass and we headed up the lift.  First off into Summit Connector, down the nun and down the Choir Boy.  Stopped and adjusted O's brake levers just past 3rd Base.  He was struggling cos of a hand injury from crashing off his board last weekend.  Into Captain Cooker and then Nelson headed down KarmaSutra while we took the easy route down Loess Rider.  Good fun run. 

O wasnt up to another lap, hand hurting too much so he went to the cafe and socialmedia'd with his friends while Nelsie and me headed back up the lift.

Into Swingers, nice run down this.  I stayed pretty close on his tail most of the way.  And at one point these young guys were on my tail, putting me under pressure, which kept my speed up.  Excellent fun this trail.  Bombed on down it all and Nelson was surprised when he stopped thinking he'd wait and I was right there.  Into Handle and we popped and floated and flowed all the way down.  Good times.

Forgot to start MMR til the top...

Sunday Foggy Pleasant Fatness and a Couple of Par Klaps with O

Parked on Stonyridge and rode the fatty on up the hill. Fog was roaring thru and so I just toodled on upwards, and when I thought I was only about half way up suddenly there's someone on the road above me and I was genuinely surprised to find myself at the top.  U-turned and took the trail around the front and along the original Britten to the cutting, across the road, over the fence (where i took the pic) and on up the singletrack Pleasant climb.

Into the down and lots of honking of damp brake disks, which soon settled out, pinging down the rocky section, finding the smoothest line, and bombing, weaving down through the tussocks.  Around above the ruins and into the single-track across towards the Richmond Pines.  Found excellent flow through here, thinking, "man this is good" and then around a tight left hander, slightly overcooked front wheel over some tussocks on the outside, and straight into a hole, which pitched me over the bars unceremoniously dumping me onto the grass.  Ouch!  - first time for ages.  Had to sit down for a quick breather and re-collection of self.  Then got riding again, flowing the rest of the way around to the pines and up the singletrack climb to the old Greenwood entrance, and up the road to the top of Britten.  Here, I rang Steve.

They were nearly at the top of Mt Pleasant so I scooted up Broadleaf to meet them - Pete, Andy, Wayne, Robin and Steve, all waiting for me at the top, still in the clouds.  We all rode together down with them to the ruins then Steve and me took my earlier route around the singletrack while the others headed down Greenwood and the Captain.  Steve and I cruised around to the Richmond Pines meeting a big group here, and then up to the Greenwood entrance.  Up the road and into Britten, for a well earned bomb down the trail, cloud thinning a little.  Steve was parked on Upper Major Hornbrook, so he peeled off at the first pylon and I continued my merry way across and down past the second, back to my car.

Just under 14kms, with 460something metres climbed.

Drove through to Lyttelton, lovely sunny day every where else in the city, and picked up O from Tane's.  Then we went home, got his CAP pass, dropped off the Fatty, and headed for the park where we met Tra'y, Nik, H and Jake.  They'd brought O's bike.  Some lunch, then O and me buddied up the lift (me on his ticket) and did a couple laps.  First lap, Yeah Yeah Gnar, Possum and into the Jandal.  Good jumpies, and speed.

Second uplift, took Summit Connector across, dropped into lower gnarly nun, and nun, then Choir Boy bombing to Captain Cooker and Loess Rider as fast as possible.  Both of us were a bit stuffed by this point, and I was starting to get sore from my OTB earlier, so we bailed, figuring on giving up on his 1 uplift left on account that we got 2 freebies for me...

Sunday Park Laps with the Boy

Took O to the park, we parked about 11, and Nelson wasn't far away so we did some drops in the skills area.  I 'e.t.a'd him and he was in the parking lot but had no pass, so headed home and we headed up the lift. 

Into the main entrance of Lord of the Possums, we bombed down, yumpity yump the way down.  Then into Jandal Handle, and more jumpy mumpy.  Fun times.  Out the bottom and there was Nelson, so off up the lift again.

This time, into Summit Connector.  I nearly lost it over the bars from a jump over some rocks that kicked my back end up too far, then not far further (on the grassy slope across to the Nun) Nelson flatted, front first, then we noticed the rear too.  So, I fixed his back holes in situ, and he did the front.  Got rolling again, taking the Gnarly Nun entrance across the nun down the droppy rocks, and then in the second whoopdedoo he flatted again, front wheel, nearly losing it off the side no less.  We needed to get going, so left him with my glue and left him to it.  Rocked on down the rest of the way, bombing Old Dyers.  I showed O the entrance to 3rd base, and we headed on round to Captain Cook and into Shredz.  He followed me down the first section then dropped onto Loess, while I continued down the rest of Shredz.  Good fang.

15kms, with 2 uplifts...

Sunday, Heated Hunts with a couple Park Laps

Met Steve, Wazza and Nelson (on his xc whippet) at the bottom of Ramahana.  Steve wasn't feeling up to the climb so he headed on around to the Park, whereas us three remainders headed up the hill.  Was hot and we were all in our black pfmtbc tees - good choice.  Made the top, and blatted around the Traverse, chatting with various peeps at various points.  Blat through the Thompsons, and across onto Old Dyers for a charging scream down this.  Noted that 3rd Base was Closed...  Decided on Loess Rider for a change, and had a great run down this, finding Steve at the bottom (having expected us about 15 minutes earlier (the time we'd spent yakking)).  Nelson headed home to collect his DH bike (not wanting to ride anything interesting on his noodly whippet), and so the other three of us headed up the lift.

Into Yeah Gnar, good bomb down here, then Possum, pop pop pop.  And into Handle the Jandal for a good floaty waft down all the jumps.  At the bottom Nelson was still a wee ways away, so we headed in for coffee (tea etc) and when we'd done he'd arrived.  The other two boys decided they were done, and headed home.  Nelson and me took the lift.  Into Summit Connector, lower GnarlyNun and it's fun rocks, then lower Nun, followed by Choirb, stopping at the now open 3rd Base.  I checked out the squirrel catcher.  Followed Nelson in and cleared it no problem, then the fun began  Awesome trail, exactly my kind (tho I skipped on the harder features).  Some pretty sketchy greasy spots in the steeps under darkness and wetness of the firs and eventually we made it out the bottom intact.  Fun times.

Decided I was done, and needed to get home, so rode back to Nelson's car, and I continued on down the road and around the streets and riverbanks to my car on Buxton.

Quite a big ride, leaving me pretty toasted. total of 33.5 kms, with 1369 altitudinal descent.  (minus the 2 uplifts giving me total 30kms ridden, and a naturally aspirated gain of 590m).

Sunday 3 Lapsa th' CAP

Nelson had 3 uplifts to use and I had a couple left on my card and was needing to buy a new 10 lift before they ran out.  We met at the park, me quite hungover from a Camel Cottage party, and not having managed breakfast (dropped it, breaking the plate on the way out the door, and spilling hot coffee all over my tum-tum) and barely drank any of the coffee... 

Up the lift we went.  Taking it easy first run, straight into Yeah yeah nah, which was okay, then into Lord of the Possums.  Mostly a good run down here, good jumps on most, clearing them smoothly, tho one nearly toppled me over forward.  Bottom of this and we were into Handle the Jandal.  Handled this very nicely, excellent boost on most jumps, tho one close call where the jump landed me into the inside of a corner rut/drain that I just managed to not quite get into.

Straight into the next lift, me wanting to puke on the way up, but managing to keep it down.  This time trying out the tech.  Into Throw the Goat, Nelson doubling everything, me taking bunny lines.  I thought there was an 'escape route' from Throw the Goat across to Swingers Party before Yoda, but no, there's not (only the 4wd part way down) and so we ended up dropping down Yoda, which proved to be actually extremely fun.  Cleaned everything, albeit all the "easy" lines (they're not that 'easy' but all rideable).  Then across and into DOHC for a boosty fun blast trailing in Nelson's dust, but keeping him in check. 

My ticket had run out so went and got some kai, Nelson kindly shared some of his free burger with me, and I managed a hangover-curing smoothy (oats, banana, ginger... good!).  Down to get a new pass, and we hit our third lift of the day.  Took Summit Connector, and dropped into the Nun via the bottom droppy section of Gnarly Nun, excellent blast down here, and then a speeding Choir Boy / Old Dyers, overtaking a couple down here, and hoofing up to Capt Cooker, and straight into Shredzillaville for an excellent trip down.  I cleaned everything again, and stuck to the non-'easy' lines, no problems! 

All up a nice run, and didnt bother with MMR, so there's no proof other than my memory.  Estimating about 1200 or more metres of descent.

Sunday Posse to- and in- the Park

Met Andy, Wayne, Robin and Paul at Steve's (he'd left at 8.30), and we chased Steve up Ramahana, Aotea and Huntsbury.  Hot work, with Robin struggling in the heat and all of us feeling it a bit.  My bottom bracket area was having a whale of a time, creaking away on every pedal stroke.  After the grind up the gravel, we found him (and his old flatmate VJ) at the top.

Into the Traverse, a good pace apart from getting stuck behind rookie slowbos, who (being the lead) I'd stop to let get ahead, and my team to catch up, before setting off and reeling the rookies in.  At the usual sugarloaf pullover they pulled over and I was chasing another semi-rookie again, catching him in the dipper, where he struggled with the 'tech'.  I got the lead then and blasted the rest of the way round to Vic.  Regroup in the shade.

Up and into the Thomson and Thompson, freaking some walkers in the 2nd one.  Then into Choirboy/Old Dyers, good blast down this, tho lost my chain part way down (first time on this bike).  Treadled around to top of park and when the others rolled up Paul was showing signs of a crash - front all dusted, knees and elbows scraped...  nice.

Into Captain Cooker, and we split up a little, with Andy, Wayne and me taking Shredzilla, the others Loess Rider.  Excellent bomb down Shred, with me in the lead for a start, then Andy stealing it and leading the way, quite fast, down the rest.  He baulked slightly in the steep rocky, which I cleaned for the first time, but kept the lead and I followed him at speed the rest of the way.  Awesome fang, with our rear shocks quite hot at the bottom.  The others all lagged in in dribs and drabs, then up to base, VJ bought a pass, and off up the lift.  I sat with Andy, Wayne and Robin.

Andy, Wayne and me hit Swingers Party, my first time down here.  I led.  It was fun.  I enjoyed it profusely.  Then Robin and Paul and Me hit DOHC (while the others hit Jandal), which was also super fun.  And I did it fast.  It's heaps smoother than last time.

Twenty-five after 11, so Paul and me decided to bail, but the others all headed up to the lift for another go.  Put me home about 12.15...

28 kms all up, with 975 m climbed (albeit, (a smidge under) 400 of those on the chairlift).

Saturday Nice Hill Ride

Steve's first ride since his treatment started, so he met us at the top of the tarmac on Huntsbury having got a lift from J9.  I'd driven to the bottom of RamaHareRamahana and arrived just as Robin did. We toodled our ways up the hill, both suffering from colds, to meet Steve at the top.  Nice easy going pace up the dirt, staying on the main track all the way to the top.

Across the Traverse.  Felt good up here, beautiful day and the trail was riding well.  I cracked out a reasonable pace, stopping a couple times to regroup but steady onwards we rode.  On the last run down towards Vic Park I passed a runner (who'd leapt out of the way) whilst in the air on one of those wee jumps through there.  Flow was good.  

Regroup at the start of Vic Park, and then down through the usual, finding a couple of new jump features, one of which I bailed up on not quite ready for it's gapdrop.  Next time I'll be ready for it.  Steve peeled off down the 4wd, while Robin followed me through into the gummies.  I took him down my usual favourite, which is rolling pretty nice, and we sidled out to Steve at the skidder site, tonnes of other riders in residence here.  Cruised down to the 19th then followed the new signage to the park, via the roads.  (not doing that again...).  

Down the Dyers Pass Rd and to the Park entrance, I led off down the new-to-me Captain Cook(er?), and it was greasy as hell.  The two corners super steep and nearly no traction.   Then we were at the top of Shredzilla and Loess.  I opted for the former, for the first time ever. It was sweet.  The right amount of dry-ness.  I baulked on the techy rocky section, but cleaned everything else no problem.  Stopped and greeted the boys as they rolled past at the first connections with Loess, then again at that rock section.  Then bombed the rest of the way down what must be lower Kama Sutra, and out back to the bottom on the same line as the rest.  I like the new exit with the bridge too.  Waited a while for the other two.

Then up to the base and I checked to see i still had uplifts on my card (I do), and then we went up to the cafe.  I had a OnePA while Steve and Robin had healthy kombuchas and we scarfed down some fries (thanks Steve!).  Then it was off down the road and around the river-ways and across Beckenham Loop.  I peeled off down Koromiko St, and through the alleyway to Centaurus and back to the car.

18kms and 500m climbed.