Top of the South, Day 4: Copperminding our P's & Q's

Monday 21st dawned fine and sunny, AGAIN, and it was a slowish start, i think roughly 9.30ish departure, riding through to and up the Brook then into the Codgers area around and up to Tantragee and on up round the Dun Mountain track.  Gentle and easy going it is and we made the 300 odd metre picnic table in pretty good time.  Onwards again and eventually getting to the Third House.  I was quite tired by this stage, feeling the effects of 3 solid rides and lack of resting or eating.  Arse and feet and hands had been getting numb(ish) on the way too.  Eventually the rest of the crew cruised in and we rested and talked smack for a while.  Nice hot day, lots of sun.

Back into the forest and onwards up, not too far, only a few kms to the opening out of the mineral belt, and on up to a very windy aptly named Windy Point.  Cooling us down nicely.  Great spin round from here to Coppermine Saddle for another rest in the sun.  I'd had enough of sitting around, so got going, figuring if anyone was gonna catch me up the could.  Nelson dropped in behind me and seemed happy enough to hang in there for a while.  Quite a blast this downhill.  Cant really let it all hang out because of traction issues in the corners, and not really knowing what's coming up next.  But, still, a good speed on and down we went.  At about the 10 minute mark, my hands were getting sore, and my back was aching, so i pulled up for a bit of a rest and stretch.  Not long after we stopped Alistair and Nico turned up, with Nico in agony, having only about 50mms of useable travel and crappy brakes he was having to hang on hard to.  Nelson led off and i followed, with Alistair on my tail.  He seemed happy enough there.  From the sounds of it, Nico held back for a good while, til the others turned up.  Nelson set a good pace, and Alistair and me held on, letting him set the speed, which grew and grew and grew as we entered the taller scrub, then forest.  Massive blast down here, eventually through a couple of fast tight corners onto a boardwalk into a corner for a bridge, then super fast blast down the walking track from here.  At one point, with Nelson a safe distance ahead, i came over a jumpy rise and he'd disappeared!  I thought, "where the fuck is he?" "oh, there he is" his smiling face off to the right of the trail.  He'd hit the air, and ended up off the track, braking hard through the ferns.  Not much further down here we left the forest onto an open 4wd track and pulled up for the regroup.  A few minutes went by and the others started rolling in, Pete first i think, then most of the rest in reasonably quick succession.

From here, it's a blast down the 4wd trail, past the bottom of Peaking Ridge, then through a creek, climb out of that, then past Bob Taylor Rd onto the singletrack again, with a small section reminiscent of Cullens, then past the bridge and onwards along the pipeline track.  But, Mark and Marie went ahead, as did the boys, but Pete had had a blow out further back so Nelson and me cruised back to see what was up.  All good got rolling again and the last blast round the Pipeline then down the new section that wasnt finished last time i'd been round here, which was awesome.  Nice finishing blast through pines and then into the bush at the bottom of 629.

Finished with road, then Maitai bikepath all the way back to town.  Nelson and me went for a feed at Akbaba's and then joined the others at Sprig and Fern on Hardy St, bikes all hung out front.  Couple of pints easing the weariness in our limbs.

Friday Dun Done and the Copper was Mine...

Just landed from a fantastic ride... Hit up something i'd never done before, namely, the newly finished Coppermine. Headed up Codgers. Nearly at Tantragee bumped into a local (looked like he might have been guiding a couple of non locals?) who i asked if Jenkins was clear from 3rd house through, and he suggested i do the Coppermine instead, and as i'd never ventured further than not far past 3rd house before, figured i should... So. headed on up. met a few riding down, at intervals, including one really large group, passed one older couple near 3rd House, and continued on past that on up the Dun Mtn trail. gets a little narrower further up, and then eventually bursts out into the mineral belt, much different from the beech forest earlier, open and scrubby and quite spectacular. Trail is quadbikeable up here, wending its way round to the Coppermine Saddle, where you're greeted with a sign saying to the effect, Control your speed, Expert trail ahead... had taken me slightly less than 2 hours to get to this point. lay down in the sun and ate my OneSquare thinking 'fuck i'm shattered'...

then, seat down, just a little, looked at my watch, 12.30, and hit the trail down. Swoop swoop corner, swoop swoop corner, long bit, pumpy water bars, nice and wide, lots of room, and man this track is gonna be primo once its been made a little more difficult by weather. very enjoyable descent back and forward down this big basin of a valley, remaining in the mineral belt for a long time, getting lower and lower, and it seemed the further down you get the longer and faster the straights are, but you cant quite just let go cos you dont know what's coming up round the next bend. anyway, got back into the forest and swooped and flew and flowed down down down. glanced at my watch it it was 12.55, and i was still descending... somewhere in the forest i must have passed the track to the Maitai Caves, met a couple of walkers as i swooped and bombed on down what is tantamount to a wheelchair track, only a little too steep for wheelchairs. finally, popped out on the 4wd track that Peaking Ridge finishes on, and bombed that out down the Maitai, onto the nice little singletrack to the coathanger bridge.

here, i decided to check out the waterpipe track, and rode that round above the river for quite a while, passing the turnoff to Jack's Clearing, and continuing on down til i met a motorbike, then a tracked motorised wheelbarrow, and then a guy with a digger, at the end of the line... chatted with him, couple more weeks he said, oh well, back up and round the track past the tracked thing, and the bike, and on down the steep descent to the Maitai river. do you think i could find suitable stepping stones??? waded in the nice cold water up over my knees, carrying the bike, and then hit the gravel road down down down the maitai. Just after the seal began i headed over that coathanger bridge to Tantragee. Stupidly biked up the saddle, instead of the easy way down the Maitai singletrack, and then rode Codgers down, thereby closing my loop.

total time out riding? 3 hours 15 minutes, not bad for a 4-5 hour ride, eh?

and here's a video of the trail!