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.

Saturday's Parking Slot

Took O across to the Park and we met Nelson there, with his DH rig.  Uplift, and into Swinger's Party.  O handled it all bar one little rocky drop steepy.  Was good.  Then into the Jandal and we leaped and grooved our way down.  O got held up by a couple of grommers who'd slipped in front of him on the last newly finished section, which annoyed him a bit. 

Next uplift, took the Connector around down Nun, Choirs.  Nelson snapped his gear cable but managed to salvage it and dropped into 3rd Base, while O and me headed round and did Captain Cook and Shredzilla.  O was going to bail into Loess at the first meeting but I convinced him to stay in to the next bit (just on the super steep rocky bit) and he ended up following me down Shred all the way, and cleaning the steep rocky section.  Nice one!

Third uplift.  Nelson headed down the GC for an explore, while O and me hit Swingers again, and at the midpoint, I headed down DOHC, which was a bit shit, and he headed down the Jandal again and enjoyed the bottom end more.

Didn't bother with MMR...

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).

Tuesday CAP with my Boys

School holidays, so took the boys to the Park.  We uplifted, and H and me headed down Duncan's Donuts, while O went off down Possums by himself.  Met him in the middle.  I found Donuts a bit boring, but H's smile on his face said it all.  Man it's long.  I tried to carry as much speed through every corner as possible, getting way higher on the berms than most obviously are, given the vegetation I was riding over.  Jumped every opportunity I could too.  Met O in the middle (he'd been waiting a while, and said Possums was cut up as, rutty and blown out.  Him and me headed down DOHC, while H went off down Active Rest on his own.  DOHC was fun.  Some good steep bits and I trailed O all the way, he's a really good wee rider.  Bombed out the bottom and got to waiting for H.

He arrived eventually (having passed some others), and we I took some stuff to the car, and we used the loo, and H crashed off one of those wooden jumpy things, hurting his back. 

Then we got on the lift and he'd left his (brand new, $10 from T7) gloves at the bottom...  O and me convinced him into coming down the Summit Connector with us, and he struggled with the steeper bits, but then was okay once it leveled off a bit.  I took the Nun but they took the road, and we regrouped for Choir Boy, bombing down this, waiting for H a few times, then into Loess.  The entrance is steep, and H struggled, but made it down no problem (bit of coaching from O and me), and then into the Loess...  Rode that sucker.  H's hands were getting really sore, blisters, etc, and he was just getting so beaten up by the track.  Forks need more suppleness, methinks.  I had a good run, jumping everything I could.  Meanwhile O had rocketted on ahead.  When we got to the bottom he'd already been up and rescued H's gloves.  Nice one. 

Called it a day, I don't think H would've handled another lap...  he was pretty fragile by that stage.

2 laps

Tuesday Couple CAP Laps with a Bonus

PFMTBC Inc meeting to view the Annual Trip Video at Steve's booked for 7.30, so Nelson picked me up in Washington Way and we got to bottom of CAP, parking out on the road to save having to drive over the speed humps...

Rode in, straight for the lift.  Hot day, again, and I's still recovering from Saturday's burn-out.  Low energy and quick to break a sweat.  Uplift, and into recently re-opened Lord of the Possums.  Nice, bowls and yumpies, bloody dusty tho.  We had it to ourselves for a while til it joined Duncan's Donuts, where there was a guy and a couple of girls we overtook, then near the bottom of this caught up to a group of guys.  Proceeded through to newly re-opened DOHC, now a black track.  It's pretty rough, and super dusty and in places they've cut out zig-outs and back so is steeper there, but still rather manageable.  Good to be on that side of the park and not pedalling away down the greenline.  Nelson put in good speed and a good gap on me, but this suited me cos right on his tail was too dusty anyway.  I was being reasonably cautious cos my back tire is bald as and was squirrelling around noticeably.

Straight into the lift again and up.  This time taking the Summit Connector across to the lower Nun.  I really didn't wanna do much climbing, so we didn't go up the road to the top, just took the lower down to the Kiwi.  I was super careful not to rimstrike, riding light to keep the pinchflats away.  Up the road to top of Vic nearly killed me.  But we dropped into the right and back across to the see-saw (I baulked, again!), and a little bit of Brake Free then across to the rockgarden and gummies.  Rockgarden saw my rim strike and flat.  Damn!  Walked down to the corner above my 'favourite lefthander' and replaced, then we got going down, me sending Nelson off down the new left off my left that I rode last time.  I took the old line. 

Then it was below the skidder site and out to the 19th Memorial, across the road and down the blast of a run down to Dyers Pass Rd, across and into KamaSutra and LoessRider.  I wasnt game on Kama, but Nelsie wanted to check it out on his trailbike, so we parted here and I had a flowy cruise, catching and passing a few people, and grabbing double-air wherever I was able.  Nice.  Meanwhile, Nelson plummetted down Kama Sutra, and was waiting a few minutes for me at the bottom.

Down the road to the car, him completing 17.6 kms and me 19 kms.  And accounting for 2 x lift rides, we'd probably only had to climb about 100 m ourselves.

Sunday, hot hill work

Out on my lonesome leaving home about 9.20, drove and parked at bottom of Bowenvale on Eastern Tce - and caught up with an old friend, Ben, who I'll definitely ride with sometime soon.  Headed up Major Aitken Drive, figuring there might be a bit shade on the way up.  There was, tho it was still pretty warm getting up there.  Ground away and got to the gravel and grabbed some shade up the first section on a nice singletrack next to the gravel.  Then out in the open thankfully a bit of breeze around.  Under the pylons and then up to the high part hung a right and climbed up onto the singletrack, heading for the landing strip then up the last gravel, feeling a bit weak from the heat and the downhilling yesterday.

Brief break at the start of the Traverse, breeze cooling a bit, then I was off.  Good ride around here, tho the wind was a headwind for a start.  Met a couple of uni-cyclists (one of which was a young girl (9 or so?)), and was sort of chasing a guy on a carbon XC steed.  Good blast down to Vic Park-top and then through Thomson and Thompson and across an insanely busy Kiwi, cars clusterfucked everywhere...  Up the road slowly gaining on XC dude, catching him juuuust at the top of Worsley.  Cooled right off here in the breeze under that big pine and chatted to a few other bikers.

Off down the Body Bag, hugging the left hand lane (on account of a guy riding up the middle), which only gave me a little bit of gorse sting on the way down.  Into the park, climbing up the steep trail, and touching base with Paul and family who were celebrating Luka's birthday down at base.  Into Yeah Yeah Gnar and then a little way down decided Tommy2's, why not (just over a year since last down here).  Into here, it was cool, following pretty much exactly where it used to.  Bloody dusty as hell, but fun, and familiar and I rocked my way down it, cleaning everything.  Out the bottom and into DOHC, blasting.  By the bottom my arm pump was mental, and quite sore.  Popped into the base and said happy birthday and caught up with peeps and had a beer (nothing else on the menu or in the fridge appealed!).  Then off again, down the road, freshly watered, so not dusty, and then around the foot of the hills back to the car.

A smidge under 20kms, 660m climbed, 1.5 hours.  Hot.


Later Edit:  the next day the fires started, burning for a week, over 2000 hectares, including most of the park, and the Thompsons, top of Harry Ell and Marleys, and all the way across the top of Worsleys Rd to Kennedy's and into Gov's Bay.

Saturday Parking with the boys

Took O and his buddy Tane into the park, buying Tane a 10 pass for his near-future-birthday, plus one for O. We lifted up and did the green all the way down to get Tane's eye in.  Rough as, but everybody enjoyed it.  I followed for a start, and Tane crashed in about the third corner, a high-side that he leaped off and ran with, then a little lower down I got past him and then O.  Then I stopped and turned on the MMR.  Caught them again and overtook and sped on ahead.  On Active Rest I zoomed ahead again, getting quite a lead, then stopped and waited til I could see them coming and got going again.  All good.  Both boys enjoyed it and were game for more. 

Round 2, hit Possum Lord and DOHC. Tane REALLY liked these ones.  We all had good blasts down, I think Tane offed a couple times but he was fine.  Back to the car for a bit of lunch after this run.

Then round 3, we headed down Yeah Gnar.  Pretty dusty, and I caught some rookies (who probably shouldn't really have been in here, I mean, they were really struggling).  I got past them and then the boys did too.  Then some faster guys got past the boys, and I let them by, but a little lower down they let me by again cos I was definitely riding it quicker than them.  The boys walked the worst steep bit, but rode everything else.  Across the midpoint and into DOHC again. This was another good run and faster than the last.  I'd been texting with Paul a bit earlier, and he was in the vicinity so came in and we caught up with him at the base, juices for the boys and an iced coffee for me. We were talking about another run, but after a quick blat on the pump track (while I hung with Paul) the boys decided they were knackered enough that we didn't need to do a final fourth run.

I forgot to turn the MMR off til most of the way down the access road...

Family Adventure Parking

Borrowed a spanky SC Bullitt from Josh for Tra'y and we loaded up and trekked off to the Park.  First time up the lifts for all of us, bought myself a 10 ride pass and the family all had the 3 ride samplers we'd got for Xmas.  So, off up the lift, (the top of which I turned on the MMR).  Off down Duncan's Donuts to start with, O and me soon putting some distance between T and H.  Regrouped and I rode with H and T jetted on ahead with O.  Nice cruisy descent, a little on the slow side, and H was really getting bumped around.  It looked like his forks weren't doing anything ( - they weren't, I discovered a little lower down).  Bit of whinging ensued, from the start of Active Rest and for the rest of the way down.  O and me jetted off ahead again and got regrouped a couple times eventually getting to the bottom tho and waiting and waiting for them.  H was not happy, and I really was wondering if we'd get him up again.  But, sorted out his fork a bit, and got his brake lever closer to the bar, and put a bandaid on the blister forming on his hand, and off up the lift we went again.  Caught up with Mark down here too.

This time, O and me hooked up with Mark at the top and we headed into Yeah Yeah Gnar.  Nice, the old top bit of T2, so was good.  O did amazingly well, handing the 'tech' really well.  We blazed on down this, him only walking one steep section just below the volcanic rock wall (on Alice's), and cleaning out the rest nicely.  Then we headed into Double Overhead Cam, and it was a hoot.  Both of us really enjoying it and blazing down, overtaking a slower couple on hardtails, and I'd blast ahead for a bit, then stop and wait for him, the blast ahead again.  Was good.  At the bottom again we watched and waited for H and T, and chatted to Mark again.  H and T turned up, we jollied H along again and he was much happier after that descent and another bandaid and a juice and he perked up well.  Whilst waiting down here I managed to witness a guy crash pretty bad on the last Airtearoa jump, landing on his side and smacking down just out of view.  He didn't get up again.  We watched while the medics all arrived and actually while I was getting bandaid for H there was a guy in the First Aid bay with a broken collarbone too...  2 crashes within 10 minutes of each other. 

Off up the lift again, and this time O and me did Lord of the Possums and regrouped with H and T at the mid point.  Stupidly I sent T off with O down DOHC...  oh dear, what a mistake.  H and me had a nice time down Active Rest and spotted T and O below and T was cursing me.  Then much much lower down I saw O finishing off DOHC and we stopped right where they nearly touch and waited for T.  Eventually I saw her walking down with the bike.  As soon as she saw me she yelled she was leaving it there, and did and walked off.  I had to send H on his way and clamber my way through gorse and up to get her bike, ride it down to mine, then ride mine and wheel hers down the rest of the Green trail.  Not a happy girl...  I'd totally misjudged her ability, and just thought no worries, it's easy (for me and O, obvs)...

End of day, with unhappiness in the car.  Made up now, but she'll never trust my trail judgement again.  "yeah, it's easy", when it's not.

three rounds...