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.

Saturday Micro-tour to Sculptures - *Happy 1100 Posts!*

Was the day for the Fam to all go to Sculpture on the Peninsula at Loudon Farm, Teddington - Anth had 10 pieces in it.  I decided to ride the Troll there.

Left home 9.05 and perused my usual route into town, across the front of the Gardens and straight down Antigua, Strickland, Colombo to hit Dyers Pass Rd.  Low on the Troll is just right for this hill, not usually needing to stand up, unless to occasional popping into 2nd or 3rd to stand up and give the bum a rest.

At 1 hour in I was at the Sign of the Kiwi, hung a right and along the Summit Rd, climbing, then nice rolling coasting pedalling high gear down to the old top of Kennedys, before the surprisingly big climb up past the top of actual Kennedys and beyond before the fast drop down to the Bellbird.  Climbing again, to the photo point, and on around, nicely cruising, but keeping a good pace most of the time.  Met a lot of roadies along here, all looking surprised at my bike choice, and very few cars by this point.

Finally, just before the descent into the Bastard, I stopped and wound in my brakes a little, and the hit the descent - and what a descent.  Highest speed was up the top here, just over 63 kph, bombing - modulating the braking to occasional jabs just to keep the disks cool and the speed reasonable, opening it up a few times when the road allowed.  Quite a spectacular descent.  You feel like you've been rolling down for ages, and you're still really high up.

Eventually got to Gebbies and this is where more speed kicked in, over 60 kph for a time, with a couple of massive blasts down here, before it levelled off all too soon and the head wind kicked in (it'd just been a bit of a tail and blustery along the tops).  And then the brakes were making annoying rubbing noises, but I persevered to Teddington and hung a right and around to Loudon Farm.

Exactly 2 hours, door to gate... 34kms with 802m climbed...  a hot blitz.

Sunday Father's Day micro-Tour.

On the Troll, headed for Bottle Lake, through Banks Ave, backstreets, Horseshoe Lake Rd, Lake Terrace, Burwood, sneaking along the edge of the forest and in the side onto the singletrack, up past the gazebo and down (nearly losing my bag - fastening it better) then through ponds, out to the beach trail, and headed north as far as I could go overtaking a couple of girls and their dog.

Then it was on the road from Spencer Park thru what was once Brooklands, left and along to Stuart's Gully hillbilly camp, feels like deliverance riding through their street, and finally found my way onto the 360 trail.  This became a nice little singletrack along the Waimak edge, twisting and turning, then eventually under the two bridges.  Headed along Coutts Island but realised I'd gone a little far, so backtracked (through a Fulton Hogan gravel yard) to Dickies Rd, riding down this and checking out the new motorway.  Past the Peg Pub, and found my way through to the Otakaikino Track, back under the new motorway, and following this thru to and through The Groynes, in behind Clearwater, then further upstream past previous year's and last week's plantings, Stopped for a snack at Omaka and some texts on the 40km mark.

Got going again, and headed through past the lakes and over the hillock onto Sawyer's Arms Rd, (with a brief detour down Veitches Rd and Cavendish) to one block of the Railtrail, then onto the new cycleway down Sawyers Arms, past Northlands, down Grassmere, Rutland, and Trafalgar St to Edgeware Rd.  Along this and finally home via the Supermarket for a well earned Berkenhead Ninkasi.  Rather tired I was.

55 km loop, 170 m 'climbed'...

Friday afternoon 'Tour'

Youngest deSpa's 21st birthday party being held out at Little River Campground in the Okuti Valley, and my family headed out earlier in the day, so I figured I'd bike it.  Headed from work at 3.30pm, straight down Lincoln Rd, brief stop at the Halswell Supermarket for a couple of beers and some Powerade, and then headed out round the Old Tai Tapu Rd.  Wind nicely low around here, nice countryside views of all the fancy houses along there.  Golf Links Rd to the main Highway briefly into Tai Tapu, then towards Lincoln for a km or so.  Turned left into Davis, then River Rd meandering around to the start of the Rail Trail.  The head-wind started here and never let up, getting stronger and stronger as I approached Birdlings Flat - reflected in my ever lowering average speed.  Met two touring cyclists racing towards me along here, then further along I caught up to a guy with a pack on his back (and totally crossed gears), headphones on so he couldn't hear me til I went past.  Park Rd past Motukarara then onto the original bit of the Rail Trail.  Onwards for multiple kilometers, into the fricking wind, through Kaituna and then around past Birdlings and towards Forsythe, the wind turning around into my face again.  Ugh.  Getting pretty sore by this stage.  Halfway along Lake Forsythe spotted a few ripe blackberries, so I stopped and gorged myself on them, giving me the energy to continue.  On round past  the pub, then the final stretch to the road where I hung a right and headed up the Okuti Valley.  Final hill climbs really tapping out my sapped legs.  Rolling in 3 hours after I'd left work...  Beer, water, dinner and a good evening had...

58kms, bugger all altitudes. 

Monday night the long way home from work

Left work, on the Troll, and headed Selwyn St towards the hills, hung a right at the end, Aylmer and then down Young to the river, right again, and crossed the bridge off the end of Studholme and straight across through Ernie whatsit's Reserve, then Whitstead to the Shell Z station on Colombo.  Then down Malcolm Ave to the river, taking the walking track along to whatever the fuck that street's called, over the bridge onto Waimea Tce, then crossed the bridge at the end of Bowenvale, and around to FuckerWhaka Tce.  Up this, for the first time ever, not really knowing where I was going, but up it I went.  Steep it was too, hard work even in the lowest gear on the 8 spd.  Up to the end, then up a driveway a bit and onto the FuckerWhaka Tce Walkway, which takes you up to a driveway off Vista Pl.  Up this, steep grunt, and then up Huntsbury Ave all the way to the top, surprisingly cleaning even the last section in 1st.  Then it was grovelling up the gravel, bike handing it fine, no slippage even with the super slick worn rear tire, and on up the whole way.  Not a bad wee climb on this bike.

Onto the Summit Rd, and rolling down around Mt Vernon, a bunch of blue tents set up at the top of Farm Track. Cruising nicely, slowly gaining more and more speed til ripping through the top of Rapaki.  Stayed on the road, all the way round and up and ever upwards.  Top of Castlerock, again with the rolling, rolling, ever increasing speed til really blazing through the top of Bridle Path and then moseying around under the Gondola and into the wind and up the hill around through the cutting to the highest point.  Stopped a bit before Broadleaf, out of the wind, and changed into a long sleeve merino.  Wasn't really sure where I was gonna go down the hill, so I got rolling, wondering whether Mt Pleasant, Moncks and Glenstrae; or continue on down to Richmond; or what?  Passed Mt Pleasant Rd and rolled on down the Summit Rd, easterly cold, almost giving me an ice-cream headache.  Pulled off the road at the big pine trees - over the stile, and down the old mtnbike track towards Clifton Hill.  Fun on the singletrack, over the next stile beside the pine tree (magpies lurking but not bombing), then down a bit more singletrack, bald tires gripping fine, and around to the right on the Frog Pond Track, couple of quite hot runners here, then left and onwards down the singletrack to the top of Clifton Hill.  over the fence, and down around Panorama Drive and then left into Clifton itself.  Onto the Sumner Rd and along the containers, through Redcliffs, and onto the causeway, what a blast.  Top gear, totally relaxedly just cruising cruising cruising.  Around under St Andrews and then over the Ferrymead Bridge, and hung a left into the new/old track.  Flew down the wee hill and YIKES!!!  big crack holes on the right, no, on the left, no, on the right, aarrrggh.  Managed to scrub off speed while surprisingly avoiding the first few, then ended up managing to stop without crashing in the 3rd or 4th hole.  Phew!  Round the back on the tow path, then ducked out at an opportunity and across the road into the Mega carpark, around the back of Mega and into Charlesworth Reserve.  Rode through here and up onto the rise in the middle, where I stopped to check out the 360 pathway website to see if it went around the front of the oxidation ponds...  alas not.  Also discovered here that fucking MapMyRide, which I'd started at work, hadn't been talking to my GPS and had recorded NIX of my ride...  bugger it.

So, thought I might as well head for home, albeit slightly exploratively.  Linwood Ave, then hung a right on Kidbrooke, around Bayswater Crescent, right on St Johns, left on Maces, and into the Old Bromley School Reserve, across Cyprus Garden Reserve.  Right on Keighleys Rd,  and along, then up into Linwood Cemetery.  I'd never been in here before.  The view from the top is awesome.  Nice rolling downhill through the cemetery and then across Bromley Park (avoiding the glass) and across Buckley's Rd into Sewell St then homeward bound down Woodham Rd.  But, first, hung a right into Woodham Park and through to Lionel St, then tailwind down Retreat Rd, Swanns Rd Bridge, across the redzone to Vogel St, nearly home, but thought I'd get Chinese.  Bugger, they were closed, so, around the streets and home.  8pm ish.  nearly 3 hours riding...  Quite a ride.  Worked out on a mapping programme that it was about 35-40kms...