Saturday On the Top and CAP

Pretty good ride tho I'm knackered now.  Bad night's sleep - brain still processing from the smack on Thursday.

Up from home on the Jeht and straight into heading across the Traverse towards Nelson and Kirsty who were riding up Rapaki.  I had a good run across the top here, stopping for quite a few in the right places and not budging when it was my turn.  Parked up, tired, at top of Huntsbury and sat for a bit and as they weren't appearing I headed up onto Vernon and rode across the first flatter section, parking up just above with a view to the road below.  Not long after they appeared and Nelson recognised me above and waved.  I rode back and met them.  Kirsty took the road from here and I followed Nelson around.  We had a pretty good run, not bad pace, tho stopped for a breather above that weird solar-weather-station-electric-fence-looking thing, then got moseying again down around to the top, straight into the Thomson Twins and rolled through to meet K at the Kiwi.  

Up summit road from here, I lagged along here but they were kind enough to wait up a couple times.  Up Worsleys Rd and into the Body Bag - been a while.  There was a moment half way down I thought I was gonna come a cropper, a nasty slump hole eating the rut I was running.  Managed to pop onto the grass to the side and no harm done, but that could catch the unaware easily.  Nelson was spooked by it too.  

Through the gate and steeeep climb up to the chairlift top.  Kirsty went green and we went Bako, rough and tumble down, it's pretty mumpty, and so long.  Got nice and smooth when we eventually hit Duncan's, then we headed into Loose Connections and waited at the start of Omnishambles and, not long after, Kirsty arrived.  She took SnakeObs to Active Rest, and Nelson and me dived into Omni for a start then peeled into the Down Low soon after, weaving our way down this.  Again, quite bumpty and dusty.  I like the reminiscent feeling I get down in the trees near the bottom where it's recognisably part of the old DOHC end.    

We had coffees and I had a not-very-good cookie, then we parted ways.  They rode back to their car at Rapaki and I caught the lift, Summit Connector, lower Nun, up Summit to Vic and down my usual ways.  Brain wasn't functioning properly and I had lost my flow on the way home.  I was stuffed.

Capacious 22.5kms with 560 m climbed under my own steam, lift accounting for the 960 m total

Sunday Stoogin' CAP

Shortish doddle after yesterday's meat-engined epic distance.  

T was off for a walk with Megan in CAP, so I fixed the snakebite on the Stooge and took it up into Vic, over 19th, then dropped into the CAP entrance myself.   Ate a couple of blackberries on the way down the entrance track, then sidled into Locomotion for a nice wee blitz across to Loess Rider.  Fun, fast blast down here - it really is quite long, then down into the carpark.  Rolled along and saw our Leaf still parked there, so rang T, and her and Meg were up at the cafe, so I popped up to say hi.  They were largely done so I headed off to the uplift.  Very quiet still, due to so early, so solo seating for me!  Boffed off down the Summit Connector, keeping the groms behind me behind me, and catching the ones in front of me slowly.  Missed the first entrance to Nun, so I stopped and went back to drop in.  Rocky snot down through here biff baff boff, lots of work, but fun, and then blasting all the way down to the bottom, staying down to hit the Old Dyers/Choir Boy.  Disappointingly the new trail, Zero Ultra, was closed, so I continued down, overtaking a family (that turned out to be Nick S.), finally deciding on Gung-ho after tackling a few blackberries just before the entrance.  

Dropped in and railed the berms, negotiated the tech with aplomb, and blasted on down and through, biffity boffity baff.  Good run.  

The lift was a lot busier this time and so I had to share with a dad and son.  Mild chatting to them, then off down Connector again, Nun again, and out to Kiwi, up road, taking in both lower and upper Thomsons, which was more enjoyable than I usually recall, then zipped down around through the trees, popping the new jump and cleaning the usual, then down into the rocks, (possibly dislodging or newly pinching, my earlier fix - or there's just a very slow leak), through the gums, nice fun, then all the way through (tree that was across CAP track long gone (I'd noticed that when dropping in the bypass earlier)), out to 19th, below road, then rolling to dogparkcarpark and dropping in here.  Nice rail (tho was starting to suspect tire going down) and took my new line, out and down to H'Ell, clamber, road, home.

Moderate 16 kms with a single kilometre of vertical (obviously 0.8 of which was in a chair).

Saturday Afternoon Adventure Stooge Park

Tight little ride today. Up to Skidder on the Speedbomb, dropping down into CAP. Across Locomotion into Loess, newly refurbished. Fun times, caught up to a couple dudes, paused for a bit to let them get ahead, then reeled them back in and they stopped to let me by. 

Uplift, into have a look down Bako for my first time.  Bit rough and a bit too open until slightly more interesting stuff in a few young trees towards the bottom before linking onto Duncan's Donuts.  Acknowledged various bits of country and ghosts of trails past (Fight Club and Alice's Restaurant RIP), then across the junction spot, lots of riders about, into Loose Connections, some groms catching me at the end, I held back and tucked in behind them down the Active Rest section to the start of Omni.  In this for a wee bit then I took the left into Down Low.  This was much fun, weaving and diving picking nice lines, getting a little airtime with smooth landings, rigid bike no hindrance.. Remembered ghosts of DOHC in here too, especially the finish. 

Another uplift, into Summit Connector surprisingly quick, keeping up with some and not getting caught by others.  Down the 'exit' trail towards the road then into the lower Nun. Rough as guts but still funtimes. Then up the road and down all my local favs, jumpies, rabbit, rocks -

gums to 19th, below road, onto road for coast into Dog Park Carpark, no car in the trail entrance so hussing in and weaving around the grooves.  Mucky mucky lower down and I've gotta get in and do some sort of drainage through the oaks...  Walked up looking for source of water but must be underground, well under trees.  Back on the bike and through all the way out to H'Ell, clamber, home.

A bit over 16 kms and 990 m elevated, with of course the 2 lift rides accounting for around 800 of that.  

Sunday Celebrating Andy's Birthday, with me on the Stooge

Left home on the Stooge at 7.30am, pre-sunrise, up into a frosty Vic to the Skidder and headed down Shazza's, flowing into Brent's, nicely nicely. Out of the trees, looking up the hill to see if I could see Tra'y who'd left 40 minutes before me.  No sign, so off thru the Bridges and down valley, then clambered up into Hidden bonus onto Old Skool for a grease infused hoon of fun.

Freezing cold, feet blocks of ice and colder still down Bowenvale Ave, around Centaurus to Rapaki 10 minutes early, trying to thaw my toes.  Brrrr!

Wazza, Andy and Jenna, Nelson, and finally Wayne, all turned up and off up we went. Jenna hooked up with her friend Avril who runs and we saw them again up top of Huntsbury.  Us boys went up the zig zag climb, Wayno suffering the remnants of a lung lurgy.  Boy the Elevator climbs high.  Down to the main track and on up the rest to the top.  Onto climbing around Vernon, soaking up the sun while chatting with Jenna and Avril, then off around the Traverse, good pace, especially by Nelson and the Electric Wazza.  Regrouped just before the Vic trees, and into the Thompson's and holding up just after the Kiwi, letting hoards of chain-free kids who were enduro-ing Pork'n'Puha. We followed them into Choir Boy and found them all clustered on the short climbs.  Past Pork and Puha the way was clear again and we headed down Gung Ho.  This wasn't familiar to me because it'd been years since I'd ridden it, and I think the only time(s?) I'd done it I'd peeled onto Askins part way down...  Anyway, the  Stooge was awesome, surprisingly so, keeping speed and handling all the rough with finesse.  Final valley bottom we were in amongst the chain-free groms and not holding them up. 

Coffee and brownie at the CAP then I bought myself a 10-ride pass and headed up the lift to finish with the Slummit Connector, onto the road, then up to and down through Vic. My usual go-to in the gums has more than a bunch of trees across it so I had to take the steep line to the left, which was actually pretty fun.  (Gonna be a fair bit of cutting in my usual... I could see at least 3 sizeable logs in the way, possibly more further down.  May well be easier just to haul my chainsaw up there)  Out to Skidder and down the road into DogParkCarPark which was wet and soggy in the oaks, but fun blast to the bottom and clamber to road to home.

A hard wrought 30kms, with an actual 717 m climbed (1117 m total (of which 400 were lifted))

Andy CAPped

Second ride for the day, down in the car with H, parked up in the CAP carpark. Popped up into the office to check our passes.  He surprisingly still had 8 on his card, not expired, whereas mine had 5 left but expired, but the nice young woman on the desk gave me until the end of June to use them up - sweet as! 

Hit up the lift, seeing for the first time close-up the carnage from the fire, and we dropped into Summit Connector, then onto the road and into Choir Boy for a good bomb.  A few people overtook H, so I stopped to let them by too.  Down past 3rd Base, Askins closed, Gungho, and then stopped at Rere Pia, unknown and new to both of us.  In we dropped and it was fun.  Not too tech, quite fast, and quite readable.  Bombed it out behind the Cafe. 

Onto the lift again, turning on MMR half way up, and we dropped in fo rthe same again, doing better with a little knowledge of it.  Not bad. 

2 uplifts, 2 descents...  probably 8km each, so maybe 16kms and 800 uplifted.  So now I have 3 left and H has 6 (before Sept)

Sunday, Uplifted Park and Kennedy's Victorious

With Higgs again, in training for the Paparoa in a month's time.  Up from home, through towards skidder and hung the right down the swoop-de-swoop, down road, across and into the 'new' entrance to the Park.  Plop blop down there and H was keen on Askins again, so in we bombed.  Pulled over a couple of times to either have a breather or let some grom past, then out down the bottom.  Onto the lift and whooshed to the top.  Down Summit Connector, and we pulled out onto the Summit Rd, riding up around and over to the top of Kennedy's.  

Fast bumpy run down this, H was glad we hadn't climbed it, which was my original plan.  Down through the croc zone, staying on the C2 side, we dived into Mish Mash, which had a few surprises - fun for me, less so for him.  Out the quarry park and onto the road, climbing, descending, climbing and descending the small humps around.  

Along the straight of Cashmere Rd H decided he didnt want to race into the park to beat the 4 oclock closing so he bailed with my bus card for the bus and I hauled arse up through into the Park again (took 10 minutes) and uplifted to the top again.  Summit Connector, down onto the lower Nun, bombing through this, a bit drier than it was last week, then at Kiwi climbed up the road and into top of Vic.  Nice jumpies then down rabbit into rockgarden, gums, over 19th, down road, into 235, fucky as muck in the usual spots, and then climbed back up to bottom of Dog Park and bombed down behind the houses, home.

Blustery 28.9 kms with 1223 m ascended. (two uplifts = ~800m, meaning just over 420 climbed myself).

Sunday CAP in hand

Higgs and me rode up from home and dropped into the 'new' park entrance. Straight away I realised it was gonna be a bit greasy. Headed down Askins, my first time down here - unsure whether the lower section was Gung Ho or not, perhaps not?  Stopped into the base and topped up his card and we took the lift up into the clouds. Slick as hell down Connector and Nun - dodge. Then Captain Torpedo into Drainpipe which was super greasy. Totally nuts. Back down to the lift and it was shut!  Damn!  That was our lift home.  I tried Tra'y, but no answer, then had the bright idea of the bus!  So, we rode down the side to Shalamar and around towards PMH and the bus was just pulling out, so I waved him down and thankfully he stopped and so we rode in style up to Takahe and rode on home...

A cheatly 15 kms, 730 m climbed (of which ~200m was bus and 400 was lift...)

AN(ZAC)dy CAP

Took H and Paul into the park today.  We rode up past the ranger station and dropped in the new entrance.  Sweet wee trail across here, then onto the new sidle trail, Locomotion, across to Loess.  Paul's first time in a 'park' environment.  He was cautious, but enjoyed it.  Hugo seemed to be on my tail the whole time, or never far off at least.  Loess was a bit sloppy in a few spots, but otherwise fun.

Went in, got passes for us all (old ones were heritage pieces), and hit the lift.  Busy.  Down around the summit connector, and Nun down, messy it was.  Into Capt Torpedo, good blast.  Lots of stops to make sure Paul was doing okay, Hugo never far behind.  They both enjoyed the long flowy blast of a roll down the valley-bottom.  Into the lift again, longer queue than last lift.  Again, Summit Connector, then road, and dropped down into the Captain again.  Hugo crashed bad on the first little lip, so he decided to go home, so Paul and me continued on bombing down again - same again.  Up the lift once again (seeing Josh my mechanic in the queue and at the top), and into SC, road, past Kiwi, up road to top of Vic and in.  Down around the jumpies, I went over the seesaw, down through the rocks - which nearly caught me out, through the gums, my usual way - Paul mastering the steep corner, out through skidder, down to road, rolling coaster to 235, good work done in here, flowy, and not too wet except around the oaks, and then up and down home...

Good times. 22 kms, over 1400 ascended (of which 1200 was lift assisted).

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 One Mucky Lap o' th'Adventure Park.

Took Hunter and O to the Park.  Hunter had a brand spanking new Trance.  It'd been raining overnight so there was only one route open, Summit Connector, Choirboy and Loess (and Shred).  Trails were mucking fucky, and greasy not-easy, so Hunter was a bit out of his element.  I followed him and it was amazing watching teenage 'confidence' being outweighed by lack of innate ability.  He surprised me a few times down the Nun, but wasn't going nearly as quick as O was, bombing off ahead of us.  At the Kiwi, we continued on down.  Hunter was surprisingly quick through the first few bits, but around the big corner into the woopdedoos (before the wee valley and climb up to Old Dyers Pass Rd form) he lost his front wheel to the left, the back wheel spun round and he went down hard.  Scraping a big gark in the track a good 4 metres long.  Scuffed his knees really good, and hands (no gloves) were numb with pain (and scuffed too).  Blood appearing through mud on the knees.  Took him a while to regroup.  I checked over his bike, and eventually we got going.  Him being a lot more cautious from there on down.  Rocks were pingy and slick the rest of the way, til the sidling clay and climb.  I made sure O rode with him for that stretch, and they chatted.

Then it was into the descent to Loess.  Reasoned against Captain Cooker, on account of grease.  Descent to loess was sketchy.  Loess itself was the worst I've ever seen.  Quite dodgy.  Slick as.  I let him go ahead (O disappeared immediately, and occasionally I'd spot his fluoro orange jacket below us).  Hunter took it very easy.  I'd wait, bomb, jump, haul up, wait, bomb, jump, haul up...  Good run in the end, but we pulled the plug and headed home to hose off bikes and bodies.

Around about 6 kms riding.  Almost all downhill.  Didn't map it, but registered...

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...

Wednesday Night Uplifts and Downdrafts, 1080

Good spin tonight. Left Nelson's place and headed around to the Park. He'd bought a Winter pass, and so had 7 (of 10) lifts left on a card, which they kindly transferred to me and we headed up.

First round, into Yeah Yeah Gnah, weird in the dark, and pretty rough in spots, but fun.  Nelson put on speed but I didn't trust tires or myself and kept mine on the lowdown.  At the mid point a couple of guys he knew pulled up on DH rigs.  We led them into Handle, and half way down my battery strap snapped dropping it into the front wheel.  "WTF is that!?"  Pulled up; Nelson taped it onto my stem and off we went again.  Good blast the rest of the way and we made it to the lift just in time to be the last uplifts at 7.  Johnny accompanying us for the up.

At the top we went our separate ways from Johnny, him down the park, and us down Slummit Connector, new bits to play on (big doubles), and then all the way out to the road.  Puffy up this to top of Nun. Fun Down, quite greasy in spots, so I's watching out for myself all the way down; pumped and tired as at the bottom.

Across Dyers Pass and up the Scummit Rd into the top of Vic.  Took off for the Traverse, and the first rocks biffed me all over the place, nearly dropping me.  Continued on and failed to chase down Nelson who powered off ahead, leaving me to struggle up the ups and ease into the downs.  Regroup at the midpoint, then again, he slowly left me behind as we cruised round the rest. 

Brief discussion whether Lavaflow as the go, but decided against it, and headed for the Huntsbury Downhill track, apparently called Fourpause (in Trailforks).  Nice bomb down here, though I wasn't overly trusting of the greasy dirt, then I bailed on the final jump.  New section through the tussocks beside the landingstrip, and then all the good lines from there down to Old Skool.  Took off into this, and around the first face I rolled up and find Nelson off the track grasping his knee.  He'd clipped a pedal on a rock that'd thrown his knee into the stem and him and bike off the track.  Yowch.  I was tired, so a bit slow on down, wary of all the little rivulets of stream across sections of the trail.  Final blast down, all good and out, then back to his down around the river.

A worthy 29.03 kms, with a grand total of 1133 m climbed...  (obviously, 800 m of that was on the lift)

Just noted, this is auspicious post number 1080.

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...

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 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).

Saturday Well Cooked Park Play

Met at Nelson's and we headed round to and up Merlewood Ave (the wrong way), across to Dyers, and on up.  We intended to drop into the Sneaky 35 but discovered it's been stopped, finding a "Park privileges revoked" sign, so we bailed around to Shredzilla and bombed down that, me nearly losing it on the rocky section (cos Nelson was right in front of me and I couldn't see for the dust).  Rest of the way down was sweet, bombing into the bottom as usual.

Up to the lift for uplift 1, and headed into Swinger's Party.  Lots of fun, with me in the lead, cleaning it all up and enjoying it profusely.  Then into Jandal, lovely floaty air all the way down.

Uplift number 2 and we headed across Summit into lower Gnarly dropping the rocks and the rest of Nun into ChoirOldDyers, with the intention of doing 3rd Base.  For some reason it was closed, even tho we'd seen people coming out of it earlier on.  Damnit.  So, we decided on a Vic Park blat. Across the road and up the old way in to the 19th Memorial, then skidder, and into Spazza's, dropping down Sneaky Ridge - taking a couple of lines I'd not taken before.  Dropped into Nu Bridges, then clambered up Hidden Valley, just about dying on the last reaches of climb, and out Old Skool for the finish.  I was getting so exhausted by the bottom sections, Nelson was miles ahead.

25kms, 1200 climbed, of which 780 was assisted

Friday Solo Sneaky Park Gov Vic Skool

Parked on Ashgrove Tce and rode around and up the trails behind Princess Margaret, up onto Lady Polson Lane and on up Hack and Dye.  Above the Takahe I stayed on the road and at the 35 km sign, just out of the houses, headed down a trail someone (here at work) told me about.  Upon entering I found a gazillion trails to try from, so mostly kept right, with the occasional crossing of other trails, made my way down the steeps.  Some excessively steep stuff in here, and eventually across a log in the bottom and a short clamber to the lower reaches of Loess Rider.  Into the park and up the lift, chatting with Josh and riding with a couple of his mates (who are trail volunteer crew for the park (and who told me of lots of plans)).

Off the lift, and Slummit Connector into Nun, then across the road and dropped into the Gov's Bay Trail.  Dropping down this, it's running pretty smooth and then decided why the hell not all the way down, and zigged and zagged to the road corner driveway and dropped into the lower reaches, only my second time ever down this, first in daylight.  Good wee trail down tho not as fun as it possibly should be, considering the climb it is back out.  Which is what I did next.  Ugh.  Long bits of walking cos it was just too steep and hot.
On the way back up, looking back down.  Nice bushy shade to rest in.

Up and up and up, riding as much as I could.  Finally, out the top, across the road into the lowest end of Nun and then up the road and into Vic Park, dropping down across the rabbit paddock and into the rocks and gums, then Spazza's into Sneaky Ridge and bridges, off new bridges into old and down to hospital corner.  Then up the hidden link into Old Skool.  Finally following the roads back around to the car.  Good spin.

20.96 kms ridden (and lifted), and 990 m climbed, of which 400 odd was lift...

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

Sunday 2x CAP laps + Zipline

Had swapped out the new Spoon for the black one that was on the Fatbike, and put the black on the Rocky. 

Booked for the 1pm Zipline, so O and me dropped H at friends and we parked at the Park about 11.  Up the lift and we headed down the Summit Connector, down to the road.  Spoon seat on Rocky waaaay more comfy, thankyou.  Hung a right on the Summit Rd, and headed up the road to top of Flying Nun.  Into this, O's first time from the top, and we cruised down all the way.  He liked it, but some of the rocks were a bit dry-dust-slippery.  At the Kiwi, we headed up the Summit Rd and into the top of Vic Park.  Taking the trails across and back in the trees, then down through the rabbit paddock and rock garden into the gummies, cruising my favourite in here down, then all the way through to the 19th Memorial.  From here, down the shady forest trail to Dyers Pass Rd, crossing carefully to Loess Rider.  A very enjoyable roll down here, though, on second thoughts, I should have tried Shredzilla..

Close to 12pm at the bottom and I was meeting Dad and my bro at 12.30 for the zipline, so figured we'd have time for one more fast lap.  Uplift again, to 12.15 at the top, we bombed down Possum (noticing that Yeah Yeah Gnar had just reopened - wish I'd taken it). Flat tack, then across into Handle the Jandal, which has a bit more to it now that wasn't there the first time we'd done it.  Then down the valley and dead on 12.30 to meet for the zip.

Locked my bike to one of the stands and O went off and did some laps while my bro and Dad did the zipline.  On our lift up as we were passing over the Jandal there was O, he stopped and said hi.  Zipline tour was cool.  The rides are super fun, but in the nearly 2.5 hours of the tour, you're really actually only flying for about 3 or so minutes...  But, the high one is super cool view, and quite fast, and the long one is awesome fast.

(O completed 3 more laps, once more Possum and Jandal (where he saw us from), second one tried out Duncan's but found it boring as so he took DOHC to compensate, then his 3rd, Connector, Nun, Choirb, Loess again.  Nice one son!  How responsible and independent for a 13 year old.

17 kms of riding (and one uplift), and 588 m of altitude (minus one uplift (420m?)...