Sunday afternoon Farside Jetting

Short ride for me today after a big night prior.  Jet and me headed across to Worsley's Rd and parked just on the bottom corner.  Didn't bring tools or bag cos figured I was only ever gonna be 5 minutes from the car.  Headed up and rode the trail next to the road that used to be overgrown but is now clear.  Jet had a lovely time running ahead and pissing on everything.  First lap I went down Farside, the middle trail.  Some muppet had left a bunch of manuka branches just down from the entrance, but the rest was good.  Really enjoyed this trail, lots of swoopy ups and downs and good fun.

Back into the climb, going a little better this time, climbing in 2nd gear all the way.  This lap I headed down 1 Trick Lucy (2nd left) and it was good, a couple of interesting and tight features to start, then twisty turny in the trees.

Up again, climbing well, and into Utopia this time.  Sweet run down here.  A couple of the wee ups a little tighter than Farside.

Climbing again, and this time into Valhalla, 1st on the left.  Takes you quite low into the valley with some cool droppy bits, before climbing back out to the exit.

Once more, up again, and this time it into Fluffy Sheep.  Fastest of the trails, and most direct route down too.  A couple of the corners were a bit weird and a nice jump at the end.

Finally, one last climb, and back into Farside, which today I think was my favourite...  It's got everything in it.  It swoops up and down, isn't overgrown or too tight, but keeps it really interesting.  Final blast out the bottom, through the fence and back down to the car - total riding time 47minutes.

Grand total of 6kms, less than 1 km per lap, and only a bit over 300m climbed...  negligible but needed.

Tuesday Lapping up the laps

An hour or so to use tonight, before a PFMTBC trip organising meeting at Pete's, so Nelson picked me up from work and we twisted and turned through heavy traffic to Worsley's Rd.  Parked up just round the first corner, at the bottom of the Farside tracks.  First lap, up the old skool dirt track close to the road, puffing like crazy, gasping in fact.  Then took Valhalla, first time down here, not having any idea where it was taking us or how.  Steep few off camber corners, dropping quite a bit of altitude, close to the old original zig zag track that used to be in here, then it peeled across the slope, dropping now and then, and climbing a little towards the end.  Lots of interesting features, but quite low speed on account of the off camberness.

Back onto the road and up for lap 2.  This time, the next track on the left, 1 Trick Lucy.  I'd been down the top of this once before, but peeled back across to Farside that time.  This time, all the way.  Somehow it squeezes in between Valhalla and Farside and finds it's way down in a similar nature to Valhalla.  A few very cool wee features on it, lots of fun.  Ends up joining Farside towards the end.

Back onto the road and up for lap 3.  This time, skipping over Farside, and taking Utopia.  Woot.  Had done this once before with jet back in November, so it felt vaguely familiar.  It blends into lower end of Fluffy Sheep which we got onto the next lap.

Back up the road for Lap 4.  Into Fluffy Sheep this time, the first time either of us had been down this (tho I'd been up back in Nov.)  Sweet wee blast down here, quite flowy and swoopy.  A couple of really small 'jump' features, and smooth.

Lap 5, into the original Farside.  Bloody brake ruts in the first steep section, but the rest of it was alright.  Usual woopdewoops and squirrelly drops.

Lap 6, gave Valhalla another go, with me in the lead this time.  Good spin down here again.  Gonna take a while to get used to those off camber corners tho.

Lap 7, final lap.  This time 1 Trick Lucy again.  Haha, this time, Nelson missed the entrance, so I led the way down with him well behind me.  Had a good run down and finished it in no time.

Each lap was about 5 minutes or less up, and 5 minutes or less down.  Seven round trips done in 1 hour.  Total altitude of the trail network is around 60 metres, so we did a bit over 400 m in total.  Not bad for an hour's up and down. (updated with more accurate information from the boys doing it a week later and MapMyRiding it, measuring the altitude more accurately(ish) than my Topomapping guestimation).

Grabbed Noodle Canteen and a couple of beverages on the way to Pete's and made it there only minutes late.  Wellington seems to be the go for the Annual Trippage this year...