Friday quick Sharlands

Swimming in the Maitai again wth the family I scarpered back to base, grabbed the bike and then drove back up past them and parked up at the bottom of Sharlands.  Rode in, in the heat, about 3pm, up the road for a while, then pulled off down onto the creekside tracks, moseying up and finding the bottom of What The DOCtor Ordered, hung a left and followed the Sharlands Creek Track up cos it looked okay.  Wasn't long and it got steep, so rode til I had to push a bit, ride and push for a bit, singletrack which seemed to become more and more overgrown.  Then I passed the exit of Supplejack, then a couple more ups and downs and the exit of Matai.  Continued on up for a bit to a bit of a juncture.  Hmmmm, figured I wanted to look at one or t'other of those previous two so kept left and ended up pushing a lot, and riding a little, up some unknown to me trail, all in native forest, very nice, thinking all the way up, 'this'd be nice.  this'd be tricky...' until I eventually got to an intersection of Matai and the one I was climbing, Rimu.  Carried on climbing til I reached a fire-road and from here the view looking across towards Fringed Hill was telling me I was probably pretty near 400m up (actually only about 300 and something - ed).  Headed back down Matai, and actually followed it all the way.  Looked totally unridden for ages, and yet Ian had said they'd ridden it earlier this week.   The leaf litter on it was undisturbed and it obviously doesn't get that much use, whereas Rimu had been well trodden.  Quite a few corners I wasn't game to even think about attempting, too steep, too much exposure into the bush below, and my rib wouldn't thank me.  As it was, I scuffed my wound on my thigh with my tire (exactly how it came into existence...), yowchy!  Eventually got to the bottom of Matai and continued up Sharland's Creek Track which involved a few walky bits, and then crossed the creek where another one meets it, and climbed up for a bit and through to eventually where What The DOCtor Ordered 'officially' begins.  Seat up here, and headed down this, at full tilt...  Fast scuffy descent.  One or two close calls, but mostly pretty good control.  Lots of vegetation overgrowing the track, scraping me a bunch and killing sight lines.  Blasty flow on (semi) familiar trails.  Ending up back out to the car just after 4 and I went and joined the family and hit the swimming hole, cooling down nicely.

Sunday Sharland's Valley wiggling.

In Nelson with the family for the weekend...  On Sunday, Drove up to the carpark in Sharlands with Jet and we headed up the road.  Counting off the kilometers, I was feeling pretty seedy from a fantastic night before, thinking I might go all the way to R&R, but when I got to the top entrance to FlyBuys, decided as I'd never ridden it before I'd give it a go.  Nice wee rolly flow down the hill, little whoops and doops, then a couple tight switchbacks and I's back on the road down the hill from BobsFern Rd.  Off back up the road, then up this, all the way up to the 506m trig, and into Ground Effect's Slingshot, which was different to what I remember of years back when we did it in the annual trip.  This time it went back and forth, loonngg zigs and zags, and looked little used.  Across the road and into Scottswood Wiggles.  This track went for ages, the odd climb and in dark fir or redwood forest the whole way.  Lower down, maybe after it'd become the Lancewood Waggles, the roots would have been insane in the wet.  Flowed on all the way down, Jet on my tail the whole way.  No stand out moments, just nice long flowy riding.  Some blasts of total speed, others very cruisy, stopping now and then for Jet to catch up.  All up we probably did about 20km total.  Forks felt pretty good, tho twice experienced a weird bottoming out on big G-outs... 

Tuesday, R&R Scottswood Lancewood Wortaloo DOCtor...

Finding myself in Nelson for 2 nights,so, hooked up a ride.  Rode and met Ian outside the Prince Albert 9.20am and we headed up Maitai valley in his truck, parking at the start of Sharland's Rd.  Over the gate and off up the road, 9.30ish, chatting and cruising a good pace, occasionally the strong southerly wind pushed us along, otherwise, a lovely sunny day, watching the kms click by, passed some nice fresh log rounds, and following a gark in the trail, then a couple kms later a trailer with a blown wheel and no drawbar, full of nice fresh log rounds, stuck on the track.  Another km and we were at the top.  I had a wee go at the grunty wee climb to the start, but front wheel washed out and I had to walk, an hour after leaving the bottom.

Into the trail, sticking close to Ian's tail, really enjoyed all the switchbacks, and was very pleased to find all of them rideable and not one was nearly as bad as anything on the 629.  Awesome descent, and he warned me well before the first grunty wee climb turned up, gear shifted early, and upwards for a bit, then into douglas fir forest, and a few ups and downs, twists and turns.  All the time i felt like Ian was holding back in order to guide me through.  I reckon he could easily have ripped through here, and i would have followed merrily, probably being caught out here or there.  Was a wee while and we rolled down and through out to Bob's Fern Rd.  Here, instead of dropping straight in, we treadled further up the road to higher up the Scottswood Wiggles and tucked in here.

Flat out down, weaving and wending through the forest, transitioning into Lancewood Wiggles, and on down and through, flowing and speeding, bridges came and went, climbs too.  Eventually, popped out onto the other end of Bob's Fern Rd.  Across, and into PWortaloo.  Another cool descent, in and out of native, the odd bridge(?), the odd uppy bit, and Ian pointing out entrances and exits here and there from other trails (incl SuppleJack, which sounds like one I'll hit up next time I'm around).

And, finally, What the DOCtor ordered.  A little less tech, but some really blasty speediness, and the odd off camber corner that would SO catch you out if you weren't onto it.  Eventually, we were rolling down the bottom of the valley, and I was like, Wow, is that the end?  and it was.  Rolled on out, down the last of the gravel, over the gate and back to the truck, an hour and a quarter after leaving the top of R&R.  Nice!  a longer downhill than ascent!