Monday Swamp Yankee Swoop Red with O and dog

Nice short wee warm up with O and the dog. Headed down from the house across the field and up into the Swamp trail.  Good pace, then up into Yankee Zephyr, climbing climbing, puffing O out for a bit.  Climbed to the top and hit the down.  Swoopy swoopy back and forth down.  Both enjoyed and Jetty running along happy as larry.  Back onto the top end of Swamp and we climbed up to Swoop, for another down, back and forth, swoopy swoopy down and out to the field again.  Then climbing up Timberland, puff puff, and into Red Rocks, climb, over, and through, then out Eeny and Meeny, and back to the house.

9.43 kms with 250 m climbed

Saturday pHat-nmer Round Two

Out for round two.  Headed down the street and around thru town, getting lots of stares (freak on a fatbike!) and headed around Jacks Pass Rd and up past the camp in Chatterton Rd, up the valley to the walkway and up this for a ways (further than memory served), then hung a right on the singletrack that obviously doesn't get much use at all, climbing and sidling up to cross the 4wd track, onto the pylon access track up the steep under the pylon. Cleaned all the steep here (first time in years) then stopped for a very well earned breather at the peak point between two trees (that are much bigger than they were last time I was here (3 years ago)).  After the rest, it was into the down, and a nice sidle across and then past the beehives and up to Clarence Valley Rd, and the water tank.  A dad and his teenage son were just about to drop into Tank Track.  They offered me the go, but I stopped for a drink and let them get ahead.

Into Tank, lovely flight down this, and about halfway down I found I'd caught up to the dad, reeled him in and he pulled up to let me past.  Powered into the climb and out to the end of the track.  Decided on the Yankee, so headed across to and into it, climbing in the nicely grown young pines across and back and then into the larch gully and out onto the big open area. 

Photo op here (for the MMR) before hitting up the final bit of climb on singletrack and then the descent.  Decent, as.  Nice now, what was a pain in the ass in the past was really fun again, almost like old times (but not quite).  Went on for ages, then then I was out the end.  Hit up Swamp, climbing to it's top (after first telling some random couple the climb wasn't too bad) and then stopped and chatted to some guy at the top of Swoop.

Off down Swoop, chasing down a couple, getting past them both and flying down the bottom end, very splecky on one section (of melted frost).  Then it was similar to yesterday, back into Timberlands, just taking my time on the climbing, to the saddle, giving some germans some directions (they were impressed with the fatty), and then up onto Jolliffe Saddle track, climbing more and cleaning the top corner again.  Bit of a rest here at the top this time, and into the downwards facing dog.

Across the bridge, and into Bigfoot climb again, climb climb climb, blitzing the downhill, 2nd time in 2 days really paying off on the smoothness and flow, out the bottom, and down the road a little then straight onto Mach 1 down and climbing and descending, and repeat.  Fun!  Finally, onto Camp track, thinking about doing the green trail that winds it's way around on the flat in here, but taking a call from T saying she was waiting to go to the pool, so...  Straight back to base I headed, via the Western Link Track, and through the parklands and up over the hill for the final blast down to the house.

Hour and a half this time, nearly twice the distance to yesterday, 19kms on the dot, and 475 m climbed.

Saturday Hanmerific

Nelson and me met in Amberly after 9.30am and transferred to his car and hoofed it up to Hanmer.  A bite to eat and we got going, around Jacks Pass Rd and on up Chattertons, gravel road section waaay longer than I ever remember it.  Up the walking track for a bit then across and up the seemingly seldom used singletrack, leading to the skidder track up to the pylon.  Steeper and steeper it gets til we topped out just in the trees.  Nelson had a faff with his drivetrain, cleaning and lubing it, then we set off down through the dark forest.  A bit greasy in here, so took it quite easy.  Around, some climbing and a few more wee descents, and Nelson dropped his front wheel into something and went over the bars, not far from the Beehives.  Through these and on around the access track to the road and over this up to the Tank.

Into the Tank Track and descending and cornering like anything.  A tad greasy in places, roots inclusive.  Stopped briefly a little way down to get the lay of the land and spot where the trail was headed.  Onwards and down, getting the groove the further we went, except for one near miss where I seriously thought I was gonna crash, but somehow scraped through.  Into the forest and quick climb out to the open.

Across this and into the climb for the Yankee Zephyr.  Climb climb climb, a couple switchies then into the forest and over a creek and back out to a skidder site.  and into the descent.  We enjoyed the top section, it's a little wider and you can rail stuff and jump a bit and it's fun, but the lower swoopies are too narrow, rutted, and you're constantly fighting for balance.

Finished this and headed off down the Swamp track, which started out too tight, but got better and better, faster and faster.  A blast towards the end.  Then it was across the road and up Timberland trail, nasty climb for me, gasping for air, but eventually out onto the last steep 4wd bit to the skidder site at the top.

A rest here and a bit of a snack.  and off up Joliffe Saddle track, climbing climbing, and around the final corner to find a bunch of guys at the top.  One of them said, "Nice bike", and I looked at theirs and there was an orange 5 Spot.  indeed, it was the dude who'd let me have a wee go on that very 5 Spot and who told me WideOpen were selling ex-demo frames back in May last year that cinched me getting mine.  I told him as much.  They'd just climbed up where we were heading down.  Into it we plummetted.  Mint descent, fast and raily, drops off steps and surprise corners and it was over way quicker than I remembered it.

Across the bridge and up some steps and up to the road, climbing a short distance up to Big Foot...  One that was shut down a few years back (2008 or so (last time I'd ridden it) for logging and apparently has been back in action for about a year.  Great to get into it again.  Sweet climb up, zigging and zagging for ages, up through Fir forest, coming out into the open now and then, where it used to be totally enclosed the whole way.  At the top we caught a young guy.  He took off while we rested for a bit, and then we hit it.  Entirely different to memory, because it used to be in tall tall forest, whereas now it's open and you can see it ahead all the way down.  But it's a great trail and rides really well.

Eventually out to the road, and a quick coast down this and into the Detox climb.  As ALWAYS, longer than memory would permit, and then we're into it and it's again different and yet the same.  After the 'chicken line' option (which we didn't take) we passed a guy fixing a flat, and then it was the steep rutty chute out to the end, where his mates were waiting.

Across into Mach 1 and climbing a bit but not as much as I thought and a few descents and tight corners.  Across Camp track and then up the Dog Stream track, then up Jolliffes road, the climbing really dragging me down here, and into Red Rocks.  Nelson was waiting for me at the top.  We did the short down and up and I stopped to put my glasses away, then continued on.  Quite greasy in places but fun nonetheless.  At Eeny Meeny we decided not to bother with the rest of Redrock and took that instead, which was cool.  Went where Red Rock used to finish, and into more forest and a couple of choices in there.

Then it was just down to Timberland, along and across the Park and then a quick climb to Torquay Terrace and a nice coast down here back to the car.  Went to go for a swim but the queue was so big we bailed and grabbed a bite to eat and then came back home, via me picking up the car in Amberly.  Home by 5.

Mapped.  Surprisingly only 568 m gained, felt like a lot more...

Mucky Saturday Hanmer trails

Spent Thursday and Friday nights in Hanmer.  Had the 5Spot, and was too busy being dad on Friday when the weather was good, so left with Saturday morning after the exit from the rental house to ride in, with rain having not long finished after a night of it...  Low cloud and mist around the place.  Headed up Chattertons Rd past the camp and up the gravel for a while, then onto the walking track at the end and along this for a bit before hanging a right back up the hill towards, eventually, the pylon.  Walked the steep up under the pylon but rode the rest, with caution within the slick woods.  These trails had not seen much action of late, with no evidence of tire tracks anywhere.  A few nice swoopy bits and a fair bit of climbing and past the beehives and then out to the Jacks Pass Rd and the water tank.

Across the road and into Tank Track.  Much changed since last I rode it, ie, all the trees gone...  (It's 4 years since I'd last ridden in Hanmer, on the return to Canty on our Westport/Reefton PFMTBC trip - and longer still since last on the Tank).  Lots of fun, tho, cautiously on account of the grease, and the end is different to memory as it turns up at the intersection of Flax, Swamp, and Swoop.

A couple of dads and their boys were here, chatted briefly then off I went up Yankee Zephyr.  Good climb, young trees in place where last time it was all freshly cleared.  Lovely once up in the Fir forest as it loops into a wee gully and back out into the open.  Then into the swoopy swoops of the Yankee, and a few corners in my front wheel started to behave weirdly.  Ugh, slow leak...  Stopped and made a very mucky extraction of tube and patched it.  Couldn't for the life of me find the perpetrator in the tire, but patched what was probably a blackberry or gorse leak in the tube, reassembled and got riding.  Swoop swoop the rest of it and onto Swamp Track.  Not fond memories of it from last time, tho the surface looks better than when it was first built, but decided to ride back up it to Swoop.

Down (and up) Swoop, lots of fun, some interesting sketchiness, blasting down the hill and around and back and forth eventually getting onto the flat, and heading across to Timberland for the climb.  Steeper and longer than my memory had made it, but cleaned it all no problem and decided to give Red Rocks a good blast.  This was sweet.

Nice climb in really dark tight douglas fir forest, then everything else on the rest of it has grown so much since I's last there.  Cool track this, even when the roots and rocks are slippery as shit.  After the Eeny Meeny trail turn off the main track gets a bit boring, but FAST.  Long straights down hill smooth and flowing.  Out the end and up the Dog Stream track.

All the way up to Detox, then climbed this, again, longer than memory, and then down.  Sweet run down here too, with only one dab out for a super slick sluiced clay section, which wasn't actually as slippery as it looked.  Straight across into Mach1 passing a dad and son here, and then catching up to a family (mum, dad and two young girls) who let me pass and on I went, weaving and swirving and generally avoiding slipping out or crashing into trees. 

From here I took flat simple tracks, Easy Rider mostly, but found my way onto Alligator Alley at one stage too, getting back and rolling into town, mudspleckled and happy, a couple hours riding under my belt.  Wandered into the Hot Pools (as a spectator ($2)) and stupidly didn't have a soak (even tho I could have so easily).

The Annual Trip, Eastside - Hanmer

Drove through rain from our showers in Reefton and made Hanmer by 6.30pm, meeting up with Steve, Robin, Matt and Lance.

Next morning, Nelson arrived, and so we were a party of 14.

Tricky having freshness and staleness mixed together, but it worked out pretty well. Round we rode and up Jacks Pass Rd, to Flax Gully Track. nice wee blitz down and the legs sure felt the climb. Then i took a wrong turn and lead a bunch of the group up a garden path (of excessive steepness) to the Yankee Zephyr, while Steve led some of the rest of them the right way. Nelson and me jetted back round to them and then rode it with them meeting Pete and Andy on the way.

The new Yankee Zephyr is a blast. great blast down with swoopy back and forth corner after corner after corner down this halfpipey landform. then crosses over the road into a new Swamp track and that just went on and on and on, eventually spitting you out now at pretty much the bottom of Timberlands. Up this to Jolliffe Saddle, and out Red Rocks, a tree clipping me, then richocheting Nelson, then actually throwing Dallas miles down the bank into blackberry and gorse, but otherwise a sweet descent and now continuing right thru to Dog Stream, that we went up the Lower and rested in the shade at the end of Mach1 and opposite the start of Detox. Nelson and me blitzed there and back on the new section of Mach1 here, then Him, Pete, Matt, Lance and me headed up Detox while the rest just went down Mach1.

Detox was fun, tho nelson had some issues, and then new to me Mach1 bits were sweet as. Nelson dropped me on this, but we all regrouped at the end. then headed round behind the Forest Camp to Jollies Pass Rd. Up up up, losing Matt and Lance to the heat, spotted the rest of the crew bypassing the usual Threshold entrance, and so followed and caught them before the firebreak, cursing the person who invented granny gear and hills. a hot slog. big regroup in the shade half way up access road then final grunt of the trip to top.

Mark, Nelson, Me, Pete, Steve then not sure the rest of the order back to Robin into the forest down the glorious sidling then switching back round and sidling, repeat, indefinitely, til the bottom. How long will Threshold last? As with all the best Hanmer trails of yesteryear, the forest cant be far from harvesting and like Big Foot will go the way of memory.

Out the bottom, cross the road, sketchy steep, then flick back up and onto an interesting singletrack down to a ditchcreek crossing that got Pete to off. bit of a play on the jump for everyone, and off we went, 3 of us back behind the camp, the rest not, then we chased them down the singletrack just inside the forest on the left hand side of the road, final drop to creekcrossing and a pie and 2 raspberry buns and a coke for me thank you very much.

Final tally for the trip. no major injuries. Dallas's knee, and Andrew's buttocks probably the most injured regions.

back in Hanmer...

well, i had twisted my chain, predominantly in one link, so i pulled the bad link, and am now running a link short... seems the last third or quarter of all my chain's lives are run with a link short ...and am trying a new chain lube. at the suggestion of Dougal, who's a regular on the mountainbike.co.nz website, i scored me a big bottle of Chainsaw bar lube. $5.85 at the Warewhare (compared to a tiny little bottle of Rock'n'Roll for $20 (1/10th the size of the Chainbarlube)). seems sticky like motorbike chainlube but not quite as sticky. doused the chain and wiped it all off again (which, John, is what you're supposed to do) and is running nicely so far. will be interesting to see how much dust and muck it picks up.

a beautiful day greeted me in hanmer, there was a slight smell of smoke when i first arrived, due to a wildfire up the waiau river towards the Lewis Pass, but i didnt notice it later on. was waiting for some riding buddies but they ended up being longer than anticipated, having a hard time of it paddling on the Waiau (very low flows make for less water over obsacles making for trickier paddling)...

so, took off on my own, rode up the Chatterton river valley, hit the mtb link track, which is a steeeep wee huff up to a pylon then a bit more climbing on a singletrack, which leads to a sweet little descent and sidle round to the Jack's Pass Rd, spitting you out opposite the watertank. just behind the watertank is a singletrack that leads down into the forest, below Pawson's Rd. John's Drop, No Bull seems to be what its called. its a great twisty wee trail with quite a nice steep descent or three in it, and a grunty wee climb in the last third. it chucks you back out on Pawson's, not far from Conical Hill Rd, which you roll on past to the first left, which is a road for a minute and becomes a single track climb, huffy for a bit, up up up, granny all the way, til you pass between two silverbirches on a steep wee step up, turn right climb a tad more, and bam, you're descending like buggery, swooping down another fantastic bermed singletrack tree trunks whooshing by millimetres from your shoulders. and it goes on and on and on, i had a couple of near misses, with the front wheel getting sketchy in the loose stuff, but mostly it was just divine. you cross Pawson's and carry on down to a stream, following that for a bit. This is all exactly the same ride as i did with Al last year, (may 24th 2005 blog) and here i'm upto where i broke my chain. funny, i remembered a lot of it being a bit more difficult, and some of the steeps steeper, but my riding's improved that much that i just flow it all now. anyway, this trail winds its way back round to pawsons, without getting too steep. then you have to follow pawson's to your right - up a bit, then down quite fast for a bit til you get to the Joliffe's Saddle turn offs. not really any signpostings so you pretty much gotta find your own way. i took the singletrack up to joliffes, then at the top, if you're standing looking across at Jolie's pass, Mt Isobel on your left, there's a new trail on your right, marked by a roadmarker . same as Al and me did last year, but they've changed where it descends, added some extra in the open stuff on the top and then added heeeaaaps of sweeeet trail in the forest later on. so this track, climbs heftily up over some rocky crags, then out onto this really open bit, with a bit of the pink stone breaking through, (hence the trail's name, Red Rocks) descending you down this fast and open tight singletrack, and eventually chucking you into the forest, there's some lovely rooty drops down, a couple of wee climbs, and more descending... then into a very new bit (possibly parts still under construction), eventually taking you out to upper dog stream trail. you could easily ride up it and get back up to Joliffes to do that again, or like me, just head out and down to lower dogstream singletrack back to the house. got back and Matt and Sean were stiiiill on the river. they called not long after tho and were on their way back then. i just cruised out. all up, only riding for 1 hour 20 or so. sweeet. woulda done it all again if i'd not been tired. really have got to get up there again soon.