Sunday non-event-ride to planting

weather being as it has been hills had a big closed sign on them, and so Steve and Pete decided to watch a 3am game of rugby. i'd had a bit of a late night myself, so was a bit sluggish when the phone rang at 8.30 and those two were out front of my house, still a bit merry, ready to go. grabbed breakfast, coffee, then saddled up on the townie and off we headed, Linwood Ave, along Linwood Drain, Hargood St to Ferry Rd, then along trails on the south side of the Heathcote all the way to the Cut, over a footbridge, northbank crossing Tunnel Rd to the southbank again, then round the tracks to Ferrymead, to the bridge, then back round behind the industria and onto Charlesworth St to the Trees For Canterbury planting. 60 odd people, including some of our usual riders, 2000 plants, and a coupla saussies, and the three of us cycled back up Linwood Ave, Linwood Drain, Linwood Ave home.

was good for some fresh air anyway.

Tuesday bottling.

singled over to pete's and we drove to BroadPark carpark, meeting up with Steve and Steve, then up rolled Mark and Wayne in separate vehicles. Steve then discovered he'd bust his bulb, so, no ride for him. the rest of us headed out. Mark regaling us with his tales of the MoonRide 24hrs solo. crazy mothah. sounded brilliant, and hard to pace yourself to last the distance... anyway, north we rode, along the beach side trails slowly picking up the pace, then in, little bit of singletrack, nice, road, singletrack, and onwards. quite a few stops, yarns, and bits of fast blatting. all up a good wee spin. reminded me how much fun the singlespeed can be out there, and how familiar it all is, the damp cool early winter chilliness, spin spin spin.

Riding drought broken, Sunday night quickspin

a cold and life in general conspired against me getting a ride in til tonight.
the day's weather left a bit to be desired, plus i was super tired so nearly flagged even getting out tonight, but we did anyway. Nelson bongoed up after work and after a bit of a feed we hit the road. headed out to sumner with something in mind. on the way, Steve informed us of the 'Avoid' state of tracks, so we promised not to break any.

parked up round the corner, and headed for Scarborough. up the road. wasnt too bad. only a couple of cars passed us on the way up. i got a bit wheezy. topped out pretty quick and then down down down into Taylors. not that fun. then, onto the snake's Tail. huh! drizzly all day, and it was dry as a bone! good climb up here cleaning it all, then on up the anaconda. still dry as. only a couple of dabs, one spin out and one stall. spitty raindrops started appearing in our lights.

breeze col and onwards up the singletrack. up up quite nice, still dry dirt under us, then over the rockies and down to Livingston col and into the worst of the climbs for the night, a steady one that went on a bit. natural dirt still dry, dust of recent times nice and settled. up onto the teddington shit, and the fucking stuff is starting to get a little bit of stickiness in it, soaking up the little rain we're seeing. back onto the dirt, and all sweet. climbing on along and round, then into the descent. rocks were getting a little slippy, but the dirt was still all good. picked our way carefully down to Evans. nelson had a weird off aimed straight down the hill, bailing carefully.

then onto The Captain. dirt still dry enough, but rocks getting slicker, making the tires glance and slip left right and centre. i walked the two worst sections, both of which somehow nelson rode. then on down the lower bits, flying nicely, good flow into the lower trees, and then out and back to the van.

Tuesday sessioning the nun. and Swtchbckr's 5 yrs old

and happy birthday Blog... 5 years. w00t!!!


so. nelson was at mine when i got home from work and we went picked up Chris at the Cathedral. bongoed across town and bongo-drifted up Dyers Pass Rd to Marley's carpark bout 6.30 as planned. Steve, Tones and Marie were already there, shortly followed by Wazzah! and Wahayno.

Off we treadled up the road to top of Worsley's Rd and up to the Nun. first round, Chris led off, then nelson, then me, then steve and i'm not sure of the rest of the order... dust was an issue, and i felt like i couldnt see properly this first round. still fanged it, tho, and pulled up back down at the vans. all following in at their own paces.

second round, back up road, and off in the same order as before. this time, nelson bollocksed the same corner second time round, and i managed to get in front, chasing Chris to not much avail. this time, the three of us continued on down to the kiwi. excellent blat down that section too. the others bailed at vans, and we pedalled back up to them.

then off up road again, third lap. this time, chris, then me, then nelson, then steve et al. going good again, dust still plaguing the eyes. this time, everybody except Marie rode it all the way down to Kiwi. back up road to vans, and the other two vanloads departed.

Nelson, me, and Chris headed off down into the Gov's trail. awesome blat down there, riding it out all the way down the switchies to the bottom, something i'd not done for ages, and i think never in the dark. then we turned back up with Nelson and Chris cleaning heaps more than me, but i still managed most of the corners. tough tho. then on up the main track, a few nasty wee grunts (still nothing on the lower section!), and then out up to the road.

and, another lap of te Nun. up road, and this time i led the fray. felt pretty good with no dust and no light ahead. did okay, kept the other two at bay for a while, but once in the rocky sections i musta slowed, or they were just quicker cos i could feel their lights catching me. anyway, popped back out to the van, and landed.

all up, good ride and home around 9.

Fried, eh, Birthday afternoon off.

took off from work early, and got over to Chris's at 2. we jaunted through a heavy police presence down Barbadoes and then on over waltham and wilsons to the Crapaki. wandered up this, keeping a reasonable pace, but neither of us were feeling that on top of our games going up, peaking in a pretty average time.

off to the left, over Witch Hill, enjoying the rocks, up road, and it was CastleRock time. awesome blitz down here, me sticking to Chris's wheel all the way down til the up when he got away from me.

round the road and up to John Britten, Chris getting faster, me getting tireder. Then, into Greenwood, pushing a tall gear up up and round, and then just before that lone tree (that drips in the mist) my attention wandered and so did my wheel off the track then a reaction catching a lip and i went down into the tussocks... nicely cushioned, not a scratch on me or bike, but pride slightly perplexed.

regrouped at the usual spot (just over the 4wd track), nibbled a one-square, then it was off again, flat tack down over the yump, squirrelling through the rocks, round the corners, richocheting off boulders, floating, flowing, popping and weaving our way down. interupted by a phonecall from T in Lyttelton with a car problem (pressurised gas line causing over-rev), then on and on down and down. very good run down, one of my best in a while, and definitely one of Chris's best evah.

Rang T at Evans to see how she was going and she was on her way with the boys up Evans so i said keep and eye out for us on the Thomas. We got into that and my balance was all skew-iff, tho, the first techy i came over the top to see Chris running down it, i cleaned that bit okay, then the next one that i never get we both walked, and then spotted the fiat, which tooted, and parked up to watch us ride the next bits, much to the joy of the boys til we disappeared round the corner. excellent blast out from here on, me taking the lead after the gate and flying down, catching air and having a blast, not a pedestrian in sight (which sure makes a change from Sunday Mornings...).

Then, popped into the movie theater and grabbed me a ticked for

Follow Me - Anthill Films - OFFICIAL 2010 MTB Trailer from vas entertainment on Vimeo.

which looks pretty good. theres even some NZ shots in there. hopefully the boys will all get tix too, otherwise i'm gonna be nigel nomates.

met T and boys at Cave Rock, had a beer, then dropped Chris on way through town, watching him commit a legendary trackstand at a really long red light, then home. I'm now officially middle aged. the age i said i'd wait til before i got a full susser... now, where's that spare couple grand i need for that!?

Wednesday Mulgan Richmond Greenwood Godley Taylor

chris and nelson assembled at mine and we vanned to scuzner. headed round to moncks bay and up Mulgans, the boys cleaning the first couple of corners, but not the steppy ones. for some reason chris walking a whole bunch (wrong geared i think), and i lagged behind feeling wheezy and asthma'd, fat and slow. sickmaking climbs up the narrow alleys round the watertanks and past York's old place. layer off once on Panorama.

then up to the rooty singletrack, all of us blowing out on that rocky little up, then relaxing it out on the flatter section up to the trees bout 7.45 to some stoned boyracers who were impressed at our riding prowess. cruise up the road to Greenwood reststop.

singletrack, nelson leading off, chased by Chris and me lagging behind again. legs still not recovered from all of sundays treadling, and staying back from them left me somewhat more dust free... gave them a good headstart from above the ruins, leaving a nice big gap and then took off, flowing nicely, and catching them before the first of the big corners below, chris having had a misbalanced nearmiss on the first rockies. ate their dust for a few corners, then sat in closer behind as staying right on the tail of the next guy leads to marginally less dust in the eyes and mouth.

at the narrow rock gap i stopped and watched as they diminished round and til nelson went round the corner of the hill, then i took off and flowed nicely again, meeting up with them just round from gloomy gulch. off again, and i paused and left them to it again, creating dust settling gap, then took off down the rocky descent and into the groove. lots of fun, but with some slippy dug-in corners through the switchbacks, then over the grate, jump, flowy pump section round to the little (dry) creek, then the 'backstraight', bombing down here, i had one near miss over one of the rockydroppy bits, with the bike aiming directly off the trail, somehow managed to swivel back onto trail and changed down and spun up the rocky uppy bit after the tree, getting jammed at the top. off again, flying down the last bit til the exposed-over-evans-pass-rd corner where i couldnt see a thing for the dust raised by the other two, slowly through there and out to the road.

when were still down on the road before hitting Godley trail, i said, "i've already admitted defeat, i aint gonna clean the first section". nelson and chris led off, i followed slowly behind, watching from a distance as first nelson blew it, came back down for another run, then chris blew it, and i selected an appropriate gear and knuckled into it - got over the first couple of holes, up past Chris, popped up the next rock or two, body-englishing my way up the next bit, then gave a line straight up some solid rock a try i never thought would work, and voila, i made it out the top, not an issue! w00t inspiring. the other two had a struggle at it once or twice more, blowing it again and again... i blew the next bit tho, but for the rest of the way out i stayed on Nelson's tail pretty well for a while, while Chris struggled with balance from then on.

i led on the descent to Livingston, in order to show the way on the new bit, which is getting better, and then left the lead to the others for the next climb. got up to the rocky bit and found chris stopped behind nelson who was down off the track, having bounced off a rock and sorta tumbled backwards. garked his shin, so dressed it, and off we flew again, chris, me then nels, chris losing balance in the rutty narrow grass before the sidle line, missing the sidle turn off where i took the lead down to breeze.

into the eye of the snake. nelson lead, followed by me at a distance (for dust), then Chris. good blat, tho still a lot of dust raised by Nelson, making some jumps difficult to get a good line on due to visibility, but a great blat down, and i had a really good ride down the tail too - the other two complaining of off-balance-ness and other difficulties. the climb out of Taylors i immediately bogged down, riding through treacle, the other two left me for dead. caught up at the top and i lead off down through Nicholson, having a mildly close call with a 4wd when we got down to the road. back to the van bout 9.30 and on home via yunkfood

Sunday Free-form Funkified Filth

the usual crew of deadbeats assembled at Steve's, them being Warren Andrew Wayne Tony Pete and Marie. the 8 of us headed east, along the Heathcote Cut and behind Ferrymead to McCormacks Bay. the Grunt began. steep wee ups followed by steeper wee ups with a couple of steep wee ups thrown in for good measure. cleaned the 9 switchbacks at the top, into the 10th where the steps begin. then up the road and up 'the terrace' to John Britten Reserve. hmmm... no "no bikes" signs in evidence, so we (mostly) rode and pushed (a little) to the top (which is where the title Free form Funkified filth comes from, the sheepshit up there is epic).

then hung a right, onto the singletrack proper, followed by a bomb down the road to Castle Rock track. good wee grunt up here, cleaning everything i didnt clean on friday night (ie the very top). pete snapped his chain, and i got messages from home to be home by 12.30...). at the top were some 48hr filmmakers doing a post-apocalyptic romantic comedy.

another bomb down the tarmac, round, and hit up the Witchy-poo. awesome blat round this, again, cleaning the one bit that got me Friday night under lights. top of rapaki, a snack, and then up the Vernon. good hoof up this too, once again, cleaning the one bit that caught me out friday.

Onto the lowest-common-denominator trail, blottlelake of the hills, the traverse. flew around this having some excellent fun, but how smoooooth is it? into vic park and down through the pines, me choosing to see how the see-saw was, a few yumps through brake free, then peeled out back in behind Steve for the blat down into the gummies. neeaarly lost grip of my bars on the rockgarden intro, but tight on Steve's tail all the way through, over the wee yump, back round and up to the Skidder site.

Then it was a quick spit down dazza's, and a dark and lumpy clomp down brent's, pete and me choosing the log exit rather than the nanna's route, and into flow to bridges highline, funny noise in the brakes down over the drop, and the final blast down the valley. end of the road, tony and marie left, the rest of us onto Eastern with the rest going for coffee and Pete and me having to get home on time.

In the afternoon, family went to Bottle Lake, me and O on the singlespeed and tagalong, T with H in the seat on the back. we took the easy trail out to the beach, played there a bit, then on the way back through, O wanted to blast the rest of the loop so T and H headed back to the car and O and me (utterly exhausted by this stage) headed for the inner (shorter, but still not that short) loop. last couple kms i was shattered.

Frieday night, Port Hills jaunt

Nelson had parked Bongo at mine and we had some dinner and headed for the hills. parked up outside the Grape Escape, grabbed a couple of Kristallweizen and planted them to be earned. Headed up Major Aitken Drive, grunty little bastard that it is, i showed Nelson the little singletrack section, which caused a dog to bark and bark and bark at us, until its owner came out and shut it up and we struggled on up past their house. then up Kenmanure drive onto the main up the grunt and onto dirt sweet dirt.

crept our way up under the pylons the wind finally biting up there. on up to and through the shitty grovel to the top and onto Vernon, sweet sweet singletrack. Nelson took the lead, and i kept catching him, buttoning off, catching him. he wasnt enjoying the Teddington shit, doesnt trust it. onto Witch Hill and he left me for dead. i just bided my time round and back onto the road, then it was up to Castle Rock.

Had a wee look at the trail that had sparked an asshole mtnbike thread on vorb this week, thinking, fuck thats steep. then hit the legitimate singletrack, nelson giving me the lead. left him behind, had a really good run, picking the sweetest lines and flowing and gliding all over the gnarl. he on the otherhand apparently was being pinballed from one rock to the next, thrown all over the place ending up entirely wronggeared. at Bridle, we turned tail and hit straight back up the singletrack. nelson leading again, cleaning it all nicely, meanwhile, i stuggled away in the background.

Tucked in for a fast flight down the road, then onto Witch Hill, Nelson getting away again quickly on the climb, me just managing to get up the bits i needed to and then having a nice flowy bomb back to Rapaki-top. on up the Vernon, Nelson again getting away on me big time, me just making it up struggling away, taking the shortcut from the first switchback above Farmtrack to make some time on Nels (who got a "You are AWESOME, bro" from boyracer when he got to road). Lighting making me blow the very last bit of the 'rocky corner' up top there, then getting on with it and getting back down to the road nicely, we headed round the traverse til just before Lava Flow, peeled right and down, gravelling to OldSkool, bombing to gate.

Off piste, found a few interesting sheep tracks onto and off of the usuals, then into the steep-rocky where i found the coooolest new line... somewhere off the right, down this wicked wee face... anyway, all leading down onto the fun fun singletrack, across, down backwards and forwards, and out. back to the van, home, and Kristallweizen...

Thursday night East End blast., the late night crazy singletrackers

Nelson had parked the Bongo outside my place in the morning and turned up around 6. we stuffed about for a while, just as well, cos some people came for a dog kennel i'd sold on Tardeme, then we spend a while dismantling the lights switch on the bongo and fixing it so low AND high work now!!!

headed out to Scumner and treadled on up the Captain Thomas. cleaned bits and blew the usuals, last night's legs slowing me down a bit. got out top and headed up the road for the top of Greenwood.

bit of breeze up top, over and round, then straight into the the down. first bit down after the ruins and over that first jump my eyes were watering like mad making the landing a bit sketchy. then on round wind to the side, then round and headwind again. first right hander i kinda washed out wickedly but kept it on track and chased on. not too much dust up here cos the wind was good to go. strangely i thought about how chuffed steve is with his Gravity Dropper on this section, i wonder why... i think cos he'd be raving about how good it is on those sections. my seat was up.

the boardwalk came up very quick, and got through gloomy gulch, but after that i just had to rest. then, big lead by Nelson now, i took off again. good run down down down, loving that bit after the fence, over the jump then pumping round to where the creek is. blew the rocky uppy bit just after the tree as had nelson, rest was okay, tho thought how that exposed bit above Evans Pass Road, just before the macrocarpa is gonna get me one day, kinda off camber and too exposed, apparent big drop (specially in the dark) off down to the road.

Godley... whats there to say. the rocks are all bigger. neither of us cleaned the first bit, nelson tried twice. i was getting tired.

anda the anaconda... yep. pretty dusty, wind just placed right that i was eating all of Nelson's. railed the berms, bombed it down, and the tail was nice too. clambered, struggling now, out of taylors and explored nicholson park off piste a bit and the playing on jumpies off driveways all the way down before the waterfront.

grabbed a feed, and home by 10.30 or so...

gotta watch dis.

full screen it, bol.

Chris Akrigg TEOCALI.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Wedsdney after yeaster blight, middle hills blat.

took the Cotic to Little Ak for weekend, but didnt get out on it, rode it to beach a couple times with H on a cushion on the top tube, but no ride ride.

was gonna get out last night, but was tired, so didnt.

family still at L.Ak cos floors have been sanded and polyeurothaned so house is toxic like a P lab right now, so tonight, to escape the fumeage, i hit the hills. blat across town through rush hour, the length of Wilsons, then Koromiko to alley then up Parklands Drive on Huntsbury. quite the wee push at its top leading into yet more push on Hunts Drive up to where i'm used to top of Aotea, on up from there. gradually overtook a good sized group of variable speed starting on that last grunt of seal and continuing through them right up past the pylons. then grovelled up the top gravel, nearly losing my balance onto a hottie jogger, and on up to top.

layered sleeves on and mounted headlight and headed round the traverse superhighway. at the highest point i ran into Jo from work. so, we hooked up and rode together. cooling down, so vest on. we debated which way to go and settled on back to top of Rapaki, then back round to OldSkool. so, thats what we did. me getting massive gaps on her, and then waiting, riding briefly with her then gapping off again, repeat, numerous times. but was good. lights on for the descent.

rode together up road back round past Farm Track. sleeves onto vest at fence, and then hit the single again, then down the rockies, and Jo headed down the grovelly gravel and i pranced between the tussocks.

then the blast, down, a massive CRACK sound when a rock hit something (bashguard? downtube?) juust before the gate, no marks tho. then down all the shortcuts, only baulking/dabbing once, while Jo took the easier lines. then into the OldSkool, lovely, except... under lights the dirt's grey is just sooooo grey, and featureless, but its such a clean track now its not an issue and you end up just wafting down it, like riding a cloud, albeit a very grey one.

then quick stop at StMartin's NewWorld for Ice Cream and Boysenberry's then to Colins for an impromptu dinner of Crayfish, roastied spuds and fresh picked salad accompanied with a bloody nice Chardonnay and then the dessert and an O for Awesome Montepulciano. followed by a cold ride home to a toxic house.

Saturday Packhorse and Living Springs

round to pick up Chris 8.30ish and after a little faffing we cruised our way to Gebbies Pass. parked up and the southerly was already in effect, which was surprising, cos it was such a nice mild norwest night and morning...

headed round up the 4wd road 9.30ish, wind turbine revolving rapidly over the hill, and ducked into the forest, where a good noseblow got my nose bleeding. staunched that, and got on down the hill, overcooking one of the corners entirely, but having a nice blast down to the bottom, then climby climb up to stile and climby climb on up the paddock, newly dug over with a bulldozer, scrub removed, and flowy singletrack disappearing once or twice. steep steeps and then down, narrowly missing that gorsebush inappropriately placed before the next stile.

back into the forest for the wide open downhill, then ducked into the nice shady singletrack, overtaking a couple of walkers, on up the grunty switchbacks, one of which i blew, followed by Chris blowing the next one. then on up past the little bach in the woods, and on up and up cleaning the odd surprise and losing the odd one too, and on up to end of the forest.

hit the traverse, Chris losing his balance so me smacking my shin on his pedal as i squeezed past him, continued on through the Remarkable Dykes and round up to the Packhorse Hut. Southerly clouds catching on the back of Bradley, and wind howling over the saddle, but no sign of rain. scared off the hut's only occupant and took in the ambience of the hut for a one square or so, then headed back out into the wind.

Excellent cruise down the open stuff, hi to the walkers again hut side of the dykes. layered up a bit at the dykes, and then round to the forest again. awesome blast down these trails, flowy sweet sweet woot inspiring blazing, ducking and dodging trees, popping sweet airs over risers, and tucking into the switchbacks. amped by the time we got back to the wideopen 4wd climb back up to the stile, over the paddock with some cool drops and sketchiness towards the bottom, stile, then tight barbedwire-edged descent and sidle, climb back up, couple corners getting the better of us, and then a skid filled slidey fast road back to the car.

drove round and parked up Bamfords for a spin round Livingsprings. bout 11am, some guys driving off as we got there. usual trails, round to the up, to the pines, enjoying the nice new bit there (thanks community servicers!). then hit up Goodie Gum Drops (for the 1st time) in both directions, and round down to mississippi and clambering up to zanes for a final arm-pumping blast down there. home by 12.30. great ride.

Tuesday evening Worsley Kennedy Croc x 2.

Jo and me cruised across town and up Worsley in the heat of the nor'west evening. nice cruise up the hill, nicely cleaning the bodybag gasping for air as usual. then round the road to Kennedy's. plod plod then zooooom down the first section barely able to see due to the rapidity and the roughness. strange noises eminating from my front end... stopped and tightened a couple of spokes, and all was well again. then off down the next bit between the forests and over to a txt (i thought was from steve) saying "how far you"? i replied "2 mins". then the last descent. a few riders on their way up were buffetted by our wind as we sped past them, the last section i'd say well over 60kph as usual, down to the boys at the gate. standing next to Pete, my "2 mins" txt came in...

off over Siberia, Wrecks powering off ahead, racerboy. then down the fun stuff, me in the lead and keeping it, bit of a regroup at top of crock and off again, burnin' it. in the last switchies before the gulley i came flying round a blind corner into an uphill rider. SLAMMED on the anchors and slid, leaning away from him, our tires meeting (ie, my front and his back, his front and my back). SO close... continued on down squirrelling a couple of times on cowshit, then changed down nice and early for to clean the up. big regroup here, watching everyone else down the switchies, then down through the trees, nice air on the roosting jump, and some cool wheelie action over the humps at the final run out.

then crossed over the valley and back up the trail to the farm bit, up the loose zigzag, up the road for another fang of the Crock. light getting pretty dim to the end, and a FAST ride home in the Cosworth...

Sunday morning 'paki slummit gnarleys vic

woke up with a mother of a headache and got my weary ass over to Steve's to find wahayno, tony and andy. steve stumbled out in his dressing gown complaining of tiredness. so the four of us moseyed on up the Rapaki Track, 4 laned highway that it is. i was amazed at the number of bikers we met riding down it... bah. anyway, pushed and shoved our way to the top and had word from Marie that she was heading our way.

got going up Vernon, twisting and turning round and up and over, bumping into her above the upper switchies.

onwards round the summit motorway, accompanied with maybe $50K worth of Specialized's and their mounts. we kept ahead of them til Vic Park, then bumped into them all again several times from there til top of the Nun. also chatted with various others on the road to top of Nun too. regrouped at top and then set off, blasting down it with it fresh in the mind from Tuesday night. awesome ramble, then it was back up road to top of Vic.

Straight in, dropping down, popped over the see saw and caught some air on the first few jumps before bailing out and heading down the gummies. blazing down the old skool trails and regrouping at the skidder, then off up to take in Cool Runnings, which none had done for a while, me not since november. bit of fun in there, then out flow, bridges, highline for me dropping right down.

Hidden Valley up to OldSkool and great blast down taking in the new bit in the middle. all enjoyed, went our separate ways around the river, was home by 12.30

Tuesday Worsleys Nun x 3 plus Govs and Vic

Good ride tonight.
Rode with Jo and Derek from work across town. Jo had flat on Frankleigh St, fixed that and we continued up Worsleys. Derek on his cyclocross with commuter tires, powering off up ahead of us ontop of his gearing. uneventful climb, cleaned the body bag with extremely sore legs. derek continued on homewards, down somewhere other than kennedys...

at the top, txt'd steve to say where you at, and lo and behold they (warren, tony, wayne, steve, marie) showed up. so, off up the nun, steve on my tail pushin. then seats down, off i led fanging it. great blast, lots of yumps. regrouped at halfway carpark, and headed over down the Gov's track.

o for awesome blaze down here, really enjoying it dry, daylight, and nicely cleared. carried on round and up the old trail, then back up road onwards to top of Nun again.

txt from Chris at top, him still 10mins away, so another good blast down the Nun, really flying again, this time i continued down all the way to Kiwi. sweeeeet blast. rode back up to the regroup of everyone. Jo took off, steve stayed at the vehicles, while the rest of us continued back up for another go. the last climb killed me, but breather at top i still had my downhill head on and flew down, loving every minute of it. Arrived back at Steve chatting with Chris. i very nearly grabbed a lift home with Wayne, but decided otherwise, and rode off with Chris, leaving the drivers to drive.

we bombed it down the rest of the nun, me staying close on Chris's tail the whole way. then off up road to top of vic, the climb burning me up. down top, brakefree, sesame street, dazzas, ponos, old nats, hospice corner and out the valley. rode home tail wind across town and stopped in for a lovely pint of Hefe at the Pom's. utterly shattered now.

no mountain biking, but bike related activities...

So. didnt get out on the trails. had friday afternoon jacked up briefly, but then babysitters plans changed and weather was inclement anyway, at least, trails would have been drenched after the system that went through friday lunchtime.

but. Saturday, boys taken care of, i jumped on the ghetto cruiser and cruised thru the ghetto to Robbies New Brighton. there finding steve pete warren rex and significant others (mine being away for weekend or she'd have joined us), and abbasteve, and then wayahno and his missus arrived too. beers had, hit the ride, over the bridge, palmers rd, keyes rd, to Chats Bar. 'nother beer,

then wattle drive to river, me dropping the chain and discovering the joys of having no brakes... then along river and peeling into Horseshoe Lake. very nice cruising slowly through there during the day time, usually its flat out at night... then joy st to Fox'n'Ferret at the palms. nother beer, and a nibble,

then Banks Ave to River Rd, following it all the way to Pomeroys, me dropping home to feed dog and chooks on way, 'nother beer here.

then Avon Loop, poplars, vic sq, river to Worcester, museum, boatsheds, river, cashel st, high, into Poplar Lanes. beer beer beer food beer and home. fun.


Sundaygot a random call, and told 4pm, polo... didnt think i'd go, but ended up with only one boy for the afternoon, so grabbed the beater and over we went to Hillsborough Park, where the hardcore hardcourt players play. i got into two games, and it was fun. my bike was poorly geared for it, a 2:1 or even less would be better, probably try the singlespeed next time, but it was easy to pick up, good fun, balancing. i even scored a winning goal, easy as.

Sundaze rich green god snakes

rode linwood ave to catch a lift with Andy and Wahayno, driving to sumner, passing Steve and Wazza nearly there. parked up, and headed up Richmond hill, nasty little grunt that that road is. at least steve and myself were slightly under the weather from previous night's frivolities, but we survived the ups, taking the lower track rather than Steve's route. cleaned all the roots, but blew the last rock, then the rest was good up to the summit road and on up to Greenwood.

hooked into the singletrack and wafted round, stopping to check out this cool ass iridescent green/blue/black beetle i nearly ran over, then seats down and the descent began. yee haaaa. rocky as all buggery, but fun fun fun, felt particularly on form most of the time. howling easterly giving the nudge now and then to keep things interesting. on the home straight, that little rocky up just after the hook under a tree caught me out and my pedal smacked my shin (nice lump now).

seats back up and off up Godley. completely blew the first rocky bit, but good blast the rest of the way out. checked out the new section being built above Livingston Col, and we stopped for a snack down there. it was here i noticed that my chain-tensioner jockey wheel had gone! dang. noisy it was after this.

onwards and up and down and hello to jogger a few times and down the snake, rip snorting it, then out the tail. taylors up up and away and over nicholson, through surflifesavingchamps to dotcom for salmon bagel and nice long black. made some good time, was only 11.45 when we got to the .com
goood ridin'.

Toozdee night Taylors Godley doozy

got myself over to Pete's and we blew the cobwebs out of the Cosworth out to Taylors meeting Steve Tony Warren and Rex there. headed out up the snake's tail, i think it was my first time ever in that direction, previously would have been before its inception.

worked our way eventually to the end of Godley carpark. grunting heinously on the ups. i. could. not. breathe. anywho, we headed up the hill from the end, and wound our way to Breeze Col. awesome trail enjoyed, sun in the eyes tho, making some interestingness.

then figured plenty time up sleeves so we tackled the steep steeps up to top of hill. Wrecks cleaned first bit, i made a pretty good job of it. then we all variously cleaned or didnt the rest of the way up. good wee chuffs. then a blaaaast down, off piste, on piste and blasting. to the end again.

then the singletrack back, really flying round into the last of the sun and finishing off with an awesome flight down the snake, and a nice finish out the tail, everyone enjoying the ending.

Sunday Night, frustrations. - first under lights

abortion of a ride last night. picked up Chris at 7, and we headed, via mega detour petrol stations (for the 4c voucher), eventually to bottom of rapaki. 7.30, got out of car, realised i didnt have my helmet! so, drove home, grabbed helmet, and decided to go check out the new trail in Lyttelton. drove through tunnel, 7.55 parked up hill from Police Station, and got on bikes, up a bit, carried up two flights of steps, then on up Gilmore Tce.

at the end of Gilmore Tce, there's this guy standing there looking smug. "you realise your tresspassing?" Huh? From before the turn around on Gilmore up to where the council reserve (and track) starts is private land that he (Mssr Angelo) pays rates on and has to maintain and permission hasnt been granted for public use blahdeblarhdeblah, self satisfied bastard. i asserted, and we negotiated a bit, and still he refused us entry to the public land. the only thing i WISH i'd realised was that there was NOTHING saying it was a private right of way, or that it was a Trespassing area. so, we ended up riding back down to the car, and thought we'd head up evans and do Greenwood.

got back to car, through a road closed sign, into more road closed area, and then backtracked narrow twisty steep back streets of lyttelton under the timeball trying to get past the closed bit, to no avail, the access to sumner was shut last night. so, figured, Living Springs...

drove round, light disappearing fast, and parked up on Bamfords. headed into the trails. did a lap in no time flat. nice lap, fun except for inhaling all of Chris's dust the whole way. decided to do a second lap. up farm track, into pines. chris getting a bit ahead, then "OH". his light had died. this is the trouble with HID lights, very little warning that they're going to die. i followed him up the rest of the pines, then he tried following me. but in Mississippi he just had too much trouble with the trees over the track and finally ended up kinda slipping off the track, so he bailed out the escape and used the full moon's light to navigate back to the car, while i blasted on down Zanes.

Heated Weakend Hanmer hammering

Picked up by Wayne Warren and Steve(abba), drove to Hanmer meeting Steve and Pete, then Mark and Marie. Headed up Argelins Rd, sun beating down, she was gonna be a scorcher... hung a left round to Chatterton's valley, and then the up began. single track to start with was nice, couple little grunty rocky bits, then turning right, the not-often-used (by the looks of it) trail was overgrown with black berry vines, leaving blood on some of our forearms. trail condition improved a bit further up, then crossing the 4wd track and heading for the pylon, i knuckled down and managed to clean the entire climb. we regrouped in the shade and then headed off down into the darkness, nice cruise through down a bit, up a bit, down again, then clambering out, right into the middle of a bunch of very active beehives. nice and slow through them and then it was out to the road at the Tank.

Launched into the Tank Track, lovely descent, fun occasional rocks, lotsa nice roots, and cool twisty stuff at the bottom. regrouped, and headed into Majuba. (noticed from here, looking across to where Yankee Zephyr used to be, there's some new trail been built over there, will get to that next time i'm up). clambered up the high way, me bustin' it wrong-geared and making it the only climb i faffed. steve and pete (and others?) cleaned it. great descent from the top of it, blazing down and through and across, then gentle ride across to Timberlands, and another clamber up ensued.

Jolliffe's saddle, and up the track to Upper Dogstream. cleaned the tricky corner, and another regroup at the bench. then the descent, yippee, twisty switchbacky, steep gnarly, i dont know how Mark got his massively wide bars through some of the gaps. bollocksed the last corner i always do, just above the first bridge, then a lovely flight down to the next bridge, over this, and up Detox.

the climb longer than i'd remembered, but a good one, and into the down. awesome rail roosting trail, the xxx a bit exagerated, the ruts near the bottom not as bad as last time. yet another regroup, everyone with big grins, except abba, who was out of water and feeling it.

down the road and into Mach 1. from this direction, heaps more fun, mostly down, and i had an awesome rip down there. then it was down the road from the end, and up a 4wd track round and up to a downhill track that ends up behind Forest Camp. big rest in the shade and water and food taken on board most bods, then off through singletrack out to road, and up towards the Threshold...

helluva climb, in heat, up up up to turnoff, then the real climbing began. steep as hell, and a few of us cleaned it entirely.

into the down, i led off, some awesome corners, some lovely sections, interesting, flowy, a little too much climbing, but so much down too. excellent ride, cleaned everything too, including the bit i baulked on last time.

spent, we cruised back down the road and into town via the edge of the flatland forest. beer at the montieths pub, and back to the house for showers and lots more beer and a delicious meal cooked by Marie.

Sunday Morning we headed up Jack's Pass Rd, catching up to Alister and Nico on the way, blasting the Tank track again, then lower majuba, up timberlands, and into Red Rocks. lovely trail that, hanging a right at the bottom and into the forest things have changed a little in there, then back to the bakery for yummy lunch before heading home.

Monday Night, Worsley Nun Kennedys Croc.

last night turned out to be the only opportunity i'd have to ride during the week, so Chris came over and we drove out to Halswell. Parked up by the Quarry entrance, and cycled round Cashmere Rd, and into Happy Home Rd, exploring. found a park at the end with a blast of a down path, into a cul-de-sac, hung a left and dived onto the Cashmere Stream Esplanade Reserve, along, crossing Penruddock, and back into it, staying on the true-right, twisting and squirrelling through the tightly knit trees, finally out into the newly landscaped flood easements alongside the brandspanking slob-burbs that've sprung up in the last couple years. crawled our way up to the 'dam' and then into a new (to me) singletrack that grunted (and made me walk) up to the singletrack in that worsley valley park. grunted and chuffed up that then up the zig zags failing some, and cleaning a couple, and finally onto Worsley's Rd. legs tired from yesterdays blast i was a bit slow on all the ups.

once on Worsley's dirt, about 100m below the overhead wires i noticed my back wheel getting squishy... stopped to patch it (as i'd given Pete my only tube sunday), and drizzle started, lightly... got riding again, and felt a bit better, cleaning everything, including, surprisingly, the body bag. Chris had no trouble either.

Chuffed up to top of Marley's and seats down a bit and Chris put on his knee/shin pads and off we blasted. Chris immediately put a gap on me, and i struggled to keep control on some sections, just slightly off form due to low(ish) light and lack of ooomph in my legs. now and then i'd hear his noisy hub bzzzzing below me, and i felt like i was being left for dead. yumped a few yumps and railed the odd corner, but also faltered and baulked bits i never usually do. still, blasted out the bottom half and Chris said i was only like 20 seconds behind him (which isnt that bad i guess).

seats back up, and up the road. stayed in big ring and 3rd down all the way up, my new favourite cruising-climbing-slightly-too-tall gear, then towards Kennedys, via a nice poach..., then over the fence and rode along the freshly mown grass (and gorse that will dry for punctures) sapping our power up to the stile, over and down.

light drizzle messed with Chris's glasses, so i blasted off down ahead, juddering down to the first gate. over the gate and down between the pines (which SHOULD have sweet sidling switchbacky singletrack laced through them) and grabbing the 'highline' over and then down the final blast, absolutely flying down the single ribbon of hard packed clay, 60kph at least, bringing back memories of the old days. whooping at the gate, over and onto 'siberia'. climbing up and over and hitting what-ever-its-called down towards the top of the Croc. nice cruise down here, not pushing it too hard but not letting up either, then a final hard out blast down Crocodile. again, i was still not quite on form, but still enjoyed. struggled up, but cleaned, the uppy bit, then it was juuust getting a bit dim in the trees to really let rip. once out of the trees, we followed the bike trail all the way down through all the new rocks and terribly cambered teddington to the carpark, then round the road to the car. done by 9.

Sunday a.m. chuntsbury to sumner and all in between

met at Steve's. andrew tony wayne warren steve me then pete. toodled up huntsbury meeting marie at the top. my climbing seemed nearly effortless, in a taller gear than i've been shunting of late, so that was cool. Marie had Mark on the phone, so had a wee chat to him.

crossed road and hit vernon singletrack. sweet ride down to rapaki, blazingly good in fact. pete had a wee off, but other than that i think all were in tact. then witch hill wasnt too bad and up road to Castlerock.

great descent to bridle, i felt totally on form. pinning the whole way. then round the road, cruising, onto john britten where my balance got wonky but wasnt too bad a jaunt.

next, to Greenwood. more fun to ensue. bit of a regroup part way in and off we flew. kept my gap on Pete, flowed and grooved round into gloomy gulch and pulled up just before next descent, looked back and was like, huh, where is everyone..? waited, waited, waited and then the silhouettes appeared on the ridge. turned out Tony'd had a wee off. started again, fanging it, roosting and ploughing through, cleaning it all.

regroup, it was 11.35 so decided against doing godley and missing coffee, so sidled off down Capt Thomas. kept it pretty real coming down here, but got to my one nemesis and i stalled, allowing pet to get past me, so i chased him from here the rest of the way down, him pushing it nice and hard. we put a massive lead on the others, fair ripping down the hill. was great. the group re-formed slowly and then we Dot Commed it. then 12.40 hit the road, me peeling at ferrymead and then totally bonking on linwood ave. struggled the last couple kms home utterly wiped, coldsweating nearly. ugh.

Hamner here we come this weekend.

Sunday into the fog, worsle nun-chucks victory.

excellent ride i've just gotten home from.
was supposed to be meeting LeonH off vorb, from oz, and his mates, round at Tony's but they werent ready in time. so hopefully they've found themselves a good ride anyway. and they'll probably hook up with Nelson for a Wharfdale adventure during the week. anywhoo - Rex, Wayne, Tony, Steve and myself all left Tony's and before the bottom of Worsley's Rex Tony and me waited for Tim and Mark, the Mountain Vikers. They provided a good pace up the hill and we caught Steve and Wayne at the top of the seal. hit the dirt, impressing these two from auckland with whats on our doorsteps. no views tho, fog was thick, drifting across, dripping trees, but otherwise dry. amazingly i managed to clean the bodybag, all the way, even on the too many whisky's last night.

blitzing into the nun, still no view, the fog made for slightly less speed, but i had an excellent descent, grabbing a fair few of the jumps, a few regroups, and we all made it out to the kiwi. the mountainvikers loving the trails. then blatted down Old Dyers, careening down the narrow rutty section, again, Tim whooping and hollering. views just starting to show up...

steve made contact with Marie before we climbed up into vic park, and she rode and met us at the skidder site, then we explored Dazza's, Brent's, Flow, Bridges (lovin' the highline again), cleaned up hidden valley, and blazed the old skool bowenvale descent to the end. all good. my bike felt good, riding was roosty and on form. good ride all round i think, and we impressed Tim and Mark with our lovely lovely trails.

sharing our trails with out of towners made me appreciate them for what they are, which is some pretty damned cool trails.

2'sday night Thomas Godley and sons.

good bomb tonight. picked up pete at 6 and we met t'others at scumner. arriving first were Andrew and Warren, then Steve in the tfc van with Tony, (abba)Steve and Marie on board. we set off up Captain Thomas. was a good ride up, cleaning lots, blowing out on the usual few bits. feelin' good.

hit godley, still feelin' good, tho one or two weird balancey issues, but mostly pretty good. excelent blaze through some stuff. explored the new section that peels off on way down to Livingston Col. doesnt amount to much so we tootled back off it and on down the usual way. nice climb up over to Breeze with the grass not quite narrowing the trail as much as last week. from breeze we rode the 'sweet' track out to the end. my steering started getting a bit stiff, and some crunchiness ensued... need a bit of grease in the headset, not good. luckily i've got a spare one sitting on the shelf. then back round to breeze on the trail below the road, i had a fantastic spin round there (putting massive gap behind me), then along came Steve and Tony... hmmm, "where's Pete or Andy?" Andy had a flat. then pete showed up with a leak on his knee.

then off down the snake. i put some speed in and kept a nice lead with a bit of creep and a bit of gain on pete's following me. he offed right at the bottom. then a great wee flow down the 'tail and then the slog over the hill back. good blast for all of us. home round 9. not too bad going.

and another two! Wednesday Richmond Greenwood Godley Conda. + bottle ache tagalong fri

phew! four(?) rides in one week!!!
Nelson and Chris assembled themselves at mine and we Bongo'd out to Slumner, parking on Richmond Hill Rd. rode fast up there, its a steep little bastard, then hung a right down to the singletrack that wends its way into the valley and up to Clifton Hill Rd, staying on singletrack up under the trees, the other two had a good time but i flaked out several times on the wet roots. then up through the tussocky paddocks to the big trees, then up road to Greenwood.

Headed into the trail and not far along i went ping on a rock and crack! then tunk tunk tunk... broken spoke. rode the rest of the way round to the road crossing meeting up with the boys, where we played with it. i unscrewed one end, but the other was down in the depths behind the cassette. ended up electrical taping it to stop it messing with the gears. also tighened up a few neighbouring spokes truing it up as best i could.

fanged it from here, me sitting on Chris's tail at the start then they just left me for dead. tired i was two nights riding in a row. pounded down the rest of the trail, regrouping at the bottom. i did manage to gain a little on them tho, so thats something.

tightened my headset at Evans, then off up Godley, up the first bit, Chris getting a fair way up, and nelson basically cleaning it then dabbing right at the top, AFTER the tricky bit. again, they left me for dead, me barely keeping them in sight, regrouping at the airstrip, then bombing the descent to Livingston, again, me making up some lost ground, but still not catching them. over to Breeze, the descent being very difficult with all the long grass.

And tha anaconda... chris and nelson jostling for the lead, chris grabbing it with nelson pushing him hard and me just tootling along behind tho having a good time. out the snake, and then the slog over to slumnah.


then Friday night, took O out to Bottle Ache with the singlespeed and tagalong and we spun round in good time. almost the most rides in one month evah!

Guerillas in the mist

we assembled at Steves, Steve(Abba), Pete, Tony, Warren, Marie, myself and Steve. tootled round to and up Chuntsbury, nice spin up there, into the mist. cloud, ripping across the hills, dampness beading on our clothes. not cold, just interesting and eery. groovy. hit the summit trail, nice tail wind, chasing a group of 5 others, caught them and stayed on them til the Sugarloaf signpost where they stopped, Pete and me continuing on having a great blast round to Vic Park. regrouped and headed down through the trees, hit up the old gummies, with the rockgarden at their start catching a couple of the players out, regrouping at the skidder site, Steve wandered off to make a 5lb deposit, and we lost Marie here. sweet wee bomb down Dazza's followed, then Brents, on round Flow etc, highline to drop and regroup for Hidden Valley. cleaned it all up to Old Skool, and fanged it on down and out. sweet spin, felt good, best form i've had in a while, with some sweet control.

L.Ak, Saturday View Hillage into the fog

6 glorious days at little akaloa. got a ride in, the usual, up to chorlton, up view hill rd, through the gate, on up to the weathertop, in the clouds from about 500m altitude, bit of a gale southerly blowing across the top. was with Daryl, a guy i know who happened to be camping in the Domain. he's fit as, had me chuffin' hard up the road talking between gasps, and then he was middle ringing it up the concreted steep bastard leaving me behind to nearly puke up my lunch, twice... once above that tho, i did a little better, and then due to him being on a rigid old kona and having a gammy wrist, i was lots quicker on the down, until the gravel, when he surpassed my sketchiness. a good bomb down.

Dreary Sunday cloudscaped hillage.

a good wee group of boys, wayne andy pete steve and me, assembled at Steve's for a jaunt. we hit up Huntsbury to climb into the clouds. first ride of the year as a group again. trail up hunts was damp but not soggy, but at the summit road we turned left, and stayed off vernon single, bombed down road to top of rapaki, and continued round below Witch hill, again off the singletrack, even tho it was probably reasonably rideable with little impact. the cloud was at about rapaki summit level, so we were in it right round to Castle Rock. wasnt your usual damp cloud, was kinda dry really. At Castle Rock, we had a look at the singletrack and decided it was dry enough to ride. rode it, had a blast. skittery skattery on the damp rocks, but the dirt was just damp, not sticky or soggy at all. there were about 3 wet spots / puddles on the whole track, in all the usual places (ie, at about 20 m in, then a puddle between the two switchbacks, then on the way up out after the wee wooden bridge after the 2nd switchback). sheltered out of the wind waiting for the others and then we hit Bridle Path. been a long time since i've descended it, and for good reason, its basically a waste of altitude. but, blasted down, pulsing the brakes in a futile attempt at keeping them cooler. several of us tarnishing our rear rotors. up onto the Morgan's Valley track, and rode under the Gondola, turning left at the [no bikes] sign, great wee blast down next to the pine trees, then instead of dropping down through sheep to the play-centre and gunclub, we stayed above the planted shelter (wattles and a few natives)ending up at the bottom corner of a paddock (nice light brown horse looking down the fenceline at us), with an empty section between us and Morgans Valley Rd. quick bale across it and down we rolled, then down to Ferrymead, round the Heathcote to Tunnel Rd Bridge, then back down Heathcote, tow path round behind all the industria, checking out Ground Effect's new premises then to WAC for a (very good) coffee and bickies/sausage rolls as appropriate. the others headed back to vehicles at Steve's, i split down Linwood Ave home.

Wednesday's Ache of that Bottle .

chris turned up at mine before 6 and we pedalled whatever singletrack respites in the urban fray we could find, river, Banks Ave, Kingsley, the edge of Horseshoe to suburbia followed roundabouts and more suburbia til we hit the Sandpit...
legs, severely lacking oomph after lastnight's ride, aching and burning and majorly lacking power on the ups.
bottle lake... a spin round our nth favourite municipal pine plantation (there are how many(?) better ones elsewhere...). felt like forever since i'd treadled my carcass round there, saving it in recent years for those winter singlespeed outings...
geared, and worn out, i'm really not so sure.
in so many respects, is it not boring, painful, and annoying? but then i guess perhaps there's a certain fondness for the poor deluded, denuded land. its bumps, its hollows, its gravel, its trees, its sections of sand. and the memories! how many years have i ridden those ribbons of trail? the where's, why's and wherefore's the trail has squirrelled over the years. we're lucky, aren't we, us punters of the ccc, to have that place. uh huh? hah, damned sight better than sitting in front of the tv i spose.
the thing thats lacking, though, at bottle lake, is the reward. you do all that pedalling but there's no real reward, no nice long flowing trail, winding its way down around the contours, allowing you to rest your climbing muscles and finally use your holding-on-steering, -leaning and -braking muscles. you put all that effort in and all you've managed is a few metres of altitude occasionally followed by a brief squirt of down. no true gain to extinguish with braking.
if christchurch.inc could get its shit together to have the equivalent of bottle lake's trail infrastructure (and SO MUCH more) applied to (say...) the McVicar Block, fuck it'd rock! a network of well built weather-proof hilled pine and fir plantation singletrack trail added to the great (but complaining) network that's already on the hills. take the pressure off the existing trails by having so many options. whakarewarewa of the south... if only, eh?

Tuesday, Muntsbury Slummit Nun Scummit Lavaflowage

sweet ride tonight.
cruised to Chris's, and we headed across town towards the hills. after all the rain last night and this morning, and with the singletrack statuses at Avoid, we figured we'd ride up and see what was up, ride the road and down Worsley's if trails were too wet. Chris had a chain issue, which we stopped to fix (splicing into a SRAM chain a link of Shimano chain) before the dirt, then we chuffed it to the summit road.

on the way up Huntsbury, it was evident that there wasnt gonna be much to worry about. earlier in the day i'd checked several weather stations (Westmorland 7mm, St Albans 10mm, Airport 9mm)) and it is amazing how ~10mm of rain can be run straight off dry hills as well as be evaporated by an afternoon of sunshine and strong winds. lots of other riders around, and you could see that the Traverse was dry as, so he hit it. trail was fine. there were one or two puddles, but no softness at all. good chase ensued with a group of other riders, and we continued on when they stopped at the sign below Sugarloaf. and we blasted the rest of the way round to Vic. bit wet under the trees, but Thomson's was fine and we blazed down its two sections to the Kiwi.

Figured we'd give Marley's a look, and if it didnt look good, head on down Worsley. on the way up we caught up with two guys who'd just ridden down it, and their bikes were cleaner than ours(!), and they said it was dry as. they carried on to head down Kennedy's and we hung a right up top of Marley's. For a change, i led off, hitting it as hard as i could, and i think i did okay. chris was on my tail the whole way tho. then i bailed at the carpark thinking we'd head down Worsles, but Chris talked me round, and we carried on down the 'Nun. good blast down there too.

then up road to top of Vic, and hit the summit trail back round, bumping into a couple of old mates, then on round and down Lava Flow... i had trepidations, but i cleaned a bunch of bits i didnt the first time and enjoyed others. one tumble bail, and down near the bottom i dropped a wheel into a stinky sloppy hole, impaling my thigh on my seatclamp lever... carried on, really getting the hang of this trail. then we blasted down the valley, not taking Hidden Valley up to Oldskool, on account that the dirt up there wouldnt have liked our attention...

Bottom of the trail Chris's chain issue occurred again, this time two links. then, round the river, he did a silly jump over a puddle pinch flatting on the gutter. so. without mechanicals, we'd have been half an hour quicker... no matter. good ride anyway, and i'm over my dumb fear of the Lava Flow...

Friday Night, Wharfdale in the wet

glorious ride last night. Chris and me drove out through downpouring rain along the Tram Rd to meet up with Nelson and the Rally Bongo, within which we plied the byways and fords and sideways drifting of the road to Wharfdale. parked up, couple of hunters just heading in, and another bike car parked up, low cloud, bit of drizzle in the air, and i'd left my helmet at home! luckily, Nelson's street one was in the van, and it fits me! yay..

trail was reasonably wet, with a small flow of water along it, but otherwise not too bad. we had a good spin in, enjoying the slippery roots and eye-splecking goodness of the dripping bush. played a bit of a game at the suggestion of Nelson, where, whoever was in the lead, if they baulked or screwed up, dabbed basically, they went to the back and the next guy got the lead til they fucked up too. sometimes you'd hold the lead for ages, sometimes you'd hold it for 10 metres. was good, and gave all of us a chance to lead. the other rule was, if the leader had baulked, the other two didnt have to clean the section either, tho sometimes we did. anyway, that kept it interesting, altho it was excellently interesting anyway. no one had any offs, and we made the saddle in damned good time.

hail started falling on the approach to the saddle. brrr... bit of a munch at the saddle and we layered up in the few extra bits we had (ie, not enough), and got moving asap. nice flow down for a while, each having their time in the spotlight. fingers slowly numbing. funny, i felt like i was cleaning stuff i'd never have cleaned in the past, and Nelson reckoned it was cos we just wanted to hold onto the lead...

eventually, ran into the hunters again, nelson in the lead and his brakes squawking letting them know he was coming. Chris had a clickity mystery shifting chain, so we caught up to Nelsie, pulled up and he repaired the culprit, a slightly botched job from his repair in the BrakeFree zone the other night. whilst standing there, the rain suddenly got heavier, downpouring and wind shaking more out of the canopies. then we heard voices and a couple of other mad bastard bikers showed up. then two more. (obviously the owners of the other bikecar at the trailhead), they'd been down to the hut and back. their tailender (a certain (ex?) local dmr distributor...) fell off when he got to us, and stayed clipped in as he stumbled over the bank. offered help and a laugh, but he righted himself okay and got going. i led off chasing him and his mate, and keeping them in sight for a long while, thinking i could have gone faster, but didnt need to as they were clipping a pretty good pace anyway. then i baulked on something, so chris took the lead, but cos he couldnt see for shit, nelson stealth passed him and dropped us. i followed the blind Chris til i made it past him somewhere around the bridges and then it was the last climb and then the drifty flat tack eyesplecking good time descent to the cars... wicked.

friendly other bikers musta felt sorry for us not having any dry gear as they all changed into theirs, so handed over a beer each, which was nearly warm compared to our frozen selves. rally bongoed ahead of them leaving the gates for them to shut. no stock anywhere, so no worries...

All up an awesome time. wet, rooty, cold, just as you can expect on the Wharfie. i reckon 70 % of the times i've ridden it its been at least drizzling if not wetter.

Tuesday evening, OldSkool, HiddenValley, K2, OldDyers, Marleys return.

Back to town.

Picked up Chris around 6 i guess, parked up in Bowenvale Ave. we rode up Old Skool, cleaning it all, gruntingly, of course. then took the Hidden Valley track down for the first time (since its reestablishment), fun little bomb with no big surprises. into Vic...

Grunted up K2, nasty nasty little steep bastard of a climb that it is. got the better of me, but Chris made it after an early dis- and re-mount. removing shirts due to heat. cleaned up the rest of the old Nats track up under the pylon then to bottom of Dazza's. decided against continuing up K2 and took the zig and zag out to the left (looking up) instead. arriving at the skidder site we took the wee singletrack down and round out to gate, across road and bombed down down down to Dyers, across and onto the Old Dyers. hoofed it up here, re-donning shirts half way up, and then on up to kiwi, huffing and chuffing. up road into a bit of scudding cloud, and much cooler climes, to top of Marleys.

Excellent blast down the 'nun, me on Chris's tail all the way til the rocky piss-me-off everytime corner half(ish) way down, then i slowly reeled him in in the lower reaches back to the kiwi. loving the new bash/tensioner setup with NO chain loss in any of the rough stuff, and hauling ass with good measure.

Chris re-watered, then up road to top of Vic. chatted for a long time with a couple guys up there, then dropped straight into descent, chris riding seesaw and me chickening out at the last second. brake-free'd yumpity yump then Chris's chain snapped. managed to find the two parts of his quicklink, removed the twist, reassembled and off down Sesame St we shot. i got majorly bailed up on a wee drop just after the wall-ride. gave me quite a fright, lost a foot out, but somehow held it together, and off down Dazza's we shot, then across Pono's, down Old Nats, 23footer section, off camber, doubledrop/washout, and back into Hidden Valley, up up up, and screamed down Old Skool. feeling pumped and amped at the bottom.

L. Ak Meanderings to Menzies.

glorious weather, headed up the Decanter Bay Rd, steep wee grovel in places, but not too high (just under 200m), then good gravel bomb down to Decanter, then up road towards Menzies Bay, pulling off to let a sheep truck down, then onwards, forgetting how far it was, peaking at [airstrip] about 260m and careening down towards Menzies Bay. Didnt bother going all the way down, stopping in the pines (around 10km mark), taking in the view, and heading back up. weather was looking threatening on the tops the whole ride, with a few spots of rain getting me but nothing to dampen the dust.

then turned around and rode all the way back, meeting the sheep truck again just as it was pulling up into Rehutai (by the airstrip). nice bomb all the way down and round back to Decanter, then the clamber back out of there and fast sealed descent back into Little Ak. all up 20 kms, total of 750m of climbing and the same descending.

New Years Eve Eve, Banks Pen: Mt Pearce, View Hill.

Holidayed at Little Akaloa from Boxing Day til yesterday. Took my bits and pieces over and replaced entire drivetrain, cassette, chain, derailleurs, cables, shifters, middle ring (new 36t), and new bashguard and tensioner...

30th December, 2009, me Sis and partner were heading to Akaroa in our car, so i grabbed a lift to the top of the hill with them (saving me a 45 minute granny-grovel). from summit rd (540m), i headed up track to top of Mt Pearce (737m). a few gates, a few steeps, with great views, and a nice cool southerly blowing across the tops. turned around and bombed it back down to summit road.

then tootled around Summit Rd towards Okains, peeling off below Duvauchelle Peak, hitting the ridge (571) to View Hill. across the ridge, walking bits and pieces upto the sidle round to the paper road, and on up the zigs to the very top (762m). helluva gale up there, but views extraordinaire. looked at watch: 12.00. and headed down. down, off piste a bit, then onto the paper road officialis, bombed, shook, shuddered, hoofed, huffed, pushed by wind up bits normally pedalled, bombed (again), hooned, full noise down the last gravel, onto the seal at Chorlton, then back round into the wind for the descent into the bay, pedalling to keep the speed up into the wind, then awesome speed down to church and on down past beach, up road, up drive to house, 12.15... choice, nearly 800m altitude, 8kms (4kms and more than 500m alt. of which was off road), 15mins...

Xmas Eve blat, Rapaki to Slumner

great ride today with Chris. got away from mine about 2, tootled across to the 'paki, and up. heat was pounding down on us, and we kept up a good cadence but both wilted, so a quick break under the manuka tree part way up, then onwards to the top. feeling like i was dying in the heat and the climb.

hit Witch hill, and i really struggled, fumbling on every rock and gasping for air, richochet'd my way back down to the road, and then round and up to Castlerock. bit of a breather there too, awaiting the mustard Simple rider guy (again), and then we headed off down. bit of cross wind down here, and Chris was off form, with me catching him, letting him out, catching again. on the climb he got away from me again. round road to Britten

Doing better on round the britten, and then onto Greenwood. lawns mowed, so slippery dry grass all over the trail. the wideness cleared made the trail seem less rutty, but the occasional loss of front wheel traction added to the excitement. at times it was almost like it was wet. bit of a break mid way and then back onto it. feeling a bit more on form lower down.

crossed the road and hit the Thomas. i was finally feeling like i was getting it again, whereas Chris was baulking on heaps of spots, so i took the lead. usual couple of bits caught me out, but cleaned the other usuals nicely. great blast lower down, bumping into Helmark on his way up and having a good old yarn. on down, hitting the road for the long slog home. at least there was a tail wind most of the way.

Sunny sunday, Sumner to Evans to Taylors to Sumner again.

nice ride this morning. picked up Pete and we drove out towards scumner. passed the boys (Steve, Tony, Abba and Wazza) on the causeway, so parked up just into redcliffs and then chased them round to DotCom where Andrew and Wahayno were parked. headed up the Thomarse, me cleaning more than usual, including right to the steps at the start, all of the rooty section before the bridge (in the gulch), and nearly getting that little steep before the seat. then walked up the three or four other usuals, and all in all didnt feel that bad. we all grabbed shade whenever we could, the sun was beating.

At Evans, sheltered in shade of the bank and shot the shit til all regrouped, Abba bailing out here on account of knackeredness, then the rest of us hit Godley. i got miles up the first section, and one more pedal stroke would have had it, but i didnt. one of my best efforts yet. pete also was on form here and did about as good as me. then nice breezy flow round up and down, up and round and down. some of the party took the new right hander on the way down to Livingston Col, which isnt finished and they took the fall line straight down to us. grass is long round to Breeze, keeping you on your toes.

i led off into the 'conda. taking it pretty easy to start, flowed nicely, round and then opened it up a bit. i could feel Andrew on my tail most of the way, he seems to be on form at the moment, but i still got some distance on him, with him commenting "dunno how you can do that so fast on a hardtail" or words to that effect. stopped at beginning of 'tail and took in the lovely view. also there were lots of summery peeps on the beach, and the water was black with surfers. nice wee blast down the tail to Taylors, another regroup and water taken on and then the slog begun. i pushed reasonably hard up the hill today, cos i just wanted the climb done. caught some shade til everyone else got up and then off down Nicholson park with steve getting a close call with a car on the lane above the cliffs. meandered round waterfront watching the longboarders and enjoying the sun, then coffee time at the 'Com. then zoomed back to car and were home by 12.15.

planning to ride tonight the Packhorse with Nelson and others tonight, but this storm's come through, so we'll see i guess...

:update: hooked up with Nelson and Craig (with Bergamont!) and we drove through rain to Gebbies, then proceeded to sit in the van for over an hour chatting, then finally giving up. it absolutely pissed down, so even after it'd lightened up a bit, the trail would have been bloody wet.

desperate ploy at post count increase

didnt ride, but the PFMTBC groovers assembled at Pomeroys for a beer or 4 on Tuesday night. most brought their girls, tho i couldnt. even Nelsie showed with Trudes. and Chris joined in the fun too.

there, one more towards my 75 posts for the year...

Sunday evening, Worstleys nun traverse (first time)-lava hidden oldskool

good loop with Chris and Nelson last night. in the bongo, nelson and me picked up Chris from centre of town and we parked up in Wherstead Rd. hit Earnsley Reserve and round to Worsleys. i struggled with the hill, suffering from a bad case of previous-evening's-overindulgence. but made it to the top eventually, walking the last 20 metres or so of the 'bag.

surprisingly good blast down the 'nun, catching good air, tho the other two were pinning it all the way and by the time i got to the road, they were way way ahead. up summit road to top of vic, and hit the traverse. my struggling continued, with me dabbing(!!!) on a couple of bits, and running out of grunt on a couple of the wee climbs... appalling!

what was amazing tho, was when we stopped at the Sugarloaf stop, the way the sun came through under the norwest arch and lit up the city like it was some crazy religious icon chosen city, surreal dark clouds all round the background and this pure slightly yellowed white light blazing down on the 'chosen' place. the sun crept slightly further down, then encompassing our trail ahead (with just the shadow of Sugarloaf covering a little bit). fucking lovely.

got to top of Lavaflow and descent began. my first time ever, amazingly. cleaned lots, but had to walk a couple of wee bits just cos i wasnt feeling on form enough. quite enjoyed lots of it. nelson had one step-off-over-the-bars moment, but other than that we all survived out to the bottom and down valley. then we hit the Hidden valley track up to oldskool. excellent hammer down there and back to the bongo all of us craving some Angus...

Sunday, a valley, traverse, gums, dazza's, nats, hidden, oldskool

good blast this morning. Pete, Andrew and me met at Steves. the four of us headed off.
because Rapaki is so dull now, we decided we're boycotting it (couldnt remember when last rode it, so checked - was back in August). so, we ventured into a "here-there-be-dragons" zone between two well known tracks. nice steep techy climb, lots of dabs, lots of walking, lots of pedal shoving rut-sides, and lots of keeping good relations with the few walkers and runners we met. none seemed bothered at all by our presence. upon meeting back up with one of the aforementioned well known tracks, we stayed on the animal paths and pushed and shoved our way up through juncus, tussocks and ruts, the overall climb taking twice or three times as long as Rapaki normally would. all of us were feeling the mugginess and lack of wind by the top.

Steve had had a wee tumble down in the rushes, landing on his thumb, so he took the road round vernon, while the rest of us grunted up the singletrack. regrouped at road crossing and hit the Traverse - steve taking it easy. great blast round here, feeling (finally) more on-form than i have done any time recently, with excellent line choice and despite having a small head-cold, seemingly enough power. it was like the narrow techy climb had dialled in my riding.

From Vic, we avoided the DH racers by taking the classic Gums trail down to the skiddersite where Steve and Andy bailed, leaving Pete and me to blast down Dazza's, then Pono's and on down the Nats, mostly pretty good downhill. meeting the racers down the bottom, where we decided to avoid them by hitting up the Hidden Valley track, cleaning all of it, and then blazing out way out down Old Skool. Met up with the others and hit up the cafe at St Martins. biked home via C1 to grab some beans.

Tuesday night, Captain Godley Conda

great ride tonight. picked up Chris at 6.30 and we headed out to Scumner. Cruised up Captain Thomas, took it pretty easy. failed to clean many of the usual obstacles, which seemed to become a pattern for the evening's ride. Fog was low, juust above Evans when we got up there, otherwise muggy.

tackled Godley, neither of us getting the first rocky section. i think we both blew the second wee snick too, but easy going after them. Fog seemed to get wetter the further out we got, but the trails (even after a couple days rain) were completely passable. no puddles, no mud, no soft bits, just very slightly greasy in a couple of spots. Chris was having more and more trouble seeing, with the misty fug accumulating on his glasses as we rode. i took the lead after the second boardwalk section and blitzed it down to Livingston Col (new section to the right noticed, just begun digging), tho taking it easy too, what with the grass slightly overgrowing most of the trails. up over to Breeze col, cleaning it all nicely, feeling my mojo starting to return a bit.

from Breeze, we took the trail below the road out to the end, then up the hill back and onto the harbourside walking track. awesome wee float down this, taking it carefully, cos the rocks were just greasy enough to be interesting.

then onto the Snake. i took the lead and got a good flow on. track condition perfect, no dust, just well firm. popped all the air, and railed all the berms and was a sweet descent. then the climb up and over back to car in Slumner.

Sunday, quick up into drizzle to dinner

headed across town and up Major Aitken onto the new found wee piece of singletrack on the way up, thinking i'd look for another exit. could see one and another possibility, but didnt venture into them as i couldnt see any actual trails. back up onto the road and into the rest of the climbing grunt. as i got up above the pilons, the drizzle started getting thicker. all the way up the Huntsbury to the road, then hit the summit traverse towards Vic. good fang round here, tho tussocks soon drenched my shoes, with rocks and matting getting slick too.

Hit Thomsons both sections and blasted down to Kiwi, then hit Old Dyers. great ride down the first section, flowy and pumpy, then the midsection with the ruts was saturated, with all the long grass leaning into the trail, drenching me even further. down the 4wd section was wetter than i'd have thought, so a bit of splatter resulting, then crossed the road and scrunted up through vic onto the road then down past the dog exercise zones and down the track under the tv/microwave tower behind the houses and into the top of cashmere for dinner. happy birthday Mum!

Tuesday night, quarry and a pair of crocs.

no riding for over a week due to being in Fiordland.

grabbed a lift with Pete, running a little late, so the others (steve, tony, warren, abacus-steve) had slowly headed up the over the quarry ahead of us. our lungs screaming, we chased, meeting them at the top. cruisy flow down, me chatting to steve, then up the paddock and up the zigzag into the new windswept houses. tarmac for a bit then over the gate and up the singletrack. i peeled off and rode the log, then caught back up and overtook everyone into the grunts. blew the first, but cleaned the rest, gasping for air a the top. then we blitzed the 'short course' track down to gate. unbelievable how fast the elite guys must be riding that to complete 12 laps in 30mins!!!!!

regrouped at gate, and headed back up singletrack then down. i led and we were chasing this older guy who we'd given a big lead. i caught up with him before the pond, and went to pass him on a straight bit, but then i bloody well hit a rut hidden in the grass and went down HARD. pretty much right next to him... twisted my handlebars/stem, so had to get the multitool out and straighten it up. steve tony and wazza continued on, but pete and abacus-steve stuck with me. then it was off again, this time me chasing pete. down (what was) 'new tasty' and onto the croc. fanging it. didnt let a little crash slow me up. couple close calls with rutty bits and neeaarly didnt clip out when i stalled in that rock tightspot, then on down, cleaning the steepie after the bridge, where steve et al were waiting.

then steve led down but i darted round him in the lower hairpins, then we hung a tight left and down into loose grave and some surprise rock stepping stones to a regroup where steve steve and tony all bailed on account of steve's gurgly guts.

pete warren and me headed back up a different trail this time, straight up to the zigzag into the tarmac then back down the croc. another good blast, with lungs just getting right... home by 8.30. nice wee jaunt.

Wednesday evening, Major Hunts Traverse Fence Hidden OldSkool twice.

picked up Chris before 7 and we parked on Bowenvale Ave. tootled down and round to Major Aitken then up here. part way up, on a bend, spotted a wee singletrack snaking off into some gums. hit it, Chris got a pinch flat on the kerb, stopped to fix that and then on up the 'Reserve' singletrack, which appeared to finish in someones back yard. he was watering his lawn and said "up to the right", so we found our way out, and spotted where you'd go next time. nice, will be an interesting wee down next time we bail down this hill.

on up huntsbury to top, reasonably uneventful except for meeting a guy on a Simple (Soul's singlespeed sister). clambered straight up onto traverse and hoofed it round towards Vic, sun thankfully just set, reducing blindness.

dropped straight over the DH fence, hung a right and headed onto Upper Fenceline track for an explore. i'd not been down it for a year or two, so figured'd take a look. someone's been working on it, trying to stop the fall-line and they've dug in berms and jumps, but not nearly finished. bit crappy actually, and was a bit of a waste of altitude.

into Flow, Bridges, Chris taking our high line for a change, down the drop, and down to and up Hidden Valley track. cleaned it all up, round to pylons and Old Skooled it. At the stile, stopped for snackage and it was lights on time. rode the first bit without lights, which pinged and buzzed us down and then finally turned them on on some of the new section. good bomb down here trail in great nick.

at the bottom, we rode back up the valley track (steeper than i remembered), back up Hidden Valley, me blowing heaps this time, and then slaughtered Old Skool again. mint.

Sunday mornin', Hunts Vern on Witch Castle Green Thom

Met at Steve's (who was crook), smallish posse, Andy Tony Pete and Wahayno. rode round and headed up Chuntsbury. hefty climb, but not bad. Headed up onto singletrack and down towards Rapaki. good blast down here only meeting one person riding up. dabby but not bad jaunt round witch hill, then up road, and hit Castlerock. excellence ensued, absolutely flying down to the first hairpin, feeling totally on form, but then wondering whether i should trusting the on-form-ness. round the bend and i'm all over the place, rocks pinging my wheels around. round the next bend and still not quite right, then climbing and getting it right again.

round road onto Britten, spotting the new trail from the Gondola-top on the way. nice blitz round britten, getting the rocky bit first time in years. then to Greenwood. good blast down the first section, break for snackage on the ruins then hit the main drag. awesome descent. got round into Gloomy gulch and before the next descent looked back and didnt see anyone... eventually pete turned up, tony had a flat. so we sat and took in the view and chewed the fat til the others showed, then it was off again. good blast the rest of the way out.

Finally, onto the Captain. i started off good, but then i got spooked on the first rocky sections. got on okay after that, cleaning the usuals. the final blast was awesome. has been opened up a bit and some wicked wee jumpies all the way down, then into the darker stuff, meeting walkers and runners, easy easy, and down. long slog home by 12.30.

Thursday Night, FINALLY a ride, Worsle Nun Gov Thom Gum Cool OldSkool

after working late and not thinking i'd ever get a ride again, amazingly i managed to get out. picked up chris after 7, drove to nelsons whereuponst our bikes we rode. headed across town to Worsley's, me realising how spending that long off the bike had left me feeling fat and slow... realising it even more so as we hit the climb and chris and nelson blazed off ahead of me. struggle struggle i did up to the dirt, gasping for air and feeling the burn.

hit the Worsley dirt, and trundled up balancing on the crests of the ruts, dying, but managing not to dab. the boys waited for me half way up, then we set off again, and by the time i was hitting the body bag they'd already crested it. legs screaming i managed to get nearly all the way up, but, practiced as i became accustomed to, i walked a little bit, then managed to get back on and ride to the top. ugh. darkness encroaching we cruised to top of flying nun and chris and me put our lights on.

Chris led off, me second and nelson last. headed in, i felt sketchy as, nearly scaring myself on the steep rock drop corner, but pulling thru, conscious of nelson on my tail i put some distance on him, then would muck something up and feel him breathing down my neck again. one of the riser-corners i took the shortcut and nearly got thrown by something i didnt see hidden in the grass, managed to stay on, still feeling sketchy. on down and where i thought we were bailing (carpark), chris had continued down, nelson got by while i was off the track and we chased down chris who had a massive lead by now, me eating both of their dust down the lower section. regroup and trundle back up the road to the Governor's Track.

Top of the Gov's track, Nelson and Chris off first and me last. nice wee descent, lovely track, floating over the bridge, ducking branches, etc. sidled round to where the other down-track continues its switchbacky way down to the road. Nelson and Chris decided to head on down to take in all of it, whereas i couldnt be bothered with the grunt back up, so turned back getting a head start on them, back up the way we'd come down. couple bits i had to walk, below the bridge, steep wee steepies... then regrouped and finished off the lower section of the Nun back to the kiwi again, this time with Chris tight on my tail.

due to Guy fawkes, the summit road from kiwi towards rapaki was the busiest i've ever seen it. thousands of cars cruising it, bumper to bumper, fireworks going off in all the laybys. insane. we rode all the Thomson's sections for this reason. then it was down through Vic, bit of Brake free, chris riding it a couple times, then off down through the oldschool gummies. interesting rock treatment just before the trees. that should keep a few out. lost chris when we hung a left and nelson and me continued right down to the road gate, riding back and hollering for Chris at the skidder site.

then it was off up the middle trail to Cool Runnings, something i'd not ridden for quite some time. the other two hung a right for a higher line, but ended up on a completely different trail. i waited for them as they scrambled back to it, then off we flowed, railing the berms and out to Flow and Bridges, nelson and me sticking to the high line to the washout drop. then down to the new Hidden Valley connector (nice work in here!!!), round, screamed down Old Skool, and back to Nelsons about 10.30.

Excellent to get out on the bike again, but i gotta get my fitness back up, bad.

The Golden Bay Trip... PFMTBC Inc, annual pilgrimage

Well. Weather-wise, this was the worst of our trips yet. Couldn’t have picked a worse weekend to ride in Golden bay. but cant do much about it.

Started off with torrential rain as Nelson and me drove into blenheim around 11.30-midnight Thursday in the Bongo. Rain didn’t let up all night, and we woke up to it too. Figured, lets go look at Rarangi and see (grabbing some Renaissance beers on the way). It ‘appeared’ to be lightening-up out at sea, so we headed off up the track anyway. An hour later, we’re drenched, pushing our bikes up through the clouds and the bush was saturating us further drip drip dripping down. I'd conveniently forgotten how much uphill there was on this ride. However, the sketchy-as downhill made up for it all - steep slick(ish) rooty rocky technical (made doubly so by the wet) trail down down down through the bush. FANTASTIC. That is what mtnbiking is all about. Pushing your limits, challenging your skills.

Changed into dry clothes and hit the road. Drove over and through towards Marahau to meet up with the boys. Ending up connecting with them in Kaiteriteri to ride the new trails there. Taking in halfpipe up, sidewinder, swampmonster, gladerunner, then up Shady lady (losing tony, steve and wayne somehow), to gladerunner and back through swampmonster and sidewinder, chainsuck starting to bite us all, then round Salivater back down. That was fun. Hosed down bikes at boatwash, and headed through to Marahau beach camp to our cabins. Weather held off a bit over beers and bbq.

Next morning, drove over the hill into rain rain rain. Decided we wouldn’t ride anywhere that day (tho, had we known what was instore for us, we *should* have done Canaan Downs then...). Checked into the Nook, and then drove through torrential rain (the westcoast kind where you nearly have to pull over cos the wipers cant keep up (tho, the Bongo wipers can handle anything!)) to the Mussel Inn for some beers and kai, then back to the Nook for dinner and lots more beer, and maybe some bourbons.

Sunday, joined by Norm from Nelson (who'd ridden with us in Nelson a few years ago), we drove up to Wharariki / Puponga (Farewellspit). Lovely day up there, barely a breath of wind, best I’ve ever seen it at Wharariki. Parked at Pillar Pt Lighthouse track start, sort of the top of the road. cruised down road to farm track along behind the beach, popped out to rock bridge and then GreenHill beach, and back up road and up track up to the Pillar Point Lighthouse and along the ridge a bit, chatting up some horses on the way. Then bombed it back down, track like a river bed - fast flowing, steep, rocky as hell, babyhead rocks abounding, and fun fun fun.

Drove down to Collingwood, had lunch as the rain started, then up to the Devils Boots, from whence we rode into the Aorere goldfields. Rode up grindy slurpy steep and rutty singletrack to Druggans Dam, a bit further, then 3 of us (Nelson Pete and me) back down the way we'd come up, while the rest 'piked' choosing to ride out via the 4wd track instead (this proved, by all accounts, to be everybit as challenging and enjoyable as our way (and longer too)).

Norm stayed over night, it rained all night, and Monday morning was still wet, so taking it easy getting started, we all took our 3 vehicles (leaving his behind) up Takaka hill, and half way out the Canaan Downs Rd where it was clearing a bit. Parked at the saddle. Rode down to Harwoods Hole carpark, and then out the Rameka track. Jungle riding at its best in these conditions... Very mucky, but VERY fun. I had a nasty crash, misnegotiating a rock entry to a streamcrossing, over the bars, into the creekbed, landing on a rock with my chest. Pounded the wind out of me, hurt like hell for a bit. But kept riding. Rex went over the bars at various times too, and Pete got stung good by a Lawyer of the bush variety on the cheek. Fun descent in the lower sections, the one bit i thought would be the worst. then a wicked struggle up the marbley cliff-ledge final climb. finally a fun bomb down the gravel access road to the Rameka Project that has extended markedly since i rode it back in March, and was a joy to behold. sidling singletrack through pine forest and hacked, nay, carved lovingly, through gorse and scrub. eminently turnable switchbacks throughout and even a kea screeching overhead in the pines. followed by a bomb down to the ford, and onwards down the rameka road. Once we finally got out to the road, rode back down towards the Nook, via a small detour into The Grove. sweet smooth walkingsingletrack up to a look out and back through spectacular limestone formations with rata trees and jungle bush. Three drivers and Norm went up to get the vehicles, with Norm continuing on home. (they were gone nearly an hour and a half, bloody long drive). Big celebratory night that night with three of us staying up til waaaay past our bedtimes.

Tuesday, still wet, so figured we’d head back up hill and do Canaan Downs trails. So, UP the hill once again, out to the saddle, and rode down the road again, and then into the start of the Rameka, only instead of turning left to go down, we continued up to Wainui Saddle. From here, locals (and DOC (see Mtbiking on this page) ) have made a trail that meanders across almost all of the Canaan Downs farm. Its really great. Awesome terrain, scenery, landscape. Lambs everywhere. Weather came and went, sometimes we could see the whole valley, other times we could only see about 10 feet. And one stage it hosed down for a good half hour. Luckily, biking keeps you warm. Plodded back up to the vehicles with sunshine trying to get through, and hail piled up around the sides of the road!!!!! Nelson rode down the road and I drove the rally-Bongo. I picked him up at the main road, then as we headed into the rain at the top, dropped him off again, and followed him all the way down the main hill retrieving him in Upper Takaka. Out to dinner at the Penguin in Pohara (just round the corner), then we all had like one drink each and crashed very early.

Awesome trail surfaces ridden, all drain well, none seemed particularly bothered by having 9 or 10 sets of tires over them at all. good times had by all. no major injuries nor major bike mechanicals. lots of chainsuck tho. and all our brake pads will have worn heaps more than usual.

Bring on next year. as well as trips to Hanmer, Kirwans, Croesus, Marlborough in between... not to mention Craigieburn and Wharfdale...

Sunday arvo, post pox exhaustion...

Finally, exactly 2 weeks since the pox struck i get out on the bike. planting in the morning, so while H slept i picked up Chris and we parked up on Hillsborough Tce. headed up Farm Track, which was a bit of a mistake, as i found my lungs just couldnt seem to get enough air. anyway, with a bit of walking in the lower reaches, but surprisingly cleaning the top bit, we turned right on the road and headed round to top of Vernon Singletrack. headed up onto it and down round to rapaki, having a damned good flight down, track in mint condition, showing no signs of issues from previous weeks' rain (not even in the usual spots)

round witch hill, not bad, tho struggling- me on the ups, then up road to top of Castle where there was a Hangglider careening around above. Excellent blat down there, chris leading, we flew. was good. at bridle summit we decided to ride up back up the way we came, so clamber clamber, me struggling away. ugh, the climbs were so hard. then back down road, back round witch hill, much much better this time, its soo much more fun in that direction, blasting down to top of rapaki. back up vernon, chris blasting off ahead to blitz some other guys (who i surprisingly caught up to as well).

then we blatted the first bit of summit and down Old Skool... briefly think i had an apparition of a "Track Closed" sign, but it was so fleeting and i was travelling fast and committed so we carried on. in hindsight, only reason we can see for it being closed is cos of all the lambs and their mums all over the hill from that top gate to the new stile part way into the singletrack (annoying place for a stile, we reckon). we were cautious, and dont think we upset too many small family units (tho, sheep being sheep, ie, fucking stupid, there was one mum who kinda left one of her offspring behind due to us... hopefully she'll wander back and find it)

annyways, excellent run down the rest of the singletrack, all in mint condition too. no harm done, even if we accidentally ignored a sign. then round road back to car.

This was my last chance to ride before heading away Thursday night for the PFMTBC annual trip... much looking forward to it. few things to do on the bike before that...

The Pox

Last sunday, a whole week ago, i woke up ready to go for a ride, and found that my body ached like someone had taken to me with a baseball bat, and my head ached like hell and i generally just felt bloody awful... i still considered riding, thinking it was just the flu starting and i might burn it out, but, nope, got sensible and hopped back into bed... where i remained for the following 7 days pretty much. monday afternoon i noticed the first few spots, and a visit to the doctor on tuesday confirmed our suspicions, Chicken Pox.

so, a pox riddled sickboy for a week, with wednesday being the lowest point and have been on the up somewhat since then, with this weekend having been finally up and about. i'm still off work today, probably tomorrow too just to be safe. i think thursday might be my first chance back out for a ride. dont think i should push it with a ride tomorrow night, altho i am feeling heaps better, i reckon its probably best to rest these bones just a little longer, get allll the virus out of me.

that'll make it more than 2 weeks off the bike. s'been a while since i've had that long off.
(i've also turned off my RSS feed to vorb, and will just post up the rides from now on in a single thread...)