Sunday Wurst Nunchuck Dying Victim

Pete and steve were out, but a good buncha ring-ins showed at Tony's for today's spin. nice tailwind got me over there in dead on 20mins. Andrew, Warren, Wayne, Tony and Marie, off up Worsley's, me taking the dirt instead of tarmac, feeling good.

Hit the dirt and all had good climbs, i think all cleaning the body bag too? i got up first and struck up a conversation with the tailender of the Canty MtnBike Club group ride, who turned out to be someone quite well known. then we were onto the Nun. AWESOME blast down here, cold easterly blustering the odd jump, but not as bad as all that, brief regroup at half way, then onwards and downwards then off down Old Dyers too. excellent blaze down the bumpy bumpy bumpy to a sheltered sunny spot for a snackup.

then onwards up to road, over, and up into vic park, taking in the wee singletrack leading into the skidder site. nice wee off by Andrew, who ended up having to untangle himself from a friendly bush. Off down Dazzas, then Brents, with everyone going different directions in there, Wayne and me taking in some of the bit we rode the other week. discovered race tape before leaving the forest, with dh groms blasting past on the fast lines as we flowed flow and nubridges. we regrouped below double drop (which was the dh finishline), and waited for Wayne, who'd had quite a good off, nasty scrapes on his arms and knee.

Off up Hidden, managinng to clean it all this time, and off up and over into a glorious descent of the Old Skool. i said good by as the others turned for tony's, and me to a quick blast into the wind home

Tuesday Scarbro conda Godley Thomas

treadled over to pete's and we falconed out to Sumner to meet Andrew and then Steve and Tony. off into the brisk wind for a reversal of the usual around the waterfront and off up at a nice leisurely pace up Scarborough. blatted down into Taylors and off up the 'tail. nice climb and on up the rest of the snake, big(middle) ringing the whole way.

At Breeze col, it surely was breezy, and a split was decided. Pete and me were feeling chipper enough to contemplate the blast out and back, while the others tootled off towards Evans. We made good time, taking the low road, then making like Buffalo Girls and going 'round the outside', then the chase was on. not a bad up, and a good descent to Livingston Col where we could see the other guys topping out on the mucky summit. rough as guts descent to Evans where the boys were waiting.

Time for the Captain, Pete chasing me and passing me when i baulked on the highline taken due to walkers, leaving the rest of us for dead. good blat the rest of the way, absolutely flying. couple brief stops swapping the lead at each gate, with me finishing off the lower half. back to the cars and home before 8.30 just as dark was dropping.

the trip - Dunners

so far so good. final night, sittin in a puter room and loading this down. for a far more indepth analysis, see steve's pfmtbc write up.

Friday, roadtripped to Dunners, arrived, settled in, loaded up with food and beer then hit the local Redwoods. rode up steeeeeep roads (Rockside and Tanner) to get to it, up McGouns to top, down a single, through mudtroughs to the top of the 'loop'. off down switchback after curve after curve after switchback, loving it all, slightly loose in places but fun fun fun, and 5 minutes later you're at the bottom and head up for the climb which switchies its way up the hill caning it to the top. how many loops? i think 3 or 4, but on Pete's third, he crashed real good skinning the knee.

day two
massive day, heaped upon a hangover from celebratory arrivals. Multiple hours of riding exhausting all involved, slowed even further by a certain dreaded one's constant flats. took Nichol's Creek Switchback track all the way up to Swampy, hung a left at the top and on over to a speedy descent to the 'bull pen'. tried to find the entrance to a shortcut down to snakes and ladders (alas, took road round instead). No one particularly enjoying the Snakes'n'ladders, so half the party bailing out, while the other half continued through it only to be stopped by Mike's flatting. back up to the bull pen in killer heat with worn out climbs back up to top of the way we'd come down, and time to hit the switchbacks again. Everyone loving the descent, with footage captured. over all, everybody loved the beginning and ends of the day, but not a lot in the middle.

day 3.
signals mixed. up up up up up up road after road to Signal Hill Monument and g-stringed tourist asses to meeting a friendly Brent (from Bike Otago) who led us down descents we'd enjoy to bottom, nice rocky technical but reasonably fast descents, thinking rain would kill the rest of the day.

back base then some lunch, and rain gone, so drove up for a post lunch Redwoods play, multiple laps, then across to Buffoons and an argumentative start prior to blazing around some of the sweetest singletrack yet. starting from the carpark we headed into the Forrester forest into the day before's racetrack, loving it down then getting back to the carpark. quick lap of the bmx track, then off up the hill, into Bethunes Gully, up a singletrack which zigged us down again into the picnic area, over a bridge, up Mt Cargill Walkway, which seemed to get steeper and steeper, us spotting the singletrack below us, eventually up left to a wee play on some wooden things and down to race tape, hard left into Haggis basher or hunter, for a wicked descent popping stuff on the way. back over the bridge and up the xc climb, zigging and zagging through fantastic plantation forest to a top. the speedier ones raced off and took the 'Expert' line, while the slightly slower for some reason took the 'Sport', and so the 'experts' all ended up down the bottom again, waiting indefinitely for the others who never showed. cel contact was made and we all headed on up the way we'd arrived into the clearing originally, then took a zig zag track up left and over to find the others on the road. then we circled out round Forresters park on all of its singletrack back to the carpark.

day 4.
Government Track, out near Waipori Falls. very niiiice. bit of a drive out of town, into fucking nasty looking weather, me in the falcon thinking oooop, steve'll be cross, but arriving up the valley as the sun shone and the bush beckoned. up the first couple switchbacks thinking what are we in for?, then onto glorious benched singletrack gliding through spectacular forest, fuchsia-broadleaf-podocarp in the lower and wetter areas, with dryer beech forests on the ridges, then into manuka scrub getting shorter and nearly subalpine up top. brief time in some farm land with wind trying to blow us over. over an hour to the top, with a bit of hail thrown in on the way up for good measure, otherwise mostly sunshine including at top. black weather coming so off we headed back down, first through the manuka then into the good beech forest and then the podocarp. when the black weather hit, snow started falling, spectacularly. the roots were skittery and all of it was fantastic. to me, this track is everything i love about riding in new zealand.

day 5.
forecast nasty, so didnt expect to ride, but day turned out to be sweet, so we got up the switchbacks again, great ride up and great ride down. arrived back to base as the skies opened, perfect timing. lunched in town then 5 of us partook of a tour with Richard Emerson of his brewery. a great experience, with 'quality control' being a very important part of the tour.

day 6,
packed up, left Dunedin. Pete, Marie, Mark and me in the Falcoon, off up to Waimate. Excellent Peas, Pie and Pud at The Savoy, the best tearooms in South Canterbury, then off up to end of Point Bush Rd to ride the White Horse. Steep ass little switchback trail up through regenerating native bush and macracarpa and pines up top, even seeing a Wallaby mosying through, and on up to the PD gang working around the Horse. Photos, then down, popping most of the jumps on down in no time flat. back in car, off we went. 20 odd kms later Mark realised he didnt have his camera! so, back to Waimate, and on round the road to the top of the track. Retreived the camera and the Mark and me rode down again, meeting the others on the road below, great ride the second time round too.

Home for dinner.

Finally, Sunday Mid Hills Blast.

Good ride Sunday Morning. Usual suspects, plus as a bonus me oldest bestest friend Matt, who was visiting from Melbs. Normally a roadie, his grins definitely showed he liked the dirt - maybe we'll convert him yet. He borrowed my ancient (socalled)"Schwinn". I'd spent an hour or so the night before cleaning it up a bit and swapping bars, stem and pedals to make it more accommodating for him. We treadled across town to Steve's where turned up Pete, Warren, Wayne, Tony, Andrew and Marie. then we all headed round and up Rapaki. Matt's road fitness got him up nearly effortlessly with Pete and me, and he enjoyed the views to be had from there on round. We singletracked Vernon - Traverse - Thomsons then kiwi road to Marley's and the excellent blast down the Nun, all with numerous regroupings and millions of other riders to contend with, more crowded than i've seen it in ages. A southerly was due late morning (didnt show til much much later) so maybe everyone was trying to get around before that... From bottom of Nun, up the Thomsons to top of Vic and down, me being the only one to do the see-saw (as usual). through the rocks, into the gums and most of us tried out a new track Marie pointed out to us. great little twist and shout through the gums spitting us out at the lefthander so many usually miss, over the wee jump and then down round out to the Skidder site... race tapes up, so we got in and blazed down Dazza's, into Brents staying between the tapes down to a turn and section i'd never done before, whistles blowing our approach, like we were DH racers :). Onto Flow, me missing the new highline, rutting instead, and then into nu bridges, down to Hidden Valley and its wee granny grunt up, blowing some of the hairpins. then into Old Skool, first time since April! yay. great blast down there, with a couple of regroups, and then out to coffee at St Martins, then the headwind home. Friday, PFMTBC trip. hopefully i'll be able to slide a ride in between now and then...

Tuesday repeat of sunday again.

Pete n me treadled the length of Linwood Ave and round to Warren's, finding him, Tony and Marie ready to ride. Steve was off being wined and dined somewhere fancy. We headed round the ferrymead singletrack, then off up Mt Pleasant Rd, spreading out pretty good but regrouping a couple times and then layering up up top before hitting the Greenwood goodness.

once again, I was on fire! felt really good once again, possibly better than Sunday. fanged it, railed, popped, roosted, relishing the dry singletrack. quick reqroup midway, til Marie rounded into view, then off again, cutting through the lower section even smoother and faster than before. cleaning both little rocky ups and floating from there on down. whole ride was totally on form, felt great.

Marie took off down the road, due to light issues, and the rest of us headed into Capt Thomas, once again, feeling very good. usual baulk, then great cleaning of all the rest. quick regroup in the middle and into the rest of it, great times. first night ride without lights (cept for Tony and Wazza in last bits of Thomas).

then the slog home, head winds, once again, but not quite as strong as sunday.

Sunnyday east end blat

Nice wee ride this morn. gorgeous day, hot, norwest. Rode over to Steves. Tony, Marie there, then up rolled Andrew, Warren and Wayne. and off we all went down river, round behind ferrymead, causeway, and up Mulgans, nasty little piece of work that it is. cleaned a couple corners i'd not before, but still dabbed out most. climb climb climb, then up Panorama, and up the nice rooty singletrack, on up to road, and cruised to top of Greenwood...

where i led off and had one of my best descents down there for a lonnng time. every corner smooth, flowing over rocks not being pinged from one to another, great times, high speed, roosting.

was quarter after 11 when we got to Evans, and we talked about Godley, but it was decided coffee at the bottom of Capt Thomas was more appealing. shame, but as i found out later, a bit of a blessing. So, the Captain. was good. my on-form-ness was still with me, and roosted nicely down all but the one nemesis. not too many other trailusers, which is always good on the lower slopes.

after coffee, the headwind. norwest, fucking strong, and relentless. took me probably twice as long to get down Linwood Ave than usual, horrible it were, and i was starting to bonk near my usual place. so, it was just as well we hadnt done Godley, cos that would have left me dead before i'd even got to Ferrymead...

Tuesday repeater

Rode to Pete's for a lift over to Tony's where we found Warren, Wayne and Tony. Off up Worsley's we chuffed, everybody doing well. the dirt was a tad drier than Sunday, but the ruts and ridges were just as challenging and enjoyable, the odd bit dabbing us all. three cleaned the body bag, one with a blow out part way up.

on up to the Nun. i led off, blazed away, weed-eaten grass strewn all over the whole track now. felt a little more on form than sunday, tho the grass and lights made it a bit trickier. got through all the midlevel rocks and below the old 4wd bit and waited for a bit for the other's lights to appear. Pete had had issues, his handlebar mounted lights had been flopping forward on every bump. continued on down, pete sorted his lights at the carpark and on down to the kiwi we flew.

up the road, ignoring the Thomsons, into Vic, flowed down the first bit, i took the see-saw, then into Brakefree. i peeled off, but then Pete yumped and swooped round it, so i got back in and we hit Sesame St, the landing off the Wall nearly wiping me out, then into Dazza's, and Flow and once again New Bridges, and out the bottom.

pretty much one year on, Camelback Mule is still a good wee pack, however, the bladder has fucked out. leaks if left on wrong angle, and has taken on a nasty freezer smell (if not so much taste).

Sunday Worsley Nun Victory, ah.

quick earlyish blat this morning. left home bout 8.30 (after unseizing one of my derailleur jockey wheels), cruised across town and up Worsleys. hard work but just kept at it. ridges and ruts provided a nice challenge while grey warblers provided the soundtrack. managed to clean the body bag, but not without a breather near the top.

onto nun, and off i flew. perfect condition, great blat, popping all the airs and railing all the berms. not much sketch. bit of freshly mown grass on the lower reaches.

up road, upper Thomsons, Coffee Break, over the see-saw, brakefree, sesame, dazzas brents, flow, little bit of the upper new bit, then into nu-bridges, and out the bottom. great blast, home about 10.30.

meanwhile, the rest of the usual crew will have started at Steves and gone somewhere...

Thursday muddy hell

Chris showed at mine, no other takers, so we Fiat'd out to Slumner to haul ourselves up the Captain. prior to Chris's arrival i'd rubbered up my wheels, 2.35 Muddy Mary up front, and 2.3 Stout on the rear, turned out they were a pretty good choice for tonights ride. Captain Thomas had more mucky places on it than i've ever seen before, in places i've never seen muck. quite astounding, tho, still eminently rideable, albeit with copious dabs. bailed on the top section knowing its messiness, and rounded the final hairpin of the road to be greeted by the Evans to Lyttelton Road Closed sign, which i'd forgotten about, and explained the extreme lack of traffic.

on up the summit road passed by only 2 cars, and hit Greenwood. not too bad to start, quite good in fact, round the top and down to the ruins. then on down. round the first left hander into rocksville i lost it, catching a rut or something, off balance, really thought i was a goner over the edge, but juuust managed to keep it together, including in my moment of distress, missing altogether a hedgehog in my firing line. adrenalin burst (something i'm used to of late, what with all these aftershocks), and on downwards. rode a bit better after that and caught Chris up after a couple more bends. mucky middle section, then good for a bit again, down, down, then into the bit that'd been worked on the other week, and it was a mess. all the soft dirt that was flattened so nicely was a big rut. we walked around the worst bits. stream crossing and onwards all good.

crossed Evans and slugged up Godley. rocks getting rockier by the day, troublesome climbing for both of us. nice in the windy dried bits, still a bit of wet in places, until you get round onto the grassy slope in the Taylors catchment. Ugh. what a mess. diabolical. and, for the first time, i'll admit, Teddington shit is the shit. once you hit it, it was the only flowy bit of trail there, after it, rutsville again, til the lower descent to Livingston. on over to breeze was a breeze, except the last 100 metres or so by the fence, wet mucky mud under grass.

anaconda top was puddled in places, a few ruts, and one or two flows. onto anaconda itself, the whole top section was sweet, over the three jumps into the berms, nice, but then in the valley, rut city, mostly avoidable but no speed carried. finally, the tail was sweeeet, until you got onto the bottom paddock, yuck.

clambered back up out of taylors, down through nicholson and along the waterfront. home around 9.30.

and a quake hit just as i finished this. 10.30ish

De-stressing Earthquakes.

7.1, felt at 0436 Little Akaloa 4th Sept 2010 (where a ride had been intended), munted the weekend and days following cleaning up bricks and mortar. untold destruction, general freaked-outedness prevailing. So, finally today, i skived off the first day back at work on what could only be described as stress-leave, and unwound by getting out on the bike. Chris was at a loose end not being allowed into the cordon to work, met at mine and we StanNurseWilsEastmorerysonerned to the foot of the hill, spotting the odd chimney down as we spun. werent really sure where we'd climb, but ended up choosing Holliss. one i'd not been up for a while, and not having been on the bike for a while either, thought would be some good punishment. Chris's first time too. good wee climb, across the lot that is still vacant, onto Longhurst, and on up Harry Ell past Warnin's place, through a gate and up a well trod wee singletrack through "Private Land", skirting the bottom of Dog Park and onto vic park rd, to drop down to cross Dyers and under and up. lots of water in the first half, good technical grunt up to kiwi and on to the misty cloud topped Marleys.

Nun was good. not as greasy as that other recent time, but with one or two slickish spots and rocks seemed to have grease on them cos of the dirty tires resulting in some careful picking and a scare or two.

Back on the road up to top of vic, round through the trees, and down over the DH fence, chris leading me into Tits. a corner i'd never turned before, and slick as pig shit with me running and skipping over lots of stuff i'd only just manage (on the edge) in the dry. arrived at 4wd track and decided against the remainder, so headed for top of Cool Runnings, chris choosing to go further along and hit yet another DH'y dropper. rode more of that, but again, have managed it no worries in the dry but there was too much grease around. Onto Flow nicely and nubridges wafting sweetly even off the end, and down out the valley bottom, muchly improved by lack of bovine slop.

back across town under the railwaytracks, bumping into Pete, checking on Pomeroy's for openness, parting ways, cleaning up, grabbing some Indian, scoffing, then the boys turning up for an exploration of the local urban carnage. meandering around the river downstream a few kms from here observing the utter destruction a megatonne of energy unleashed over 39seconds, 10kms deep and 40kms distant, can inflict on the crust human settlement lays over a flexible land. Liquifactionville - how long is this shit gonna take to clean up? and yet, as observed (and heard of) elsewhere, barely a chimney cracked for some. mother fuckin' nature, eh?

touch-wood, the rumblings seemed to have slowed down a litte... one can but hope.

Re-opened Singletrack goodness

so good to finally get out today. was a shame i'd been so wrecked Saturday night, cos i felt like absolute shit all morning, except for the actual riding.

so. got my ass over to Steves, overtaken by Pete in the Cosworth on Opawa Rd, and greeted by Tony, Wayne, Warren and Andrew out front of Steve's, who had an excuse of family bother to get him out of riding... not pisscrookedness at all, right?

anyway, off up Rapaki we lugged our sorry states, meeting Mark and Marie and truck at end of road. Marie joined us, while Mark drove off to see us up top. climbed like climbing things, surprising ourselves i think, Pete and me, with our ability to actually succeed. cold southerly wind in our faces all the way up, and into the clouds up top, with some spitty drizzliness going for it dampening everything. decided on heading towards Sumner, but not thinking we'd make it.

Witch hill was like a pinball machine, little bit of grease on the rocks pinging my slightly over inflated tires all over the place. few dabs, lurches and lost moments. but all over quite good. Marie and Warren took the road, Marie due to a bad wrist. regrouped and headed on up summit road towards the Castle.

Castle Rock started out a bit mucky but not bad. a few damp spots down the way, but mostly pretty good, had a nice flow on down round the hill, first hairpin nicely negotiated, on down and after the second hairpin nasty rutsville just before the bridge. pete stepped off to film everybody, and Tony had a nice tumble off down the hill, i think caught on film, nice couple garks on his legs. Marie took the road. Mark showed up and we chatted and then got our ways on round, in the clouds, tailwind, to Britten

John Britten trail: led off and could someone on my tail for a while, til the nasty rock-up, which i dabbed but kept going, under the very wet (rainmaking) shelterbelt on round to the road where i waited. and waited. and waited, and thought, hmmm, and was just about to ride on back to see what'd happened, when Marie and Warren and Tony appeared out of the gloom saying Pete had had an off but they were on their way. he'd been straddling his bike, walking up that rock when one of his feet gave way and off he tumbled down the hill, garking himself nicely i think. Mark rolled up and Marie changed bikes here.

hit Greenwood, for the first time in a lonnnnnng time. started off with a greasy rut which threw me a bit, but dried out nicely on further up, with even some dust appearing at one stage... had a good cruise down really enjoying the freedom of this trail, and pleasantly surprised at how little damage the winter had inflicted, maybe a few more rocks showing a bit more of their teeth after dirt's been washed away. mucky wetspot after rockgap, but all good round into gloomy gulch. still in the clouds at this point, pulled up just down from usual stopping place, and regrouped again, looking down on the willing workers we were intending on joining. got rolling again and cruised down to the workers, stopping to chat with Ranger Nick Singletrack, who basically said no need to worry about helping out and to enjoy the ride!!! gotta make it to the next workday. bolled down the rest of the trail, seeing Mark again, and then hit Captain Thomas.

First corner, more workers (and a "NICE BIKE" comment on the Soul), chatted to Graham a bit then continued on down. bad slip mud eating my wheels before the first of my nemeses. i stopped, walked quickly down, then turned round to see Pete dropping his bike and scuttling down and juuust stopping on his hands... enjoying the rest of the trail, cleaning my other two old nemeses. one or two other wet bits, nothing too major, quite fun dodging and popping the various holes and rutty bits, on out to the bottom. up pulls Mark, informing us Marie was behind. once she arrived we all tootled down to DotCom and coffeed up before the slog home.

meeting of singletrack minds

townie, with Pete to STeve's, meeting Wazza, Mark and Marie (tandemised) there. all rode round river on paths and roads eventually to Tony's where we were joined by rex wayne andy and plans for October's trip were hatched... Dunners here we come.

View Hill Quickster

Bad weather, then 10 days in Fiordland chasing robins and moreporks, has kept me off the bike it seems all this month so far! shocking. anyway, went to the bach for a slightly extended weekend and finally today i got out.

Treadled my way up to Chorlton, standing singlespeed style most of the way up, relishing the fresh air, then on up View Hill Rd (grovelling the steepest in granny). Took the left fork for a change, and laboured my way up to the end gate. weather was packing in a bit, with some rain spitting up there, so turned back down, occasionally off-pisting it for the ovine-singletrack goodness.

At the big pines i hung a left up the usual fork, but the further i got the stronger the southerly blew in my face and the more the rain was getting me, so decided i'd had enough, and turned back. tailwind pushing me downslope. again, occasional off-piste singletrackage, and then a final blast down to the seal, then round into the rain and wind again for the road descent into the bay. 10 minutes after i got indoors it hosed down...

nice warm up ride for a first after so long.

Thursday hill chuff, Rapaki Witch Traverse Nun Vic

Nelson and Chris assembled at mine and we headed across to Milton St in Nels's car some time near 7 (he had something to do at the old flat). rode through town to Rapaki and on up, starting with a hiss and a bang, and then having to layer off at the 2nd gate. Chris took off ahead, after a guy that'd passed us as we layered off. i didnt have anything left in my legs after Tuesday's ride, and a long townie to dinner on Wednesday, so i struggled horribly all the way up, and Nelson had ridden once in 10 weeks, so was pretty off form (still quicker than no-power me). eventually made the top, i oiled my chain, and we hit up Witch Hill, Chris bailing on a rocky section and ending up down the bank. there and back, Nelson had a good chat to a lamb. wheels pinging and slipping off slippery rocks.

up Vernon, Teddington Sog sapping power on first climb, the other two leaving me for dead, tho i took the shortcut between hairpins and nearly got up to them again.

Traverse, Chris leading off, me next, good blast all the way round, the ups slowing me, but the flats and down i was in pretty good form. then i led down Thomsons, lovely wee blast through the trees. nelson pointed out that it'd be cool if there was a track just like it that went on for a few kms, tight and flowy... (McVicars sometime?). Second half of Thomsons was drier at the bottom than last time.

heaved our ways up the road from Kiwi to Marley's. me lagging seriously on the last steeps, and frost on the lead-in chilling down the feet a lot. munched and layered up at top, then i led off down the Nun. pretty good blast down here, tho i was getting a bit tired, and my hands never seemed to be holding the bars tight enough. some of the improvements done down here have certainly evened up the plan. sweet as. regrouped below middle carpark, and Chris led off down the lower half. i had a couple of really close calls near the bottom, barely staying in control.

up road to Vic, all of us feeling the cold and tiredness now. took off down the first path, steep and rocky, then down all three over the seesaw, first coupla Brakefree jumps then across the mucky flat to the rocks into the gums. great run down here, nelson leading, taking it all the way down and onto the singletrack that takes ya down to the gate. bit messy in there, few ruts at the start.

back up road to Skidder, nelson aghast at the waste of money on the new picnic area, and off into Dazza's, me leading. nice blitz. Brents, highline this time, just moseying, out to flow, where i lost it at the top of rut-city, frontwheel sliding out from under me, and taking a nice lowspeed stack onto a tussock or two. the other two got past me here, and i struggled my way down the actual ruts, then took the lead into the new bits, guiding the way down, less mucky than Tuesday, tho still bad at the bottom.

then, out the bottom, through the disgusting cowshit muckfest and a blast down the final to the road and back to the car around 10.30.

Tuesday opened trail muckiness

treadled across to Steve's with Pete who was on grandad. there, were RacerRex, Tones, Andy, followed shortly after us by Wazzah and Wahayno. Steve emerged from his house with Cruiser, and it was decided they'd all do a townride, and Rex and me'd head up cRapaki.

i gasped my way up the track with Rex barely breaking a sweat. millions of runners coming down the hill towards us, seemingly the whole way up... past a whole bunch of riders at middle gate, i raised my seat and felt a tonne better the rest of the way up, pushing it good (again, i think Rex was just being nice sitting with me...).

Rex led off up Vernon, the first Teddington'd section being pretty soggy. he baulked a bit on the rocks, but kept the lead, powering nicely on the smoother bits. Rocky section up top got him and he let me take over the lead. couple dabs here and there, but mostly pretty good.

onto the Traverse. all good except for the nasty wet bit before the first cattlestop, blazed our ways round there. trail all good. usual damp bits below Sugarloaf, then on round to Vic.

...into the trees, squirrelling through bits of soft dirt, past the seesaw, then down towards the gums across an extremely soggy flat. into the rocks which were okay, but once under the trees, i dont think i've ever seen the ground so wet in there. not for years anyway. bypassed a couple of nasty ruts in same spot as last time next to Sesame St, on round sidling over jump and back to Skidder, then met up with a random orange-lighted-halogen guy, who didnt really know his way around, so followed us down Dazza's, which was all good, then Brents which too was all good, tho has some bad braking holes, and cross the swiftly flowing creek onto a slightly messy Flow, which got pretty bad towards the end with its own Rut-City, and then onto the 'new' exit from bridges...

sorta follows the Hi-line, but a cool switchback chucks you back across Bridges then below with more corners, risers and good flow, and even some ups (which'll put off the DHers). Bottom of this was unfinished and extremely MUCKY. then down the 4wd to usuals, squirrelly and mucky mucky mucky, and the Cows were really trashing the private bit (my bike smells of shit now), before a good blast out the bottom

Rex headed back to his car at Steve's. i txtd the boys, and met them at Pomeroys for a couple nice beers.

Sunday sloppy Wharfdale goodness

Got word on Saturday that a couple guys i know were gonna do Wharfdale on Sunday. i's keen as mustard, so did a little prep on the bike, regreased headset and nicely oiled up the chain. Also, chucked on a new tire i'd got. Ritchey ZM Premonition i'd picked up from Torp7 a couple days before.

Tom and Matt picked me up at 8 and we headed out the Tram Rd. Left Chch's dreary grey and headed into blue skies and sunshine. First car in the carpark, tho some walkers (and dog) arrived while we were getting ready. Somewhere on the road there, something must have been flicked up by the back wheel of the car, slashing Tom's front tire, totally slicing through tire and tube. no spare tires on board, so we cut up the old tube, folded it several times, inserted between new tube and tire, and pumped her up. kinda bulged a bit, but wasnt too bad, but just to be safe, we put a random ziptie (that i just happened to have in my bag) around the tire, which held it quite nicely.

hit the trail. pretty good knick. excellent muckiness, lovely slippery roots. hit first pile of snow at about the 3rd bridge. counted somewhere between 6 to 10 tree falls. wonderful flowy section half way in, love that groove. fair bit of snow and extreme muckiness up towards the switchbacks, and the saddle. Tom figured his tire was gonna blow out, by the saddle the ziptie had gone, so he turned back, while Matt and i headed down for the hut. first 50m or so was messy snow, but beyond that was good, mostly. lots of snowloaded branches down, all of which we cleared off the track, and quite a lot of ice down this side. very cold, and cool eerie mists kinda hanging around.

made the river, got across without too much bother, and then this heinous climb kicked in. i didnt remember this from last time (years ago!) i'd been to the hut... anyway, got to the hut, signed in, had a One Square. brrrr, got moving again, back up and over, then the long slog back to the saddle. one off at a creek when my front wheel dropped and i leaped over the bars and stayed on my feet. at Midday, Matt replaced his front pads.

made the saddle, and the down began. for a bit anyway. not bad, bit splecky. on the climbs my legs were really starting to burn. the second to last descent (the one with the bridges in it), i think would have to be one of my favourites. its when everything comes together, all your skills honed to perfection, cept for feeling utterly shattered having not had a good long inclement ride like this for a lonnnng time.

the climb to the gate nearly killed me. but the final descent made everything better, getting faster and faster, briefly slowing for that metal pipe and following little creek, then on down to car park. sweeeeeet!!

Tom had made it back just as the bulge eminating from his tire was starting to rub the fork arch. he'd been waiting a fair while for us... Lots of cars in car park now too. We'd seen a couple of couples runners en route.

Meanwhile, my new tire worked very nicely thanks. was predictable. a nice size, good and big for a 2.25. didnt hook up as much as some mud specific tires would, but never gave me any issues of spinning out. should be a good tire to go on with. expecting another newby soon too, a Schwalbe Muddy Mary. chuck that on the front for a while methinks.

home 3ish.

Frosty Sunday hill jaunt

COLD start, hard frost, Chris showed at mine and we got our frozen extremities across to Steve's. Up showed Tony, then Andrew, Wayne, Pete and Mark (on a wacky rearbrakeonly 69r carbon 3speed..). so. the 8 of us tootled round and up Rapaki. pretty standard cruise up here, warming up nicely by the first gate.

Took the road round the top towards Vic. with a short jaunt on a frozen solid Traverse trail... Icey patches in the shade. At Vic we hooked onto Thomsons, which was good and the second half of it was bad at the lowest point.

Down more ice to the kiwi, and on up to top of Worsleys. usual boyracers doing their dipshit stuff at the top, and we all kitted back up for the descent. interesting to say the least. first (bodybag) section was a bit hairy, not a lot of traction, if you hit your brakes too hard either one would lock up. at the gate was a big sloppy hole with some broken ice, and beyond that was in the shade, which was nice and icey, frozen ruts, frozen churned up earth. FUN down through here. minty fresh fun. lots of washed-outness, couldnt believe the holes that've formed since last i's up there. met a few hardy souls on their ways up.

Just before the gate, kitted up even more, then blasted down the seal. just before the last descent, we got offroad onto a new side track. nice wee fall-line track parallelling the road, waaay more interesting than the road. at the bottom took the cracroft track round then on round river saying goodbye to Tones and then on to St Martins cafe, coffee, and off home.

All up, quite a fun ride, even with the noticeable lack of real Singletrack.

Tuesday into the drizzly technicality

bit of a mucky one tonight. Nelson picked me up in his new car and we cruised across parking up on Centaurus. both huffed up Hunts, Ramahana, Aotea to the top. Drizzle kicked in now and then and dirt was a bit slick in places. Hit Mt Vernon, and it splecked and splooged about the place, but no worse than Marley's was on Sunday. difficult to control places, so easy it was taken. the Teddingtonshit before Rapaki was very very bad. naughty us, maybe.

Witch hill was much better, rocks slick tho, so slippy-slidey'd our way round there, me chasing a possum for a hundred or more metres on the descent. then on up the road, the drizzle worsening the close we got to the Castle.

I led off down the Castle. damp in places, mud not too bad, but rocks all slick-as, pinging your wheels independently, keeping it well interesting and technical goodness. fair few dabs for safety. very bad spot just after the second switchback, but the climb out was good.

all the singletracking had been interesting, technical, fun, but quite slow, and kinda dirty, splecky mud around the place, so we rode the road back to Rapaki and blazed down there. deliberately gettting into the deepest of the untracked gravel on the top section, just to keep it interesting. then pretty quick down the bottom half and half blinded in the pines at the bottom. back round to the car by about 8.30, and home via a chinese takeaway. yummo.

Sunday, the Return of the Singletrack

Sweeeeet ride today. weather's been fine enough for the singletracks (west of the bridle path) to have finally dried out enough to be reopened.
fantastic day, frosty start, chilly riding across to Steve's, meeting Tony there, then up showed Warren and Wayno. the 5 of us headed round, and up Rapaki. took it pretty easy, cruised on up, one or two of us pushing a bit harder than the struggling lurgy'd one.

at the top, hit Witch Hill, first time on here for ages, really enjoyed popping and hopping up the rocks, cleaning them all and blasting round to the end. Tony got a leak in his rear and we met him on our way back up coming at the highest point. blasted down to rapaki-top and up Vernon. ages since i'd been up here too. was still soft in places, the spongey teddingtonshit being quite power sapping. but mostly good, got up and round and cleaned up all the rocks, feeling a fellow steelrider breathing down my neck, then wondering where the hell he was when i got out the end.

onto the Traverse, quick chat with (the fellow steelrider) a singlespeeding voodoo rider, and then we hit the trail. all good, round to vic, surprisingly not that many other riders out and about. trails all firm and dry, very few puddles, and drier than i'd seen on Thursday night.

big chat with some non-snobs at the top of vic, then off down the bit of frost at top of Thomsons, into the trees, sweet flowing, onto the road, back into it, flying down, some walkers i didnt see at all having leapt behind a tree to let us by. steve losing his chain in here baulking him before the wee up.

kiwi breather then up road. worsley, annnd, the nun... veeerrry sticky on the approach, a harbinger of things to come... into the first corner, nicely dropping down the rocky berm (which caught steve out after he'd just been boasting how easy it was...), then flowing round through the plantings, and into the second corner, both wheels scootching all over the place, drifting totally out of control, bloody surprising i stayed on, but got round and onwards. sections of this were just nasty, no control whatsoever. i think, if one trail should have stayed shut,'s probably this one... not much damage done, but diabolical - numerous places of nasty slickness, and then some nice flow in between. steve had dropped it in the top rock corner and had a rather sore pinky finger... second half of nun all good, cept for one puddle that splecked my eye nearly crashing me.
kiwi to top of Vic again, i took the second half of Thomsons while the rest took the road. all chose different lines down, i did the seesaw then it was off down across to the Gummies. nice rip through here, cept for lower down, nasty rut made me dab, then peeled round, jump, berm back out to skidder site. then off down Dazzas, all good, and then out down K2, figuring Brents, Flow and bridges'd probably be a bit dodge.

home across town in the sun by one.

all up a nice spin. bloody good to be on singletrack again.

Turdsdy night solo hill single

belly full of fish and chips and no one willing to brave the chilly evening, i dragged the singlespeed across town on the back of the car, realising as i approached the hills that i'd left my helmet (and light) behind, so, turned back, considered leaving the car at home and spinning blottle ache, but thankfully decided against that and continued on my merry way back to said hills.

getting ready to ride who should jog up but abbasteve. bit of a yarn with him and off i chuffed, making good grind up rapaki road, then onto the dirt feeling surprisingly good. unzipped, vest off, and on up. a few stops for breath to settle down, but no walking. was catching someone ahead on last bit, but had to stop several times and a guy with gears passed me one of those times. bloody hard yakka workin' that beast up that hill in that gear. anyway, made the top and tootled off round the slummit road towards vic park. cursing the Traverse for not being open when i could see it the whole way round being utterly fine. come on Nick, it could at least be 'Avoid', so that munters like me can make up our own minds, instead of feeling too guilty to get down on it.

got to top of Vic and considered my options, one of which was Worsleys, but the thought of the seal from kiwi to top put me off, so, spun the cranks back round the top and blasted down rapaki again, tears streaming from my eyes either in lament of the eminently more interesting track that the crapaki once was, or maybe from the cold air blasting into them. my front end took on a horrible trait of the steering kinda locking up when braking hard. something to do with the fork being compressed and the headset seizing due to the pressure... very dodgy.

good to get out, great work out on the old single, awesome night and very warm and pleasant up on the hills, as usual.


Oh, and last night, installed the new cranks and bb on the Cotic. Chris came round with his tools, and we had a beer. looking forward to trying it out.