branching legs... mongomery, singles, rapaki

well, i had a nice wee ride last night. up rapaki, overtook a few riders, then up onto Montgomery Spur, up and round its farmtrack. AWESOME views from up there, feels like you're on top of the world, probably cos its a view we're not used to. then up onto the very top of it, to the trig. quite a few hawks up there. and the wind was howling... and there were sheep with lambs, but at first i couldnt see any lambs, but as i got closer, i saw them sheltering amongst tussocks. With the sun getting low and orange, and the easterly haze, and the wind and the big view, it was pretty spectacular. two lambs saw me, maaaa-ed at me, and then started to chase me, so i took off, flew down off piste over rocks and onto the track again. thought about heading along the ridge, above rapaki, under the pilons, but realised that section IS private land. so headed down onto main track and up the normal way to top.

turned left onto singletrack, just the first section out to end and back to top of rapaki, then continued on along singletrack up to top of Farmtrack, then turned around and rode back down singletrack to top of rapaki again. Then, down rapaki flat tack, full tilt. (one stupid woman runner at the bottom of the straight (me doing probably 60 or 70k?) wouldnt move off the packed part of the track, forcing me to cut pretty close to her to avoid getting into the loose stuff, ugh). At middle gate i saw a guy heading down ahead, just disappearing over far corner, so i chased, caught him just after the lone Manuka, overtook him amongst a bunch of people coming up.

my line was smoooooth all the way down, had the groove on, the flow, i was FLYING... quite a bit of traffic too, bikers and runners and walkers, i must have looked a sight, flying down hill like that, spittin' gravel out under my tires as i drifted round the corners, pedalling on the straights...

sunday CaptThom/WorkerBee/Anaconda. Tuesday Mcleans

sunday Andrew picked me up early, and we met steve at sumner. steve with his Nomad... up Capt Thomas, steve a wee bit slow, due to heavy bike and still getting used to it. me on the geared switchback.

At the top due to meet Ranger Nick for maintenance session on the trails. he turned up and a couple other people too, so we rode the Godley singletrack out to where we were working. cleaned more than i expected to, but still didnt make it up the roughest section of rockiness... great spin out to worksite.

work site included a fall-line rut that was just being exacerbated by water flow and people rutting it, so we did a big S curve that ran across it. basically grubbed a line into the dirt, little bit of banking on a two bends. put in an hour and a bit of work and hit the trail again, on out to breeze col and down Anaconda. rocked that. riiiight up on the berms, flying the jumps. awesome. then good ride out of Taylors, down to coffee at DotCom, lift home.

Tuesday night, Steve picked me up, we drove out to McLeans Island to the new Mtnbike park. it officially opens on Sunday to the public. but the trails are all finished, so we figured we're just doing everybody a favour by marking out the lines... besides, plenty of people have been riding the new track. its pretty sweet. nicely made, very easy tho, not exactly challenging. i took the singlespeed. met Andrew, Hubby, and Mark out there. had a good spin, 12 kms loop. some ups and downs, on the stopbanks. most corners have a nice berm on them. nothing technical tho. good beginners track. i prefer bottle lake, except for the sand. have to take T and O round it, also mum and dad sometime...

gonna head out tonight too. cos only did one lap last night and it wasnt really enough...

post work pre daylight savings...singlist...

Dan and me left work at 4.30. Me on the singlespeed. spun across to Halswell Quarry Park, 10kms, and hit the Crocodile. i made it round the first couple of switchies, but walked the next couple. then beautiful section thru the trees and down into valley, then up the switchback section, walked most of them, rode a couple. rode most of the track up, there were one or two bits, especially the switchies, that got me tho. Dan did really well. then walked the first straight of Kennedy's up to tanks, rode next bit to top of singletrack, swooped down to gate, then rode 90% of that big long straight from the gate, levelled off so pedalled again, pretty much all the way up to next gate, then the hell bit began. Dan cleaned it all, which is great for a novice. said it helped that i'd given him the tip of butt forward on seat, and chin near your bars, gettin' down low for the steepest climbing... i walked the whole steep bit, no way is 38:18 gonna clean that...

then pedalled round Summit Rd, up Worsley's, walked up first gravelly section of Marley's, then creamed it down the flying nun, and on down to the kiwi, smooth, flowy. i love the lightness and quietness and springiness of the singley. its a dream, it just floats over rough stuff, no harsh bottoming out. got to Kiwi about 6.10, so, with 11 minutes to sunset, flew down Old Dyers track, and got to the road crossing about sunset, headed up into Vic, cleaned all that track again, then up to skidder, down Dazza's, the new section nearly pitch black, fun!, and then bypassed the section below the 40footer into the valley, round and down K2. and out. flashies home. spin spin spin. nice. excellent ride, was 2 hours 15 from work to bottom of bowenvale. sweet. dan enjoyed it, bailed a couple of times. i stayed on.

sunday just gone, evening

drove over to Nelson's, we hit the road, across to rapaki, good pace up, but i was feeling stuffed, then around first section of singletrack to top of farmtrack, but light was definately gonna run out on us, so hit the road round to where singletrack crosses. then we headed down Bowenvale (i seem to have been frequenting that a lot lately). i noticed as we were descending that the city's streetlights were on, but we could still see fine. i cleaned all the bits i sometimes dont, and had a swoopy great descent. then we rode back to N's with our flashy lights flashing...
Hoping to get a singlespeed ride in tomorrow (thurs) night...

Steve's gotten his Nomad. Havent had the pleasure of seeing it yet, but will do on Sunday... working bee planned, probably godley head.

explorations...

home off work cos of a sick Otis, in the afternoon my folks came by and so i took advantage of them and took off for a quick ride, because T is off to Wellers for a few nights, and it was the last chance i'd have for a ride before sunday afternoon, and the weather turned to rain after dark so its just as well i wasnt out night riding, which had been the plan... so. anyway, took the geared switchbacker across and up FarmTrack, and as i passed Roger's Track (to Dry Bush Track) i thought, 'why not'... so, tight tight singletrack, walking track really, up the valley between Vernon spur and Huntsbury, some rideable, some walking, til the last bit to a funny shelter they've built on the hillside, walking carrying bike up to it. trail continued, but i'd had enough and so carried the bike on my shoulders and wheeled, back up to the Farmtrack. still below the pylons and middle gate!!! continued up there, onto summittrack, right, along, over the road, along and then Down down down the Bowenvale. lovely riding.

funny to be on the geared bike, as i was leaving home, lifting it out the front door i couldnt believe how heavy it was. which, compared to the singlespeed it is. also, riding up in low low gears didnt feel right after all those standing in the pedals cranking rides...

anyway, down bowenvale, met a guy on a 29er Salsa softtail (nice) riding UP it! nice. i'd thought i might ride up it last night, but piked and took farmtrack instead... anyway, headwind home across from bottom of Bowenvale valley, round trip around 1 and half hours...

Sunday morning, Hill, single...

annnnnd, another ride on the singlespeed. i'm getting hooked methinks. mainly from the challenge of it. i know i can easily cruise up the hill on the geared Switchie, but can i make it on the single? well, now. yes. i did it. all but 20 or 30 m around the top corner on the Rapaki. and it wasnt nearly as much of a grunt as the last time.

so... here's how the ride rolled. spun over to steve's sunday morning, just Andrew, Steve and me, headed up rapaki, turned right onto summit trail, i walked the hairpins and the little steeper bit then rode to top of farmtrack, then walked up to top of next hairpins, and rode the rest of the way. we cruised the summit trail, the 38:18 is perfect up there, before heading below the road, met a dude on an Azonic Steelhead, also singlespeed, who said, "good to see another real bike"... his had massive tripleclamp Fox forks on it, was one sweet ride. he was gonna head down the Nat's track. chased him for a bit and i caught up to him but then backed off to wait for the others. smooth riding all the way round, we got to top of Vic park and decided to head for Kiwi, up summit a bit and do lower Marley's and old Dyer's... again, 38:18, excellent. major slip (that'd been graded) just near the end of that, dyers pass road down to one lane with a traffic light... mucky smelly track. then up through vic park- really thought i'd blow the hairpin on the way up there, but cleaned it, veeeerrrry slooowwwly, then up to the skidder site, over and down to "My Favourite" which, as mentioned last week has berms and yumps in it now. then out gulley sidle track to K2 and out bottom. nice bit of work done down there since last week, repairing up the damage done by the slips and floods of last month... across town home. loads of cop action, on the way to, and on the way home from, the ride.

sulphuryellowbottlelakespeedsingle.

spinny spinny out to the forest after work, bout 5pm. hit the carpark, headed in and turned right, cos i'd not explored how the new area on the old dumpsite had connected...

well, after crossing the sealed road you spin through the now quite tall (and dark within) forest towards the dump mound. and lo and behold, it connects directly across the cross road you used to head toward Bower Ave on. so, a bit of a pump up the hill and along the top and weeeeeeeee down into the edge of a good sized stand, then into the duney burned bit i'd explored to previously from the other end. then through, over the whoopee jump, and down the standard road towards the beach, then along the coast trail, then into the maintrails again past the dump fence. then when you have the option of turning right to go to Spencer Park or left to go back to the Waitikiri end, i took the right option cos it was closed last time i was out there, new trail, which eventually connects/becomes the old trail. where i caught up to KT (an ex) and her beau, had a wee chat, then took off again back round toward the main entrance, spin spin spin. excellent gear for the forest. just knuckle in and pedal pedal pedal.

Everything is yellow out there, from the pollen. amazing. saw clouds of it blowing off the trees as we flew in from Vegas last week.

back out and on the road home. flashies needed, bout half six. then home, quick wipe down and change, and onto townie to get to dinner at C's at bottom end of Wilson's Rd. 10 minutes later, bottle of beer in my hand, and then wine and a delicious chinese poached wild pork on steamed veges and noodles. YUM.

singlespeeeed

spun across to bottom of rapaki this morning on the Switchback (18inch) singlespeed. met andrew, and off up we headed. fuark thats hard work. i cleaned all the way to end of trees, then up past first corner, then just blew and walked for a bit, then rode a bit, then walked a bit, then on the flattened out bit i rode then made it half way up the straight of the last slope, walked to just round the bend then rode the rest of the way. haaaaarrrd. very very hard. anyway, got on the singletrack, walked the first switchback section and then hopped on again, round to top of Farmtrack, walked up, off piste, next section to just after the upper switchbacks, then rode rest of way. from there on, it was a blast on the singletrack. slightly faster than the usual pace round the singletrack, and you hold speed more and it is just fantastically quiet. no chainrattle or clunk chunk of the gears... exquisite. blew a spoke at top of lavaflow, didnt realise it til a bit further round... wobbly back wheel. then down through gums, down to 'my favourite' which has all changed, new berms and jumps and new lines all the way through, then out valley to k2 and out. messy down bottom of valley, there'd been slippages and trees down in that last month of storms. then said my good bye to Andrew and headed down Colombo for a couple of spokes. fixed them up this afternoon... work tomorrow. will clean more of rapaki next time. an excellent work out, upper and lower body. gonna buff me up real good.

ROTORUA, 2006 UCI... and riding...

Where to start????

Vegas. The Worlds. Boxed up the Switchback and flew up Thursday last week. Watched some trials, downhill practice, and then the big event of the day, 4X on Friday. Saturday was the DH day, in the am when we got there we skylined up to top and walked rest of way to the start gate, then perched at various positions all the way down the course, watching the first drop from the start for a while, then the Kia Kaha jump, then down into the Larches, which was an INSANE section, then further and further down as the day progressed, to end up next to the Wall ride for the last few riders, seeing them hurtling past, inches away at probably 70 kph was amazing. then sunday was the XC, women in the morning, where we were positioned for their last little bit before the finish, and then afternoon the mens, We started up near the top of the course, in the wide open section then made our way down the trails again. all very good...

then, monday, round to Waipa Mill entrance to the Mtnbike park in Whakarewarewa. Tracks we hit first session: the Repco, the Creek, the vetta, Challenger, Diamondback, sidewinder, the Grinder, and i'm bummed i missed the Rosebank... took time out for lunch, then after chatting with Jeff Anderson(Jeffson), of kiwibikes he suggested we ride up the tarawera road and up hill road and down Hot X buns etc... so, took his advice, and did it. hot x buns, hot, then B rude not 2, and pig track, which strangely spat us out on Nursery road so we just followed that up and out the Exit.

tuesday, drove beautiful roads out to Murupara, then on to Minginui, and Whirinaki, brand new track, purpose built, very very very fun downhill sections, but mostly it needs work, packing down firming up... awesome country tho. north island Kahikatea and Tawa forest.

wednesday, back into Whakarewarewa, up to top of Gunna Gotta, down A trail, up Tickler, along Link(?) road to Hill road, up up up Moerangi road, top to Billy T, down Chesnut links to rollercoaster, then chopsuey, springroll and the other one. then down B rude not 2 and nelson and me went up Lions Trail, looped about in the sidewinder again then out the Exit/Rat/NDo trails... sweeeeeet. all up, only did B rude not 2 twice, all the rest once, and probably had 9 hours total of riding in there. thats pretty impressive. you'd have to cover the porthills and bottle lake to get something similar here. and still there was stuff in whakarewarewa we could have done. and i'd so love to do some of those trails again and again and again...

will fill in these details at a later date, by updating...

wet week, singlespeed, nice weather, sunday ride, snow, VEGAS...

aannnnnd another week off. more rain, devastating destruction of the hills, slips etc... firstly, took posession of my singlespeed. DMR Switchback, 18 inch, with my old marzocchi forks, titec bars, some cheap tektro brakes, second hand wheels, and a bunch of goodstuff that Kris put on for me. have spun it a little around river, tweaked positioning of seat etc for comfort, still one or two tweaks to do. might run Freud with it this evening after work.

so, sunday, nice mild norwest day. spun to Pete's, drove to sumner, rode up Evans Pass Rd on account of there being Track Closed signs on Capt Thomas (which wasnt stopping runners...). then hit the singletrack out to Godley. Cleaned more of the first section that i expected to, but still blew it on the worst rocks. cleaned pretty much the whole rest of it. not bad nick the first few kms. was round on the flatter grassier bits, looking down into taylors that the trail's a mess. mud mud mud mud, near those boardwalk bits. black sticky grassy mud amongst tussocks. then the downhill from that flatter area to the first col was SO rutted as to be impossible to keep
upright on without having the feet out on either side. then i was on a good roll til i got a snakebite pinchflat. bang! fiss fiss fiss fisssss fisssssssssss... jumped off and ran the rest of the way down to the col. slipped in my new tube, and we all rode on. (i patched the snakebitten tube yesterday, it had two biiig splits in it). the next section was really good til the last bit down to the Breeze Col. then up and over the last hill, cleaned most of that too, down to the loo's and trees. very mucky down the last section of that too. then back round the single below the road to Breeze, then down Anaconda. i ROCKEd it. it was so flowy and smooth. bombed it. riiiight up the sides of the berms. then over Taylors, down through Nicholson, to Dot Com for coffees... excellent ride.

now its snowed again last night (monday) and the porthills are covered. they look beautiful, but now the tracks will be saturated again for another week or more... not to worry, we leave thursday for Rotorua, WORLD CHAMPS!!! and will watch Friday Saturday Sunday, and ride monday tuesday wednesday, Whakarewarewa, Whirinaki, Craters of the Moon, next week before flying back again on thursday... Switchie is pretty much packed in a box, ready to fly.

Saturday, super fine.

a week off, partly due to crapola weather, with 130mm of rain on tuesday alone, followed by a few days of fine... got out finally saturday afternoon, cos i werent gonna make sunday morning with the boys. A beautiful beautiful day, sunny, mild... hauled it across town to rapaki, up that, with its juicy scoured out ruts, hit the singletrack, walked the worst mud affected area, just above the shallow pond above the lower switchies, then rode the rest. holding together well, not much splatter at all. round the next section below the road, still the trail was good then off pisted it down through the tussocks following sheep trails to top of the oldschool bowenvale. had my headphones on, mp3player on random, mixing up Burial, new Fourtet's DJKicks, and Tunng's newest. weird mix of dark ethereal atmosphere, folk, and fourtetmixed beats/electronica/soul/80's synth... anyway, a good soundtrack to ride by. as i was descending the 4by switchbacks, a southerly whipped up real good. spittiness from the ominous cloudcover, rolling over the tops and blasting me down the 4by track, practically shunting me to a standstill when the switchbacks turned into it. thought it was gonna get worse so i didnt hang about. hit the singletrack sidle flying, there were areas like snowdrifts of clay, from where all that rain had pulled it out of the ground and washed it down hill. amazing. one set of tracks had passed before me, i wonder who, i wonder when. anywho, out to the bottom, with some treachery down the tunnel-eroded clay section at the bottom then onto the valley track, which was a mess. big slumpy slurries of mud all over that lower section, it was them that covered me in muck, not any of the rest of my ride... then tail wind all the way home, me thinking it was gonna chase me across town, but by Wilson's Rd it was still just hanging on the hills...

Rained a bit saturday night, then we had torrential rain all sunday night and monday. with snow on monday up there, so the trails are gonna be closed down for at least another week of it...

Yay, word from Kris is bike is ready. AND i scored some Mallets for $40. so i'm good to go, singlespeeeeeeeeeed. s'gonna be fun fun fun, which is what its all about !

Sunny and fine wednesday, should be drying out them tracks...

drizzly crashville mud and blood.

Sunday morning, rode over to Steves, tired as after a bit of a night before and only about 5 hours sleep... Steve, Pete, Andrew, Tony and me, up rapaki, and turned right, all good, got foggier and wetter as we went higher, and was starting to get muckier as we travelled around the tops. single track was all good, with the technicality of the slick rocks and mud covered tires getting the better of us occasionally, resulting in the odd dab... down to the kiwi, then up the road to top of Worsley's and down. started down the Body Bag (top of Worsley's) and my tire instantly started picking up dirt, til it was an inch thick, offering NO traction, i got rutted, front wheel washed out, i held it for a second then went down hard on my front, landing on my chest. nice. got up, tried to get going again and down i went again... classic. the worst bit over, i managed to hold on the rest of the way down. was a fantastic trip down, so greasy, and sketchy. just picking lines in the bottoms of ruts and interesting angles, trying not to wash out. blood mixing with mud running down my leg from two points on my right knee. we made a pact to go all the way down the tarmac part of worsley's road OFF road, found some sweet wee bits of riding too, and once at the bottom grabbed some muffins from Coffee Culture and headed round to Tony's for coffee-style-drink (ie, instant)... then Pete and me booked it across town, me exhausted, and mucky, home.

Tuesday now, and we've had torrential rain overnight, with blustery conditions. soaked to the skin into work today, and head wind all the way. This is gonna screw the tracks again...

couple rides. one with a trailside fix, and folks for tea.

monday night, having not ridden since that last ride, i took joy's jeep across to bowenvale ave and then biked round Centaurus to rapaki, and up rapaki.

all going good, until i got onto the flat section riding across that and my gears shifted weirdly, then wouldnt shift properly, cable all slack as i tried to change up to get up the hill straight. stopped, and noticed frayed and snapped cable at rear derailleur. pulled the outers out, unscrewed the barrel adjuster, and found i couldnt budge the cable out of adjuster... damn. fiddled and fiddled, tweaked and pushed and pulled, to no avail. finally realised i could use the derailleur cable clamp to hold it, then slid the adjuster. then, disconnected the middle section of outer from the top tube cable mount, which gave me a bit of slack, then hooked it all up and i was away. the shifting wasnt particularly good, and i found it was a bit jumpy in the gears i wanted for climbing, but it was fine for downhill and back round the roads to the car... haha, not a problem i would have had had i been on a singlespeeeeeed...

tuesday, big day, two presentations which always freak me, so, hit the road at about 5.20, to steves for exchange of The Collective for Roam, then up rapak, round summit, down thru vic to ma'n'pas... where T and O were for dinner. all up a very sweet ride. only mud i encountered was in back of the top cashmere houses, just below the big microwave tower. other than that, the whole lot was dry and sweeeeet. singletrack rolling. blitzed the rockgarden and gums. nice.

next ride? not sure. singlespeed? hopefully this week.

sunday sunday

Caught up with Kris on saturday, have set the ball in motion on my singlespeed. he's getting what i need together, and i guess will do most of the build. will catch up next week, pay week etc, and be rolling the following weekend... looking forward to spinning like crazy on the flat and not worrying about chainsuck on the hills... sounds like i'll have a 38 tooth front ring, meaning i'll run a 17 or 18 on the back, but i might get a smaller one i can get onto for bottle lake, either than or another chain and bigger ring.

sunday, cold frosty start, rode across town to Tony's, steve pete and andrew turned up and we headed out cashmere road to the quarry. across the field was icey, crunchitty crunchitty crunch, then up the croc, cleaned all the switchbacks, rode the greasy mud section, then on up the rest... a few dabs, here and there, cos it was so damn slippery. then up kennedys, hard work that. Steve experiencing bad chainsuck in granny, had to run middle ring all the way up, good for him i said, pete and me both ran middle ring most of the way too, in sympathy, tho, i'd been running it anyway. then i started getting a bit too, later on, bastard bastard chain suckkk...

then along summit road, bit of snow up there on the sides and clearly up top of marleys, which we avoided, speedily rolling down road to ride the lower marleys section along to kiwi, sweeeeeet run on that lovely track, then up road to top of vic. along first section of summit trail below Sugarloaf, then up onto road due to the trail just being too messy, and us messing up the trail... round to Mt Vernon, we got up onto the single, which was a quagmire... greasy and mucky, rode it down to rapaki, its holding together surprisingly well, then we BOMBED it down rapaki... lots of other users, walking, biking, dogging,,, slow to manageable speed on approach then kick it down and bomb it again just as you're passing... lotsa fun. a couple of times i was catching beautiful air right next to punters, musta looked grand. then the final bomb down the road, and the slog across town home. later than i should have been. pretty munted for rest of day too.

Fog bound, for a bit...

amazing up on the hill last night. up the wee valley below Rapaki. that involves quite a bit of scooting, getting off, walking, pushing, and granny gear pedalling. it was about the same fogginess/low cloud as the rest of town, not too bad. when i got up to where my track met the Rapak i got onto the main track, cos my valley track was actually a bit muddy, the fog got thicker and thicker and thicker as i ascended. the headlight just glowed up the whole field of view, no visibility, barely even see the trail, anyway, got to the top, completely engulfed in fog, it was other-worldly, spectacular, light off and there was no glow from anywhere, just dim fog all around, it was 7 when i was at the top. another cycle headlight started to appear in the fog on rapaki, so i headed off up the single track... up the first two switchbacks and along a bit and suddenly i could see the lights of the city, and there behind me was a wall of fog, a tongue of it rolling over the saddle that is the top of rapaki, the suburbs at the foot of the hill were clear of fog by this stage, and the ridges and hill i was on were clear too. but out to the western side of the city, and north of about the square was completely under fog, with the city lights below making the fog glow, it looked beautiful...so, when i got to the road, i turned back along the summit trail, then down Farm Track. about half way down i deliberately left the track, and just rode sheep tracks most of the rest of the way down. that was fun. then home across town. good ride.

Turd'sday night...

relatively short but strangely long ride. rode to pete's, drove to pick up steve, then a roundabout way to Halswell Quarry. rode up the Crocodile, drier still, and wonderfully cleaned all of the muddy section down to the bridge, and every single switchback. up Kennedy's track to top of single, then back down.

muddiest sections were on the flat riding across to the bottom of the track., and one small section just before the frogpond and square log down off kennedys.

all in all, nice night to be out, bike needs a hose and a lube. thinking it might be time to change out my fork oil. and perhaps pull down my wheels and re-lube the hub bearings and probably pull apart the pedals and clean everything and of course force some grease into the headset...

no riding over weekend as i was sole charge of Otis.

Basking.

well, i went for a quick ride last night. it was beautiful on the hill. the moon was nearly full, tho partially shrouded by cloud, practically rode all the way up rapaki without my light on. it was warm and the air was fresh. whereas town was disgusting, smoggy and freezing cold. the moment i got up Rapaki Rd a little ways it was easily 10 degrees warmer. nuts.

had my mp3 player, GOOD sounds (Prefuse73 Security Screenings, Department of Eagles, Tunng, Burial, Open Souls) on random all the way.

trails are in good nick, no muddy bits anywhere, and a lot of repairs done on them where they were damaged earlier.

so, alls i did was ride up rapaki, here's Switchy at the top, looking down the Avoca Valley, Montgomery Spur the dark lump above the seat..., (gotta love that low res phone pixt schwag) then from here, rode round summit trail to Bush Head then turned around and rode back and back down Rapaki...

Greeeaaaasy sunday

FREEEEZING start, huffed across to Steves in the early frost of sunday, just pre 9 am, fingers and toes going numb in the process, but merino hood and Jetson windfleece keeping the core temp good... tony, hubb, andrew, pete, steve and me, assembled, pete realising he'd left his helmet took off home to get it while Andrew set up the camera on pete's bike.

headed up rapaki, warmed up enough to shed some layers by the first gate. on up, good spin, tony only lagging a little. tons of bikers around. turned left along single track, only that first little bit was mucky and the rest was sweet. then up road to Castle Rock, hit the single track there and it was grreeeaaasy. not muddy, just soft moist dirt, and slippery rocks. the odd patch of muddiness, til maybe 30-40 m before the first hairpin, then things started getting a bit sick... then after the first hairpin there was this trench forming, best to stay in it as at this point the hillside is steep and getting out of the trench means you're cutting up the rest of the dirt around it. but, one hole was almost up to the disks. pretty much dab-scooting along through all of this. then trail tidied up before the next hairpin and was good rolling from there... Andrew and Tony had sped down the road and were waiting for us at the top of Bridle Path. Andrew because he wasnt wearing clipable shoes...

then along road to johnbritten reserve, singletrack through there was sweet. i really enjoyed it, cleaned all the rocky bits with only one dab. then down to Richmondhill trail... first off the road the trail is very very nasty. the hillside is very boggy and where the trail should be is becoming a quagmire, so everybody's skirting it, thereby widening it. this section should probably be avoided and people should be entering from the old 4wd track down by the trees. anyway, once past the worst section the rest was sweet. stopped for a top up at the ruins.

the descent... i led, got away ahead, slithering and drifting all over the place. again, the singletrack was just greasy, with rocks a tad slippery, and only one or two wetspots. bombed it all good, round the corner to the native trees (ribbonwoods or lacebarks, never can remember) and stopped just after the wee ups that get you out of the tree's gulley. everybody caught up and we all laughed at what a wrestle the riding was. then i took off again, pete relatively close to my tail, and not far below our stopping point i had some wicked speed on and my front wheel just waaassshhhhed out, and i started scooting then lept off and was running alongside my bike for a second, thinking all the time "i'm losing it, i'm losing it!" and then remounting and carrying on, to shouts of encouragement from pete on my tail... stuck in and got more speed on and bombed the rest of it. it was sweeeeet. the traction was just marginal with drifting and slithering and greasy being the best descriptors. bombed the last section down to the road, trying out some body positioning as read in the latest NZMTBR mag. low, and more forward than in the past. feel quite perched in the middle of the frame, not uncomfortable, and the bike seemed to relish speed in this position... regrouped above evans

and hit the Capt Thomas. i bailed on three of the trickier sections, due to the apparent slipperiness of the rocks, but pete cleaned them all. out to the bottom was great.

then i hoofed it round the road to Joy's, she gave me a lift home and then Tracey and Otis, Mary, and Joy, and me went out to bottle lake and rode some trails out there. Otis in the kiddy seat behind Tracey. he enjoyed it for a while, but ended up kipping a little and then grumpy.
all up, about 4 hours on the bike...

brrrrrrrrr.... fiiiiinally after 13 days!!!

having had a crappy day at work yesterday, i split at 3 (i can do that, it just means i have to work longer for a day or two afterwards to catch up the couple hours missing...).

got home, did a bit of a lube (chain and grease-injection for the pedals) then hit the road around 3.40 across town around... 25 mins later i'm riding through Halswell towards the Quarry...

across the muddy and in parts frozen field to the bottom of 'the crocodile', up that, tight switchbacks to start with up through the pines, then a nice sidle track along, all in good nick, no mud, then a small descent into the wee gulley. even when its dry this gulley is wet, so with it being really wet lately, it was a total mud fest. passengered it for a bit (ie, no control, just holdin' on!) then got off and walked, front wheel entirely caked in mud, all splooged down over my brake, rub rub, rub rub... then over the bridge and onwards up the switchbacks, one after the other... one or two of them were soggy, but the rest of the trail was sog free.

then on up Kennedy's... sun setting slowly behind me. there was a cold cold wind blowing, the annoying north easterly, and i didnt really have enough clothes. also, having left it so late for departure, and having picked one of the more furtherly trails to ride, and having the sun set at 5ish, i was only about 5/6ths of the way up when the sun started to get tucked in behind the mountains. so by the time i made the top it was truly gone, with dusk settling its cool blanket over the Port Hill tops. and did i mention the cold. thought i was getting hypothermic for a minute there. but spun it round the summit road on down to where the flying nun (or Marleys) meets the road jumped onto the singletrack through to the kiwi, then, as it was still just dusky and still not quite dark, headed up to top of Vic Park, on road, then down the main fire trail to the skidder site, picking my way down the last bit under the darkness of the trees... no head light you see, just the flashies. so then i rode down the Vic Park Rd, right into Longhurst to the bottom, down the drive then down the track to Holliss and out to Centaurus and home, well dark by now. home around 6, chilled to the bone, utterly exhausted and extinguished of any energy. Had had to ride pretty slow along Wilsons, Nursery and Stanmore home, so slow cos i was so weak. got fire going. ate and ate and ate. hot shower. all fixed...

had i eaten, taken my headlight, and a few more clothes, i would have stayed a bit longer, maybe gone round some of the single track and down Huntsbury or something...

The bottom of Bowenvale is shut at the moment, cos of stock and muck. the Rangers are all freaking out cos bikes are cuttin' up the tracks so bad... Ranger Nick Singletrack said its the wettest he's seen them in at least 10 years...

on my way to a party...

T's mum had her birthday the other day, saturday, while i was up planting trees... and so she was having a bit of a party lastnight. it was to start around 7, so i had time for a wee ride.

oh, firstly, i must say, we had some wicked snow. here's a pic of the island covered in it. Chch is under that cloud on the right, this was taken 10am ish on tuesday morning...

So, anyway, wednesday, most of the snow had melted off the hills, meaning they'd be pretty wet, but i rode up anyway. i swapped off the Kenda Blue Groove on the back cos it was pretty worn and its been slipping out on a lot of rides recently, in the wintry conditions... anyway, reinstalled the old Green Wildgripper, 1.95, good treadpattern for mud. best darn mud tire i've had so far...
across town, about 5.30ish, closer to 6 actually, then up rapaki, lights most of the way, turned left, walked a little of single before riding cos it was so muddy and i didnt wanna thrash the track. then along road, and onto the Castle Rock - Bridlepath singletrack. interesting. flowy in places, but then messy as all get up in others. especially, before, between and after the switchbacks... i stopped and assisted a couple of drainage spots... then, as time was starting to run short, i headed down Bridle Path. then, after zipping up and swapping back to the windstopper gloves, down Bridle Path Rd to Joy's, where eventually T arrived with clothes so i showered.

i might add. on these frosty cold nights, town is at 0 or less degrees celsius, but hit the hill and its up closer to 10 degrees... inversion. keeps the smog down on the city too. i love it up there on these nights. but its yucky riding back across town.