PFMTBC Inc Annual Trip... Central

got myself and my baggage to Pete's Friday 17th morning. Andrew, Wayne, Pete and myself, drove to meet Steve, Nelson and Tony at cookietime, where we all bought up big on One Square Meals etc. then set off for Tekapo.

rolled into Tekapo, kitted up and set off round the lake and up mt john. some grunty wee climbs, as bad as the body bag, several in fact, and peaked, had a coffee at the top, took in the views, and hit the descent. bombed down the way we'd come up, very fun. couple of flats, but otherwise no sketchies and no crashes, cept for Andrew hitting the chain at the bottom. then it was off to Wanaka. In the evening, Dave, Hubby and Mark rolled in. much frivolity was had.

Scored a map from bikeshop night before, and Saturday a.m dawned with a bit of rain, but that cleared up soon enough and off we treadled, up Hendersons? Rd, down to Rata St, turned left by accident and ended up grovelling up a double fenceline to Double Gate. rode round and hit Hoe Down down, then back up it, then down Easy St and hit Venus, bliss... then grovelled up Crank'n'Grind, then hit Scooby down to The Hub, then grovelled, mistakenly, up some downhill track (14 or 16). then back down to doublegate and Mark and Dave hit Bilentus, while the rest of us hit Venus extention (8a) and we all met up down at Venus Landing. somewhere in here Hubby blew his calf out, or was in danger of doing so, so he bailed, and was out for the trip. from venus landing we hit Thread the Needle over across and down to Beacon Pt Rd to ride back out to town for lunch... lounged a bit and headed out again, this time riding round the waterfront and hitting the Outlet track hoping to find an easy-ish uphill. Dave did a sideways landing off a random hop jump and snapped his chainstay..., round the outlet a we ways, then i lead them up a cool ass little track that was carved into a cliff-face, narrow as, with massive drops off the side, and eventually landing up near Outlet Motorcamp Rd. where we took a wrong turn, rode a little singletrack then grovelled up a steep ass hill to the top of the Sticky. once up there we hit Twin Towers, round to Hoe Down, back up that, hitting venus again i think and maybe a couple of loops down to the hub and back up 10 which proved a nice climb.

The next morning, Sunday, we packed up our shit, and drove to clean up a few more of the tracks we'd missed or re-do the ones we loved. in the carpark before we even set off i was just riding about and my chain snapped, bloodying my knee. fixed that and we headed in and randomly met a local, who took us under his wing and showed us a few wicked xc track across above the rivertrail and on out, then down Rockabilly Ditch, back along outlet and up an awesome zigzaggy climb to venus landing from the motorcamp. we hit crank'n'grind again, up and a few of us did Bilentus. getting sketchy remembering. when we'd finished, we headed for Alexandra.

KEE-RASH!
Rolled into Alex, got cleaned up, and rode into town to pick up some supplies... on the way in, i'd forgotten i had a slow leaky front tire, and was popping a few jumps here and there, when on the line up for a curb, my front wheel washed on the low pressure and on some loose shit in the gutter, and WHAM! down i went. Left palm, right knee, right elbow all skinned, right shoulder tweaked bad (severe bruising) and a good smack to the helmet. first aided up a bit, and later we rode the river trail up to Clyde, ate dinner and then rode with lights back down the railtrail.

Monday a.m, headed into town to bikeshop Dave knew, i bought a new helmet (Giro Xen... niiiice), hooked up with bikeshop owner's son (Ashton), who took us up an interesting trail (singletrack starting in under the Clock on the hill, up a valley, then hang a right up an evil steep 4wd track over some tops round to the right and back down out next to Sewage Treatment). Dr Strangelove i believe the descent was called. then we hooked up with one of the young mechanics (Jimmy?) from the bikeshop on his lunch hour plus his girlfriend (Michelle) and they took us through another trail (up same under clock round along behind range sorta towards the Lower Manorburn Dam, then back out the front to the railtrail), something about a Leaping Lizard, that was a good ride too. Michelle offered to take some us out for a ride the next morning. Dave, Nelson and Mark headed out with Jimmy for an afterwork ride too. i rested. by all accounts, that was a good ride too.

Tuesday a.m. Sour Taste in the Mouth Time...
Told we wouldnt really find any more trails without help, we agreed (with encouragement from Dave) to pay Phil from the bikeshop to guide us. he upped it from $25 to $30 a head when he heard it was only Dave, Mark, Nelson, Pete and me, and off we rode. this time up what's called Shit Track, on account of it stinking riding past the Sewage Treatment Works. nice climb up a nice valley, some techy wee sections, all good. then over some farmer's land we werent supposed to be in, up onto the tops, up to a big rock shaped like a seal, the other boys rode down this for fun. i's nursing my body from the crash so was taking it easy. then we rode down a neat flowy track, over another fence, and across these wicked tops and down a techy wee gulch, then grovelly climb up for another ridge run, and then finally down this super technical descent, which i dabbed/walked/and rode, finally out to the Roxburgh dam trail, back into town.
2.5 hours, ie, 150 minutes, ie, $1 a minute for Phil. they say a fool and his money are soon parted, i guess we're fools. we reckon this was a little steep. Everywhere else you go in nz you either buy or are given a map, and you self guide. you roll into Alex, the locals say, no, you gotta get a guide, in which case its either a matey thing, or you pay. Also, we got back to find out that the boys that'd been out with Michelle had been told by her that Jimmy had been reamed out for guiding the others for free, and that he'd reamed her out, and so they gave her $20 a head... so, Phil, you got your $25 a head from all of us in the end. sure, do this to tourists, but not to kiwis. its not like it was a pain in the ass for you to come out riding with us. if you ever come to chch, we'll be asking you for $30, each. not impressed.
anyway, drove on through to Naseby that afternoon.

got a quick ride in before dinner, from campground headed onto waterrace, me guiding (for free, note) round to the big dipper and to Andrew's Tree from 5 years ago. bark still not grown back. neat wee gulley. headed out back of forestry, found a singletrack nelson and me had maybe riden, took that down then up the shoot and down the shoot, and then up for change and dinner.

Wednesday morning, packed up, and most of us got out for ride. left along waterrace, headed up past hoffman's dam, found neat flowy (bottle lake with a hill style) track which we looped twice, then back down round and dropped down what we'd known as cemetery track which had changed cos of logging... then across to do the shoot once (or twice or three times for some). drove home.

Sunday, tag and worsles.

In the morning i tagalong'd with O to a trees for canterbury planting at Horseshoe Lake. some of the boys had ridden via bottle lake. afterwards, steve obtained permission from one of the rangers, so we rode the walk track thru, much to the thrill of O, who commented later in the day how much fun it was riding the boardwalks... at the Avon we peeled right and followed the river home, and the boys headed on down stream.

at 6ish, got a txt from Nelson, so i chucked the bike in the car and drove over to his. Craig joined us and we grunted up Worsley's. the lower half was as usual, but the top half, including the body bag, has been bulldozed. felt a bit asthmatic to start, but managed to climb okay (craig miles ahead, even on his heavy Commencal Meta6), and cleaned all of bodybag. then onto Flying Nun fun. new bits near bottom getting further and further down. then we bombed down to kiwi and on down below dyers. then up into vic, and took in the whole of cool runnings. out and down. all up a good ride.

Thursnite Farm, Witch, Castle, Britten, MacCormacks...

Steves, 6pm. Andrew, Tony, Wayne, Pete, Steve and me. round to Farm track and up. one dab on first section, middle ring the whole first half. all tootling up pretty well. then blast down to top of rapaki, much better flow than last time. Witch hill was good, then up road and i'm starving so stop for snack.

While i'm snacking, Steve leads off, followed by Tony. then Pete goes, then me followed by Andrew and Wayne. Pete got himself a good start but i caught him a little. dunno what gain he put on Tony and Steve. anyway, carry on round summit road, and onto Britten... finally cleaned the rocky bit i usually blow. normally i hit it in the wrong gear, last night i changed just before and managed to clamber over it. then BOMBED down britten reserve. following the track this time, instead of off piste. got rutted a couple times, nearly losing it, then near the bottom i'm hearing a weird rattle... turns out its my cluster come a bit loose... tightened as best i could by hand. meanwhile, Steve had lead off down road, so we all chased him. then into the MacCormacks trails... SWEEEET, walked the steps then rode all of the rest. wicked descent, such a fun we track. took a look down the pines i'd gone the first time, veeerrry techy riding in there so we clambered back up to main track and blasted down the fun but mildly boring last section...

then round road, i peeled at ferrymead and slogged linwood home. just about run down at Gloucester corner, with a car crossing the cycle lane right on top of me. i abused the crap out of the fucker, tried to chase them down but didnt have enough left in the tank, even with added adrenalin, cunt got away. i woulda picked up my bike and smashed in their window with my pedal and punched the shit out of their face if i'd caught them, i was so mad.

late tuesday soggy bottle lake single spin

title says it all. kids to bed, supermarket shopping needed. had a niece staying, so missed out on riding with the boys, which by the sound of it is just as well, as southerly had mostly blown thru, so took the singlespeed out to Bottle Lake and had a quick spin. i was the only car in the car park, got out there at nearly 9pm. hit the internal loop. pretty mucky, surprisingly wet. then, out near landfill corner they've logged out a heap, including my two favourite little jumps, and detour had to be made for the beach. stopped a bit, deciding whether or not to head south or north. headed north. snuck back into usual singletrack via an old trail half way along that's sanded up, then took some of the trails less travelled. then came out behind closed tapes. took the loop out towards spencer and then back into carpark. uneventful bar a couple of near off front wheel slippages. back to car 9.40 something and off to Stupidmarket...

Sunday a.m. greasy Rapaki to Taylors to home

Met at Steve's 8.30ish to find Steve, Andrew, english Mark, Wayne and Tony. quite wet, drizzly sorta rain, forecast to clear so figured why not... headed up Rapaki, it was much soggier than you'd've imagined. i felt lousy, due to a late night... but still hammered up the hill in good time, tho cruisier than normal. quite wet at top, but headed round Witch Hill, which was very rideable, bar the slick rocks. no real mud, just a tiny bit sticking to tires which then made for slippy rocks. along road, cautiously tackled Castle Rock to bridle path, and quite enjoyed it, with the squirrelly flicks that rocks throw at ya. then round road, Britten. Steve and Wayne were behind the rest of us and we decided to stay on the road, by half way round we realised they'd taken the singletrack, so i jumped the fence and joined them for the last bit. then we hit Greenwood...

Beautiful run down Greenwood. the damp rocks kept things very interesting, but the armouring and drainage has treated the trail well. the slats werent too slick and all was good. i had one very near off, just after the rocky descent that follows gloomy gulch, before heading into the switchback area, managed to keep in on board and continue down tho. Tony stayed well on my tail down the rest after that, he was on form!.

then godley, up and out, went pretty good. the backside before livingston was freshly dug, probably on saturday during the hot norwest, so there was a fair bit of exposed clay which stuck something wicked to the tires. got off and walked the worst of it, and then the descent to livingston on the newly formed line was sweeeeet. much better flow for me this time than last. Hubby was under a rock on Livingston, fixing a flat. we carried on, following these two identical nomad riders up the next climb, sneaking past them when one of them toppled off a rocky section that i cleaned. bomb to breeze all sweet, turned to watch tony crash just after the final cattlestop.

then a BLAST down the anaconda, caught excellent air all the way down. bit mucky in the bottom section, tail all good, climb over taylors not bad, nicholson good, dot com good. left ahead of others to get home for lunch, very tired by the time i made the end of Linwood ave.

Tuesday night Captain Godley Snake, first no lights ride

biked Linwood Ave to meet a lift from Andrew, to DotCom. in attendance arrived Steve, other Steve, Tony, Wayne, Hub and the dreaded Mark. trundled up Capt Thomas, the new boosters on the steps near the bottom make them HEAPS easier climbing, cleaned up much of it before the short walk. the rest is good, cleaned many wee grunts, off for the usual., ruts near top fixed.

had an apple at Evans, then hit the Godley. Steve hadnt stopped so it was chase time. he was already past the first rocky climbs when we started. i seemed to be pushing a taller gear last most of the time, like i was riding a singlespeed... Caught steve eventually, up on the flats. we regrouped at the fence before the worst of the rutsvilles... Mark took off in lead, me following. good run down, the ruts in the usual bad bit were as bad as ever, quite tricky avoiding them, taking a wide berth at times. then the fast bit. i was staying on mark most of the way down, bike riding really well, me too. then near the bottom where i did my ankle in they've altered it, slowing right down, with curves, makes you control your speed a bit more.

Next bit over to Breeze Col was good, i followed behind mark, him spinning a smalll gear on the climb and me standing and singlespeed style cranking. the descent was good, one nasty rut section on the down, then the last bit to the road i could barely see, my eyes were watering and kinda glugging up...
then, the bomb down the Anaconda. i chased Mark and we hauled ass. caught wicked air, my form was ON. felt really good. he stopped before one of the last corners, and then when hub carried on round and down the tail of the snake, i chased him down with mark in close pursuit. above the baches hubby baulked on a rock, i got along side just creeping through while mark ran into the back of him got past and chased me down the rest... all fun.

from taylors mark and hub headed back round to boulder bay cos they had their lights, the rest of us headed up and out. fast climb with andrew, then quite a dark wee ride down through nicholson park.

are your mcleans showing? singlists

Al and me drove out to Mcleans island about 7 something. singlespeeds. hit the trail and spun good round twice. pretty uneventful. took the new track out to the river, it was running VERY high, and had recently run through part of this new track, meaning we had to turn back a little. good spin.

weird singlespeed screak in back wheel still happening, smooth til about halfway through a ride. WHY??? swapped bikes for a short jaunt too. big wheels fun.

meanwhile, the boys did this... pfmtbc

Sunday Arvo rapaki to sumner jaunt

Excellent ride yesterday. gorgeous day, the norwest finally clearing the cloud cover off just before i left the house about 1.45, across town to Rapaki. nice cruise up there, making pretty good time, sub 25 to top. hung a left, buffetted by winds, round Witch Hill, then up road, more buffetting to Castle Rock.

Amazing blast down Castle Rock track to Bridle. winds not so bad as its in the lee of the Nor'waster. then hit the road and trundled round and up to John Britten Reserve. Singletrack along that all good, bit rutty round on the east side, up onto road and down for the Greenwood.

Greenwood Park, how long had it been?? months indeed methinks. been staying off it due to all the crapola weather we've had, and it looks like most others have too. the work done to it before the weather packed in has left it in good condition too, with drainage and rock armouring all keeping it sound. Stopped for an overlook snack before my descent. then hit it...

First part, with the switchbacks, flowing well, bouncing and ramping off a few of the rocks, into the sidle round towards gloomy gulch, excellent flow, funtimes. the slats were dry, making for easy rolling. then the bomb down, swerve swerve curve float pop smooth lines. the sheep on the lower half have cleared away the overgrown grass leaving a good clear view ahead, awesome ride down to the road.

At evans i kicked myself for not having any change, cos a Mr Whippy would have been really good right about then. anyway, hit Capt Thomas, and just as i caught upto and was about to pass this guy on a really new Kona, there was Angrywad-Roly coming up. stopped for a chat, and new-konaman continued on. got going again, and got baulked by a couple of bits, the first above the new lower climbing bypass, the second on the rocky bit which has had steps cut into it. but cleaned the rest, gliding, flowing and flying. all in all an excellent descent.

then Sumner to home, into the wind it a fair bit, but i think it was kinda just northerly, rather than full on Nor'west near the coast with more of a side wind along the causeway and linwood ave...

Tuesday cruiseday. Farm, vernon, witch, castle, britten, mccormacks

Good ride last night. usual kinda suspects met up at Steve's. included Nelson, Andrew, Tony, Wayne, Steve, Pete, english Mark and newby Marcus (29r Stumpy from a few weeks back). headed round river and up Farm Track. grunt grunt. eventually all assembled at top and we bombed off down the singletrack towards Rapaki. the techy rocky bits getting the better of most of us to start with, something to do with lights and not having ridden it for ages. flew down the last section into the switchbacks.

Then, twas round Witch Hill, nice spin round that, and onto the road up to Castle Rock. i led down this, flying and loving it. rock armouring from the other week has all bedded in nicely. most of us made it to top of Bridle Path and Steve's phone rang. it was Wayne, Mark had a flat a bit back up the trail. so they fixed it while we waited around. Pete and Marcus headed up to see if they were getting on okay, and when they got back Marcus had a flat. he changed it quick.

Then it was a tootle round summit rd to John Britten Reserve, along the first half of the singletrack, then off piste off down towards Major Hornbrook. at least, we started out off piste cos i couldnt find the usual trail i ride due to the darkness and the spring growth of grass. got onto it half way down, bombed on down to Mt Pleasant Rd and then hit the Craigieburn Pl into McCormacks Bay trail. steps, followed by mostly greasy switchbacks, then some flow, some bomb, enjoyment all round. Excellent ride, with me peeling off at Ferrymead, then realising halfway round Humphrey's that Wayne was going my way too. we rode Linwood Ave together. Got home at 9.

Foggy Thursday nite summit singletrack ramble

Drove over to Nelson's and we hit the road about 8, headed for Rapaki. Good cruise up there, into the foggy tops. amazing light all around, with the moon getting pretty big (88% full according to my igoogle widget), so was nice and bright, bright enough to ride by pretty much all the way up. at the top we hung a left and semi-blindly clambered up and over the Witch Hill singletrack, all in good dry nick. then up the road, in the fog, to Castle Rock. felt our way down that, me pointing out the bits i'd helped with, and enjoying it all, then from Bridle we headed back up the road towards the top again.

Flew down the summit road, cautiously with only 2 lines visible at a time, better off with headlamps off, just running with the LEDs on the bars, then back round the Witch, decided to give Vernon singletrack a go, having not been on it in months. it too, all dry bar 2 small puddles, in remarkably good condition. Then it was a Traverse blast, still under fog, lights reflecting glare back at us, but a good pace managed. into Vic park, down to the see-saw, Nelson did it, i baulked twice and then didnt... maybe in the day light. dunno why i'm so fearful.

First few jumps on Brakefree, then across to hit the Gums. awesome descent down through them, bombing the berms and haulin' ass through the rest. out to the skidder site. then down Dazza's, which has suffered a little lower down, down Brents, and out onto the open bit before Bridges. the rut that was has now been rock-amoured, fantastic job (GC?) done cleaning up that mess, and then we kept the highline along the trees, and dropped down to the washoutdrop. had a look at the zigzag going back in where it used to be, then sped the rest of the way down.

Highlights? the overall quality of the light and the sense of being "anywhere". the view towards Ferrymead from halfway up the top straight on rapaki, as well as the view into Bowenvale Valley from the newly armoured section...

Sunday Morning, loner... to lunch

had some work to finish, so rode in to sort it out and once done, headed for the hills.

Decided to punish myself for lack of riding and grovelled up Farm Track. ugh. there was a hella cold easterly blowing, and with a sail i could have ripped up the hill... once at the top, i hit the single track, which was nice and dry, round to Traverse, also nice and dry, totally flying it round to Vic. Down Thomsons to kiwi, then up the road and over to Marleys, back down to kiwi, loving the lot of it. Then back up road and upper bit of Thomsons to top of Vic again, and down to the gums, which were all dry and nice, except that last little bit that heads out to the road, the first bit of which, kinda below the skidder jumps site, was all mucky, plus had a broken tree all over one bit. headed all the way out past rangerville, and down between the road and the dog parks, then over a couple of fences and onto a tiny little singletrack that spits you out on Harry Ell Pl. vooom down that, then back along Longhurst and up to my folks for family lunch. good ride all round, tho lotsa climbing. unfortunate to end up climbing 200m more than descent.

Wednesday Night, Worst Worsley, Marley Vic. Pollen-ville

Al and me rode over to Nelson's, then we hit the road, caught a bit of the river round to Craycroft then up Worsley's. not a bad road climb. hit the dirt and my oh my. first section not too bad. Dirt nearly a greeny yellow with pollen, which was also like a starfield in our vision under lights. explored into the McV block, lower Hidden still viable after lifting over their attempts at stopping us. Al's pedal started making a funny noise as we climbed back upto the main track. then he discovered the Crank Bro's Curse, his bearing had dissolved, just like mine had all those times... he walked, Nelson and I rode most of the way up the rest. fun technically difficult, balancing along the ridges between ruts, some of which seemed to drop away forever. one or two spots were nigh on impossible to cross and getting off was the only option. but mostly it was cleanable. Hit the bottom of the Body Bag however, and whooah... nelson dabbed, and his foot went over the ankle in mud. once past that tho, the rest of the Body Bag was okay, tho very rough and cut up at the top, making traction an issue and we all walked the last 20 m or so.

Marley's: Al got back on and we all had a hoot coming down Marleys. the new bit is fantastic, with no damage done by the last few months of horrible weather, good work dude who makes it, this is how all trails should be built, and the lower section below the road was surprisingly good nick too. At the kiwi, Al took off down the road, and N and me headed up Summit Rd to top of Vic. good spin down through trees, Brake Free, then into the Gums. AWESOME berms built into the lower gums, g-outs and tight twisty fun.

Met Al again at Skidder Site, and off down Dazza's. Nelson hadnt experienced all the new bits, and enjoyed the fact that its so long now. just before Brett's, there's a nasty hole on the left, and it chucked Al off. rode down through Brett's, and wondered why Al was taking so long, and then saw this dim orange light coming... battery dying. so, from there down he rode between nelson and me, fingers crossed that the trail was still there... good bomb down valley, then Bowenvale, Eastern, Wilsons, Nursery, Stanmore home.

Back to back, Friday night Saturday morning Rapaki. Working Bee.

Friday night, didnt make it to Nelson's til nearly 9pm, due to a baby puke emergency at home (yay!). anyway, headed up across to and up Rapaki, had a wee look up Erewhon Tce, as on the aerial photos and Cadastre it looks like there should be a way up onto Montgomery Spur, but to no avail, we were annexed by driveways and houses... even tho the legal road goes well up beyond the houses... hmmm. anyway, back down and on up Rapaki. good spin, then round summit road to the beginning of Traverse, round through the first fence and then down onto Huntsbury and on down Huntbury track. the gravel on that has bedded in quite nicely now and is a much better run than it was a few years ago... explored the subdivisioning above Nelson's property, then on down Major Aitken Drive. and back to his place. good spin, but wasnt home til about 11.

Saturday morning, i hit rapaki at 10am. hoofed it up passing lots, hung a left round summit road (saw Witch Hill was no longer Track Closed but wasnt sure so stayed on road), to Castle Rock, where Trailbuilding working bee was on. lots of people down below, i tootled down the road til i was above Nick the Singletrack Ranger, climbed over fence and got to work helping out with some armouring. worked on a couple of locations, carrying piles of rocks and placing them. all good. good to put some faces to vorbii. coupla pics taken by i_ride_rigid... heres the gallery
my bike and some guy, and Me.... That section of track is where we spent a lot of time, placing rocks into one of the seeps.

Wandered up to top again with all the willing workers, and then was 2nd person to ride down it all newly spruced up. it was MINT. rode back up road to top, gagging to do it again, but had to get home, so back down road, round Witch Hill, and bombed it down Rapaki back to car on Centaurus.

no ride week...

no mtnbike rides,
Tuesday rode over to Steve's on the Ghetto Spesh for an evening of mtnbike dvds and tasty beer. i took with me a couple of La Trappe Wittes, an Emerson's Dunkel, and Renaissance Stonecutter...
Wednesday, biked to Cannon Hill, which felt like some miles, but really, plenty of people do that both ways every day, so its not really much...

Hopefully, planning to get up hill tomorrow to assist with the maintenance of the Castle Rock to Bridle Path singletrack.

Hanmer and Cycle.

Awesome ride Saturday morning in Hanmer, with Al.

headed from his folk's, up Chattertons, up pylon steep grunty little bastard of a track, i walked the steepest bit, Al cleaned it. then my rear brake messed with my head, so muddled with it and it seemed to come right.

down Tank track the top of which is a bit messed up, but the rest still rocks, beautiful rooty goodness. then up onto one of the lower Conical hill trails round to Majuba, found one coming down, so we walked up it, found another going right up to the top with a munty rock garden built on it, so, walked up that too, to the top of Conical hill, second knoll... were told later by a local that that trail is called the Eagle's Nest. bombed down it, dabbing over the rockbridgegardenthing, then dabbed through the tight hairpins and bombed the last bit down onto the Majuba.

then through and up onto Joliffe's, upper Dogstream, all good climbs, most of which i always forget how long they are... then up onto Big Foot. beeeaauuuttiiiffuuulll... Nature, conect to Detox, loose and greasy down Detox, rutty and a little bit messy, tho nothing on what the Port Hills've got right now. then back up the road, and down Lower Dogstream up Joliffe's again, up RedRocks, through two lots of Track Closed for Logging tape, rode most of the way down and into the clearfell... R.I.P lower Red Rocks... then back into the village...

minty minty singletrack... love riding up there.

Thurs night Bottle Spin - 2 singles

Spun out quick to B.Lake on the newly ratio'd (42:18) switchy, met Andrew in the carpark, he with his magic Marin (42:16). took a jaunt round the inner circle, going hard out then having a break then going hard out again. trails are loose in places, slick and greasy in others, and downright crappy (Teddington SUCK anyone?) elsewhere... with stretches of nice fast dry stuff too. anywho, good ride, burned the legs, slowing towards the end, then back to the carpark and each to their respective rides home, mine spinning frantically. enjoyed.

also, we swapped bikes for a couple hundred metres. was interesting to try something different. i found his to be comfortable, providing a good ride, and the drivetrain felt tight, in a good way. the forks however, i found very slack and thought they kinda flopped from side to side. the frame was designed with 3 or less inches in mind, so the extra degree or two of slackness are probably just a bit too much, for my tastes, anyway... he didnt particularly like the switchback i think... the Mary bars maybe just a bit too much, and the short (4 inch) fork making its geometry heaps steeper than the slack (also 4 inch) on his marin.

FINALLY, Tuesdaynight rapaki summit road pleasantness

finally after over week off, i made it out. Missed thursday night cos just couldnt be arsed, and then sunday, the first day that singletracks on the hills would have been ridable for months, i was laid up in bed. anyway, last night, over to steves for a 6.15 depart. good crowd showing, Andrew, Tony, Pete, Matt, Steve-the-accountant (who was heading off as i arrived - for rapaki to meet helmutlessMark already up there), a new guest Marcus (that Matt had picked up at a library)(on a 29r stumpy), Steve, and of course yours truly. Txts from Nelson put him late and i held back a bit letting him catch us up at the second gate. by the time he'd gotten there most of the others were already at the first corner disappearing, so we put the power, overtook them, gained the lead and held it all the way up. i felt surprisingly good, seemed to have good power and endurance, amazing what a week off the bike seems to do, - builds up glycogen reserves i guess... rapaki was pretty soft in places especially where the dude crashed on his face the other weekend, noted someone had stuck a stick into the ground there with plastic bags on it (as warning). top still had just enough snow to make for an interesting lumber out.

helmetlessmark and accountantsteve appeared from some shelter when we all piled up, and off we trundled round the summit road. ice just starting to sparkle in places, but nothing black and slippery. stopped for a bit at Castle Rock. i would have been keen to explore the trail from there, cos it was well covered in snow, it would have been interesting, but the lower slopes would have been quagmire. froze our asses down to the Bridle, then on continued round and up to top of Pleasant. 'nother short break, then off for the flight down Mt Pleasant Rd. wish i'd put my chippolatas on. brrrr... bombed it down, road drying out the lower we got. then at ferrymead bridge, i peeled off and headed my happy way home down linwood. home just after 8, not bad.

Sunday Morning, Snowville.

Slick black ice ride across to Steve's after rain and sleet finished at 2am and it cleared... good group, Steve, Pete, Andrew, Tony, Hubby, Wayne, Matt, English Mark and your's truly. headed up Rapaki, soggy and sapping a little. then at middle gate, headed up farmtrack onto Montgomery Spur. up to the trig marker, on snow mostly. quite cool. thats me, giving the stick...

good views from that knoll. must explore further down sometime, and find some sheeptrails back to the bottom of the 'paki. whilst up there we were joined by a fellow Switchback rider, running 32:18, white rigid single. back down to Rapaki and on up it. at the bottom of the straight there was a bunch of people and a guy down, in spaceblanket and coats, blood all over his face. the chopper came in before we made the Summit Rd. quite cool to see that too.

then on up the road to top of Farm track, and off piste snow riding down the ridge. brilliant! heaps of fun just drifting down on a really good snow surface, maybe 2 inches, but well packed and crunchy. picking lines and flowing. alllll goooood. eventually back onto the farm track, splattered our way down and muckily we went to cafe opposite St Martins New World.

no singletrack was harmed in the making of this ride...

Wednesday Night 3 Bottled Singles...

Nelson picked up Al and me from mine about 7-7.30. headed out to the 'Lake. all of us on the singlespeeds. entered the forest and took the usual internal loop, left, through, all good. spin spin spin. full tummy made me wheezy so a few short stops in the first section before the pond/lake. then good rip through onwards. bombed it, mostly good trail conditions, til we hit the Teddington Chip... Teddington Shit more like. sapping all your power, sticky and soft. that stuff SUCKS in the wet. the old surface of the grey gravel (graded river gravel (FAR more sensible, cos it's naturally draining)) is heaps better... anyway, just cut a quick internal loop, back to the start.

then, to mix it up a bit, headed back round the wrong way. MINT!!! a whole new trail. the usual track and corners were all completely new and fresh. you knew where you were but putting the pieces together you couldnt figure what was coming next. and, sections seemed to be faster and over sooner... was cool. so, did a full long loop back out to the beach and down, then back round from the south. all good, except for the Teddington Shit. it makes me doubt very much whether its the best stuff to be putting on the summit trail etc.

Most of the time Nelson led, followed by me, usually close on his tail, and then Al. Al's gearing is slightly lower than ours, so he was having to spin more to keep up. home 9.30ish

been away...

in the bush, fiordland... riding will begin again, soon.

before i went away tho, Kris serviced my Vanillas...