Wednesday Mulgan Richmond Greenwood Godley Taylor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Free-form Funkified Filth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frieday night, Port Hills jaunt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

gotta watch dis.

full screen it, bol.

Chris Akrigg TEOCALI.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Wedsdney after yeaster blight, middle hills blat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday Packhorse and Living Springs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday evening Worsley Kennedy Croc x 2.

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

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

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

Sunday morning 'paki slummit gnarleys vic

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday Worsleys Nun x 3 plus Govs and Vic

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

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

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

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

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

no mountain biking, but bike related activities...

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

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

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

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

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


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

Sundaze rich green god snakes

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

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

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

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

Toozdee night Taylors Godley doozy

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

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

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

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

Sunday Night, frustrations. - first under lights

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

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

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

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

Heated Weakend Hanmer hammering

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday Night, Worsley Nun Kennedys Croc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamner here we come this weekend.

Sunday into the fog, worsle nun-chucks victory.

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

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

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

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

2'sday night Thomas Godley and sons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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