Thursday Mcleans drifting

Picked up Chris about 7 and we drove the byways across town into the wetness. dark clouds from my office window earlier really must've been pissing down over there. arrived just as the security was locking up the gate. i had the singlespeed, chris on his ragley, we headed in, puddles abounding, thinking "ew, we're gonna get muckeeee..."

spleck spleck spleck muddy spray lifting off the front wheels trying to get into my eyes. keeping to the edge of the trail, and high on the berms kept the eyes clear for a while. good blat, old lap, then into the new(ish) Coringa loop, waaay dryer, better made methinks, much less splecky. Then maybe 500m from the overbridge, i thought, hmmm, no hands... gave it a go, slowed us a bit, but from there all the way back to the car we pretty much rode no hands. fun!!! well worth the try. bailed after the one lap cos we were so mucky and couldnt be arsed riding any more of it.

got home and hosed the bike down and showered. bloody mess.

Tuesday night drudge.

bah. somewhat nonevent ride last night. picked up Pete and met Steve Tony Andrew Warren at Steves. round Hanson's, up Ramahana Aotea and on up, enjoying the one piece of dirt up Huntsbury. Then all the tracks closed so it was round the summit road, running into abbasteve before Farmtrack, may as well have been on road bikes, yech, to Mt (un)Pleasant Rd and down down down down down. didnt even ride round back of Ferrymead single(ish)tracks cos Tony and abbasteve's lights were packing in.

all road and no dirt makes swtchbckr a dull boy.

Post Fiji first ride, Saturday to Vic Park planting...

Chris caught up with me on Stanmore Rd and off to Steve's we tootled for 11am start. Steve had txtd saying all the tracks were closed, which surprised me... Pete, Wahayno, Steve and us trundled off round up Rapaki. gravel up here's finally packed in. Chris Pete and me made a bit of a break and we regouped past the middle gate. Steve and Wayno carried on up to the top, while us three ventured forth onto Montgomery Spur. off up through the gates and climbed up to top, little bit of off piste. then coming down, we all chose our own lines, over rocks, between tussocks, meandering down to each set of gates and exploring out towards the Avoca Valley drop off, finding some interesting solid rock lines. then along above the Rapaki a bit to the pylons and back onto the main drag. on up to the top, event free. feeling good to get some air in my lungs again, but feeling three (or more?) weeks off the bike.

Round the road below Vernon, on account of the big Closed signs on the trail, then met up with Steve and Wayne at the Huntsbury start of the traverse. decided not to ignore the Closed signs on this and stuck to the road. Disappointment and annoyance plaguing us as we looked down on a perfectly dry track. Likelihood would have been some sogginess on that south face below Scotts, but from there on round would have been fine. Then round below Sugarloaf was completely dry bar about 3 puddles. the Rangers are overkilling the closures. people are gonna get annoyed and start ignoring the closures if they're overreacting to a little bit of moisture. We reckon leave the Traverse from Huntsbury to Vic Park open all the time. its supposed to be an 'All Weather' track. Armour the wettest sections, trail pixies like Nelson and me with spades can deal to drainage occasionally, and beautiful days like today, riders can enjoy while doing minimal damage.

Dropped down into top of Vic Park, me, then Chris doing the see-saw (dunno what i used to baulk about!), then down the old 4wd route to the skidder site, nearly losing it in the insane area of new gravel and a rock barrier!!! Who the HELL designed this fucking area! WHAT were they thinking!?

Off down the NO BIKES track to Di the Ranger's truck, then grabbed a spade and off down to the 'East Side Bush'... planted a shitload of plants (mostly kanuka), and then off up to the Ranger Station (climbing up the steep wee track from the truck) for a tasty snackfest and barbie.

tummies full, off down the road (Chris and me peeling right at the bottom gate, and down a mucky then slightly slick trail behind the houses (below the microwave tower)), then raced it down Dyers Pass Rd, seeing Steve peeling at Tennyson, and finally catching Pete over Brougham. Chris and me then peeled off at Welles St to C1 for some beans, then to Library to grab a MBA mag, and then home.

Sunday non-event-ride to planting

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

was good for some fresh air anyway.

Tuesday bottling.

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

Riding drought broken, Sunday night quickspin

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

all up, good ride and home around 9.

Fried, eh, Birthday afternoon off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday Mulgan Richmond Greenwood Godley Taylor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday Free-form Funkified Filth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frieday night, Port Hills jaunt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

gotta watch dis.

full screen it, bol.

Chris Akrigg TEOCALI.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Wedsdney after yeaster blight, middle hills blat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday Packhorse and Living Springs

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday evening Worsley Kennedy Croc x 2.

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

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

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

Sunday morning 'paki slummit gnarleys vic

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday Worsleys Nun x 3 plus Govs and Vic

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

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

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

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

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

no mountain biking, but bike related activities...

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

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

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

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

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


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

Sundaze rich green god snakes

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

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

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

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