Nelsie and me got out tonight. I rode the Cotic to work and then got to his work at about 5 in the sweltering heat. We drove to Redcliffs and parked up, then rode back round to McCormacks Bay and hit the dirt about 5.45. Bloody hot, hard work getting up the grunts. Cleaned the first hairpin, not the second, then due to the heat i blew a few other pinches, but got most of the upper 'pins. Off up the road all the way to the Upper Major, then up the singletrack, wind picking up something wicked. Hottest damned easterly i've ever felt, that's for sure. At the top, in the shade, we decided to hit up Broadleaf Lane and climbed some more, grovelling up the gravel and through the gate and over the stiles and then it was down down down. Wind pushing all the tussocks over, i followed Nelson down, and it sure is easier following someone than leading down here. When you're leading you're always second guessing it, wondering which way it goes next, but following is sweet.
Into Greenwood, dust not too much of a problem cos of the wind, but couldn't follow too close or i couldn't see the trail. I stuck pretty good to his tail til the climby bits after Gloomy Gulch, where my legs were struggling and he got away. But once on the down again i managed to gain on him just a little. He sure was haulin' ass tho. The lower sections were okay, tho i blew the first rocky up, losing more ground from Nelson. Lots of pain by the bottom, sore hands, sore feet, sore legs, sore arms.
Into Godley and i didnt have the balance nor the legs to clean the start. Once past that tho we both clipped along at a good pace with no more issues at all. Excellent blast round til the fenceline and i just had to rest and eat something. Off down towards Livingston, Nelson handed the lead over to me and i fudged my way through the rutty-ness, sunshine and shadows making life difficult til finally onto the Teddington Shit section and i got my mojo back. Excellent descent after the last wee wooden feature and a blazing descent to the col. Gave the lead back to Nelson for the climb towards Breeze, and he left me for dead. Then once the descent began again i couldn't even see him ahead anymore. The wind, long grass and a rut got the better of me and i tumbled off. Straight back on and got moving again, rounding the corner to see Nelson miles down below me just polishing off the PFMTBC Rock, which i then proceeded around the slope above then back down and over and then carefully speeding down avoiding dirt ridges, over the sheepstop and flying onto the road.
Headed out the lower trail towards the Heads. Good times on the downs, but really struggling on my ups. Legs drained, pained to push the cranks. Final blast out to the end and three riders hanging out. Lo and behold, another Cotic Soul!!! W00t! And Nick Singletrack on his Heckler. Stopped for a good chat with them then we headed back towards Breeze, them on our tails for a start. Got to Breeze and they weren't in sight but we stopped to rest and they turned up and more chatting ensued.
Time to part our ways, they were heading back up top of Pleasant, and us down Th'anaconda. Excellent blast, dust from Nelson obscuring my trail ahead, especially when we came round into the sun. Nelson was going so fast he lost the trail and i sloped past and took the lead, him tight on my heels. I dont think i slowed him too much, tho maybe he was just being polite. Railed all the berms, yumped the yumps and we flowed down and down til we didnt flow anymore. Slammed on the anchors to get round the first corner of the new section, then flowed briefly before having to brake hard again to get round one of the later ones. They could have built it a bit more flowy!! Straight into the 'tail and picked our ways over the boney rocks and out and down.
Legs, wiped. Climb out of Taylors, hard. Still, surprised myself and didn't resort to using my granny. We made the top in pretty good time then tucked in for the blast down the road, catching a car at the bottom.
I'd thought of my friend Miranda as i'd been flying down the road, cos she lives in Sumner, then as we trundled along the waterfront,who should we bump into? Stopped and chatted for a while before hauling our sorry asses around the road back to the car. All up, with stops for chats and breaks, 3 hours.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Saturday Morning Ken Nun Club Line
Droved to Andy's and awaited the rest. In short time Steve, Wazza, Wayne and Robin turned up, then the 6 of us headed round the foot of the hill to Halswell (that ends well) Quarry and up the C2, which i must say is a mighty fine wee section of track. Good efforts, once again, Chch Singletrack Club. The sun was sunny and the day had plenty of hotness in it and we clambered up in good style, with the worst of the heat being on the Crocodile proper, especially down in the valley steeps. Once up on Kennedy's there was some respite in the form of a breeze or three.
Dabbed on the wee pinch above the pond then pretty well cleared the rest. Waited to close the gate, then piece by piece we ventured over Siberia and regrouped down there ready for the climb. Not bad, picked my 'new favourite' gear, granny and 3rd, mostly and just trundled on upwards. couple stops before the final grind. Surprised myself and actually cleaned it, something i'd not done for a long while. We regrouped again and then cruised the last to the road, and on up top of Marley's. Robin was feeling the heat so wandered off to shelter under the big pine, while the rest of us rocketshipped off over the Nun. Had a good run down here, leaping very nicely most of the way, even overtaking a dude part way down, in the rocky section. Back up the road to the top.
Rested in the nice cool wind and ate some OneSquare and the others all were scared of the wind so bombed off down, so i chased, and met them again at the top of B-Line/Hidden/FightClub... I led the way, Steve having only ridden it once before, and enjoyed the tech challenge of it a little bit greasy. Kept you on your toes. Got all the way through the worst rocky section, only to have a stick thrust itself between frame and rear tire, very effectively putting the brakes on. Onwards down and decided to bail on the lower section, if the previous dampness and sketchiness was anything to go by, and bombed on down the old usual, off first to the left, then the right, swooping down through the dips and woops out to the wee climb back up and out the finish.
Final blast down the road, me peeling off and taking the somewhat overgrown dirt sideline, allowing the boys to get well ahead before catching them and all stopping back at Andy's for a coffee.
Almost exactly a year since i was last on Kennedy's proper (down, not up)... crikey. and 4 and a half years since i climbed it!
Dabbed on the wee pinch above the pond then pretty well cleared the rest. Waited to close the gate, then piece by piece we ventured over Siberia and regrouped down there ready for the climb. Not bad, picked my 'new favourite' gear, granny and 3rd, mostly and just trundled on upwards. couple stops before the final grind. Surprised myself and actually cleaned it, something i'd not done for a long while. We regrouped again and then cruised the last to the road, and on up top of Marley's. Robin was feeling the heat so wandered off to shelter under the big pine, while the rest of us rocketshipped off over the Nun. Had a good run down here, leaping very nicely most of the way, even overtaking a dude part way down, in the rocky section. Back up the road to the top.
Rested in the nice cool wind and ate some OneSquare and the others all were scared of the wind so bombed off down, so i chased, and met them again at the top of B-Line/Hidden/FightClub... I led the way, Steve having only ridden it once before, and enjoyed the tech challenge of it a little bit greasy. Kept you on your toes. Got all the way through the worst rocky section, only to have a stick thrust itself between frame and rear tire, very effectively putting the brakes on. Onwards down and decided to bail on the lower section, if the previous dampness and sketchiness was anything to go by, and bombed on down the old usual, off first to the left, then the right, swooping down through the dips and woops out to the wee climb back up and out the finish.
Final blast down the road, me peeling off and taking the somewhat overgrown dirt sideline, allowing the boys to get well ahead before catching them and all stopping back at Andy's for a coffee.
Almost exactly a year since i was last on Kennedy's proper (down, not up)... crikey. and 4 and a half years since i climbed it!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Quick Monday evening Taylors catchment circuit
Found myself over at the Taylors bach for the evening, so hit up the road, randomly finding my dog coming out of someone elses driveway, so ran him back to the bach and they'd lost him... headed up the road again, and onto the walking track up. Clean clean clean, not a dab, a couple of wee breather rest stops but the lower range of gears had it good for me the whole way. Over the top stile and up the gravel, even easier, over the gate, with heaps of flyingmen wafting around, checked them out briefly before going round the road to the gate and up up up to the Godley trail.
Downhill now, minding the edges of the ruts, just think of it as a skinny board, no wavering, roll roll roll, a fast bike's a stable bike, 'n all that, onwards down, finally picking up some more flowy speed on the teddington shit section, boogying over the last woodfeature then railing it down to the fence gap. Tried out the upper line but it just doesnt go anywhere, found the old attempts at making a zigzag track in there, they're certainly not getting ridden, so back onto the main track for the funky wavy back and forth down to finally Livinston Col.
Clambered around and up out of there and over towards Breeze, long grass keeping the track oh so narrow and tight, again with the ruttiness, til finally branching round and back over the PFMTBC rock and on down, minding the tire-catchers, over the cattlestop and onto the road.
Next up, down from Breeze, again with the overgrown lonnnng grass heads, clipping handlebars, trail a distant grey dirt thing below, slowly building speed round, through over a washout and round finally into the Snake. Lots of speed, bumpitty bump, jump or two, railing, trailing, never flailing, eventually into the new section, oh dear, not as flowy as further up, gonna take a little to get the hang of, and then yay, into the tail, still very long dry dry grass heads, back starting to play up, soreness aching its way into my ride, making the last descent to the bottom quite excruciating.
Rolled through the carparks and struggled back up to the car. Back to the house, togs on, down to the beach with the dog and straight into the surf. Fantastic! What a way to ease out the lactic and relax into an evening of a couple of good beers and some nice wine.
Downhill now, minding the edges of the ruts, just think of it as a skinny board, no wavering, roll roll roll, a fast bike's a stable bike, 'n all that, onwards down, finally picking up some more flowy speed on the teddington shit section, boogying over the last woodfeature then railing it down to the fence gap. Tried out the upper line but it just doesnt go anywhere, found the old attempts at making a zigzag track in there, they're certainly not getting ridden, so back onto the main track for the funky wavy back and forth down to finally Livinston Col.
Clambered around and up out of there and over towards Breeze, long grass keeping the track oh so narrow and tight, again with the ruttiness, til finally branching round and back over the PFMTBC rock and on down, minding the tire-catchers, over the cattlestop and onto the road.
Next up, down from Breeze, again with the overgrown lonnnng grass heads, clipping handlebars, trail a distant grey dirt thing below, slowly building speed round, through over a washout and round finally into the Snake. Lots of speed, bumpitty bump, jump or two, railing, trailing, never flailing, eventually into the new section, oh dear, not as flowy as further up, gonna take a little to get the hang of, and then yay, into the tail, still very long dry dry grass heads, back starting to play up, soreness aching its way into my ride, making the last descent to the bottom quite excruciating.
Rolled through the carparks and struggled back up to the car. Back to the house, togs on, down to the beach with the dog and straight into the surf. Fantastic! What a way to ease out the lactic and relax into an evening of a couple of good beers and some nice wine.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Sunday's sun daze early shorty
To avoid the heat of the forthcoming day, Andy arranged an early start, four of us meeting at top of Worsley Rd at 8.30 - being Andy, Warren, Dallas and myself. We got going up the track, Dallas having a couple of tumbles (one Andrew cut him off), moseying all the way up to bottom of Bodybag then heading off up for the BCDEF-lines. Took the lefthand, "F-Line" down, me stopping a wee ways down wondering if the others had gone the old way, taking off my sunnies at the same time it being so dark in the forest. They'd also done the same and soon got down to me, and we headed off again. On down, grooving all the grooviness, then peeling right, across into the Club de Fight, loving the crap out of it all the way out to the bottom.
Back up the nice climb to the mains again and i led them down my ACJoint / Dave's Track steep bugger that it is. A couple of sections baulked me this time, but i managed my crashpoint, tho not the next bit before the final chute. Andy got most of the steeps, but Warren and Dallas need a little practice. Otherwise a great steep bugger of a downhill, followed by a grunty crunchy climb out, me cleaning it grannywise for the first time with no walking. Andy rode it pretty much all too, alas the other two didnt quite have enough in the tank. No worries guys, first time i've managed to ride up it all!
Back up round the rest of the climbs back to the top again and we headed off down back to the cars. All in all a good ride, short, but sweet. Back to Andy's for coffee.
Back up the nice climb to the mains again and i led them down my ACJoint / Dave's Track steep bugger that it is. A couple of sections baulked me this time, but i managed my crashpoint, tho not the next bit before the final chute. Andy got most of the steeps, but Warren and Dallas need a little practice. Otherwise a great steep bugger of a downhill, followed by a grunty crunchy climb out, me cleaning it grannywise for the first time with no walking. Andy rode it pretty much all too, alas the other two didnt quite have enough in the tank. No worries guys, first time i've managed to ride up it all!
Back up round the rest of the climbs back to the top again and we headed off down back to the cars. All in all a good ride, short, but sweet. Back to Andy's for coffee.
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Tuesday night quicky
Nelson to mine from work, and we 'rona'd to Hillsborough Tce. He had his old bike cos the new one had rearwheelbearing issues and was at the shop. Had word from Andrew the others would be meeting at Kaizuku (or whatever its called) to ride up Huntsbury. Nelson and me had other plans, but as our routes were similar, kinda expected to meet up with them. Up Hillsborough, up The Crescent (noting, on the way to the gate, that the brown wooden place on the right, at the top, is for rent, $225 a week, seems pretty reasonable for a cool ass location!), and onto the Farm Track.
Grunt began and at the first rise i needed to layer off. Much better, off up we continued, grind grind grind, mostly in 2nd, sometimes granny, sometimes 3rd. Nelson, of course, powered off ahead and we didn't meet til the top. I cleaned it all, for a change, not burning out except for once.
At the top we sidled round the fence and met the small gate i'd never noticed before, crossed the road and up onto the groom-assed track that is now Mt Vernon which we continued our climb over to cross the road again and stopped for a nibble amongst a couple of posses of other riders, including Daryl who we had a bit of a chat to.
Got going, me out front, and bombed it, tail wind speedsters, feeling good. Nelson caught me on the wee climb and then again after the pond, and at the usual break point i gave him the lead. Weird fuck up at the dipper, i slammed on the brakes cos i remembered it had washed out all that time ago, but no, it was fully rideable, which, if memory serves correctly it may have been last time i was through. Anyway. around after the next cattlestop Nelson nearly lost it because some other riders parked on the side of the trail distracted him momentarily. Fun descent past them, over the wee yumpies and then blast round into Vic, dark trees, and up to top.
Here, we decided to keep it a short ride and not go do a lap of the 'Nun, and so headed straight down to the see-saw, a few BrakeFree's and then across to the rockgarden, into the Gummies, the gum leaves on the little left hander track all slippery and interesting, then finally all the way down and back up onto the skidder site. Nelson continued all the way down the rest of the single track and rode back up the road to the skidder site. Here, i checked out the jump Bex had cased a few weeks ago. She'll be out of Burwood Brain Injury Rehab Ward soon, i hope.
Next up it was me first into Shagga's, nicely cleaned up, berms all tidy like, and then on down Brents, keeping right and getting in on the last breaths of Rad^Sick, then Bridges, Flow, New Bridges, blaze blaze pump pump, over hanging grasses nearly getting me near the bottom, then the blast down the 4wd to the hard right, change down, through the creek, and... stall! Bugger. Nelson out front for the climb and grind grind for the two and a half minutes to the top.
Around onto Old Skool and oh what fun. Good wind action, getting rid of dust quickly, i sat tight on Nelson's tail all the way down, hopping and pumping all the same spots. Was really fun. Finally, through the rutty end, and rolling down the gravel to the road. Riding back to the car we spotted Andrew's and the other's vehicles parked up at Kaizuka's.
Good ride, short, 1 hour 50 mins, taking it reasonably easy.
Grunt began and at the first rise i needed to layer off. Much better, off up we continued, grind grind grind, mostly in 2nd, sometimes granny, sometimes 3rd. Nelson, of course, powered off ahead and we didn't meet til the top. I cleaned it all, for a change, not burning out except for once.
At the top we sidled round the fence and met the small gate i'd never noticed before, crossed the road and up onto the groom-assed track that is now Mt Vernon which we continued our climb over to cross the road again and stopped for a nibble amongst a couple of posses of other riders, including Daryl who we had a bit of a chat to.
Got going, me out front, and bombed it, tail wind speedsters, feeling good. Nelson caught me on the wee climb and then again after the pond, and at the usual break point i gave him the lead. Weird fuck up at the dipper, i slammed on the brakes cos i remembered it had washed out all that time ago, but no, it was fully rideable, which, if memory serves correctly it may have been last time i was through. Anyway. around after the next cattlestop Nelson nearly lost it because some other riders parked on the side of the trail distracted him momentarily. Fun descent past them, over the wee yumpies and then blast round into Vic, dark trees, and up to top.
Here, we decided to keep it a short ride and not go do a lap of the 'Nun, and so headed straight down to the see-saw, a few BrakeFree's and then across to the rockgarden, into the Gummies, the gum leaves on the little left hander track all slippery and interesting, then finally all the way down and back up onto the skidder site. Nelson continued all the way down the rest of the single track and rode back up the road to the skidder site. Here, i checked out the jump Bex had cased a few weeks ago. She'll be out of Burwood Brain Injury Rehab Ward soon, i hope.
Next up it was me first into Shagga's, nicely cleaned up, berms all tidy like, and then on down Brents, keeping right and getting in on the last breaths of Rad^Sick, then Bridges, Flow, New Bridges, blaze blaze pump pump, over hanging grasses nearly getting me near the bottom, then the blast down the 4wd to the hard right, change down, through the creek, and... stall! Bugger. Nelson out front for the climb and grind grind for the two and a half minutes to the top.
Around onto Old Skool and oh what fun. Good wind action, getting rid of dust quickly, i sat tight on Nelson's tail all the way down, hopping and pumping all the same spots. Was really fun. Finally, through the rutty end, and rolling down the gravel to the road. Riding back to the car we spotted Andrew's and the other's vehicles parked up at Kaizuka's.
Good ride, short, 1 hour 50 mins, taking it reasonably easy.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Wakamarina, the hard way... 5th Jan 2013
Second ride of the year was with Nelson, who drove up specially.
We took two cars out of The Grove, heading to Havelock and then up to Canvastown where we left his. Back round through Havelock and on down to the North Bank Rd and round into the Onamalutu road... Up this past the Onamalutu reserve and into the gravel and onwards up, finding a fucking sign saying ROAD CLOSED - Access to Wakamarina Track CLOSED... DAMN. Considered parking up and riding anyway, but it seemed pretty serious, so we drove back, all the way to Canvastown then all the way up the Wakamarina Rd to the end to ride. Was about 11 by the time we made it up there, a good couple of hours after having left Queen Charlotte. Ugh.
The ride to ensue was possibly the most draining ride i've ever completed. We rode up the 4wd track for a start, which becomes the track proper a km or two in. Open and hot and dry to start, it enters lovely shady cool forest and is a nice gradient, mostly up.
At the Doom Creek turn off we decided to take a look at this. Wow. What a trail. Awesome benched, ex water-race, trail, into these spectacular gorges, some small, waterfally ferny bushy gulches, and a couple of sizeable water crossings nigh on impossible to keep feet dry. Some insane exposures, big drops off the side into gigantic-boulder strewn gulleys. Good final descent, rough and ready, down to the main track, and on up this we cruised.
Mostly climbs, but a surprising number of descents, usually into small to medium sized creek crossings, most of which not rideable. Eventually making the Devil's Hut. Dropped down for a look, and filled in the intentions book just for the hell of it.
Next up, the climb. Ugh. I had no memory of most of the track. Nelson and me did this about 10 years ago. We couldnt even remember the bikes we were riding. Anyway, it was too steep to ride, all the way up. We probably pushed for about 1.5-2 hours, up up up. Cleared two big windfalls on the way, which was good. Also opened up a rotten log so's to be rideable. Midway we bumped into two separate walking parties, first off a dad and two sons, then a couple. Nearing the top we ran into two solo riders, and then a group of 4 from Nelson (turned out they knew Stu), one of them on a Fatbike (cool!). (They'd all entered the proper way via the alternative access, Bartlett's Rd, apparently a 45minute detour from the usual Kiwi Rd). We continued upwards, finally making the 1066m top. I was dead. This was about 3pm or so, i think.
At least it was (kinda) all down hill from here... The descent is crazy. Starts out really rooty, bumpy, you can hardly take your eyes off the ground to see where the orange triangles are and where the trail's going. Around where we'd met the group there is a mad practically vertical face of roots which there was no way i was gonna ride. Dont think Nelson did it either... Then it was pretty much good to go from there on down. One or two bits i think i had to get off, but i cleaned waaay more switchbacks than i did all those years ago, my skills having been honed over the years, and a better bike i guess. there was less than a handful that i had to stop on to turn the bike. All big giant red beech and rimu, blechnum ferns, open and lush forest, very Lord of the Rings-esque.
And it all just came back at us so damned quickly, steep, interesting, challenging, and bloody hard work. I think it was about a half hour from leaving the top to making the hut again. Topped up water here and then headed on down the rest. The climbs getting harder and harder, and the heat increasing the lower down we got. Eventually stopped at one of the creeks and i could have climbed in. Good dunking of the head and washing arms etc sure helped out. The steep ass rocky switchback descent to Doom Creek was a challenge, the top corner getting me spooked, but cleaned the rest and then died walking out up the steep dry hot switchbacks leading out. Once back in the shady forest again tho, it was mostly downhill, past the 4wd end and on down the open section back to the car. Skulled a Poweraid i wish i'd taken with me and then we headed on back, after first stopping at the end of the road campground and having another dunk, this time, walking into the river to cool the leg muscles.
Got back home to The Grove around 6-6.30. A LONG day.
We took two cars out of The Grove, heading to Havelock and then up to Canvastown where we left his. Back round through Havelock and on down to the North Bank Rd and round into the Onamalutu road... Up this past the Onamalutu reserve and into the gravel and onwards up, finding a fucking sign saying ROAD CLOSED - Access to Wakamarina Track CLOSED... DAMN. Considered parking up and riding anyway, but it seemed pretty serious, so we drove back, all the way to Canvastown then all the way up the Wakamarina Rd to the end to ride. Was about 11 by the time we made it up there, a good couple of hours after having left Queen Charlotte. Ugh.
The ride to ensue was possibly the most draining ride i've ever completed. We rode up the 4wd track for a start, which becomes the track proper a km or two in. Open and hot and dry to start, it enters lovely shady cool forest and is a nice gradient, mostly up.
At the Doom Creek turn off we decided to take a look at this. Wow. What a trail. Awesome benched, ex water-race, trail, into these spectacular gorges, some small, waterfally ferny bushy gulches, and a couple of sizeable water crossings nigh on impossible to keep feet dry. Some insane exposures, big drops off the side into gigantic-boulder strewn gulleys. Good final descent, rough and ready, down to the main track, and on up this we cruised.
Mostly climbs, but a surprising number of descents, usually into small to medium sized creek crossings, most of which not rideable. Eventually making the Devil's Hut. Dropped down for a look, and filled in the intentions book just for the hell of it.
Next up, the climb. Ugh. I had no memory of most of the track. Nelson and me did this about 10 years ago. We couldnt even remember the bikes we were riding. Anyway, it was too steep to ride, all the way up. We probably pushed for about 1.5-2 hours, up up up. Cleared two big windfalls on the way, which was good. Also opened up a rotten log so's to be rideable. Midway we bumped into two separate walking parties, first off a dad and two sons, then a couple. Nearing the top we ran into two solo riders, and then a group of 4 from Nelson (turned out they knew Stu), one of them on a Fatbike (cool!). (They'd all entered the proper way via the alternative access, Bartlett's Rd, apparently a 45minute detour from the usual Kiwi Rd). We continued upwards, finally making the 1066m top. I was dead. This was about 3pm or so, i think.
At least it was (kinda) all down hill from here... The descent is crazy. Starts out really rooty, bumpy, you can hardly take your eyes off the ground to see where the orange triangles are and where the trail's going. Around where we'd met the group there is a mad practically vertical face of roots which there was no way i was gonna ride. Dont think Nelson did it either... Then it was pretty much good to go from there on down. One or two bits i think i had to get off, but i cleaned waaay more switchbacks than i did all those years ago, my skills having been honed over the years, and a better bike i guess. there was less than a handful that i had to stop on to turn the bike. All big giant red beech and rimu, blechnum ferns, open and lush forest, very Lord of the Rings-esque.
And it all just came back at us so damned quickly, steep, interesting, challenging, and bloody hard work. I think it was about a half hour from leaving the top to making the hut again. Topped up water here and then headed on down the rest. The climbs getting harder and harder, and the heat increasing the lower down we got. Eventually stopped at one of the creeks and i could have climbed in. Good dunking of the head and washing arms etc sure helped out. The steep ass rocky switchback descent to Doom Creek was a challenge, the top corner getting me spooked, but cleaned the rest and then died walking out up the steep dry hot switchbacks leading out. Once back in the shady forest again tho, it was mostly downhill, past the 4wd end and on down the open section back to the car. Skulled a Poweraid i wish i'd taken with me and then we headed on back, after first stopping at the end of the road campground and having another dunk, this time, walking into the river to cool the leg muscles.
Got back home to The Grove around 6-6.30. A LONG day.
Cullens Up, over, bit of Waikakaho and back - 2nd Jan
Hip happy new year, y'all.
Left the bach at The Grove and rode the road to Linkwater, then up Cullensville Rd to the end. Howling northerly blaring away, nice tailwind up to the end of the gravel. Checked out a little of the history of the place and headed on up the trail. Excellent benched track built between 1888 and 1893 by the goldminers, makes for a sweet ascent. Some of the exposure is pretty heinous, but the views get better and better as you climb. At the end of the good miner's track, the zig zags begin, and are just steep enough to require lowest granny and are unsustainable effort-wise in the long run, making you have to resort to walking. Walk walk walk, zig, zag, zig, zag... up, up, up, up, finally entering the native bush high up. More climbing, clambering over rooty roughness and the trail starts sidling. Little riding, mostly walking bike or carrying, til finally a couple of stretches of riding before finally hitting the saddle.
Descent into Waikakaho is steep and rocky. Excellent track tho. Lost altitude very quickly, meeting some walkers high up, and a kaka, i rode down past the old town site and on down to around 500m alt, when the trail heads mainly down quite a dry ridge, tui going OFF in the red-flowering rata. Decided here to turn back and head up. A fair bit of riding, and a bit of walking, took a hell of a lot longer than the ride down. Met some more walkers (who i'd somehow missed previously) at the old town site and headed on up. Eventually got to the top again and trundled up the rideable bits, and scooted (one foot clipped in, sort of a prolonged dab) more than i had in the other direction. Along this top bit, wind was more of a gale than it'd been previously, and i bumped into another rider, turning out to be a friend of Al's (Paul)...
Once at the sign to Private Land, rode all the stuff i'd walked up, down down down fast wee blips, switchback, fast wee blip, switchback, back and forth, down down down. Eventually, made the miner's cliffcut track. Some sections as i approached corners the wind was roaring and i'd come round the corner and almost be driven to a halt. One of these, i rode round and not far up the trail were the first walkers i'd encountered earlier. Rode on by and lower down met a family of lots of kids and one parent.
Down, out, into the (now stronger) wind to Linkwater, occasional gusts on the gravel road whipping up massive dust clouds into my face. Well earned Powerade at Linkwater and off along the tarmac i headed...
Arrived back the the bach 5 and a half hours after i'd left... knackered.
Left the bach at The Grove and rode the road to Linkwater, then up Cullensville Rd to the end. Howling northerly blaring away, nice tailwind up to the end of the gravel. Checked out a little of the history of the place and headed on up the trail. Excellent benched track built between 1888 and 1893 by the goldminers, makes for a sweet ascent. Some of the exposure is pretty heinous, but the views get better and better as you climb. At the end of the good miner's track, the zig zags begin, and are just steep enough to require lowest granny and are unsustainable effort-wise in the long run, making you have to resort to walking. Walk walk walk, zig, zag, zig, zag... up, up, up, up, finally entering the native bush high up. More climbing, clambering over rooty roughness and the trail starts sidling. Little riding, mostly walking bike or carrying, til finally a couple of stretches of riding before finally hitting the saddle.
Descent into Waikakaho is steep and rocky. Excellent track tho. Lost altitude very quickly, meeting some walkers high up, and a kaka, i rode down past the old town site and on down to around 500m alt, when the trail heads mainly down quite a dry ridge, tui going OFF in the red-flowering rata. Decided here to turn back and head up. A fair bit of riding, and a bit of walking, took a hell of a lot longer than the ride down. Met some more walkers (who i'd somehow missed previously) at the old town site and headed on up. Eventually got to the top again and trundled up the rideable bits, and scooted (one foot clipped in, sort of a prolonged dab) more than i had in the other direction. Along this top bit, wind was more of a gale than it'd been previously, and i bumped into another rider, turning out to be a friend of Al's (Paul)...
Once at the sign to Private Land, rode all the stuff i'd walked up, down down down fast wee blips, switchback, fast wee blip, switchback, back and forth, down down down. Eventually, made the miner's cliffcut track. Some sections as i approached corners the wind was roaring and i'd come round the corner and almost be driven to a halt. One of these, i rode round and not far up the trail were the first walkers i'd encountered earlier. Rode on by and lower down met a family of lots of kids and one parent.
Down, out, into the (now stronger) wind to Linkwater, occasional gusts on the gravel road whipping up massive dust clouds into my face. Well earned Powerade at Linkwater and off along the tarmac i headed...
Arrived back the the bach 5 and a half hours after i'd left... knackered.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Xmas Eve Aorere Goldfielding
No rides while in Totaranui, cept for around and about the campground with the boys.
From Collingwood, drove in the Fiatissimo out Plain Rd and down past the Devil's Boots along for a while to the end, then backtracked and parked under a nice shady tree.
HOT AS... Headed up the main entry, then hit the 4wd track on the right, through the ford and began the scorching climb. Little if any shade in occasional spots, i took a right hand turn, just for an explore, thinking it might come back round to the main track. It didnt, so after about 5 minutes i turned back, and continued my climb.
Ended up climbing all the way past my 2nd turn off (to Bedstead Gully), and on up to the 387 trig, thinking there was a single track down, which petered out to nothing but overgrown-ness, so i climbed back up to 387 and headed back down to my usual, which i found different to my distant memory, but eventually ended where i needed to be. Hit the trail to the dam, and climbed, steeply. Met the other track, and climbed, steeply again, finally topping out and enjoying the descent to the dam where i plonked myself down in the shade of a tree overlooking the water.
Sitting there, shirt off, thinking how damned hot it was, and suddenly there's someone else! Hello... chatted a bit and she took off onwards upwards, and i headed on down round the waterrace, past the caves, didnt bother to pop down to them, and then blazed on down the fantastic singletrack back to the bottom, and finally the car.
From Collingwood, drove in the Fiatissimo out Plain Rd and down past the Devil's Boots along for a while to the end, then backtracked and parked under a nice shady tree.
HOT AS... Headed up the main entry, then hit the 4wd track on the right, through the ford and began the scorching climb. Little if any shade in occasional spots, i took a right hand turn, just for an explore, thinking it might come back round to the main track. It didnt, so after about 5 minutes i turned back, and continued my climb.
Ended up climbing all the way past my 2nd turn off (to Bedstead Gully), and on up to the 387 trig, thinking there was a single track down, which petered out to nothing but overgrown-ness, so i climbed back up to 387 and headed back down to my usual, which i found different to my distant memory, but eventually ended where i needed to be. Hit the trail to the dam, and climbed, steeply. Met the other track, and climbed, steeply again, finally topping out and enjoying the descent to the dam where i plonked myself down in the shade of a tree overlooking the water.
Sitting there, shirt off, thinking how damned hot it was, and suddenly there's someone else! Hello... chatted a bit and she took off onwards upwards, and i headed on down round the waterrace, past the caves, didnt bother to pop down to them, and then blazed on down the fantastic singletrack back to the bottom, and finally the car.
Rameka, tumeke...15th December, Saturday, 2012.
(written a couple days later, from Totaranui) After driving up from Chch through a hot hot day, stopped at the Canaan Downs Rd turn off and changed into my bike gear and hit the gravel road in, Jo taking over the driving of the Brava, carrying a sleeping H.
5.27pm it was, hot as. A couple of descents and climbs before the true climb, views for africa out over Tasman Bay back round Motueka through to Nelson. Passed by a couple of dreaded hippies and their van parked up next to a heap of busy beehives, and then was passed by one car going in, met one coming out on my descent from the Canaan Saddle. Through the Gathering site and when i got to the field we camped in that wet wet festival (G2000), i saw the sign, "Rollercoaster (Canaan Loop)". rode across the field and hit the steep wee climb, sheep scattering from my path, their excrement thankfully not sticking to my tires too much. Rollercoaster it was, up, down, up, down, swoopy fun. big ring the whole way with only one dab, round and into some bush and fantastic rolling flowing trail in absolutely ideal condition, eventually spitting me out, grinning, in the Harwood's Hole carpark.
Signed the book and clambered my way up to the Rameka track start. Sat down for a well earned rest and chucked out a couple of txts, then into the trail, about an hour from when i entered the road. And oh, what fun. The driest i've ever seen it (in all the 3 or 4 times i've ridden it), supreme conditions. Flowed, rode, wended, hopped, popped, shimmied my way around. Loving the one or two wet sections for their back end squirrelling. taking it carefully on one or two of the stream crossings, including the one i crashed on when the pfmtbc trip rode through. Bombed down the steeps in the gorsey open section, with new detour, towards the end, then into the climb to the end.
the Pack Track beckoned me with a nice sign and oh, my! What a trail. What a trail!!! Fast, good visibility, tight in places, excellent grade, fantastic surface. A new favourite, methinks. Tempted to ride up just to ride down it again. Took a couple of pics on the way through, had to stop, the view was so spectacular. Then the Tomo, dropped a pebble down it just to see how deep. Onwards, across the road, round over the ridge and down a couple switchbacks to cross over again and into Great Expectations.
A bit overgrown with grass from above, blocking some of the view ahead and forcing a rather unique riding position. Once in the forest, however, all was good. Swoopy swoopy flowy flowy round the outer ridge and back in, views down into the valley of the devastation of last year's storm. Back and forth across the regen slope, crossing over one or two little brooks a couple times, one of which had become a 2 metre deep 1 metre wide gut from the storm. All the way down to the bottom of the valley, stepped across the creek and lead through to 2 Klick.
down the Do option (left, steeper) of "Do or Die" then cleaning the riverbed section and eventually up onto the road to ride round to 1 klick which led me down to the bottom.
Finally, gravel road top gear cruising out to the seal then down to the main(ish) road where i stopped and txted out to Steve at 7.38, basically having just had one hour of blissful descending singletrack all the way.
Hit the road and made Pohara at 8pm, in time for a burger and fries and a couple of well earned beers. AWESOME.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday's Up up uppity up.
a work field trip checking out a bit of historic and recreational stuff had me at Godley Head, with my bike, so, once everyone else vanned off, i filled up with water and hit the trail about 3.40pm. Hot sun, afternoon light, bit of an easterly behind me, all good. Had a nice blast round to Breeze Col, then hit the climb up, straight up the 'fall line' rather than the zig and zag, then over and good blast down to Livingston, then the real climb began. Proud to say i stayed in big (36t) ring all the way, never having to resort to granny. Was a good climb. Stopped at one stage to change out of merino t-shirt into my orange nzo trike one, much cooler. Onwards up, all climbing nicely, first bridge, then boardwalk then the next then through across and round and along and finally hit some downhill, swooping and enjoying and relishing and blazing.
Evans Pass, checked the chiming of the messages and made a call out to hear the quote for the Fiat brakes, rang them and arranged, then onwards. Hmmm... 4.05 or so, do i go up the road or up Greenwood?? Should be okay on Greenwood, so, off up i start the clamber... Again, managing to stay in big ring the whole way, tho, a couple of dabs and one or two short walks due to total wiped-outness. But, all in all, a nice climb, and definitely needed. I'd told 'her indoors' that i'd be off the hill by 4.30 and home well before 5, but it just wasnt to be. Made the road top of Greenwood at 4.30, and pushed hard up to Britten Reserve where i absolutely blazed down the 'new' singletrack, holla'ing at sheep to get the fuck out 'the way, and nearly totally overcooking the first hairpin. Over the fence fast, down the road, down the wee reserve track (NOT skidding, which took some work) out onto the road, and flew down to Craigieburn Place and into the steps, trot trot trot, then back on and flying zig, zag, zig, zag, then rollllllling floating wafting squirrelling all through the fun wee track, watching out, careful like, on all the loose grass then absolutely flying down the last stretch, rocket speed, out onto the road and it was 4.40. Time for the drudge. At least there was a tail wind, ish, Pushed it hard all the way home and got in the door at 5.05, to a, thankfully, not unhappy girl. W00t!
Evans Pass, checked the chiming of the messages and made a call out to hear the quote for the Fiat brakes, rang them and arranged, then onwards. Hmmm... 4.05 or so, do i go up the road or up Greenwood?? Should be okay on Greenwood, so, off up i start the clamber... Again, managing to stay in big ring the whole way, tho, a couple of dabs and one or two short walks due to total wiped-outness. But, all in all, a nice climb, and definitely needed. I'd told 'her indoors' that i'd be off the hill by 4.30 and home well before 5, but it just wasnt to be. Made the road top of Greenwood at 4.30, and pushed hard up to Britten Reserve where i absolutely blazed down the 'new' singletrack, holla'ing at sheep to get the fuck out 'the way, and nearly totally overcooking the first hairpin. Over the fence fast, down the road, down the wee reserve track (NOT skidding, which took some work) out onto the road, and flew down to Craigieburn Place and into the steps, trot trot trot, then back on and flying zig, zag, zig, zag, then rollllllling floating wafting squirrelling all through the fun wee track, watching out, careful like, on all the loose grass then absolutely flying down the last stretch, rocket speed, out onto the road and it was 4.40. Time for the drudge. At least there was a tail wind, ish, Pushed it hard all the way home and got in the door at 5.05, to a, thankfully, not unhappy girl. W00t!
Monday, December 10, 2012
another no ride weekend.
disappointment. Unable to get primed for joining the usual crew on a group ride, and thinking i'd get out a bit later in the day while the family was away in Hanmer, chores got the better of me and i didnt get out. Didnt help that by the time i could have gotten out the heat was off putting.
Bike related, however, i did get the disc brake installed on the Troll. And in the evening, i took Jet (the dog) for a spin, riding the ghetto cruiser, we tootled round River Rd to Pomeroy's, where i got a rigger of NZAPA for a work do tonight, and then back round River Rd, over Swanns Rd Bridge onto Avonside, right round the wreckage to Dallington Bridge then back round the other side all the way home. He had a great time. I had a great time, 'cruising' all the rough stuff. Man he's fast. Good boy!
Bike related, however, i did get the disc brake installed on the Troll. And in the evening, i took Jet (the dog) for a spin, riding the ghetto cruiser, we tootled round River Rd to Pomeroy's, where i got a rigger of NZAPA for a work do tonight, and then back round River Rd, over Swanns Rd Bridge onto Avonside, right round the wreckage to Dallington Bridge then back round the other side all the way home. He had a great time. I had a great time, 'cruising' all the rough stuff. Man he's fast. Good boy!
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Wednesday night Worzle Shenanigans
Nelson to mine after work and we parked up over in Croftfield Place, yet again, much as we had for my recent ill-fated Wednesday evening (five weeks ago now). Following that ride very similarly, we cruised round Cashmere Stream Esplanade and then up the valley betwixt Worsley and Westmorland, taking what would be a sweet line if only someone wandered up it with a weedeater; long grass getting the better of us numerous times. Back onto the skinny singletrack and then up the zig zags, the top ones making my legs hurt to the point of getting off.
Up the road, expecting Craig to catch us any time, him having left home a similar time to us entering the valley. We didn't see him. Got to the dirt bottom end of Worsley and started our clamber. I went slow; something I found myself doing on every climb this evening. My excuse being, legs tired from last night's ride, and also the Nor'waster sapping the energy with its heat, plus my fast (tailwind) ride home tonight, not to mention the head wind to work, and headwinds both ways yesterday (and probably the day before that too!). We stopped where we often do, and spotted Craig powering up, so we got going again, and it wasnt til i was approaching the bottom of the body bag that he overtook - riding a Liteville 301(in black). Sweet ride! Quick chat, and we headed up the entrance to all the mcvicars trails. I led off on the down, peeling left down the 'new' line and proceeding to bomb it pretty well, Craig sitting far enough off my tail and Nelson beyond that. At a big rock I baulked, once i'd seen what the roll out wasnt, so they both got past me then, and i chased, struggling to keep up. we peeled right into the F.C. and had a great blast, with Nelson bailing up on a corner and me slipping past, chasing Craig, all the way out the best (right hand) line to the bottom. It's improved with all the riding that has obviously been occurring on it.
Up the 4wd access back up, struggling once again on the steep bit midway, to the top of Dave's (or my AC Joint) and we zipped off down this, me taking the rear, on account of nervousness, perhaps, wary of an injurious trail. Anyway. not as fast as my last ride down here, and cleaned the bit i'd crashed on, and went on to clean the rest of it all the way down, chute and all. SWEEEET. Climb out was hard work, again, i was shitted. Walked a bit after our creek crossing (which is still holding up really nice). Caught the guys and off up the 4wd again.
Craig peeled off home from here, and Nelson and me continued back up the steep 4wd in the forest to the pylons where we turned around and rode back down our old favourite, discovering how short it was, but enjoying it nonetheless. Then it was down and out, back down the road, and back down the zigs and zags and narrow narrow overgrown (a little) singletrack into the valley and back round the esplanade to the car.
Well earned souvlaki eats on Colombo St, and an even more well earned Tuatara A.P.A at Pom's finished off a damned good evening spent.
Up the road, expecting Craig to catch us any time, him having left home a similar time to us entering the valley. We didn't see him. Got to the dirt bottom end of Worsley and started our clamber. I went slow; something I found myself doing on every climb this evening. My excuse being, legs tired from last night's ride, and also the Nor'waster sapping the energy with its heat, plus my fast (tailwind) ride home tonight, not to mention the head wind to work, and headwinds both ways yesterday (and probably the day before that too!). We stopped where we often do, and spotted Craig powering up, so we got going again, and it wasnt til i was approaching the bottom of the body bag that he overtook - riding a Liteville 301(in black). Sweet ride! Quick chat, and we headed up the entrance to all the mcvicars trails. I led off on the down, peeling left down the 'new' line and proceeding to bomb it pretty well, Craig sitting far enough off my tail and Nelson beyond that. At a big rock I baulked, once i'd seen what the roll out wasnt, so they both got past me then, and i chased, struggling to keep up. we peeled right into the F.C. and had a great blast, with Nelson bailing up on a corner and me slipping past, chasing Craig, all the way out the best (right hand) line to the bottom. It's improved with all the riding that has obviously been occurring on it.
Up the 4wd access back up, struggling once again on the steep bit midway, to the top of Dave's (or my AC Joint) and we zipped off down this, me taking the rear, on account of nervousness, perhaps, wary of an injurious trail. Anyway. not as fast as my last ride down here, and cleaned the bit i'd crashed on, and went on to clean the rest of it all the way down, chute and all. SWEEEET. Climb out was hard work, again, i was shitted. Walked a bit after our creek crossing (which is still holding up really nice). Caught the guys and off up the 4wd again.
Craig peeled off home from here, and Nelson and me continued back up the steep 4wd in the forest to the pylons where we turned around and rode back down our old favourite, discovering how short it was, but enjoying it nonetheless. Then it was down and out, back down the road, and back down the zigs and zags and narrow narrow overgrown (a little) singletrack into the valley and back round the esplanade to the car.
Well earned souvlaki eats on Colombo St, and an even more well earned Tuatara A.P.A at Pom's finished off a damned good evening spent.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Tuesday night Pleasantries.
Cool wee ride tonight. Great to be back out on the bike. Got to Pete's and we jetted to Upper Major Hornbrook to meet Steve and Robin, Wayne and Warren, Andy, and then Matt. Up through Britten Reserve on the newish track, sweet climb, then round the old Britten trail to the road, fast descent through the cone chicane to Cavendish Saddle and onto the new trail climb. Grunty wee climb, requiring good concentration, which takes your mind off the climbing itself. Trail has had a bit more done to it since Nelson and me first came up here. At Broadleaf, gravel, up through the gate to the towers, over a new stile, down round the new line and over another new stile and on down down down, twitchy to keep up with the track.
Onto Greenwood back out towards the Summit Rd start, Pete tight on my tail the whole way. Turned around and rode back the way we'd come, me letting Pete go and him hoofing off away out front. Took a squiz at the old gun emplacements on top, then back up the way we'd come down not long prior. This climb keeping you focused on the riding not the climbing too, good gradient, a bit grunty, in places, and a little bit of walking on the steep rocks up top. Past the towers again, and nor'west overspill rain started. The trail back to Cavendish was tighter in places than the other side, but the last tack across the slope towards (yet another new stile) was awesome, wind behind, flowing across the slope and down, with a cool twisty just before the stile.
Back up the road through the 'cut' and back into the Brittens. Sweet fast descent down the final stretch back to the cars by 8.15.
Onto Greenwood back out towards the Summit Rd start, Pete tight on my tail the whole way. Turned around and rode back the way we'd come, me letting Pete go and him hoofing off away out front. Took a squiz at the old gun emplacements on top, then back up the way we'd come down not long prior. This climb keeping you focused on the riding not the climbing too, good gradient, a bit grunty, in places, and a little bit of walking on the steep rocks up top. Past the towers again, and nor'west overspill rain started. The trail back to Cavendish was tighter in places than the other side, but the last tack across the slope towards (yet another new stile) was awesome, wind behind, flowing across the slope and down, with a cool twisty just before the stile.
Back up the road through the 'cut' and back into the Brittens. Sweet fast descent down the final stretch back to the cars by 8.15.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Saturday Up and Blat
Quick ride this afternoon, cos i really needed it, and to test the shoulder's durability. Was good. Tootled over to bottom of the hill in the car, and rode up Parklands Drive, then on up Huntsbury Ave. Steeper than i remembered, this section before Aotea Tce. Anyway, made the dirt, cranking the sounds for a good soundtrack to my clambering journey. Uneventful climb, not going very fast. At the top of Old Skool i just headed straight in, bombed it down to the first gate and met a guy there. We chatted a bit, him saying he'd never been down here before, so i said "Follow Me!" and proceeded to lead him down all the off piste bits between switchbacks... He didn't manage to stay on my tail and rode pretty much the 4wd the whole way down. The rough stuff i was on was a little over grown and i lost it a couple of times, having to walk a couple of the worst bits.
Onto the singletrack, very tight with the long grass crowding out the track, and i got a flat before the stile. The guy stopped and chatted again, then i left him behind again. Hopefully he enjoyed his new track. In the lower reaches i had a couple of annoying chain slippages. Time to replace that drivetrain, finally, methinks.
Shoulder did well. Would have been mad at myself if i'd crashed on it, but otherwise it was all good. No tweaky, worst cases were probably lifting the bike over stiles.
Onto the singletrack, very tight with the long grass crowding out the track, and i got a flat before the stile. The guy stopped and chatted again, then i left him behind again. Hopefully he enjoyed his new track. In the lower reaches i had a couple of annoying chain slippages. Time to replace that drivetrain, finally, methinks.
Shoulder did well. Would have been mad at myself if i'd crashed on it, but otherwise it was all good. No tweaky, worst cases were probably lifting the bike over stiles.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
recuperation
So. Since last i rode, i've been fixing. Thursday I basically had to stay in bed all day. Friday i was getting better, then over the weekend into the following week it sort of plateau'ed. Dull ache with occasional tweaks of pain when i reached the wrong way. Finally, got a Physio appt Friday last and now have a few stretches to go on with. Followed up on Monday, and tomorrow am off to Fiordland where, off the bike, I will have more time to heal, hopefully with no slips or slides down banks grabbing out for supplejack and tweaking it again.
Riding to work has been fine, except when trying to hop the back wheel up kerbs. I can see myself back on the trails after i get back from Fiordland. That will be nearly a month since the injury.
Also in the recent week, i put the first disk brake on the Surly, an Avid BB7 I bought a set of recently. Much improved. Now just have to get the centrelock thing sorted for the Alfine and I can say goodbye to rimbrakes!
Riding to work has been fine, except when trying to hop the back wheel up kerbs. I can see myself back on the trails after i get back from Fiordland. That will be nearly a month since the injury.
Also in the recent week, i put the first disk brake on the Surly, an Avid BB7 I bought a set of recently. Much improved. Now just have to get the centrelock thing sorted for the Alfine and I can say goodbye to rimbrakes!
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Wednesday night eventualities
Nelson picked me up from home after work and we headed for the hills. Parked in Croftfield Pl, off Penruddock, and proceeded around the Cashmere Stream Esplanade Reserve to wend our way up the Worsley Valley tracks eventually zigging our way onto Worsley's Rd and up to the end of the road. A fair few cars parked up top there.
Up the dirt and straight into bottom of the singletrack to climb. Originally thought we'd head straight into the new steepy off here, but reached it really quickly so decided we were feeling okay with the climbing and continued on up the steep ass little 4wd track, up past the usual singles and under the pylon. Next came something we're not allowed to break the first rule of. Down that, swooping and enjoying the hell out of, but instead of taking the high line to exit, we tried out the low line, which went across some open ground and was a bit of a disappointment. Into the 4wd track and on up back to the corner and this time headed into the trees again past what used to be the sketchy wallride.
Dropped into what's apparently called Dave's Track, but i reckon should be called ACJoint, and i led off down having an excellent ride. Was really on form, going quite quick in places, riding all the steeps and droppy swoopy bits well. BUT, nearing the bottom, roughly even with the cliffs, on probably the third to last 'sketchy' bit, i clipped a pedal on a rocky lip, which threw my balance very slightly, making my front wheel wash out and i knew i was going down. I left the bike and sort of began stumbling, thinking to myself, "this shouldn't be too bad, I'm not falling far, I'm not gonna hit a tree, sweet!" My hand went out, slipped and I landed with all my force on my elbow, which transferred my falling energy into my shoulder, which went crunch. And hurt. Quite a bit. Waves of nausea came and went and Nelson rode the next bit right down the chute out the bottom, while i struggled with my bike and very sore shoulder.
Got going on the climb and i didnt feel too bad, so long as i didnt try to do any tweaky power turns, sitting and climbing was okay. Granny slog for a while, doing okay, but not handling any rough stuff. Walked a section, rode more, then we crossed our nice little rock bridge which is holding up nicely, and I climbed the first bit out of the creek that i'd walked last week, but then walked a bunch up to the hairpin. Got back on and fuck it hurt, so had to walk the last bit up to the 4wd track. Riding up this was okay. As we approached the top again, a couple of riders came flying up behind us. As the first one passed i realised i knew him and we all stopped to chat at the gate.
We split here, Nelson headed on up Worsley to complete the ride we were going to do, while i took his keys and tentatively headed down to the car to drive round to pick him up. He went up to top of Nun, down first half, having a crash of his own near the bottom, before heading round the road, down Kennedy's, Crocodile and out to me around 8.40, just as it was getting dark.
My ride down the bottom of Worsley's was painful. Braking and negotiating rough stuff was the worst. But once on the road, i found that if i locked my elbow straight, the shoulder didnt hurt, so getting down to the bottom was smooth and easy. Before the final hairpin i stopped and headed down the bottom zigzag into the park, which was slow, then headed out Rushglen and Pentonville back to the car. Getting the bike in the back of the car was excruciating.
Home, and i drove myself to the 24hr Surgery where just before 11pm got an Xray which thankfully showed no fractures, and was home about 12.20am... Very busy in there last night.
Ironically, yesterday, a mate Dave at work was just talking to me about where i was on the curve of increasing confidence and cockiness leading up to the crash which plummets you back to the bottom of it again...
Up the dirt and straight into bottom of the singletrack to climb. Originally thought we'd head straight into the new steepy off here, but reached it really quickly so decided we were feeling okay with the climbing and continued on up the steep ass little 4wd track, up past the usual singles and under the pylon. Next came something we're not allowed to break the first rule of. Down that, swooping and enjoying the hell out of, but instead of taking the high line to exit, we tried out the low line, which went across some open ground and was a bit of a disappointment. Into the 4wd track and on up back to the corner and this time headed into the trees again past what used to be the sketchy wallride.
Dropped into what's apparently called Dave's Track, but i reckon should be called ACJoint, and i led off down having an excellent ride. Was really on form, going quite quick in places, riding all the steeps and droppy swoopy bits well. BUT, nearing the bottom, roughly even with the cliffs, on probably the third to last 'sketchy' bit, i clipped a pedal on a rocky lip, which threw my balance very slightly, making my front wheel wash out and i knew i was going down. I left the bike and sort of began stumbling, thinking to myself, "this shouldn't be too bad, I'm not falling far, I'm not gonna hit a tree, sweet!" My hand went out, slipped and I landed with all my force on my elbow, which transferred my falling energy into my shoulder, which went crunch. And hurt. Quite a bit. Waves of nausea came and went and Nelson rode the next bit right down the chute out the bottom, while i struggled with my bike and very sore shoulder.
Got going on the climb and i didnt feel too bad, so long as i didnt try to do any tweaky power turns, sitting and climbing was okay. Granny slog for a while, doing okay, but not handling any rough stuff. Walked a section, rode more, then we crossed our nice little rock bridge which is holding up nicely, and I climbed the first bit out of the creek that i'd walked last week, but then walked a bunch up to the hairpin. Got back on and fuck it hurt, so had to walk the last bit up to the 4wd track. Riding up this was okay. As we approached the top again, a couple of riders came flying up behind us. As the first one passed i realised i knew him and we all stopped to chat at the gate.
We split here, Nelson headed on up Worsley to complete the ride we were going to do, while i took his keys and tentatively headed down to the car to drive round to pick him up. He went up to top of Nun, down first half, having a crash of his own near the bottom, before heading round the road, down Kennedy's, Crocodile and out to me around 8.40, just as it was getting dark.
My ride down the bottom of Worsley's was painful. Braking and negotiating rough stuff was the worst. But once on the road, i found that if i locked my elbow straight, the shoulder didnt hurt, so getting down to the bottom was smooth and easy. Before the final hairpin i stopped and headed down the bottom zigzag into the park, which was slow, then headed out Rushglen and Pentonville back to the car. Getting the bike in the back of the car was excruciating.
Home, and i drove myself to the 24hr Surgery where just before 11pm got an Xray which thankfully showed no fractures, and was home about 12.20am... Very busy in there last night.
Ironically, yesterday, a mate Dave at work was just talking to me about where i was on the curve of increasing confidence and cockiness leading up to the crash which plummets you back to the bottom of it again...
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday East End Meanderings, plus bonus Bottle Ache
Lots of riding yesterday, i spent nearly 6 hours on the bike, and got a chaffed ass as a result.
Round to Pete's Sunday morning and we Linwood Aved to Ferrymead bridge where we found Steve, Wazza, Wayno, Tony, Andy and Marie. Off round to McCormacks and up, cleaning first hairpin, but not the second, then blowing it on the little steep between the flaxes above the bridge, then on the top hairpins, Andy got them all, I missed one, and everyone else followed with varying degrees of less success...
Out onto Mt Pleasant Rd, and we slogged on up round to Upper Major Hornbrook, where we had a rest before hitting up the nice sidling singletrack to the top. Everybody made a good effort to collect lots of poos on their tires for the relishing of later. Hung a right on the road at the top and headed off up Broadleaf Lane, at the end of the tarseal i was pleased to see a "Please Keep Gate Shut" (as opposed to the usual Tresspassers will be Shot sign that could have resided there). We ground up the gravel section into some cloud to the radio and cellphone antennae and masts.
Over the fence, past the mast, over the next fence and everyone's faces were a little perplexed cos there's no trail visible, just tussocks... I led them off down onto the trail and away we flowed. Nice wee blaze down the ridge and before we knew it we were on top of Greenwood. Off down here we blasted. I had an excellent jaunt down this, as I think most did. A few others around; when we stopped just after the Gulch of Gloom, we could see a big posse just finishing off down at Evans. They headed back up the road as we descended. Near the bottom, at speed on the big sweeper around to that macracarpa tree my front tire got into some freshly exposed loose stuff on the inside of the turn and started to go - i envisaged myself going down hard, nearly did, got a foot out and catapulted myself back up to the vertical, finishing off the last bend down to the stile getting a little shakey... phew!
Onto Godley, I cleaned the first section of the rocky start, but lost it part way through the solid rock exit, then cleaned up the rest of it. Some good work done further along this track, with the pinch point half way along tidied now into something rideable. Andy had received a call from Hubbster that they were working on Anaconda and did we want to ride it. Most of us had other stuff on so didnt want so spare the time, but Marie was keen so she continued on her merry way onwards out Godley to assist. The rest of us headed down the fenceline to the road and over down the sweet trail, at high speed, down to the Taylors Mistake Rd. Then shunted our way up the seal and Pete and me decided to explore Nicholson to see what lay beyond the barriers...
Past the first barrier (at the Flowers Track turn off), and down to the next one... hmmm. no getting through there, so down the hill and our exit was in sight, but barriers abounded, so followed the fenceline behind an abandoned house for a bit, contemplating climbing down through its yard, but no, onwards along the fenceline and then carried up the hill back to the track and then on down Flowers, but riding out the Private Right Of Way out to the old driveway/road and bombed down the rest of Scarborough and round to Dot Com. Coffee and bagel, and a tailwind home.
Bottle Ache
In the afternoon, with my sis visiting from Melbs, little H was keen to go for a ride at Bottle Lake, so the three(+dog) of us headed out there, me with the singlespeed, Sis on the old Schwinn/Extreme, and H on his blue singlespeed, and Jet the dog on 4 paws. He had the best time, running the whole way round. It's opened up through the middle again, with a nice new section through tight trees bypassing a mountain of rubble from the city. H was amazing too. Going hard the whole way. Sometimes I'd watch him bombing down a hill, getting sketchy and saving it with absolute confidence. He's an awesome wee rider. Sis really enjoyed it too, and Jet was the star. Flat-out, the whole way. Drank from the stream of water from my backpack no worries too, and met lots of friendly dogs. Good boy!
Round to Pete's Sunday morning and we Linwood Aved to Ferrymead bridge where we found Steve, Wazza, Wayno, Tony, Andy and Marie. Off round to McCormacks and up, cleaning first hairpin, but not the second, then blowing it on the little steep between the flaxes above the bridge, then on the top hairpins, Andy got them all, I missed one, and everyone else followed with varying degrees of less success...
Out onto Mt Pleasant Rd, and we slogged on up round to Upper Major Hornbrook, where we had a rest before hitting up the nice sidling singletrack to the top. Everybody made a good effort to collect lots of poos on their tires for the relishing of later. Hung a right on the road at the top and headed off up Broadleaf Lane, at the end of the tarseal i was pleased to see a "Please Keep Gate Shut" (as opposed to the usual Tresspassers will be Shot sign that could have resided there). We ground up the gravel section into some cloud to the radio and cellphone antennae and masts.
Over the fence, past the mast, over the next fence and everyone's faces were a little perplexed cos there's no trail visible, just tussocks... I led them off down onto the trail and away we flowed. Nice wee blaze down the ridge and before we knew it we were on top of Greenwood. Off down here we blasted. I had an excellent jaunt down this, as I think most did. A few others around; when we stopped just after the Gulch of Gloom, we could see a big posse just finishing off down at Evans. They headed back up the road as we descended. Near the bottom, at speed on the big sweeper around to that macracarpa tree my front tire got into some freshly exposed loose stuff on the inside of the turn and started to go - i envisaged myself going down hard, nearly did, got a foot out and catapulted myself back up to the vertical, finishing off the last bend down to the stile getting a little shakey... phew!
Onto Godley, I cleaned the first section of the rocky start, but lost it part way through the solid rock exit, then cleaned up the rest of it. Some good work done further along this track, with the pinch point half way along tidied now into something rideable. Andy had received a call from Hubbster that they were working on Anaconda and did we want to ride it. Most of us had other stuff on so didnt want so spare the time, but Marie was keen so she continued on her merry way onwards out Godley to assist. The rest of us headed down the fenceline to the road and over down the sweet trail, at high speed, down to the Taylors Mistake Rd. Then shunted our way up the seal and Pete and me decided to explore Nicholson to see what lay beyond the barriers...
Past the first barrier (at the Flowers Track turn off), and down to the next one... hmmm. no getting through there, so down the hill and our exit was in sight, but barriers abounded, so followed the fenceline behind an abandoned house for a bit, contemplating climbing down through its yard, but no, onwards along the fenceline and then carried up the hill back to the track and then on down Flowers, but riding out the Private Right Of Way out to the old driveway/road and bombed down the rest of Scarborough and round to Dot Com. Coffee and bagel, and a tailwind home.
Bottle Ache
In the afternoon, with my sis visiting from Melbs, little H was keen to go for a ride at Bottle Lake, so the three(+dog) of us headed out there, me with the singlespeed, Sis on the old Schwinn/Extreme, and H on his blue singlespeed, and Jet the dog on 4 paws. He had the best time, running the whole way round. It's opened up through the middle again, with a nice new section through tight trees bypassing a mountain of rubble from the city. H was amazing too. Going hard the whole way. Sometimes I'd watch him bombing down a hill, getting sketchy and saving it with absolute confidence. He's an awesome wee rider. Sis really enjoyed it too, and Jet was the star. Flat-out, the whole way. Drank from the stream of water from my backpack no worries too, and met lots of friendly dogs. Good boy!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday night further explorations
Great ride last night. Nelson came to mine after work and we navigated the rush hour traffic in the 'rona across to Worsley's, parking up top.
I gasped for breath all the way up, on account of a bit of a cold i'm suffering with right now, tho, keeping Nelson in sight all the way, we eventually made the bottom of the Bodybag, having been passed on the way by a young fella'me'lad hauling ass up the hill on his full susser and ridiculously wide bars. His mate followed up behind us, saying the first dude was an energiser bunny.
Off up the grunt track and into the single, looking for new beginnings i'd heard tell of... Firstly, we spotted an old section of trail, followed it and found it to lead to the bottom of a super techy downhill coming from somewhere on high. Followed it up a bit, but didnt go to the end cos we'd barely be able to ride it anyway, big drops over logs into more drops over logs on silly steepness... back down and on down, spotting a trail off to the left that i'd noticed before but was definitely looking more cut up than the past. It was going the wrong direction to what i was expecting so we continued on down to the big cliff, not finding anything else, so we headed back up to give it a try. Below one of the steeper rocky sections, in front of a couple (the woman of which walked the rocks), my chain blew out, major slippage, and i garked my knee on the stem or crown, but didnt think much of it at the time.
Hit up the new trail, and it was fun, a few jumpies doable, and one or two not quite, but rollable. It joined in with the usual trail lower down, above the pylons. There was a group of riders heading up the 4wd track in there next to us. We continued on down our usual route, blitzing left after the pylon gap and keeping right to take in the nice droppy section down and over down to the 4wd climb back out. Where it meets the gate there were some dudes playing on the jump there, two did it as we approached.
We then headed into the trail we'd walked back out of last time - this time committing ourselves to the end. Wow. what a wee trail. Steeper. Then steeper still. All rideable, til the very last chute. When my caked up front wheel started to slide i knew it'd beaten me. The same as prior, or another, group of riders were negotiating the bottom chute as we approached, and rode off up valley ahead of us. Never saw them again. Chute ended up in a spectacular wee gully we'd never seen before, amazing cliffs above (that we'd just ridden down the side of), and a granny climb sort of sidling track up valley, all hidden in the trees. Grannied uphill for a bit.
Here's Nelson taking time out to lounge around on the way up.
Got to an unrideable stream crossing halfway up, after the rock, and so we stopped and made it rideable by placing rocks strategically.
Nelson riding it (really, he wasn't travelling that quick...).
Continued on up - i walked a little - then a zig to the left and another clamber and we were on a 4wd track.
At some stage in here I looked down to notice blood on my bashguard, and when I looked at my knee I was surprised to see a nice trickle of blood running down my shin, from the gark previous. Anyway...
At the 4wd, we thought, "wonder what's up here?" and headed left, for a look, up to the farmland, thought about potential trails just back to where we'd come, in the trees. Bumpy ride back down, and on up the 4wd for a while til we found the bottom of a track, which turned out to be a couple of tracks. Hmmmm... certainly looked interesting... Up the 'least' steep looking one (which actually turned out to be the steepest) - carrying and pushing for fricking ages, the daylight diminishing rapidly, just to find out where it started; discovering a very sneaky entrance. We decided bad light no good for a first try - it is fucking steep, and there were a few unrelenting rockgarden sections with not babyheads, but troll- or ogre- or giant-head sized rocks.
Donned lights and headed on down the usual track, looking all the time out for the other trail (of the two), stopping on a couple of false leads, and eventually trying a line that looked right and finding it. Sweeeet! Excellently tracked newby which did everything we wanted it to, not too steep, curving back and forth, round and about, and eventually saw split for a low and a high line. We decided to take the high line which I suspected would take us further, and we found some awesome sketchy off camber slope crossing trail with droppy corners and some cool challenges. Rode out to the bottom - of the entrance we'd walked up prior.
Meandered back on up and round, passing the bottom of the previous 'low line' which has a sign Fight Club on it, and we all know what the first rule of Fight Club is...
Eventually on down the rest of the usuals and out to the car, feeling like we'd ridden a fair bit even tho we'd covered fuck all distance. Some mint new trails that hopefully will stay mint.
Meanwhile, now i want one of these!
I gasped for breath all the way up, on account of a bit of a cold i'm suffering with right now, tho, keeping Nelson in sight all the way, we eventually made the bottom of the Bodybag, having been passed on the way by a young fella'me'lad hauling ass up the hill on his full susser and ridiculously wide bars. His mate followed up behind us, saying the first dude was an energiser bunny.
Off up the grunt track and into the single, looking for new beginnings i'd heard tell of... Firstly, we spotted an old section of trail, followed it and found it to lead to the bottom of a super techy downhill coming from somewhere on high. Followed it up a bit, but didnt go to the end cos we'd barely be able to ride it anyway, big drops over logs into more drops over logs on silly steepness... back down and on down, spotting a trail off to the left that i'd noticed before but was definitely looking more cut up than the past. It was going the wrong direction to what i was expecting so we continued on down to the big cliff, not finding anything else, so we headed back up to give it a try. Below one of the steeper rocky sections, in front of a couple (the woman of which walked the rocks), my chain blew out, major slippage, and i garked my knee on the stem or crown, but didnt think much of it at the time.
Hit up the new trail, and it was fun, a few jumpies doable, and one or two not quite, but rollable. It joined in with the usual trail lower down, above the pylons. There was a group of riders heading up the 4wd track in there next to us. We continued on down our usual route, blitzing left after the pylon gap and keeping right to take in the nice droppy section down and over down to the 4wd climb back out. Where it meets the gate there were some dudes playing on the jump there, two did it as we approached.
We then headed into the trail we'd walked back out of last time - this time committing ourselves to the end. Wow. what a wee trail. Steeper. Then steeper still. All rideable, til the very last chute. When my caked up front wheel started to slide i knew it'd beaten me. The same as prior, or another, group of riders were negotiating the bottom chute as we approached, and rode off up valley ahead of us. Never saw them again. Chute ended up in a spectacular wee gully we'd never seen before, amazing cliffs above (that we'd just ridden down the side of), and a granny climb sort of sidling track up valley, all hidden in the trees. Grannied uphill for a bit.
Here's Nelson taking time out to lounge around on the way up.
Got to an unrideable stream crossing halfway up, after the rock, and so we stopped and made it rideable by placing rocks strategically.
Nelson riding it (really, he wasn't travelling that quick...).
Continued on up - i walked a little - then a zig to the left and another clamber and we were on a 4wd track.
At some stage in here I looked down to notice blood on my bashguard, and when I looked at my knee I was surprised to see a nice trickle of blood running down my shin, from the gark previous. Anyway...
At the 4wd, we thought, "wonder what's up here?" and headed left, for a look, up to the farmland, thought about potential trails just back to where we'd come, in the trees. Bumpy ride back down, and on up the 4wd for a while til we found the bottom of a track, which turned out to be a couple of tracks. Hmmmm... certainly looked interesting... Up the 'least' steep looking one (which actually turned out to be the steepest) - carrying and pushing for fricking ages, the daylight diminishing rapidly, just to find out where it started; discovering a very sneaky entrance. We decided bad light no good for a first try - it is fucking steep, and there were a few unrelenting rockgarden sections with not babyheads, but troll- or ogre- or giant-head sized rocks.
Donned lights and headed on down the usual track, looking all the time out for the other trail (of the two), stopping on a couple of false leads, and eventually trying a line that looked right and finding it. Sweeeet! Excellently tracked newby which did everything we wanted it to, not too steep, curving back and forth, round and about, and eventually saw split for a low and a high line. We decided to take the high line which I suspected would take us further, and we found some awesome sketchy off camber slope crossing trail with droppy corners and some cool challenges. Rode out to the bottom - of the entrance we'd walked up prior.
Meandered back on up and round, passing the bottom of the previous 'low line' which has a sign Fight Club on it, and we all know what the first rule of Fight Club is...
Eventually on down the rest of the usuals and out to the car, feeling like we'd ridden a fair bit even tho we'd covered fuck all distance. Some mint new trails that hopefully will stay mint.
Meanwhile, now i want one of these!
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Trip, Overall Reflections
Been a couple of days now, and I noticed Steve had put a low ranking on his experience so I figured I'd chuck my oar in.
Reckon this trip had me with the sorest legs I've had off a trip. I blame 7 mile for that on our first Q.Town riding day, with all those steep little pinches.
Partying definitely took a backseat this year, due to the tiredness everybody was experiencing, and also perhaps the larger group, the different levels of 'party-ability'. But that's been sliding for the last few years.
Overall, I enjoyed most of the riding. I would not agree with the 'consensus' that the Gondola and Zoots were the best. To me, the Gondola was the least exciting riding of the whole trip. It is a product. A totally artificial form of mountainbiking. Its not even 'downhill' because the trails are all so easy, lowest common denominator, which, it pretty much has to be. Its potentially a good introduction to a form of mountainbiking. But really, its just 'Entertainment' in the way Bungy Jumping or Jetboat rides are, which is what you'd expect from Queenstown. Zoots, however, was fun, and definitely i'd say more interesting than Hammy's or Vertigo.
But for me, the 'natural' tracks were the best. The Skippers Packtrack, and the Moonlight - definitely highlights of my trip. And of course, Sticky Forest - similar in concept to 7mile, but just done so much better and with so much more variety (and area).
Steve asks, will there be a next year? Why not? Is the organisation of it all just getting too much? As a large group, are we now too disparate in our abilities/speeds/interests? Do we need to break up? Go our separate ways? Or can we travel and stay as one group, but splinter off to do different rides? We pretty much did that this year. It's the only way it can stay interesting for all involved. Will there be a next year? Cant see why not.
I vote for Marlborough. Wakamarina, Whites Bay, Waikakaho-Cullens, some of Queen Charlotte, Nydia, Wither Hills (if there's nothing better to do). Thats several days riding right there, all of which I'd like to experience (or indeed, re-experience). How 'bout it, guys???
Reckon this trip had me with the sorest legs I've had off a trip. I blame 7 mile for that on our first Q.Town riding day, with all those steep little pinches.
Partying definitely took a backseat this year, due to the tiredness everybody was experiencing, and also perhaps the larger group, the different levels of 'party-ability'. But that's been sliding for the last few years.
Overall, I enjoyed most of the riding. I would not agree with the 'consensus' that the Gondola and Zoots were the best. To me, the Gondola was the least exciting riding of the whole trip. It is a product. A totally artificial form of mountainbiking. Its not even 'downhill' because the trails are all so easy, lowest common denominator, which, it pretty much has to be. Its potentially a good introduction to a form of mountainbiking. But really, its just 'Entertainment' in the way Bungy Jumping or Jetboat rides are, which is what you'd expect from Queenstown. Zoots, however, was fun, and definitely i'd say more interesting than Hammy's or Vertigo.
But for me, the 'natural' tracks were the best. The Skippers Packtrack, and the Moonlight - definitely highlights of my trip. And of course, Sticky Forest - similar in concept to 7mile, but just done so much better and with so much more variety (and area).
Steve asks, will there be a next year? Why not? Is the organisation of it all just getting too much? As a large group, are we now too disparate in our abilities/speeds/interests? Do we need to break up? Go our separate ways? Or can we travel and stay as one group, but splinter off to do different rides? We pretty much did that this year. It's the only way it can stay interesting for all involved. Will there be a next year? Cant see why not.
I vote for Marlborough. Wakamarina, Whites Bay, Waikakaho-Cullens, some of Queen Charlotte, Nydia, Wither Hills (if there's nothing better to do). Thats several days riding right there, all of which I'd like to experience (or indeed, re-experience). How 'bout it, guys???
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The Trip, Part 5, Homeward Bound
Drove through to Wanaka and parked up at Sticky Forest. Rode: In HoeDown, Easy St, Sesame St into Venus, Crankin Fine up, Bilantus to Crankin Fine again. 4G down back up Sickboy, Lower Peroxide into something Turns, back up Chairlift, Peroxides, CarrotCake, back up Chairlift, Peroxide and Hoe Down upper into Twin Towers out. Awesomest trails of the whole trip, maybe.
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