Chooseday night, Mucky Vicar

Crafty brew session at the end of the work day, a farewell and a baby's headwetting, and Nelson joined the fun for a couple of tastings.  Then we headed across town for the top of Worsley's Rd - 6.30ish?.  Headed up to be greeted with mud in the gutters.  Nelson only had his handlebar light.  The going was tough with a quarter of a bottle of each of Pernicious Weed, Conehead, HopFed PaleAle, Renaissance MPA, and a VPA, but that soon burned off.  At the 'junction' we took a wee singletrack on the west side which led up between the forest and the main track.  My intention was that we head down to the climbing trail in that forest, but I blew out and Nelson got ahead and we ended up on the main track again, at the big corner just uphill from the Pylon gap.  On up, both cleaning the usual rocky bit, but then further up both of us had one or two wee walks.  Greasy ain't the half of it.  Bottom of the 'bag and we headed up the access track.

Stopped at the top for a bit and a few rider dudes rolled up.  We set off down Tommy's and had a woot of a time, me in the lead on account of Nelson's handlebar-only light.  Grip was good, flow was sweet and it was a good roll down, heaps straighter than we remembered (it has been a while (February)) but then it got twisty(ish) again and in and out of the trees, over the yumpies and down down down through lower and further left than I remembered too.  Then back round above the pylon, and back up to the entrance to FightClub.  Here we decided further up wouldn't hurt (it did tho...), and grunt up the 4wd track we did.  To the cliff top and the waxing moon was shining down.

Off down into Wayne's World, tho taking the original trail on the right, then veering right lower down onto the lower section of Wayne's and through down onto Fight Club, which was riding mint.  Was expecting mucky slickness lower down but it was all perfect with the roots and rocks and off camber corners all the more washed out and exposed.  Out the bottom and up the exit trail to the 'junction'. 

Across the main Worsles track to where we'd gone earlier, this time taking a wee singletrack into the forest and up the one in here with all the jumpies.  When we got to the pylon clearing we headed down to the 4wd trail down here, and up this; greasy in a couple of the corners, then the longer-than-you-ever-remember grunt on up to the top of Braille.  Into this, checking out the jumps for a future time, bypassing the un-rollable ones, enjoying the sweet berms, and heading all the way down the the bottom in the short macracarpa forest.  Climby climby back into the tall pines, onto the 4wd track we'd ridden up before, up the couple wee ups and then downs to where we'd come down below the pylons, pushed up this trail to the jumpy trail we'd ridden up earlier, and then it was the last downhill.  Rolling round most of these jumps, tho the lower ones are much more rideable.  Part way down here Nelson's light cut out, so we put my handlebar light on his, and we finished it off, then down the final paddock track to the carpark about 8.30.  Off to Noodle Canteen for a number 3 and whatever # his Teriyaki was.... 

Sunday morning Greasterly wanderings

They were leaving Steve's at 9, so I left mine just before 5-to and puffed into a strong easterly out Linwood and Humphreys to the bridge.  Bit of frost around, but air temp had warmed up nicely with the wind.  At the bridge, Marie turned up and continued on ahead up the hill, and then Wayne, Wazza, and finally Andy, Tony and Steve (with only one ear...).  Also, Mark arrived on his roadie.  Off up the hill we trundled, Warren and me soon getting a big gap on the others, riding up Cannon Hill, whereas we think they stayed on Marama.  Up on Major Hornbrook we slowed right down to a rolling stop and soon Mark and Andy appeared, then the rest.  In the upper reaches of Upper Major we spotted Marie ahead and then we all regrouped at the beginnings of Britten.  Mark nearly joined us on the soft Britten trail, but thought better of it, but a challenge was made, Warren would buy him a coffee if he rode Greenwood.  Steve and Marie got a bit of a headstart while the rest of us chatted before putting on the chase.  Another regroup at the top and a team of 4 (Wayne, Warren, Andy and me) headed around the original Britten track, then up Broadleaf to the top, while the others all went down to the original Greenwood entry, saying they'd wait for us at the ruins.

Top of Mt Pleasant, hell of a wind blowing, text from Steve saying they were heading down.  Rocks slick as a slick thing, more slippery than I've remembered them in a while.  Warren got a good start and the whole way down I just couldn't reel him in.  I just couldn't get any extra speed on, due to self-preservation in the slick conditions.  The gap between us was steady all the way til the lower reaches of Greenwood when he stretched it heaps.  Spotted the skinny slick tiretread just below the ruins.  Stayed a steady distance behind Warren for a while, and saw as he caught Mark just after Gloomy Gulch as I was rounding the corner into it, then I caught Mark down where he had the flat two weeks ago.  Warren must have been flying from here, cos next time I spotted him he was heading into the wee gully and then when he came out of there he was ahead of Steve and one of the others, miles ahead of me.  Rest of the run down wasn't too bad, but Greenwood probably shouldn't have been open.  Was messy as fuck.

At Evans we split up.  I was meeting the family for lunch at Taylor's, so I stayed high and the others took Das Kapitan.  Greasy as hell start to the Godley, but I slowly reeled in three riders that'd been on Greenwood behind us, catching them at the highest point where I stopped for a snack and let them go on ahead.  Never saw them again.  Onwards and the trail was mint.  Waaaay drier than anything on Greenwood.  Even the usual mucky bits were dry, it was fantastic.  Good descent to Livingston, climb out over to Breeze, then above the road around the tight wee track and rocketship down to the end of the road and onto the below-road singletrack back to Breeze, all riding mint.  Into the Anaconda and again, perfect trail conditions, speedy buzz round and down, through the whoopdedoos down below, all dry-as.  My marsh guard was buzzing a bit so stopped to check that out and let two riders by coming up, then back into it.  Best run down here for ages, and same for the Tail.  Sweet.

Pushed the bike up the steps to the Joy's place and was cold from my sweat, so jumped in the spa (which ended up leaving my legs really weak feeling...)

Snow Fat

Missed the planting ride on Saturday, and unable to get out Sunday, except that the family decided a trip to the snow might be fun.  Into the car, Cooker on the back, and off up the plains.  Met the first snow on the before Waddington, less and less opportunities to pull off the road as we progressed through Sheffield (with a queue out the door for pies - didn't stop), then Springfield (with cars all over the road side (some stuck in snow)) and people playing on the hillside behind the cafe...  Onwards and up into the Porters.  At the big 30kph corner just before the main climb (Coach Stream Route - Korowai Tussocklands Reserve) we pulled up and played.  I took the fat bike up the packed walk track, finding it all a bit tricky.  Ice-crustal-topped melty-below snow, too deep to ride on virgin, and stuff that'd been walked on was rideable but hella tricky.  Obviously not ideal conditions for a fatty, and backcountry snow touring in such conditions would mean a fair bit of walking; defeating the purpose.. hmmmm.  Still, nice time had with the boys playing in the snow getting freezing toes once the snow got into their gumboots, and the dog had a good time too.

Sunday Fatter than the Green Captain.

Sunday morning ride, met Wayne, Mark and Marie, Pete, and Warren at Ferrymead.  Tones, Andeez, and Steviant were all in absentia.  Mark and me were representing the fatbike community - me, mainly cos he'd said he was riding his, but also cos of the derailleur on the Spot.

So, following Steviant's suggestion, we headed up St Andrews, Marama, Cannon, up through the park and on up Major Hornbroke.  Seemed to take a while, with lots of stops and chatting.  Up through Britten and down round the road into the Greenwood 'old' entrance.  Good grip round here and at the 4wd crossing we stopped for a bite and I relinquished a little air from my rubber balloons.  Pete led the way, with Wazza and Mark(?) and then me for a while with Wayne and Marie behind.  As expected, I took a battering on my rigid framed machine.  Kept on the faster boys tails for a while then eased up just past Gloomy Gulch and had a wee rest, maybe let some more air out.  Here i think maybe Mark passed actually, then I followed down and Mark flatted on the flatter bit before swoopy switchbacks Dangerous Dave used to work on.  I stopped with him for a bit, Marie went past, and the others were all waiting down the bottom.  I let yet more air out of my front tire here too. I thought he was pretty much done so took off and got all the way down and he was still up there...  We all waited down the bottom and eventually saw him get moving.  At this stage it was like 11.30 so we decided not to do Godley and the Conda so took the Captain instead.  Half way down Pete flatted so Marie sidled by and after a bit I took off too.  Down in the switchbacks I took the new line off the 2nd lefthand switchback.  Got a couple nice wee corners in it.  Met up with Marie at the bottom.  I put back the air I'd let out earlier, and we watched for the others for quite some time, then eventually they came into view.  Down the road to Dot Coma.  Mark and Marie went shopping in Slumner, and the rest of us had a good blast round the causeway all peeling off at the bridge.  Andy's van was parked up next to Wayno's car, so he musta been out there somewhere, and i was home by 1

Gale force Tuesday Pleasant Green Castle

Nice early departure from work to beat the traffic and make my TFC meeting 7.30 deadline, Nelson collected me from outside work not long after 4.30 and we got across town and up to Upper Major Hornbrook around 5.  Looked at my watch part way up John Britten Reserve and it was 5.15, I was wheezing and Nelson was gaining ground on me, but it wasn't long and the top was got and around into the blustery nor'wester we treadled.  Off-pushing to say the least, whenever we were on a crest facing the wind, which was most of the ride, we were in it's powerful grip, being pushed and bolshed and steered awry.  Around Britten and onto the road, fast descent then up the Cavendish zig-zags, with a fucking fence and gate smacked in the middle of them... That's going to kill the buzz on the descent, not that anyone probably does that now that the road's open.  Visibility decreasing.   My gears were playing up, throughout the ride, with anything in the middle range being self-shifty, never quite able to stay in the gear I wanted...but seemingly okay in low gears or high.  Over the top, and lights on.  I led down the walking track steps and steeps and the wind pushed us about and we got lower down the ridge.  The odd dab due to windage.  Snack break at the top of Bridle Path, and then up the road, nearly blown to standstills on the final approach to the top.

Into Castle, wind behind once or twice, but mostly beside and pushing.  Nelson was forced off the track a few times due to the bladed spokes.  I had trouble, but otherwise a pretty good run.  The climb was wind-assisted making my gear trouble less of an issue.  Onto the road and around, side wind, head wind, tail wind, mega headwind under the gondola, then no wind, then extreme tail wind pushing us up through the gate and through the cattle stop onto the singletrack.  Granny climb, with buffetting and then around the corner and pussssshhhhheddd up the corners to the top.  And pusshheed up through the gate and the towers on Mt Pleasant howling.  6.15 here.  Plenty of time.

I led the way down, on account of Nelson being pushed around so much with his lightweight bike and lightweight body, and the bladed spokes of course.  Me; heavy bike, heavy bones and good-living weight allowing gravity to do it's thing against the pissant gale.  Good run down through the tussocks and then around and fighting the wind down to Greenwood.  Into this and pushed about a fair bit with, again, tail winds, side winds and head winds, seemingly coming from all directions as we descended.  Sometimes Nelson would be on my tail, sometimes not.  Mostly good run down and no stops, just blazing.  Down through the fence and a hundred biker lights riding up the Captain below us.  Massive long string of them.  Bombed it on down and onto the road.  Hit the climb, I managed to get a gear I liked that didn't shift itself out of itself and just ground that up the hill. Nelson sometimes dropped me but then would slow up a bit and let me catch up and then drop me again.  Only one vehicle passed us going up.  Seemed to take a while, wind not too affecting on most of the climb and then we hit Britten and bombed on down, getting to the car at 7.

Thai Talay, Pahd Thai for me, Red Curry for him, and off to TFC to scoff it down all in time for the 7.30 meeting.  Perfect.

Red Zone Meanderings

Lazy start to the day, so txtd Steve that I wouldn't make the group ride.  Did some much needed maintenance on the Turner, getting a new BB bearing from Josh, and installing it, and cleaning all the Heaphy grit off everything and greasing the pulley wheels.  Next job it so squirt some grease through the pivots and get the wheels back on.

Jet, and me on the Cooker headed off around River Rd towards Banks Ave, then along Dallington Tce into the redzone and across to Glenarm and onto Locksley, following the gravel and tarseal track down river.  Met a couple other dogs along here, and we rode along below the stopbank towards New Brighton Rd.  Across here and into the Horseshoe Lake Walk.  Nice bit of singeltrack in here, but unfortunately it's a dead end.  I went as far as possible, and then some - really pushing the envelope on how far in.  It's SO overgrown in there, and the boardwalks are all higglety pigglety and slippery and have boggy swampwater all around them...  Bit of blackberry about too, and my arms and legs were rather itchy in the shower later.  Got to a dead end, and backtracked, then took a side trail off to what was the end of Liggins St, then up what was Jean Batten Pl.  Followed the edge of the reserve, in the redzone, all the way round to where Moncrief Pl used to be, and onto the track that ended at the end of a boardwalk.  Turned back and headed round to Broomfield, around north, through some plantings of ours from years back, up onto Horseshoe Lake Rd, and round back onto New Brighton Rd, and Ajax, down onto the Banks Ave singletrack which took me back to River Rd, and back along the stopbank, around the riverbank trail then through one last piece of redzone behind hours and home.  All up maybe just over an hour.  Only about 10kms...  But slow and interesting exploring.

Thursday night mucky puddle klunk

Not a lot of riding of late, with my knee giving me gyp riding to work etc, so Queen's Birthday weekend at the bach with no riding had been a good rest.  It's finally coming kinda right, so last night Nelson came to mine after work and we had some dinner then headed out to the Puddle.  Lotsa rain over the last couple days meant the hills would have been useless, so Bottle Lake was the best bet.  Lots of puddles around, Nelson was on his singlespeed and I was on the Klunker, which is a fun bike, but hard work.  Handles really well tho, and the backpedal brake is really all you need out there.  We both wore jackets and our G.Effect leggings, meaning when we got back to the car we wouldn't dirty it up.

Did the usual lap, headed in, hung a right and out to North Beach and then up the coast track, where the sand washouts have been dug out with a digger, then north of open section, where the track ends up top of the dune, we stopped for a look at the sea and the just starting to wane moon.  The big seas of last week had cut right into the dunes leaving a big drop down to the sand that was being washed by the waves, leaving practically no beach for walking on...  A couple of riders rode past as we got back up to the bikes and so we chased them down, passing them as we came back into the forest.  Headed all the way up to Spencer Park cos Nelson didn't have any water, then bombed it back south to the car.  Hard work pushing the Klunker with the seat being too low for sitting and not wanting to stand all the way.  We swapped bikes for a little bit and Nelson's felt twitchy and short with it's steep angles compared to the slackness that is Klunk.

Back to the car and stripped off the outer layers and it was looking like she was gonna be a frosty night, bloody cold.

Sunday's Fat Thomas, God of the Snake

Brisk start, Steve was leaving his at 9 so I left mine at five to and pedaled the length of Linwood and Humphrey's to the Ferrymead bridge, finding Wayne, who said Tony and Andy had already passed by in the car, then Steve turned up.  We rode the nice new smooth bikeway the length of the causeway, my fat tires sounding like a box of angry bees, then through to Scumner, finding the other two here, we treadled up into the valley and delaminated at the start of the track.  Fatty climbs pretty good, and cleaned all the switchbacks but not the usual rocky bits.  Regroups at Evans and on up through the guts, which I cleaned the main difficult one but no the top one.  Rest of the ride out was good.  Stopped to let some folk through, one of which was on a carbon Salsa fatty with a Bluto up front.  Into the descent, and the smooth was good but once we got down towards Livingston I started getting a pounding.  Speed and rocks don't go together on this bike.Climb from Livingston was good, then round and down was sweet, as the trail's all smooth through there.  Bit scary bouncing over PFMTBC Rock, but the rest was good, and we hauled up at Breeze.

Decided to head around above the road and take the sweet wee narrow trail.  This was good, and the descent from it was fun speed.  Across the road and around the singletrack back.  Good blat round here too.  Then it was into the Anaconda.  First half good, but as soon as it got going hard down, I was bashed around, handling was freaky and speed hard to control.  Andy was on my tail and I was genuinely slowing him down.  Pulled up at the bottom and Steve rolled in phissing tire goo all out of a hole in his tire.  Got to the bottom and it made a big puddle on the track while he pumped it up.  But it seemed to hold.  So him and Andy led off along the 'tail and then Steve pulled up at the cattlestop.  We carried on, and I rode this bit better than higher up.  The others rolled in and then Steve who'd chucked more air in.  I bailed here, cos I was gonna meet the family at the bach while the boys continued over the hill, i assume for coffee at DotCom.  I rode down onto the beach and along it, and the family appeared on the path, so we played with the dog on the beach for a while before adjourning back up to the house where we had a nice soak in the spa.

The Heaphy, Friday 15th to Monday 18th May

What a TRIP.  Couldn't have gotten better weather, given the time of year - and we missed the shit weather by a day.  So mint.

Thursday night, left work at 3.  Nelson showed at my place and we loaded my gear into his car, departing 4ish, and I took the Fiat north a bit (going back from just past the Palms for my water bladder - putting me nearly 20mins behind Nelson), parking in Geisha Rd just this side of the Ashley River, so's Nelson wouldn't have to come all the way back into town to drop me off. Drove north and got into Karamea just after 9pm, stayed at Rongo's Backpackers on recommendation of Wazza (who's truck was parked there while he was northwards on the track (in the rain)).

Pissed down overnight, but dawned fine with slightly higher cloud.  3 other bikers from chch eating breakfast with us, were flying to Brown's Hut and would meet us at Mackay.  We headed north and then Nelson started faffing - taking about an hour to get his Thule freeloader rack set up and both ready we set off about 10.

Kohaihai to Mackay
Trail a very well built chip, the odd wet spot, and native bush all around.  Across the first of many big wide easy swingbridges then through jungle and onto the climb.  Met a few riders early on, then after the saddle over to Scott's Beach we met someone who knew Wazza and then eventually Wazza himself, on his first dry day, riding out from Heaphy Hut.

Got rolling and along the coast.  Heaphy hut in an hour and half or so, washed sand off bikes, re-lubed chains, chatted to DOC worker guy, then 12ish off up the Heaphy River a few ups and downs but mostly flat.  One 'narrow' oldskool cable bridge to cross. Then flat bits and one up and steep down then flat and Gunnar River crossing on big swing bridge, then massive massive rata tree just off the track,

(bike set ups visible here, my Ground Effect El Taco bag (with sleeping bag) on the handlebars, and Twin Needle fluoro orange bumbag on the seatpost, Nelson's sleeping bag on front, a few clothes on back)
After the tree, more flat and massive Heaphy swing bridge and a minute later the Lewis Hut.  Stopped here and put a kettle on for the first of many dehy meals.  Motorbikes turned up with DOC guys on them, one of whom came in and chatted to us.  They'd just had the wettest week of work working in muck up on the track.  Got rolling again at 2 and hit the climb.  Steady as she goes.  Long and slow, lower back getting more and more sore from the weighty backpack, but managing somehow.  About half way up, one mudhole nearly sent me over the bars when my front wheel disappeared into what I thought was just a shallow dip, and it was so gloopy we actually got the squirty bottle out and cleaned it all off.  Another 45 or hour and we finally made the James Mackay hut 4ish.  A couple of trampers in residence already, and then umpteen more bikers and hikers turned up.  Later I think I counted 14 bikes parked out front (all going the opposite direction to us).

Tales told and night slept.  Kiwi heard during a trip to the toilet in the night.

Mackay to Perry
Saturday dawned sunny and clear, quite cool.  Amazing views all around, stunning landscape.  Hit the trail 9ish and were welcomed with minimal climb then nice descending through wicked landscape of subalpine and stunted forest and open bits...  Climb for a bit then quite a descent, running into Hut Warden Steve, then more descent and boardwalks and boardwalks then maybe a gentle climb to Saxon hut for a snack, meeting more bikers coming the other way here.  Got rolling again, bit of climbing then quite a long descent down into the Gouland Downs, talked to an american girl riding on her own after watching her get her feet wet crossing the Big River, so for us it was on the cable bridge to keep our feet dry, and master our cable bridge techniques - Nelson's sit seat in pack waist-strap, hold top tube with one hand, cable on side with other - me (here in action), wheelie, bouncing over the bracey things...

 Spotted a falcon here, chasing smaller birds, one of which disappeared as he passed through them...  Onwards short climb into the scrobbleforest, short limestone karsty bit all in mossy forest, very cool, then openlands and the Gouland Hut.  Moar snacks.  Down to the Cave Brook and then climbing up big lonnnng ziiggs and zaggs on open red tussocky low scrubby rocklands, past the boot pole, and on up then back into bush, rocky trail climbing, couple rode past, and then my knee incident.  Following Nelson, possibly a downhill?, and his little tool bag fell off so I holla'd and stopped to pick it up.  Caught him up and as we got moving again, a strap on my pack caught my seat and unbalanced me, making me tumble to the left, nothing but my knee stopping my fall with a very large rock.  Smack.  Ouch.  Thought what a terrible place to be broken, but rode on and it was sore but manageable.  Another 20 mins or so, and 12.30 we were at the Perry Saddle Hut.

Bunch of bikers through, we ate lunch, claimed our bunks, left gear, got set up with minimal and hit the trail for Brown's Hut.

Perry towards Browns and back
Kinda rough hard track, quad-bikeable, indeed evidence of days prior quads visible.  Slight climb from hut then highest point of the track at 915m and the down began.  Back and forth in and out of valleys, patches of windthrow allowing views to the valley below, and a few kms down the Aorere Shelter.  Met a three, then a Paul on his Pugsley, then the four women, all three groups of which we would get to know over the rest of the trip sharing spaces with them for the next couple days.  All were surprised at our choice of riding down and back up.  Rode and rode and rode and slowly the valley below got closer to us.  Finally at a bench  not long after the Shakespeare Flat turn off, we thought "just another 10 mins or so", and continued on down to pretty much the last big corner, maybe a km from Browns Hut.  Nice view over the Aorere Valley, with still a bit of altitude we didn't want to have to claw back.  I took off on my way back up, as I was by this stage tired and running on not enough food.  At one of the big scoured out creeks, Nelson had spotted a Chamois up above, which scarpered into the bush above.  A km or so later there it was on the track, and from here on up, past the Aorere Shelter, we encountered it regularly, - round a corner, he'd see us, pronk away around the next bend, and then we'd round that and he'd pronk away.  Graceful and fast and effortlessly.  According to my mapping done at work, this is the northern most Chamois seen in NZ.  He disappeared at the highest point and we rounded the corner and had a fun rocky descent to the hut.  56kms done and dusted for the day.

Perry to Heaphy
Sunday, relaxing start to the day and got going 9ish i think.  Another beautiful sunny day, tho cool.  Clambery rocky climb to start then rock garden start to a long lot of descending, through forest, then eventually out into the open with views galore across the Downs.  Caught up to Pugsley Paul out here. (note a change in my set up, with sleeping bag in backpack, and minimal stuff in the El Taco, which now sits on top of stem)

Met a few riders on their way back through.  Stopped to look for whio on Cave Brook, no dice, and then we were at Gouland Hut, with a couple of the previous night's trampers stopped there too.  Snackage then on into the scrobble forest and out onto the flat, Shiner Creek, no whio, across the ford, and then Big River, over the bridge, and climbing for a bit before descending with a few creek crossings.  I'd lost sight of Nelson along here, and then one of the ladies came into view.  Just about on her when I blazed through a creek crossing and lost my chain.  When I put it back on I could hear the air leaving my tire, and as I'd not long passed the Hut 1km sign, figured I'd walk.  Took a while and finally made the hut, Saxon, patched, and ate, and chatted.  Paul riding through while we were there.  Then we were off again, passing Paul on a bridge, and at one stop further on I could hear a quiet hisssssss from my rear tire.  Wasn't going down fast so just kept riding and stopped about 5 times to put air in it before Mackay.  On the way up the flanks of Mt Teddy ran into the group of three and Hut Warden Steve and someone else.  Finished this climb off and then swoopy fun descending began, for ages down down, one or two ups but mostly down and all the while scudding fog rushing by, my beard picking up moisture galore.  Closer to Mackay hut and it got colder. Finally, in full on cloud rushing through, lunch at Mackay, change of tube, and warming up.  While here most of the others all rolled in at various times behind us.  Also, while here Paul must have snuck past without stopping.

Ready to go, descending time...  What a trip.  Best part of the whole ride.  Flow, and berms, and a little tech, and speed and caution and bliss.  Paul's Surly Nate tires had left a nice phat tread in muddy sections ahead of us.  Descended for aages.  Total descent took maybe 40 minutes, maybe longer?  All the way thinking, when is it going to end?  But the views through the trees of the river miles below ever telling us, much longer.  Eventually, Lewis Hut came into view, and we pulled up here to find Paul.  Chatted, snacked and then got going again following him a over the big Heaphy River bridge.  Then it was Speeder Bikes zooming through the forest.  Nelson and me kept a really good pace from here on to the Heaphy Hut.  Blazing.  Any ups slowed me right down but the flats and downs I kept a high cadence and we just blasted along.  No time flat and we were at the hut.  Both had a wash in the river, and cleaned off bikes, and set up shop and chilled out.  One by one the various riders and walkers dribbed and drabbed in, up to a few hours behind us, and a pleasant evening was had.

Heaphy to Kohaihai
Final day, early start on account of wanting to beat the high tide at Crayfish Point.  Left about 8, and got into the groove again, blazing along.  Weather starting to change, tho still a bit of sunshine around, we got our only rain along here too.  Caught Paul maybe 20minutes in (as he was taking this shot!), and rode on.  Got across the beach no problem, tide still low enough, and still sign of yesterday's footprints and tire tracks in the sand.  Snacked half way up the climb from this beach and was here we donned jackets for the rain.  Scotts Beach finally, and the last climb (where we met Wazza on Friday), to the top, and descending again, around throught bush and across the big bridge,tide high, 9.45 we eventually rolled into Kohaihai.

Brilliant 3.5 days had.  Changed, dried, packed, chatted with Paul, who had realised he'd left his phone behind at the Heaphy so was changing his plans and going back through.

Hit the road, saw the american girl from Big River in Karamea and did some much needed bike maintenance for her, real food, then driving to Westport, more real food, and Christchurch bound.  Home just after 6pm Monday night, just in time for dinner.  Yum.

Tuesday night, Happy Blog-iversary, and Worsley Playtime

Ten years today since this blog's first post. Ten years ago I started this voyage of documentation.  Happy blog-iversary, blog.

Tonight, Nelson picked me up outside work, in hideous levels of traffic, it being just after 5, and the neighbourhood utterly full of road works, closed lanes etc, not to mention a fuckload of fucking idiots all driving everywhere...  Nearly 6, maybe quarter to, by the time we made the top of Worsley's Rd.  A bit of faffing and changing and just before 6 we headed up the track that starts through the gate directly off the carpark.  Mellow start then straight into the steepness.  Granny gear selected and lung and heart rate increasing markedly to the point of nearly exploding.  Up up up, nice scenery, what we could see.  Up past all the trails I explored with Jet, and the length of the Braille track seemed to go on forever.  Then, finally, the last whoopdedo and onto the Worsley main drag.  "Forest Closed" signs greeted us at the entrance to the climb, which we duly ignored, it being after hours, and ventured ourselves forth to explore what wreckage has ensued at the mercy of the foresters.

Followed caterpillar tracks up that entry, they continued straight up the fenceline, we took the singletrack climb, all the way up, meeting the tracks again near the very top.  Into the entrance to Hangloose (or Goat) and within metres had met the machine responsible for the tracks.  Massive it is, with maneuverability and the cutting handle head thing on it's end, with it's path a swathe of destruction, cleared trees placed to the side and many more all the way down Hangloose, with X's on them ready to go - demarking the boundary of the next area to be logged.  Good bye Hangloose with your groovy swoops and pops, good bye Yoda, not that we ever rode you...  Down we flowed, bypassing the second log jump, and enjoying the steepnesses.  I had an off, where I entered a steep-ass corner I've bailed on before and decided mid way through that I didn't want to go where the bike was going so stepped off the back, but it being so steep I fell backwards, one foot still attached to the pedal, striking my calf on the hot hot brake disk (not realising til later), and landing ungraciously on my ass.  Nelson was stopped metres away at a tree across the track.  Under this an on down the last few steep corners to the bottom where climbing began - easy to start, but getting increasingly steeperer.

Gasped up the internal guts track, walking some before the pylon-gap, then managed to ride, albeit with a gasping break, the rest of the way to the clifftop.  From here, up the original trail, one section where the caterpillar machine had been through, rarking up the place, then Nelson quite surprisingly managing to clean that rocky outcropping near the top that nobody's ever cleaned before, and then we proceeded out to the top, where we found Pete, Andy and Robin.  They'd not long gotten up there on their first climb (having met at the carpark at 6.15), and had lost Tony to a broken derailleur (via loose stick) on the way up.  They headed down Original and FightClub and Nelson and me headed on up to the entrance to Debbie Does Dallas.  Nelson took Nick's new one, while I took the original.  Fast run down here through the dark douglas fir bit then into the bigger open pine section below the cliff face, and around into Alice's Restaurant.  Good for the first couple of corners but then the steep stuff gave me the heebeegeebees and I walked a couple of bits.  Got riding again, and then the last steep bit just before a wee bridge, Nelson crashed - hitting the deck pretty hard (even broke the end off his brake lever), and burst open his zip on his bag.  Fixed up off down again, into the final couple whoopdee's and then through and caught up with the other guys down as they'd just finished Fight Club.

With them headed on up to the Junction where Robin said good bye and the 4 remaining rode up the guts track and into the lower entrance of Fight Club.  Here, Nelson discovered his rear brake was dodgy, not applying any real pressure to the disk, so, unable to fix it on the spot, he headed off down the way we'd come up, and the remaining 3 of us headed for an excellent blast down Fight Club.  I really hope the logging doesn't kill this track.  Climbed out to the Junction and then down the finale and back to the cars.  Andy headed down the road to home (via Fluffy Sheep where we saw his light and stopped to say See Ya)

Number 3 Noodle Canteen and a Garage Project Pan Pacific for tea.  Nelson had Nasi Goreng, and the same beer.

Sunday Fat road to Planting

Felt like a bit of a change and rode the fat bike around to Pete's for a 9am meet with the rest of the crew.  No sign of Pete, then Steve turned up and Wayno was running late so we found him out on the road.  Down Avonside Drive and Kilmore through the 'Harmony Run' in the park, all the way my tires humming like an angry box of bees, and we met Tones and Andy at Kilmarnock and the railway.  North up the railway trail all the way to the end, then the usual streets with a stop at Cosy Cafe for coffees (and tea) and then onwards to Styx Reserve, past the no bikes sign and in, lots of dirty looks from walkers, even tho we were on our way to plant trees for them!  Planted for pretty much 2 hours, ate sausages and then hit the road back home, same way all in reverse, bees buzzing angrily all the while.

Thursday Birthday Fat Jet Beach Explorations

Bit of a weird one yesterday.  Skipped off work early, on account of it being my birthday, and took the Fat bike and Jet out to Pines Beach.  Parked out at the end of Reid Memorial Drive and headed back into the forest, vaguely north, on a nice wee track, then through trees for a bit then hung a right and out towards the beach when my left crank started feeling weird.  Damn thing was loose and I didn't have the right tool, so jimmy-fixed it up a bit, but not perfect, got going again out to the beach, found certain sand better than other bits and eventually back to the car.  Drove through to Kaiapoi, stopped a the Bikes and  Mowers shop and bought the 8mm hex tool I needed, then drove to Spencerville where I well and truly tightened up the crank.

Parked out the end of the main drag, beach access, and tootled around a nice wee track to the Surf Club, then found the beach a bit small, big pumping sea, high(ish) tide and lots of detritus making for no where to ride, so, turned back and headed back to the car then out onto the beach there, and avoided wave action along the narrow strip of driftwood and the dunes.  It all got a bit much, so I pushed up the dunes and over through to the quad track behind, and proceeded to follow this north, eventually all the way to the mouth of the Waimak about 4.35pm.  Really nice out here, then rode all the way back along this track back to the car and headed home, getting there at 5.30pm.  Jet had a nice run, and I enjoyed my nature explorations and riding the fatty on the sand.

Sunday's family and Monday's Sunday rides.

Sunday Family ride.
For weeks or months, H had been asking to go to Castle Rock, so Sunday afternoon, I piled the bikes on the car, and T, O, H and me headed up Dyers Pass Rd, then round the Summit.  O and me got out at the start of Vernon and rode down the singletrack to Rapaki Top, meeting the other two here.  We then toodled along the closed-to-traffic portion of Summit Rd, steadily climbing around, with O handling the final climb well, but T and H walking a bit.  Got to the top and looked at the views and then headed back down.  After the Tors, I got up onto the new walking track just above the road and rode it all the way back round.  It's quite neat with one or two wee techy interestingnesses.  Then I took the Witch Hill section of singletrack, really enjoying the flow without a bag on.  O put the pressure on from down on the road to try to beat me back.

Anzac Day Observed, 
The crew were departing Steve's at 9, and he'd let me know we were riding out east, so, because I knew I had to get home by 12, I drove to Ferrymead Bridge and awaited their arrival.  Marie, Wazza, Tones, Pete, Steve and Robin showed up, and we headed up St Andrews Hill (via the temporary stairs).  Up most of Marama, and on up St Andrews.  Good wee slog up here, feeling quite happy and content on my bike, we spaced out a bit, but by the time we regrouped up in the parky bit below Britten Reserve, it wasn't long til Robin and Marie showed and off up the last we went.  Over the new stile onto the Britten climb, which wasn't mucky, just dampened nicely by last night's rain.  Into the clouds, scudding all over the top of Pleasant, and Jackets on for the descent.

Down the road and onto the lower entrance to Greenwood.  Slippery cattlestop, and the odd slickness of the rocks, but the dirt I didn't trust, even tho I never really had any issues with it.  Nice flow around here, and a regroup at the 4wd track before hitting the descent.  Starting off carefully-does-it, but finding my groove and letting the rear end skitter around as it was want, getting on down the hill nicely, thank you.  A few slick spots before gloomy gulch, a dab on the rock just after, and then a short group up at my usual spot - nicely out of the wind.  Then the final run, a good one all the way down, no real sketchies.  I bollocksed the first of the rocky ups, it's really eaten out, but the second was fine, and the final blast was sweet.  A woman runner and dog arrived at the gate same time as me, so she opened it, then I held it open for the rest of the crew as they rolled in.

Next down, das Kapitan.  I led the way into a nice rolling start, and round the first corner there's a cyclocrosser coming up...  oooops, cheers, squeeze on by and onwards and down, opening the dumbgate and passing the message back, "last one through close it", and onwards again, taking it a little easy.  Pete had a front wheel wash somewhere down here behind me, but kept it together.  Down the first 'tech knuckle' rock no probs, and then Pete, then looking back Tony's running with his bike, then they all paused out of view.  Robin and Marie rode past.  Then Steve, with a leaky tire, leaving wee spots of goo on the trail every rotation.  Finally, Wazza and Tones turned up and it was onwards down.  I bailed early on the second of the rockies, and then watched Pete ride it no trouble - dunno what it was that put me off - the grease I guess.  Last blast, down through the hairpins and into the valley and the others all awaiting us at the final stile, all fun and games.

Down the road to Dotcom and coffees all round ('cept Steve, of course).  I bailed early and hauled back to the car and was indeed home by 12...

Thursday night solo jetted bottle fat

Ate a little dinner then headed out to the forest with the Cooker and the dog on and in the back, respectively - musta been sometime after 6.30.  Left the carpark and peeled right onto the blue walking track for a start, following it through til it crossed the bike track which we then got onto for a bit.  Crossed the dump access road, then through the woods for a bit, then hung a left onto the walking track, cruising along this for a while, passing two lots of stunned walkers with small fluffy dogs that Jet bowled on up to, sniffed, and continued on.  A wee while down here I spotted a singletrack off to the left, so leaped onto it and followed it, twisting here and there, til it crossed the access road again and twisted and turned through the forest til it found the original walking track i'd started on.  Followed this for ages, til it eventually crossed the central bike track.  Stayed on the walk track for a while longer til we got to a horse track, which I mistakenly took.  Too bumpy for easy riding.  Got to the bike track again and rode it for a bit, til the walking track crossed it again, so rode this for a while through, crossing first a road then the bike track again and following the walking track through backtracking a little south, then out towards the beach and following a sub internal road parallel to the main trail nearer the beach, still southwards for a bit, then followed my nose through the pine-tree'd dunes to the main bike track.  Followed it north for a bit til it rose up onto the top of the dune, the sea high up the beach and the front dune eroded, i think from the remnant of cyclone Pam.  At this point I headed south again, on the dune-top trail, following it to it's end where it came back to the main trail, and then turned around and followed it again north, then continued on through the main drag, hanging the left back into the main park trail, a 29er dude on my tail for a bit, then when the bike track went right, i continued on through til I got back onto a walking track and headed north, spotting the other guy's lights now and then over on my right, and then across muddy road as I descended of a sweet high dune down to it.  From here we just followed the usual drag through, not liking the usual bit I dont like, and Jet slowing right down through these final legs.  Where the trail heads left and through to the cleared area before coming back to the carpark, went straightahead along a forest road, then along main forest roads right then left and with one little last blast through some trees into the back of the bmx pumpy jumpy tracks area and back to the car at 8pm.

Mt Greyrillas in the Saturday Mist

Jet and me jettisoned ourselves from the city in a very smelly leaking-damp Fiat, making good time to Sefton by 12.05.  Nelson turned up not long after and we transferred to the 'Rona, round through Balcairn and up the gravel to Lake Janet.  12.40something as we rode off up the hill.  Long grind, always longer than you remember, into the mist.  Evidence (fresh tracks) all the way up of a 4wd having gone ahead, and finally up in the fog, as we were wondering whether this was the last corner to round before the tower would loom, there appeared said 4wd on it's way down.  Tower then loomed in the fog, and the temperature and wind were unfavourable for hanging around so straight onto the singletrack we went, and down, taking the steeper scree strewn line from the ridge down to the sidling trail.

Feet were soon soaked through from the wet tussocks overhanging the singletrack, but the trail was sweet and we cruised at a comfortable pace down.  Jet loving every minute of it, sticking just behind Nelson who was leading the way.  When we stopped, he'd go sniffing off up or down the hill, locking on to the scent of pigs or hares or deer and having to be called back before he buggered off too far.  First couple of sets of hairpins and we were still in the fog, but not too much farther down we got under it and could see sun soaked hillsides across the valley - very local this cloud was.  Nelson rode the rocky drop that avoids a couple hairpins, but I was feeling chickenshit-cautious and rode the two switchies. From here it was around to the wee saddle and heading into the bush.  Very damp down here, with roots and rocks slippery-as, making caution my middle name.  Fun though, fun fun fun in the bits between the switchbacks, most of which had me just keeping left foot clipped, and manhandling the bike around in a couple of steps (plant front wheel, swing back round, maneuver front around...) and riding on. Nelson cleaned heaps of them, but got off on a few too and crashed on at least one.

So many different environments encountered down through here it's hard to keep their sequence straight in my head.  After the initial bunch of switchbacks, a couple of longer stretches, then finally the best long one after the step-to-rocky-corner Chris crashed on one time.  One more switchback and then the run down to creek crossing.  After this, dryish rocky bits, pungent smell of beech dew, then into an ever-shortening-distances-between-switchbacks sequence down towards the creek lower down, and then more longer drier bits onto the ridge (off which goes the track back up to the fire lookout and 'Lake' Janet and also the lookout on the ridge) and then into pine which was probably the best condition I've ever seen, and then more jungle and slick roots, and more dry beech and then open -what's normally a quagmire but was still dry-ish from the long dry summer - then back into beech jungle, more slick roots and ruts, and the eventually the flatlands and bridge and then out to the end.  All very nice.  Mud spattered and happy we emerged from the woods, encouraged Jet to grab a big drink from the river, and we were into the climb up the road that never ends.  Finally back to the car 2.40pm, 2 hours solid riding - I guess cos we hardly ever stopped..

Thursday night eastern jam

Ended up being able to get out, so Nelson turned up to my place and installed new cleats into his new shoes, and I installed the new 40t Revolution Components replacement for the breakage of a couple weeks month(!) ago, as well as a brand spanking new chain -  which meshed nicely - indicating my drivetrain wear was not left too late.  We headed out to Scumner, encountering weirdly heavy traffic (especially for 6.30 pm) out Humphreys Drive and over the Ferrymead bridge.  Settled down a bit after that  (only thing i could find that might have explained it was a TEDx thing at Sumner School, but that started at 6...?)  Parked up Evans Pass and hit the trail.  Ugh, first rocks caught me out but Nelson cleaned it up.  Gasped for a fair bit of air all the way out, and the new chain on the front ring was a bit noisy in the lowest gear, but not too bad.  Heaps of merino lambs along the climby bits too - totally getting in the way.

Descent to Livingston Col was smooth, but not majorly fast.  A few more sheep just after the boardwalk, but they cleared pretty quick.  Climb round to Breeze was tiresome for me, but Nelson creamed it, and then crashed off on the flat up top, distracted fiddling with his light then caught a rut...  heheh.  Descent to Breeze was smooth and pumpy but again, not that fast - this time mainly due to the tall dead-head grass tops making it difficult to navigate by reflecting heaps of light back and blocking the view of the trail ahead.  Nelson close-shave slid a little on the cattlstop at the bottom.

He did more fiddling with his light here at the Col and then we took the original trail below the road around and out to the end, watching for holes but not finding any.  Pretty good run, but again. long grass tops.  Across the road and up the hill for the Breeze Bay trail, me sweating up a storm here due to lack of wind and hot climbing.  Bit of a break just over the stile and I delayered.  Got going and this trail was REALLY hard to see.  Lonnng grass tops and narrow, with the big exposures below and hidden slippery rocks (from dew and previous days rain and lack of sun), was a little dicey, but fun.  Cleaned most of it, then blasted the final bits back down to the next stile.  More lighting adjustments here by Nelson, then off down for the blast down Anaconda.  Not too much dust while following Nelson, but I backed off a little.  Good speed all the way down, brief pause on the tail then off again, to finish it all off.

Up the road, and onto the singletrack off up steeep, walking only a couple of small sections, in the guts/switchbacks, and then up alongside the fence.  Up the gravel, chuff chuff sweat, around the road and then up the farm track to Godley track again, for the final blast down back to Evans.  My head light ran out of juice on the descent, leaving me with just the handlebar light for all the fun rocky stuff of the last several hundred metres.  The rocks' shadows were like mountains receding as I approached.  Was surprisingly rideable, tho it had allowed Nelson to majorly gap me.  Back to the car about 8.30.

Sunday morning ramble

Was allowed out of the cage this morning, for a second ride in 2 days.  Made Steve's by 9am to find Wazza and then Steve came out and then Wayno arrived.  No sign of anyone else, so we headed up the gruntsbury to the top.  Warm morning down on the flat, but as we got higher the wind got stronger and colder, til at the top it was nasty.  No where to stop so we kept on round Vernon, finding Mark (on the Wo) and Marie part way down - chatting to one of the Gov's Bay dudes. One by one we continued on, with Steve the first to depart.  Then me.  Good wee blast down here, riding off the track to let climbers by a few times.  Straight across Rapaki-top and straight into the Witch.  Feeling pretty good, cleaned everything climbing around, looking for somewhere out of the wind to regroup.  Paused briefly to let a woman ahead of me walk up some rocks, then followed her up and around til she let me by.  Then caught quickly up to the dude she was riding with, who was riding rather slowly through the fast bits.  Stopped out of the wind in the lee of the bank on the road and awaited the arrival of the rest of the crew.

Up the road, riding with and chatting with Mark about the fatness.  At Castlerock the slow couple were paused, and two guys dropped in ahead of us.  I gave them a bit of a start then chased.  Progressively reeling them in til I was right on their tails at the first hairpin.  The rock just before this tho, my front end bottomed out and as I went round the hairpin I heard some hiss, which very quickly developed into some whoosh, then the front end was really hard to handle, fighting me while I tried to scrub all my speed off.  Stopped, wheel off, replacement tube in while everyone rolled on by (second front flat in 2 days!, grrr).  Mark stopped to keep me company and we caught the others up at the road and on around under the Gondola we proceeded.

Clambered up Mt Pleasant, which for some reason was very hard work.  I guess a little washed out from yesterday's ride, plus the 32:36 granny is quite a push.  Finally, glad to be at the top, sat out of the wind to recuperate.  Others all rolled up in ones or twos and after a time away we went off down.  Fantastic blast down here, I was ducking and weaving my way really enjoying it.  Into Greenwood and again with the rocketship.  Somehow overtook the (slow) couple from earlier (they must have taken the road around to the old Greenwood entrance) and bombed on down.  Paused after Gloopy Gulch to see about a break and Wazza turned up and Steve wasn't too far behind, but could see some people below going slow, so the challenge was set to catch them.  Fanged down the rocks and swoopy bits, but sconed my pedal which kicked both feet out and smacked the same pedal into the back of the foot it'd been kicked out of.  Luckily I was perched above my seat and not thrown.  Around Dave's bits and caught the green/yellow fluoro woman before the creek corner, overtaking her guy there, him walking the rocks and saying "don't make it look so easy" to me.  Bombed down to catch their other two at the rocky ups, cleaning the first, but screwing up the second due to them being stopped right at the top.  Final weave and blast down to the stile and there are the two I'd chased on Castlerock...

Regrouped again, slow couple to pass again, and into Captain Thomas.  Good blast down here, with Mark and me catching up to a guy on a shiny Nicolai at the shitty-gate.  Followed him at a distance all the way down, cleaning all the rocky bits, including my usual nemesis the top one.  Nicolai guy got off on the lower of the two lower ones, which made me ride it really slowly, then he walked up the climb after this, which I held back for and cleaned most of.  Mark, fatly, managed about the same.  Final blast down the openwide stuff, and into the switchbacks, Mark taking all the vertical shortcuts, then full speed ahead across the slope and into the valley for the last blast down to the end, all on the tail of Nicolai guy.

Coffee and some kai at DotCom and then into the wind home, dragging out Linwood Ave about as slowly as is possible.  Tired getting home about 10 to One.

Mucky Saturday Hanmer trails

Spent Thursday and Friday nights in Hanmer.  Had the 5Spot, and was too busy being dad on Friday when the weather was good, so left with Saturday morning after the exit from the rental house to ride in, with rain having not long finished after a night of it...  Low cloud and mist around the place.  Headed up Chattertons Rd past the camp and up the gravel for a while, then onto the walking track at the end and along this for a bit before hanging a right back up the hill towards, eventually, the pylon.  Walked the steep up under the pylon but rode the rest, with caution within the slick woods.  These trails had not seen much action of late, with no evidence of tire tracks anywhere.  A few nice swoopy bits and a fair bit of climbing and past the beehives and then out to the Jacks Pass Rd and the water tank.

Across the road and into Tank Track.  Much changed since last I rode it, ie, all the trees gone...  (It's 4 years since I'd last ridden in Hanmer, on the return to Canty on our Westport/Reefton PFMTBC trip - and longer still since last on the Tank).  Lots of fun, tho, cautiously on account of the grease, and the end is different to memory as it turns up at the intersection of Flax, Swamp, and Swoop.

A couple of dads and their boys were here, chatted briefly then off I went up Yankee Zephyr.  Good climb, young trees in place where last time it was all freshly cleared.  Lovely once up in the Fir forest as it loops into a wee gully and back out into the open.  Then into the swoopy swoops of the Yankee, and a few corners in my front wheel started to behave weirdly.  Ugh, slow leak...  Stopped and made a very mucky extraction of tube and patched it.  Couldn't for the life of me find the perpetrator in the tire, but patched what was probably a blackberry or gorse leak in the tube, reassembled and got riding.  Swoop swoop the rest of it and onto Swamp Track.  Not fond memories of it from last time, tho the surface looks better than when it was first built, but decided to ride back up it to Swoop.

Down (and up) Swoop, lots of fun, some interesting sketchiness, blasting down the hill and around and back and forth eventually getting onto the flat, and heading across to Timberland for the climb.  Steeper and longer than my memory had made it, but cleaned it all no problem and decided to give Red Rocks a good blast.  This was sweet.

Nice climb in really dark tight douglas fir forest, then everything else on the rest of it has grown so much since I's last there.  Cool track this, even when the roots and rocks are slippery as shit.  After the Eeny Meeny trail turn off the main track gets a bit boring, but FAST.  Long straights down hill smooth and flowing.  Out the end and up the Dog Stream track.

All the way up to Detox, then climbed this, again, longer than memory, and then down.  Sweet run down here too, with only one dab out for a super slick sluiced clay section, which wasn't actually as slippery as it looked.  Straight across into Mach1 passing a dad and son here, and then catching up to a family (mum, dad and two young girls) who let me pass and on I went, weaving and swirving and generally avoiding slipping out or crashing into trees. 

From here I took flat simple tracks, Easy Rider mostly, but found my way onto Alligator Alley at one stage too, getting back and rolling into town, mudspleckled and happy, a couple hours riding under my belt.  Wandered into the Hot Pools (as a spectator ($2)) and stupidly didn't have a soak (even tho I could have so easily).

Twosdee night, first-lit Hunt Traverse Nun

Bit of posse action last night.  Top of Huntsbury there assembled the group at 6.22, me finding Steve, Pete, Robin, Wazza and Tones ready to roll.  In twos, for a start, we climbed - with Wazza, Pete and me reaching the top first.  Felt pretty good riding up, all that 'weight' training I've been doing on the fatty must be helping.  Big group of riders were approaching on Vernon so we hit the Traverse, and I had a good spin around here, tho lost my chain in the dipper round under the 'loaf as we passed a few riders coming the other way (one of which blinded Tony (seemingly deliberately)).  After this I was behind Pete and Warren, and finally got to see what they were on about with regards the dust raised by the riders in front!  A couple of times the trail completely disappeared behind Warren (on account of his skidz!).  Regrouped top of Vic and then headed into the Thompsons, swoopy wee blast through these, then across the road and up the Summit.

Progressively strung ourselves out along the road, with Pete and me pausing to regroup just before Worsley Rd start, then riding off up with Tony and Wazza, all regrouping up top of the Nun.  3 other riders here, who took off not long after we arrived.  Then once the others had assembled some other lights were pressing up behind so we dropped in.  I took the lead and rarked up the dust for the rest.  Managed not to drop my chain down here, but down in the squiggles below the rockiest section, but before halfway, I swooped through an armoured corner and a missing flagstone made my wheel catch the next one, snakebiting instantly.  As I got started to get sorted, Pete stopped to lend a hand then Tony arrived and flatted at exactly the same spot!  So we fixed and got riding only to catch up to Wazza who'd flatted further down.  Bloody Nun!!!  (Steve said that's 8 punctures between 4 riders in the last two rides down here).  Steve and Robin were waiting at the halfway mark (not sure if they'd been all the way down and back up or not...?).  Short regroup here (my chain had popped off again, i think here(?) - sorted that) and we continued our merry ways down, me attempting to be lightweight on my back end...  Good run down the rest and managed not to drop the chain again.

Up the road to top of Vic, except for Wazza who took the second Thompson.  Tony peeled off up top here, to head home via the top of Vic Park and down Crashmare.  The rest of us headed back around the Traverse, into the wind this time.  Big posse at the old rest spot, who Steve and Robin stopped to chat to (unbeknownst to the rest of us who waited for them wondering where they were further on).  Anyway, Pete, Wazza and myself took interesting lines through the tussocks off piste down to the landing strip then scattered bunnies across here, where we waited to see the other's lights.

Over the fence, and down through the tussock-tight singletrack and over the gate and down through the jumpy drops riding some and bypassing others.  Back to the car, 8ish?  my lights having held out quite well considering I'd only managed a half hour top up charge before heading out.

Yeaster Monday View Hillage

About 10am took myself off on the Fatty up the road to Chorlton, and on up View Hill Rd seemingly into the cloud.  But, as I approached it it lifted and the sun broke through as I climbed the steepest section.  Fatty climbed the steeps all good, and I managed to too.  Under the big pines on the intersection that had collected their own moisture from the clouds I stopped and adjusted my numb crotch, and my seat too.  Took about an hour to get up to the gate, then another 10-15 to the top.  Spent a bit of time up there absorbing the view and then donned the helmet and skedaddled down.  Immediately became splattered by the dewy spleckage flying off the tires.  Bumpy track!  Stopped part way down to let more air from the tires.  This improved grip and relieved some of the bumpiness.  Little bit of off piste and a lot of on.  Once through the gate the momentum built and the grip and the smoothness of the trail due to the fatness of the tires was phenomenal.  Bike just felt so planted, bombing down.  Stopped a couple times for breathers.  Below the pines the gravel started and so did the speed.  Flying down, so planted, so fast.  Epic speed, and confidence inspiring braking too.  In no time flat I was down on the last fast blastings of gravel before Chorlton and the tar seal.  Then it was rocket ship speed and humming down the road, avoid the cars coming up (giving a couple of them quite a fright), riding in the swale on the side of the road a couple times and along the edge for some of the ways.  Then, into Lukes Rd and up, over down, more roaring speed and then across the neighbour's paddock and up our drive.  1 hour 45 all up.  Straight into my togs and to the beach to meet the family and into the cold cold sea.  Excellent.