Saturday Summit Packing Horses and Breaking Brad(ley)

How to wipe myself out?? Get on Stooge, ride up from home and follow the Summit to Mt Herbert saddle... Fuuuckkkk... 

Started out lovely, up through Vic, Thomsons both, through the Kiwi and on along the Summit Rd.  Great bomb down the Bastard to Gebbies then onto the Packhorse Track, which I hadn't been on for a few nearly 7 years(!).  

Trail riding pretty good again, with all the logged bits now re-growing and trail reinstated. Met a couple of families walking out.  Then met some nice folk (with ebikes) at the hut and chatted for a while.  They headed off and I headed up the back of Bradley.  Crikey.  Looking into this photo you can see the zigs.  They finally end up at the bluffy bit near the top!...

Some riding, nice patch of regen bush before the climbing really started, met a walker on that first zig past the bush, photo back to Packhorse here,

then rode that first zig, pushed the next, rode a little more then more pushing, and more pushing, and lifting and pushing, and lifting up the tightening zigs and zags until at well over 700 m it finally hits a sidle.  

But, that's still not rideable.  It's composed of either wine-box sized, or larger, angular boulders, or bog holes for the first half, with step-downs and climb-ups interspersed.  Occasionally, you'll find a sweet little bit of trail to ride, but 10 metres later there's another rocky step-down.  Some great views, unbelievably high up (peaks at about 780m), I wish I'd taken more pics along the back here.  I could see View Hill... Near the start of this hellscape, I met a walker.  He warned me about "a wooded bit, that is quite rocky."  Well!  It certainly was, but it was vertical down, rocks, slippery roots and rocks, down.  One point I had to lower the bike by it's back wheel to below, make sure it was perched, then climb down around the rocks to get it.  I stopped for a rest and something to eat in this nice bush.  And really hoped it wasn't going to be another vertical face like I'd come down into here.  Thankfully it wasn't.  Once out of the woods it got a little better, mostly down, some riding, some scooting to navigate rocks.  And then finally a nice roll down to a stile and onto the saddle.  Basically, two hours of hell and that was nearly up.  

Finally, down to the saddle between Bradley and Herbert,

and into Orton Bradley on meh mown farmtracks, quite a few walkers up here, heading down.  Then Konini (where I called Otis to see if he'd pick me up, he couldn't, but Gryph would, so arranged that).  Harakeke track, steep fun(ish) descent, quite different to Konini, steep, descending, and then finally, in the valley bottom, sweet sweet forested lovely single-track, cruising down familiar (but fresh again) trails in nice shade with nice forest. I was toast and glad to be down.  Rolled down through the valley, and waited under some shade on the road.  

Super I had a lift out and didnt have to ride to Diamond Harbour, wait for the ferry, then negotiate getting home either by bus or pushing up Hornbrook and riding the summit... 

First half: sweet;  middle half: brutal;  descent: meh, until the valley bottom and a lovely finish - 30.9 kms, 1269 m climbed (+ extra 220 m ( = 1489 m) descended)

Waitangi Saturday View Hill Stooge

Hot ride up the valley, passed by scores of amazing old barnfind-looking Indian motorcycle club bikes from above Misty Hills for the rest of the way up.  Spectacular, but stinky-smokey, many of them, making me struggle to breath clear air often - stopped many times, in shade or not, for rests.  

Then round the Summit Rd to the paper road, over the gate and across the ridge, mostly pushing, a little granny gear riding, chatting with the steers giving me the eye.  Hard work, all of it, with the lush grass and rocks. Stopped in the shade of a small Totara up at the top gate to flip the struts on the 8pack (I'd installed them the wrong way around).  Then continued across the sidle - so much of this section could be tidied to a fully rideable state. I really should do that - just needs a few rocks moved, maybe a tiny bit of digging.

Picked my way around then into the climbing, through a corridor gap in the totara/horopito matrix, riding up the farm track to the hairpin and then walking a bunch up the next section before the final ride up the ridge top to the peak. 

Took in the View then it was downtime. 

Bombing down the ridgetop, detoured across to the View Hill Moab rock then into the main track.  Stayed on the main zag from the hairpin and ended up on a dead end (which I'm sure I've done before, years ago) then picked my way down the hill, steep but grippy, sometimes following sidle tracks sometimes not, yellow flowers everywhere.

Dropped down onto the main track and Speedbomb from here, getting faster and faster the further down I got until insane speeds on the lower reaches of the gravel and a glorious coast down from Chorlton, ripping through the valley bottom past the beach and final wee chuff pedal back to Little Brook. 

Fullsome 17.26 kms and 784 m undertaken

Wednesday Stooge Local Descents and Climbs

Out the gate and immediately turned left, up behind the houses to get me lungs going.  It did.  Then, it felt easier the rest of the way, the usual to 19th and Skidder and up. Top of Vic, right into Thompson's #1 for a nice wee blast, then back up the road to drop-in, down around the first jump then hard right into Worm, climbing back up to Traverse and wondering where to go...

Decided to drop down Upper Fence line, biff baff boff, out the bottom, around to Bridges. Bombing through here I heard a shout, "is that a Stooge?!"  "Yes, it is!"  I stopped and chatted, then got rolling on down into the valley, Nu Bridges, so smooth and flowed, then down valleybottom and straight into Hidden climb towards Old Skool.  Stopped and scoffed some blackberries, then followed a dude who'd just passed through.  At the start of Old Skool I added a a twist, heading up from below the pylon, grinding up the zigzag 4wd track.  Cleaned it, which I don't think I've ever done before, but then had a go up AliExpress as a climb. This was not so good. 

Out the top, and up the Huntsbury gravel, an emtbike passing me at the castle stop.  He headed into the Traverse while I was still below, and then I headed onto the Traverse and I'd lost sight of him.  A nice tail wind around here.  I spotted him on the climb above hidden valley as I came over from Lava-crossing, and by the time I made the pond he wasn't far ahead.  Reeled him in the rest of the way and caught up to him at the top of Vic. 

Down rabbit paddock, rocks, gums all the way, below road from 19th then road coast into DogparkCarpark for a nice blast.  SO MUCH WATER in there now, took my line zigzag up and down above the wet, then all the way out to the end, clamber to road, home

Assuaging 11.56 kms but surprisingly only 510m climbed

Sunday Porting Lyndon from the Back

Tough ride today. Absolutely wrecked me. The altitude, the sun, the scree, all conspired to remove every vestige of energy from my body. At the time, it was hellish. But I'm glad I did it. 

Nelson picked me up from mine and we drove out to park at the lake. Just before 10 when we got going, cruising the main highway along the 3 kms to the Porter's access road. Once on the gravel we only met 2 vehicles and got to the trailhead meeting and chatting with a family that looked like they were about to embark on it (we never saw them again).  Down to cross the creek, dodging spaniards, and no good rocks to step on so feet wet from this start.  Singletrack meandered up the valley, mostly rideable.  Met a couple of walkers coming down.  Across the creek again, narrower this time, and I topped up water cos looked like we were leaving it and may not meet any more.  A few zigs and zags and we were at the Colleridge Saddle, what a view!

My derailleur had almost eaten a dracophyllum earlier, I thought I'd caught it, but had found granny tricky so had been avoiding it.  As we started at the saddle, I found granny was attempting to put it into my spokes, so a re-adjustment was made (and I discovered I'd left my toolkit at home).  From here we climbed up to the left.  I was starting to get a bit tired, and walked a bunch, but Nelson was off a bit too.  Then it meandered into a basin and short descent across a scree slope led to a long zig and zag section eventually topping out on the ridge.  Long and hard, and I was getting pretty stuffed and uncomfortable.   Here's Nelson miles ahead...

Once on the ridge there was about 3 or 4 peaks we had to traverse, with drops between.  Kinda lost the trail a few times, meandering around on the tops looking over the sides to see where connections were made.  It all worked out, and we seemed to find the main line each time.  My exhaustion expanded on each climb - symptoms probably akin to heat-stroke.  Muscles just so weak, and cramps sometimes when I'd pedal wrong, not that I pedalled much.  Lots of walking and every time I got on or off I was more tired.  Twice Nelson parked up and walked back to take my bike for me.  That was kind.  Even without the bike I was trudging like a zombie.  Finally, he got to the cairn marking the descent and we waited while two women walking approached.  (they were looking for an ice-axe lost during winter).

Into the descent and the joy returned.  We stayed on the bermy weavy flowy mainline pretty much all the way this time, and didn't take any straight-down-the-hill fall-lines.  The view while riding this was spectacular, with the lake seemingly directly below us (600m or so) and all the vehicles and boats/jetskis looking like toys.    Fantastic.  At the bottom we followed a couple of orange triangles and zigged and zagged out and back to the bottom.  

Final drudge around the lake was hard, but with the end in sight somehow I made it...  We then entered the lake and let the cold water do its thing.  So refreshing.

In the car on the way home I ate the 'lunch' I should have carried with me, and consumed my entire spare litre of water.

Monumental 24 kms and 1150 m climbed.

Wednesday Night Brit Cavendish, Castle Pleasant Kenton

Sweet solo ride tonight.  Nelson was away and had asked me to feed Maude, so I drove from work to Major Hornbrook and parked up above Madeley.  

Headed up through the Long-Clear-Ridge-Views to Upper HornB then into Britten, climbing the first bit a weird way.  Usual chuff up, and filled my bottle from the tap at the intersection.  Then back into Britten and around the front, dabbing a bit, over the road/fence, long-grass climb to Crater Rim descending to Cavendish Saddle.  Up and around the back below Gondola building (Crater Rim, not the zig zags to top) and dropped down the steppy rocky tech to Bridle Path-top. 

Realised when I got to the road that my rear-end had been locked out!  No wonder it'd felt a bit dodgy.  

Cruised up the road, spotting a rider on the trail below, and we both reached the top of Castle Rock at the same time.  He was with 3 others, one of which had been motoring (literally) up the road, whereas behind him were a meat powered and another eMpTy-B.  I awaited the latter two's arrival, chatting meanwhile, and then dropped in.  Nice smooth run down the Castle, flowing good, tho never felt exponentially fast.  The climb section was smooth and nice, then dropped off down to the Bridle-top again, and headed along the road.  Sitting up, no-hands, all the way around to the Gondola and a headwind struggle up the climb.  Stopped and oiled my chain at the gate, then headed up and back into the reserve to climb the Crater Rim where I'd come down, deciding to push myself a bit and not take the easy route.  

Climbed to top of Mt Pleasant and dropped off over the other side.  Nice bony run to slightly smoother lower tussocks, tho some of the line choices left something to be desired, nearly crashing once because my body was saying 'left line' and my brain was thinking 'right' resulting in a bumpy tussocky rut-ridge line.  Not ideal.  Down the 4wd section and into the OG entrance line around and out to the road.  Bony as all get up in here too.

Up the road, and into Britten, dropping down, flowy flow, across the front and dropping down under the pylon.  Popped over the stile and boffed off down Kenton.  What a great track - one of my favourites for flowy tech.  Exited the small parky reserve, rather than up the steps, and the climbed out Rockview and back up Major Horny to the car. 

An assiduous 14.6 kms with a smidge over 600 m vertical.

Drove down and fed Nelsie's cat then picked up the new German from climbing.

Saturday Terrible Timing

Left it too late and only managed to get out the door on the Stooge just as the rain started.  Thankfully, it wasn't too heavy, initially, so I figured riding under trees might be dry enough for a time, and indeed it mostly was.   Climbed up the road, and dropped off down from the lower dogparkcarpark into the Oaks, then up through my new route above the wetness, I peeled through the wee zig-zag and my rear tire picked up a stick which flicked through the frame a couple of times so I stopped, and had to physically pull it out of the tire...  Seemed to be holding so I started riding again and then a couple of corners up the rear was getting decidedly soggy.  Bugger.  The stick I'd pulled out was from some of the stuff I'd cut the other day, therefore a flat tire caused by my own handy-work. Flipped the bike, got all my stuff out, chucked on my rain-coat, and got to work.  Last patch in my box, so patched it, it held, pumped, reinstalled, and got riding again. 

Continued up through to Skidder and decided to drop into Shazza's.  Swoopy groove down here, through the 'new' bit and then out to the 40footer, along a bit and dropped down into the continuation below Razza's dropping down thru here into Brent's zone, across, baulking on one untidy offcamber dubious traction piece, then across and down the new bit eventually around and climbed back up Corporate Ladder.  Back up out past the 40footer again, then instead of turning right at the Radzone, I continued up towards Cool Runnings entrance, right back across through to Skidder again and up the Grunter.  Through Brake Free and up into the top pines.  Before I made the very top I checked where T was at (shared location) and observed that the rain at the top of Vic was getting a bit too much, so I bailed down thru Brake Free, into the gums out to Skidder, over 19th, dropped below road, swooped through, considered Tawhairanui, decided agaisnt it, and coasted down the road, spotting my grrrl T walking along side the top of Dog Park.  Stopped for an intimate moment, then I dropped off down into the woods, flowy flow, took my new line, lowspeed zig and zag, then down, out into Oaks, and onwards all the way through to the bottom, clambered to road (thinking I might see T, nope) and home

Sullied 5.9 kms and 243 m climbed

Wednesday Quick Stooge Before the Storm

Up many of the ways down, with drizzle slowly increasing as I rode. 

T was out for a walk so I kinda thought I might run into her somewhere.  With that in mind I headed into the To Harry Ell track and then climbed on up my usual downhill route into the oaks, dabbed through the (now) wet spot in my cut-through, then clambered up the steep rocky bit then through the swoopy corners to the dogparkcarpark.  Up around and onto the where I'd usually come down through the trees and there was my grrrl!  Gave here a bit of a fright too...  We were both staying on the west side of the hill due to the howling (and increasingly drizzly) easterly.  Took my leave and headed up out to road below 19th and up to skidder, climbing the grunter through and up, around to Thomson's #1, then down into #2 for a nice blast.  Turned around on the road here and dived back in, climbing back up

the both ways I'd just come, a surprisingly good change.  

Top of Vic, popped out to the carpark and back down around the jumps, down to drinking fountain, then turned back up to drop into Brake Free, swooping through here to peel off Sesame-top into the Gums for a sweet descent through the usual ways, all the way down and out to 19th, quickly turning around here to pedal back up to Skidder, and peeling left up onto the 'over 19th' track, falling in behind some other riders.  Struck up a convo with them, and stopped with them at the top.  We discussed ways down from there (they were heading over the pirate trail into the valley from here) and one of them looked at my bike and said, "nice stoogie" (with a hard G, which I didnt correct).  I peeled over the top towards the Ranger Station then dropped hard left down off the road into the forest just there, dropping to where I'd met T on the way up and then sweeping through into Tawhairanui, flowing nicely through until I spotted some dog walkers, so I pulled up and stopped to wait for them to exit before I rolled out through the carpark into the trail, buzzzzing pylon, and swoopy swoop down through.  Stopped at my corner to have a look at another line, tentatively cut a few branches a wee-ways in, but then gave it up and rode up the zigzag line I cut last week.  It actually flows quite nicely once on the descent.  Final flow through and down all the way to H'Ell, then clamber, road, home.  Bike was a little splecky and damp from drizz so I gave it a sprinkle down and now it is clean.

Gratifying 6.43 km with 200 climbed