Couple rides... couple weeks...

Sad, but only had three rides in the last two weeks. tonight will make four i guess. anyway, where am i. last i spoke with thee was that monday night i spun round rapaki and capt thom. well, didnt ride again for a week and a half, to Thursday last to be precise. Otis had his preschool Eczemass party at 5.30, so i got T to take my bike and gear in the car and i bussed thru straight from work. and then about 5 past 7 i left the preschool and headed up the Bridle path, Lyttelton side, rode the whole thing, road inclusive, and then onto the single track heading for Rapaki. that was all sweet, was a very muggy warm evening, overcast but not cold. took the craterrim walkway section from the Tors to the singletrack that blips round Witch Hill. then i rode up the Vernon singletrack above the road to the highest point, turned around and back down it, then down Rapaki and home. it was fun.

then sunday a bunch of 5 of us met at steves, we did the same loop as i did in my last post. up rapak, round summit over richmond down capt thom. once again, i was ON FIRE. sweeeeeet ass riding. stopped for coffee at Dot Com and then i departed a little a head of the boys as i had my olds coming for lunch. 20 mins, countem, 20 mins door to door, sumner to home. i thought that was pretty good timing.

tonight we're in for a quick ride ithink. not sure what. but sounds like steve's out.

excellence

well, i went for a wicked ride last night. from home, across to rapaki, up, turned left along singletrack, then road to castle rock, then singletrack to bridlepath, then road to mt pleasant then singletrack to evans pass, and capt thomas track to sumner, then home, all in 2 hours... haulin'! anyway, it was an awesome night, and there was this huge thunder cell out off little akaloa heads, just out to sea, was PISSING down out there, but nice and fine where i was. was surprised tho, when i got to sumner, the roads were wet and there had obviously been quite a downpour at some stage a bit earlier in the day. my riding was like a work of art. i was really on form. and felt good until i was almost home, then i started to flag a little... had one nearly off, down this wickedly tricky rock section on Capt Thomas, one of the bits that i've only ever ridden a couple of times, and i was millimetres away from going over the handlebars and over a cliff. well, a large bank with a steep hill below, woulda tumbled a ways, but was pretty low speed, so wouldnt have been a worry. but man, there's that point that you think there's no returning from, up on the nose of the bike, weight shifted to the wrong place, but i somehow managed to keep in under control and carry on riding... dodgey. its moments like those you live for, the adrenalin that kicks in afterwards only makes you faster and wickeder. very nice. just BOMBED it the whole way, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic...

thursday night quickspin

alone, again. rode across to rapaki, up, round summit down bowenvale, home. hour twenty or so. on way up rapak caught up to dude on Chapparel, doin' alright considering the weight of those things. chatted a bit. then i got going. cleaned singletrack nicely. and bombed the bowenvale. overGROWN, needs a clear, the grass hides the trail surface, and so you get caught out heaps. lower down well grazed but covered in milkthistle, spikey nasty on the legs and hands (tis tall). and then a bit of gorse, but thats par for the course.

T's gone to sydney, so 's just O and me til sunday. so, no rides.

sunday...

nigel no mates sunday, everyone else either away or off pissing up watching petrol and rubber burn at ruapuna. so, drove myself across to bowenvale ave, rode round to worsleys, up up up, nearly puked at top, but dabless all the way. then over marleys, down dyers, up into vic, down dazzas, back up the nationals track down to my 'favourite' down and out to bottom of valley. down to car. nice. didnt feel too bad. but at top of worsleys some xcgeek pulled up while i was still getting my breathback. on some light ass xtc with SID forks, and slightly older, but of the mega multisporter variety, the guy, not the bike. anywhoo, he rode off and i sat on his tail up the marleys track, tho he was fresher than me, for some reason, and i let him go. was gaining on him on the descent but never quite caught him and he went up at the kiwi, whereas i went down... dyers trail is sickypants bumpy. makes ya want fullsuss. once back at car, went and got veges, then we cleaned up the garage, new space now wilson's gone.

sunday and tuesday...

quick ride sunday afternoon, due to other commitments. drove across town. parked on a little known side street near the hills, and the Heathcote river, and headed up Farm Track. steepest puppy in the middle of the hills. relentlessly steep, i love it. caught up with some grommits, one of whom was on a nice full susser, a spec i think, but the fools had their seats too low, thereby making their ride up hell. they had another mate, further ahead, caught and took him too. rode the whole lot, they were walking bits. then on the summit two guys just flew past as i was just crossing summit road, so i hooked onto their tails and kept with them. one guy on a Heckler the other on a Jeckyll i think. good pace, i was pushin it. said as much to them too. we chatted at the road crossing, and then i stayed with them all the way round to Vic where i shot straight down, hung the left on the doubleblackdiamond just before the gums and dug it. then down dazzas and then out the nationals (pylon, rutsville) track. caught some niiiice air at the bottom on the jump, near the end of the valley track.

then tuesday night, assembled at Steves, to be told no pete, no steve, so just andrew andme and tony headed up rapak. tony's doing a bit better. had a mellow ride up, middle ring, and biggest in back, slow easy cruise... then round the summit to vic, lots of speed, and down i did the doubleblack diamond again, met the othertwo at the skidder site and we headed down dazzas and on down into the gulley. then out to k2 and down the rest. niiiice strong tailwind back across town to home, southerly, quite chilly, was wearing double merino and windproof vest most of ride. so. good couple of wee rides. i'm dying to get up Worsley's... sunday hopefully.

Tuesday nights standard

No sunday ride for me, on account of being at the Bach... Ah, Little Akaloa. took an old dunger bike over and left it there, its a Phillips Roadmaster, probably from somewhere in the 60's or 70's, but possibly older. anyway, its got 1 3/8ths tires, which i got two new ones of, and its well lubed and runs pretty good. i used to use it to commute, but its a slug. and its a singlespeed, quite a big gear, so nigh on impossible even to ride up the drive at the bach. took it for a spin up the road, into a howling southerly, and then coasted / sailed back down...

Tuesday night, the usual suspects(steve, tony, andrew and me), minus Pete, assembled at Steves at 6. we headed up Rapaki, i explored a little side track i'd been wanting to check out for a while, between the Manuka and the chute, there's a cattle track that leads up onto the bank, and near the manuka a drop down onto the track which has always looked rideable. with just the tiniest bit of work it could prove an interesting interlude to the rocketship ride rapaki usually is. then further up on the midlevel flats i rode every little rocky sidetrack. then, i raced up the last section, got to the top ahead of the boys, especially tony who was lagging waaaaay behind, and so i took off round the summit trail to the left to the first highest point, turned back. nice. so, well and truly warmed up. Andrew and me hit the single track while steve and tony dawdled up the road. the next section was fun. met a guy at the sign on the saddle next to sugarloaf who was on his new Reign. nice looking bike, and light. a LOT of bike for $3100... very nice. i'd caught him, he wasnt too quick. then we blitzed it round the next section, bombed down through the gums, down dazzas and on down the next bit into the gulley, with Tony riding nearly all of it, which is really really good for him. the final sidle track round to the trees and down to k2 was fast and messy. i took the drop of the nationals track where the sidler meets k2. then we bombed the rest of the way out. i was very tired riding home. got home and just crashed! hot bath. food. brrrr... couldnt shake the chill of the easterly from riding home. the bath fixed it tho... now i'm dying for another ride, and i think im wanting more and more an evil sovereign.
http://www.evil-bikes.com/structures_sovereign.htm
to me this would be an ideal "structure" upon which to transport myself at breakneck speed up and down the hills... at US$800-something, we're talking $12-1300 NZ at the mo. droool. then again, for $3000NZ i could score a pretty nice full susser?

Sunday Tuesday...

Sunday, bit of a southerly through, dampening things a little, from Steve's we rode singletrack along Heathcote to Mt Pleasant and up that road. not bad tarmac climb, steady as she goes. then onto the Richmond Hill Singletrack, oh, blissful joy. tight and well used, and not muddy like earlier in the year. i bombed it, leaving all in my dust. Pete filmed, caught some good footage of me leaving him behind. then down Capt Thomas, i cleaned for the first time EVER, Every single trickyspot. 100% of the track ridden. normally there is one or two spots i just dont ride, but i hammered it all. then out to Dot Com for a coffee, a Bundaberg Sarsaparilla and a date scroll. yum, then a lonnnng slog back home across causeway, humphries and linwood, with pete and Al.

then last night i rode across town to Rapaki, i over took most people, but this one guy overtook me, be in is late 40's, obviously a multisporter, competitive type, spinning fast and easy. i was choking, been a bit sick so not 100% at all. then round the summit, had a good spin round there, to Vic Park, then down and just as i entered the gums hung a hard left down the double black diamond that me and pete have only ridden once before, takes you out to the skidder site, its steeeeep as, ass hittin' the back wheel almost, then from skidder down Dazza's, then up the Nationals track and down to "my favourite" which i just bypassed and hit the mega downhill chute, out to the sidling valley track and down bowenvale. caught a guy in the private land spot, took him a bit further down. then home across town.

rode hard, got home pretty stuffed.

Okiwi, Nelson, Linkwater, and since...

so much to cover... so many rides done, so many trail miles completed, and soooo much altitude gained and lost. Nelson and me rode ~150kms, and climbed and lost over 4 kms of altitude...

Okiwi Bay
The journey began, departure from the smaug city bout 5.30, dropped my dog off at Surrey's and carried on to Okiwi Bay, north of Kaikoura, just south of the Clarence River mouth. Found the carpark which is on the landward side of the railway tracks, which at this point lie on the landward side of the road. small driveway off the road over the tracks into a nice and newly crushed limestoned carpark, from the corner of which the Okiwi bay track leaves... this pic is from on the way up the track, and is the pic that alerted me to the existence of the track. http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/snaps_summ2006/pages/02-2006.htm It was about 11 pm when we pulled in, so pitched the tent under these old Totara trees. Pretty heinous sleep, cos of trains and trucks hauling past all night. and the crashing of the ocean, and then at about 3.30am we heard a vehicle shifting down through its gears, and obviously pulling off the road into our wee driveway... then heard the engine running for ages, and then this flashing light... "what, is that the cops?" poked heads out of tent and there was one of the Railway workers little Suzuki jeeps equipped to drive on the tracks, heading off. phew. Got a little more sleep then once light, got up, had breakfast, and rode the track. Steeeep. UP. 0 to 600 m in about 5 kms, with a couple of small downs, took us about 2-2.5 hours up. rewarded with WICKED views. and then an incredible downhill, 20mins back to the van.

Annual Trip prePFMTBCInc, in Nelson City
On up to blenheim, dropped some stuff off to N's Dad, and then on to the town of Nelson. Arrived at the house to find the boys, and a nice backyard.

Fringed, Devil's, Third House, Dun Walkway.
Saturday, rode up Fringed Hill, 793 m, then down the Devils Tail to the Dun Mtn Walkway, then up it to the Third House and back down. a hoot. Devils tail is ALWAYS sweet, with a couple new lines experienced this time, including Nanna's, which was a sweet wee section of trail. i utterly bonked on the way up to the third house. was TOTALLY out of steam, and had no boost to get me there, so just had to persevere and plod up the trail to the hut... had a leppin off steve and lots of nuts and raisins off others. fixed me right up.back down we went, speedy speedy, steve and me ahead. what a blast. back to the house, and lots of beer and bourbon'n'drys.

Codgers - before it was called Codgers
next day morning up to Tantragee, up Fireball Rd, down a new track, then round to the Dogs. the new track was steeper than some of the boys had ever done, but was no worse than the Devil's and no where near as long. fun. only dabbed once i think. forgot to mention, we'd hooked up with this local guy, a friend of Tony's. Bloody good bloke he was too, riding a Spec. Enduro. good rider too, especially for someone who's only been riding 2 years and is in his early 40's. the Dogs, i think there's the Tired Dog, the Lazy dog and one other, are a selection of wee trails that traverse and drop in some wickedly steep ass pine forestry, down to the Maitai. we had lots of fun, including Steve who crashed right in front of Pete filming... alas, pete wasnt actually filming bah! oh to have seen steve go down again and again. ne'er mind.
Sharland's Valley
that afternoon we went up Sharland's Rd, up Bob's Fern Rd, to the top of the 506 trig, then down the Doublehappy into the Scotswoods. NIICE. i did this last time i was up in nelson, back at PHoenix's birthday weekend.

Grampians
Sunday, we went up the Grampians, but took the wrong way up. ended up walking alot, up a very steeeep pylon track to the lookout. but then we went down Fuschia, and down Kahikatea, beautiful trails in there. That was good.
NZ Centre
That night, we rode with lights up the Centre of NZ, then round Walter's Bluff and down the zigzag. it was here that Mark had us all trained in the art of quick-cornering. a method that will disturb hardcore XC'ers, and trail makers, cos it involves: unclipping your inside foot, hanging your leg down, and skidding your back wheel around the corner. it makes for very fast and controllable cornering, but it skids on the trails. we promise we wont be doing it too often!

Cullen's first time.
Nelson times over, the next morning we cleaned up, and Nelson and me took off in the Van. on the way to Waikawa Bay, we stopped up the valley behind Linkwater, at the site of Cullensville, a town that had over 600 souls at its peak, and is now just paddocks and trees, and a few indentations in the ground. one gold nugget pulled out of there was 26 ounces! and rode up at track that was built by goldminers between 1888 and 1893, hand cut into cliffs, a nice sidling benched single track up the valley. DoC were blasting a section so on the way up and beyond we heard a couple of really loud bangs... this trail is called the Linkwater Long Cut in the Kennett's 'guidebook'. rode til we were in beech forest, and then turned back. 2 hours up, will have reached about 720 m, and 20 mins down.


Home again, Bottled, Quarried, Crocked.
Then had a week in Waikawa with T and O. lovely. orca. paddling in canoe, little fishing. suntan. then since i've been back, i've only managed to get a friday evening quickspin round bottle lake, and then last night steve, pete andrew tony and me rode up round Halswell Quarry, up Kennedy's a ways, and back down the newish singletracks. down the crocodile and out. quick.



ANNUAL TRIP HISTORY:
Post Script:  This was the third Annual Trip I'd done, the 4th of all trips by 'the group' (in future to be called PFMTBCInc...

The very first was just Pete, Steve and Andy, and was on the Queen Charlotte.

The next year, 2003, my first, were Pete, Steve, Andy and me, at Lake Kaniere where we rode the water-race, a loop north of the lake and No Name Rd.  Can't really remember if we rode anywhere else.

The following year, 2004, Nelson joined us this year and we went to Naseby and Alexandra.  I remember Naseby being really good. Except that it was on this trip that Andrew crashed and nearly broke his leg.  Taking the bark off a tree.  It was a truly spectacular crash, viewed by Nelson and me, and heard by all the others.  Over a jump, flying through the air, leg out to one side, and colliding with said tree, just above the knee.  Lower it would have destroyed his knee, higher might have broken the femur.  OUCH.l
But I have no recollection what or where we rode in Alex...

sunday planting

Earlier start than usual, meant to be 8, became 8.15, and still they werent at my place so i meandered round the road to petes, and we got going from there, Patten St, Retreat, Dallington round past Horseshoe lake, Lakewood Drve, Burwood Rd, to the plantation. hung a right out there, did the south track, stuck behind slow people a few times, trails had a few puddles, muddy sand if thats possible, or sandy mud. great for the brand spanking drive train. bah. headed along the beach, and back in but as we still had heeaps of time we did the next section of the circuit, north a bit, then across what's been know as Muddy Rd, then back to the carpark. people we encountered through there were a fair bit faster than the few we encountered on the first section. then we cruised it to Horseshoe lake and planted a whole bunch of native plants for Trees For Canterbury... yay!!!!! Last years planting at the same site is looking pretty good too.

Oh yeah, and i'm still loving me new forks...

Minute Ride, lost Adidass

they rock. the new forks ROCK. felt rather long and weird at first, but i've gotten used to it. its quite the effort riding UP hill with them up. wound them down and easy climbing. rockin' on up the hill, Pete, Andrew, Tony and me. Steve was resting his back for the Nelson travels in less than a fortnight. so, up rapaki we went, turned right, that first hairpin there is rutty, bit of a struggle to make it round without dabbing. Pete was filming with his camera on the front. after we crossed the road, i tightened up my headset, seating in as it was, and bloody well left my bag unzipped a little... as a result, somewhere between there and home lie my sunglasses in their wee hard black case. BAH! i loved those sunnies. so if you find them, can you let me know?

anyway, down Bowenvale we honked. took every steep line, Tony had a little trouble i think, lovely lovely trail that. one of my favourites, and a couple spots that let me know how well i'm riding. one of my Gauge trails... sooooon i shall venture up and see if i can find the glasses. its pissy weather today, so wouldnt wanna go there now. maybe tomorrow. i struggle to live without shades.

Minutes... and millenia

Little Ak was excellent. walked, looked at countryside, sea, did my back in either carrying Otis or breaking branches off fallen gum-limbs, threw sticks for dog.

K brought my bike over last night, now i have delicious 130mm forks, Manitou Minutes... kinda minute 3.00, but kinda minute 1.00's, custom fitted, they're a 3.00 lowers with the coil spring of a 1.00 instead of airspring... mostly 04 bits but the spv valves are new 05 bits... looking forward to riding them tonight. now the only thing left of my original KHS ProST is the front wheel and rear derailleur and the shifters. they seem to always be the last bits to be replaced as i slowly replace my entire bikes over the years... strange that.

oh, i'm reading the absolutely most fantastic book at the moment, called A Short History of Progress. its all about our human evolution and civilisation and progress and 'progress traps' as he calls them. its VERY well written and so incredibly interesting. if you ever get the chance you should find it and read it. (eg, put a hold on it at the library, you might have to wait a while, but you'll get it eventually, its not just gonna magically appear on the shelves sometime, cos people have it requested to the max, i waited almost6 months to get it) puts a lot of things in perspective. for example, agriculture and cities/civilisation have only really come about in the last 10,000 years, agriculture was slowly developing 20-10K years ago, and various domestications of plants and animals across the globe, independent of each other have only occurred within the last 10K years, eg, wheat, barley, sheep, cows in fertile crescent 10K years, potatos maize etc central/south america 6K years ago, and millet and rice in east asia about that or 8k years ago. prior to that the climate was more variable, up til 15K years ago was ice age, and that was in and out up til about 10, and since then the climate has been very stable, thereby enabling us to build the civilisations we've built culminating in what we have today. his point is that our staple foods, wheat, barley, millet, rice, corn, and all the other vegetables we eat were developed thousands of years ago, and all our cultures are grounded on a good climate that enables the production of these staples. along comes major climate change, and there's evidence that ice ages can hit in a matter of decades, not centuries, and we're screwed. he thinks our current "befouling of the nest" is seriously upsetting the balance of the world's climate... anyway, obviously there's a heck of a lot more to the book than a 316 word ramble by me in the short amount of time and space i've got here.

windy night hour spin

a beautiful wee ride last night... had to pick something up from my grandmother's so parked up on Takahe Drive, rode up into Vic Park, off the road, just on that trail kinda above the road up along past the dog exercise areas etc, then onto Harry Ell *ahem* walkway which goes from the carpark next to the dog exercise areas, then down the ziggers to dyers pass road track, up that to kiwi, up road to top of Worsleys, down marleys, up thomsons, down through the gums, and on down past rangerstation, then into the dog exercise area, across to the pine plantation, down the wee track on its edge, then down past the most eastern side of the top of cashmere housing, Latter's Spur track i believe its called and out onto Longhurst Tce, then back to Nainy's... lovely. lovely lovely lovely. very little tarmac, lots of dirt, full loop, 1 hour, only about 10 or 15 kms tho... fair bit of up. tricky technical up. niiiiiiiice to be out on the bike again, its what, over a week and a half.

and then dropped my bike off to me trusty mechanic and will pick it up sunday night with some Manitou Minute's on it, 130 mm travel, plush spv'ness. yeh!

off to Little Akalala this today, two nights of peninsula bliss.

no riding, well not much anyway...

its been a pretty sad couple of weeks... last ride posted was wharfdale and then capt thomas and evans with Monsieur Nelsonian, him trying out his PHAT ass 2.4 panaracers... seemed to do the trick. what with his innate fitness and his nice light ride he was no slower. since then, i cannot think of what ride i've done. yes, actually, the following saturday, so, two saturdays ago from now, i was allowed out for an hour, whilst O slept, so i ripped across town, shredded it up rapaki, huffed a bit cos i was tired and huffy and some schlep on a VT passed me, which peeved me, but, carried on up anyway, rode the slingletrack to the right, then just dropped straight onto the Farm Track, and there was the schlep, just starting out too on his downhill run. i bombed past him and never saw him again. he ate my dust. its all very well being fast up the hill on a plush ass full susser, but if ya aint got the balls to rip it on the down hill, whats the point in all that suspension?? huh?? tell me that?? eh? eh??? looked at my watch at the top, 13.41, then looked again once i was out on the road at the bottom, 13.45... hehe, less than 4 minutes top to bottom, we're talking pretty near 400 m altitude, and around 3 kms distance... average speed, huh, only 45 kph... still, theres a couple sections that are slower, so top speed generally is approaching 70, and its a rutty wee track... LOVE IT. that was a beautiful day too, over 20 degrees C, and the next day it froze, and started snowing.

i biked into town that monday morning of the snow, was fun. reminded me of Montana. havent ridden since, and i'm getting depressed for it.
had a job interview in wellington friday (for a job i didnt get), and now its wednesday... and i NEED a RIDE!!! i'm riding as fast as i can to and from work but its just not the same as hoofing it up the hill and blasting it down.
little akaloa this weekend, so still no riding. maybe tomorrow night.

one good thing tho, daylight savings on saturday, so nights will be oh so glorious, to ride withOUT the halogen babies. yay!!!

Coopers to Wharfdale and back out ViewHill

Well... Ended up being a solo musicked ride...nice clear day, nursing quite the hangover, drove out to coopers creek entrance to the oxford forest, end of whats known as mountain road, took the track to wharfdale track. crashed within the first 5 minutes, back wheel spin, right foot pedal down, failed to clip out, balance lost and over i went, down a bank of blackberry and gorse. fantastic way to start a ride, back of arms and my back all scratched up. then trail becomes unrideable in lots of bits. one section in cutover broom scrub just taller than handlebars and the path way narrower, puts on the brakes slowing progress, so mostly i walked the bike on its back wheel. had to do that a lot, and sometimes carry. but some riding. probably an hour to the Wharfdale track, then blissful singletrack riding, nice and clear, well groomed, lovely. the southfaces were damp with dripped mist and possibly rain the foothills collected that the plains didnt. the northfaces were all beautiful and dry. good progress, to the rocky outcrop bit, decided there i was tired and needed to head back. decided not to take the messy track back the way i'd come up, so rode out to viewhill carpark and down the road thru all the gates, back round woodstock rd, over the tawera bridge, round through tawera on rampaddock road and back up to the car.

tonight, Nelson and me drove to scumner and went up capt thomas and up the new evans track to top and back. the fog was fantastic. thick swirling, no visibility, getting soaked in mistiness. amazing. made for a ride of epic proportions even tho it was just a quick 3 or 4 hundred metre altitude jaunt. probably 8 kms to top and back down that... steady, middle ring climb all the way.

back to court tomorrow... JURY. silly silly boys.

lastride

quick spin round bottle lake, pre dark... first non lights ride end winter

then sunday, what the fook did we do? oooooohhh. yes, fathers day, most of us are dad's so we pooled some time, 10.30, quick spin round town. didnt get away from P's til well after eleven, spun along river to Vic Sq, then past fart's centre round hagley, up north hagley, sweeeeet little single up there, then to hospital, up lift in carpark down, to bridge remembrance andrew had a flat he re-tubed as we did lichfield carpark. c1 for coffee then home.

wednesday i rode to cannon cres, avoided humphrey's by singletracking on the slicked townKona across new wetland/dryland then devil's Elbow trail ... fast as slicks allowed, niiiice burst.

d.i.c townriding friday night... with the WHARFDALE planned for tomorrow a.m... who will ride with me? will it be a solo musicked ride, or wil i have some company?

singletrack singletrack road singletrack

ride yesterday was huge. we met at Tony's in Spreydon, Pete and me rode across there, then Andrew Steve Tony Pete this guy Mark and me rode up Worsleys, over Marleys, refilled water at Kiwi, down track below Dyers Pass Rd, up into Vic Park, up to top of Vic, round summit trail to Rapaki, onwards round next little section of summit trail, along summit road, to Castle Rock, down singletrack to Bridle Path, round summit road up to top of Richmond Hill track, ate lunch there, then down it to Evans, onto the Godley track, all the way out it, down the Anaconda into Taylors, refilled water there, up over out of there to Scumner, cafe stop there, then home... Taylors and Sumner were CRAWLING with people... all up 65 kms, most of it off road, total of 1000 metres of altitude gained and lost. total of 4 litres of water consumed. plus another 1.5 litres over night...

i rode hard, i rode fast, scary fast at times...

ridin to work this morning was hard.

thinking back over the last couple weeks, trying to work out all the riding i've done... rode last night (see magic fog below), and last saturday (13th?)-across to and up rapaki, turned left along the singletrack, along the summit road, singletrack summit road to Richmond Hill single track down to Evans down Capt Thomas and back home from Sumner. gorgeous norwest day, tho the norwest was in my face all the way back from Slumner... before that? Thursday? or Tuesday? with Al? not sure... oh it all becomes so hazy... i guess before that was the sunday muddy sunday ride, cos i had to do some major maintaining of my bike after that ride. Wore out my brakepads something wicked. scored a new brake disk for $20 off a guy on the NZMtbbuysell (link on right). And sold a primal wear shirt that was too small and not the design i actually wanted...

from now on, i'm keeping a good record of rides. doing a biggie on sunday. intended is up worsleys and ALL the way along to Godley. 'sgonna take most of the day.

Magic Fog

as always a couple weeks have gone by. i've ridden a few times i believe... s'been a hard week or so, cos O caught a cold again and i had to take a couple days off work to care for him as he couldnt go into work with T.

last night, as i chuffed up the hill in the moonlight (what a glorious night it was) on my own, up into the fog, i was reminded of a blog i read, http://restarea300.blogspot.com/ where the guy is a road worker gang fellow here in nz and he wrote one time how when he's out on the road he has all these ideas of things to blog, but by the time he gets to his computer he's forgotten most of them. Exactly the same thing was happening to me last night. it was an almost zen like experience riding up the hill last night. i rode up a *ahem* no bikes trail last night. the wee valley track below the Rapaki... an awful lot of it is unrideable, but with a bit of wheeling the bike along on the back wheel or scooting with one leg while spinning the other clipped in you can get over most obstacles. anyway, ended up rejoining the rapaki, and powering up it. into the fog. with a full moon making it all glow it was like a wonderland. i saw only one other bike light, up on the summit road whilst i was huffing up the main track. no others... magic. round the summit trail and down the original Bowenvale track. i was slightly shakey and didnt manage to clean some of the more vertical rocky sections, but still managed most of it. i love the way the singletrack proper of this Bowenvale swoops and weaves...

i have a justification for riding these No Bikes trails occasionally. i tend not to ride them when theyre mucky. i also never ride them during the day, only at night when either there isnt a walker or runner likely and if there is they'll see my light a mile away... its nice to have a change of scenery.

sunday muddy sunday

well. mountain biking yesterday was a bit of a mudbath. Al, Al and me rode across to Tony's, in spreydon, where Andrew and Steve rode across to meet us. it was drizzling, tho, while we waited for A and S it rained. so we rode across to the bottom of Worsley's and Andrew, Steve and Tony all piked out and turned around. soft co cks. so, the other three of us rode up worsleys. hehe, the others were actually wise to have pulled out. especially steve, who's glasses always steam up and so he cant see where he's going. so, once we hit the trail proper, the clay surface was just wetted to about 1cm depth, meaning it was dry under neath that, but that 1 cm of clay sticks to tires quite nicely, and then, as the wheel rolls clay sticks to clay sticks to clay... so within not much distance at all, we're riding these huge clay wheeled behemoths which weigh three times the normal weight of a bike... hehe, it was fun. the clay really only built up badly when you had to walk, and you had to walk cos the clay was so built up... but once you did get riding again the clay kinda wore off and you were sweet, but getting moving again after a walking stretch was pretty tricky. hehe... anyway, got to the top and it was howling, and very very damp. decided to avoid the Marley's hill trail over the top, cos it gets stickier than anywhere on the way up, and on the way down it is a rutty rocky clay fest, so riding it would have been nigh on scary. so, joined that track half way down where it meets the summit road. it was sweet from there to the kiwi, cos there's been a bit of gravel layed. then rode up into vic park, around the summit trail to rapaki and down. rapaki was like a muddy stream. and stupidly there were tons of people riding up. we couldnt believe anyone would be out on a day like that. mad bastards... my rear brake pads wore out completely on the way down, lucky i'd put the new front ones in or i woulda been walking! my rear ones were pretty low. so, new ones of them to be purchased today. then i'll swap the fronts to the back and put the new new ones in the front.

seagulls

i wanna be a seagull. looking out my window at them flying around not giving a toss about anything except where to perch, shit and where to find food, always having a good view, and i'm stuck here in front of the computer with people's expectations heaped all over me just makes me wanna split and be free.

there's too much work to be done, too much work that hasnt been done, and i dont see any way out. its like there's always too much to do that getting started in on it and whittling away at it just isnt gonna make any difference to it and it'll just keep being too much and probably even always just keep getting bigger... bah. work schmerk.

anyhoo, rode last night. twice this week, tues and thurs. both times on the same or similar tracks. tuesday went with Al and Nels up Worsley's, over the crater rim then down kennedy's onto the new singletrack, sillily named the Crocodile (i mean, anaconda i can understand in that its twisty and curvey, but crocs are solid and rigid and hard)... then back to nels's. last night was with the boys, stv, tone, peat and me, and we rode up halswell quarry, up kennedys to top of singletrack and down. short loop, back to the car by ten to 8.
i didnt crash, but stv had a bit of an off on this TIGHT wee hunka rock most of the way down. he garked his leg and dinted his pedal.

Lurgy... and a crash, yeah!

blah, have had a dreaded lurgy for this past week or more. coughing like a coughing thing... last two days off work. Poor wee O has it too. greeeen goob oozing from his wee nose, and coughing little coughs.

stupidly, perhaps, went for a ride on tuesday night, me and the posse drove to Taylors, rode UP the Anaconda, then out Godley Head, then over and back down the snake. beautiful run, i still kicked all their asses even tho i was sick. heh heh... i crashed, first time in ages, and it was great. i've got a beautiful swirly multifacetted scrape/graze on my hip. dunno quite what did it, i think it was my handlebars. was screaming down the trail, into this big banked berm, and the front wheel just drifted out, the packed soil was very slightly damp on top and so slightly greasy, i began to lose control, couldnt keep it together, dabbed, tumbled... not really sure what happened. left some awesome marks on the trail, the tire tread skid marks, the foot scrape, the bit where my pedals dug in... first crash in a lonnnng time, so, twas good. i'd been getting faster and more loose for the last few months, and finally i hit the edge and so now i can step back from it and work my way back up to it again...

well...all of june gone then

and now we're in july. Otis is just about a year old.

rode last night. rapaki, single track to kiwi, up track from there a bit, then back down, and down below dyers, up into vic, down dazzas and out down into bowenvale. nice spin. needed. cooooool fog rolling over the hill like a waterfall, very spectacular.

blah blah blah

sHamner...

went to Hanmer for weekend... was good. rained heaps. Al and me went biking on saturday. trails were greeaasy. he showed me a bunch of tracks there's no way i would have found myself. fantastico!

soaked in the pools 3 times. lovely. O enjoyed himself, splashy splashy splashy...

buried T's grandfather yesterday. not the saddest of affairs, but when they played the last post, (on account of him being an old soldier) things got pretty teary. bunch of old soldiers there lined up and put Anzac poppies on the coffin. i was roped into pallbearing. O and Ph were both very well behaved throughout.

Better get on with this then...

Well, may as well start somewhere. Trouble is, i'm at work, and probably shouldnt actually be doing this.

rode last night, port hills, greeeaaasy, hit by waves of drizzle a few times. i was concerned my light wouldnt like the wet, but it seemed to deal pretty good. rocks and the rubber matting on the trails were diabolical. the rubber matting has a tendency to steer you in a way that is quite disconcerting... anyway, up rapaki, round the summit, pete and me did the single track whilst the others cruised on the road for the first bit. heading down through vic park pete crashed on the rocky bit before the gums. it was getting wetter and wetter as we got lower, another drizzle shower rolling in. then was dry when we were in the bottom of bowenvale. met some other riders heading down there...

working a bit late tonight. off to Hanmer for weekend. yippee.

Entrez Moi

First time...