brrrrrrrrr.... fiiiiinally after 13 days!!!

having had a crappy day at work yesterday, i split at 3 (i can do that, it just means i have to work longer for a day or two afterwards to catch up the couple hours missing...).

got home, did a bit of a lube (chain and grease-injection for the pedals) then hit the road around 3.40 across town around... 25 mins later i'm riding through Halswell towards the Quarry...

across the muddy and in parts frozen field to the bottom of 'the crocodile', up that, tight switchbacks to start with up through the pines, then a nice sidle track along, all in good nick, no mud, then a small descent into the wee gulley. even when its dry this gulley is wet, so with it being really wet lately, it was a total mud fest. passengered it for a bit (ie, no control, just holdin' on!) then got off and walked, front wheel entirely caked in mud, all splooged down over my brake, rub rub, rub rub... then over the bridge and onwards up the switchbacks, one after the other... one or two of them were soggy, but the rest of the trail was sog free.

then on up Kennedy's... sun setting slowly behind me. there was a cold cold wind blowing, the annoying north easterly, and i didnt really have enough clothes. also, having left it so late for departure, and having picked one of the more furtherly trails to ride, and having the sun set at 5ish, i was only about 5/6ths of the way up when the sun started to get tucked in behind the mountains. so by the time i made the top it was truly gone, with dusk settling its cool blanket over the Port Hill tops. and did i mention the cold. thought i was getting hypothermic for a minute there. but spun it round the summit road on down to where the flying nun (or Marleys) meets the road jumped onto the singletrack through to the kiwi, then, as it was still just dusky and still not quite dark, headed up to top of Vic Park, on road, then down the main fire trail to the skidder site, picking my way down the last bit under the darkness of the trees... no head light you see, just the flashies. so then i rode down the Vic Park Rd, right into Longhurst to the bottom, down the drive then down the track to Holliss and out to Centaurus and home, well dark by now. home around 6, chilled to the bone, utterly exhausted and extinguished of any energy. Had had to ride pretty slow along Wilsons, Nursery and Stanmore home, so slow cos i was so weak. got fire going. ate and ate and ate. hot shower. all fixed...

had i eaten, taken my headlight, and a few more clothes, i would have stayed a bit longer, maybe gone round some of the single track and down Huntsbury or something...

The bottom of Bowenvale is shut at the moment, cos of stock and muck. the Rangers are all freaking out cos bikes are cuttin' up the tracks so bad... Ranger Nick Singletrack said its the wettest he's seen them in at least 10 years...

on my way to a party...

T's mum had her birthday the other day, saturday, while i was up planting trees... and so she was having a bit of a party lastnight. it was to start around 7, so i had time for a wee ride.

oh, firstly, i must say, we had some wicked snow. here's a pic of the island covered in it. Chch is under that cloud on the right, this was taken 10am ish on tuesday morning...

So, anyway, wednesday, most of the snow had melted off the hills, meaning they'd be pretty wet, but i rode up anyway. i swapped off the Kenda Blue Groove on the back cos it was pretty worn and its been slipping out on a lot of rides recently, in the wintry conditions... anyway, reinstalled the old Green Wildgripper, 1.95, good treadpattern for mud. best darn mud tire i've had so far...
across town, about 5.30ish, closer to 6 actually, then up rapaki, lights most of the way, turned left, walked a little of single before riding cos it was so muddy and i didnt wanna thrash the track. then along road, and onto the Castle Rock - Bridlepath singletrack. interesting. flowy in places, but then messy as all get up in others. especially, before, between and after the switchbacks... i stopped and assisted a couple of drainage spots... then, as time was starting to run short, i headed down Bridle Path. then, after zipping up and swapping back to the windstopper gloves, down Bridle Path Rd to Joy's, where eventually T arrived with clothes so i showered.

i might add. on these frosty cold nights, town is at 0 or less degrees celsius, but hit the hill and its up closer to 10 degrees... inversion. keeps the smog down on the city too. i love it up there on these nights. but its yucky riding back across town.

saturday, trees for canterbury...

beautiful clear sunny winter's day. toodled across to Tony's saturday morning about 11.30, meeting Dan on the way. The fella's had left without us, so we were chasing, 5 minutes behind according to Tony's daughter... Dan's first time up Worsleys. after hitting the dirt section and clearing the first technical challenges got a call from Steve checking on our whereabouts. they werent far ahead, but still we didnt catch them til the bodybag. there's still sections of the track that are unrideable, due to the wetness of the claymud, and this is after a week of no rain...dewey nights, but no rain. so, cleaned most of the bodybag, got to top, and proceeded to top of the Marley's section of track, for a planting... 350 natives to put in, mostly kanuka, but i also got a few 5fingers, lancewoods, lacebarks, pittos and coprosmas in. a lot of them had plastic netting cages to be installed too, slowing the progress, but, probably 25 people took just over an hour or so to complete it. its gonna be great seeing that as the years progress, for i'll always be riding up there, and slowly but surely the bush will return... Pete and Alistair (jr) were dropped off for the planting and to join us riding down
then down marleys, single track still abit greasy, one or two drying mud sections, to kiwi, then up thomsons, i think i was the only one to ride all of that, the others took the road. then down through vic, thru gums, bypassed Dazzas and then down Nationals. bottom of K2 was a mud rut channelled slickfest... sick. Alistair had a nice crossup spill on the lower cattlestop, into the wee creek. i myself very nearly lost it there too. then home across town, too late for GeeGee's birthday arvo tea... on to making sushi in prep for potluck at ours.

lunchtime teambuilding...

Rebecca and Dan and me from work went for a lunchtime spin. nice ride across town, up rapaki, good clip, and down farmtrack. i had front derailleur issues. the mud from my last ride had caked it seized, so when i used the shifter it shifted but the derailleur didnt, and as a result the little nubbin thingy on the end of the cable popped out of its spot inside the shifter and so jammed. was jammed in middle ring all the way up rapaki, which is just fine, but at the top i fiddled with it again and it slipped into granny, with no shifting out of it possibilities... drat. good fly down farmtrack regardless, some areas of wetness/mud. both Dan and Bex had spills on the lower section, nothing major. riding back across town i grabbed a discarded plastic milk bottle and wedged it under the cable on the top tube, thereby putting it in middle ring.

post work muck

rode the switchy in to work then hit the road at 5.

down colombo, through Ashgrove reserve, along the Heathcote, up Worsley's. sunset was at 5.03pm, so by the time i got to top of the seal it was dark enough to need the light. it was wetter than i'd thought. most of the trail was a streambed, with flowing water. the ruts were deeper and the little ridges between ruts were narrower and in a lot of places the clay was saturated, making it the sticky cluggy muck that builds up on the tires, making large sections of the ride unrideable. the body bag, top section, i walked entirely. it was impossible to get traction, and i had started getting chainsuck earlier, due to the closeness of the front derailleur in granny and the chain to the tire and the mud... made the top of the hill and proceeded to ride up Marleys and hit the singletrack down. surprisingly, or not considering the excellent design the rangers have put in, the surface was only a little slippery, with very few muddy pockets. great ride down to kiwi, with only occasional hairy spots, the odd slick rock. fun! then hit the tarmac at the kiwi, did lower section of Thomsons, and decided to avoid the summit trail and stay on the road. it was getting late and i wanted to be close to home by 7, so cruised the summit road til Mt Vernon, then thought i'd give the singletrack a go again. not bad. the techy rocky section near top was very mucky, but the rest of it was sweet til the lowest bit before rapaki, near that wee pond. then BOMBED down rapaki. quite a few riders on the way up, but if they're like other riders i saw up there last night they will have stayed on the road. i wouldnt have wanted to ride up the Vernon section...