Boxing Evening

Got out last night too. parked-up on Centaurus, headed round to and up Rapaki about 7.40pm. made pretty good time up there cleaning the top just after 8. was definately feeling the several days of eating lots of food and chocolate tho, nearly wanting to barf at the top. then up to right round summit trail, onwards round to Vic park. not a single other cyclist on the road or trail. headed down towards the Gums in Vic, but peeled left on that doubleblackdiamond just before the trees. got down the top of it no worries, but the nana route down the gulley was totally overgrown and i slipped out the front wheel a bit in there too, but got out to skidder site then down Dazza's, new half, then turned right at the 40 footer and then down the valley tracks. out what i'll call Hanging Valley from now on, and round the Sidle track to k2 and baulked on the washout drop twice, then just rode the k2, then hoofed it down the valley. was out to Bowenvale Ave about 8.30. as i was riding back round to the car i saw my old work mate David, stopped and chatted a whiles...

xmas eve...

o went to bed early, and our car was at Joy's, so drove her jeep across back to her place and jumped on the bike and headed up Cannon Hill Cres, then on up Major HornBrook to top and then up through a Keep Out paddock that's being developed, then up through John Britten Reserve to top, then over Richmond Hill and down Capt Thomas. fantastic relatively quick climb and a lonnnnng downhill. awesome. took it pretty easy cos the dirt was just a bit moist which made the rocks a trifle interesting. all the way down. cleaned everything, pretty much. sweet way to set myself up for a xmas day feast...

solosinglespin

didnt think i'd get out, even ate dinner, nice simple rice, steamed veges and kofta i'd made. but, jumped on the single and headed round bottle lake. very fast, smooth spin. included for a change burwood park shortcut, and on the way back went through horseshoe lake reserve and back across burwood park. at Shirley Rd, or is it New brighton Rd, i popped over a chain, but didnt clip out in time and fell to the ground, and my cleat ripped out of the thing its screwed into! broke the metal clean off, the cleat is still fine, and i saved one bolt, but the other bolt will still have some of the metal from the shoe left on it... find one today at a bikeshop hopefully.

Tuesingleday and Sun (with a NEW (to me) trail)...

bit of a non event on wednesday. nelson picked me up with the van and in the back was his shiney newly built singlespeed. a Gary Fisher frame he picked up off tirademe for a fiddy, decked out in all the gear (minus the gears) of his old Muni Mula. nice rig. little bit lighter than the switchy, but hey, it aint steel. so, we drove out to Slumner, and headed off up Capt Thomas.. Nelson had neglected to use a chain tensioner of any sort, so pretty quick the chain started dropping off. ended up he tried taking out a full link and putting in a half link (15mins), then it was too short and we managed just to force the wheel in but it wouldnt turn, so he put the link back in (another 15mins), and rode a little bit but ended up running all the way up. it was getting pretty late so we just turned round and headed back down. a woman (in this large group of women (with a guy) who were all practising the tricky bits) said to me, "Nice Bike", and she was on 16 inch version. same cool grey colour. stopped and chatted to her about it on the way back, she loves its ride too (who wouldnt!?)

Sunday, al grabbed me and we went round to petes. matt there too. out to sumner,met upwith andrew and hubby, and then steve, tony, and steve's mate Wayne turned up. big posse!!! plan was to ride up capt thom, out to Breeze col for some track work, but at the top of the captain, ranger nick singletrack had canned the work and was doing small spot fixes with his dedicated crew. oh well. more riding less tiredness for us, yay. cleaned everything on godley, at breeze col pete matt me and al went round the walking track on the harbour side of the hill. FANTASTIC piece of track. it SO should be a bike legal track. perfect. but probably only so in the dry. soem lovely wee step ups. also, would make an awesome back-to-breeze-col trail too. next time. then round back to the others on the col, and down Anaconda. Pete was chasing me and had a nice off. i had a good run down, no scary moments. then chuffed back over the hill, coffee at cot dom and home. nice.

Two Solos, wednesday and sunday.

hot norwest day on wednesday. headed out on my own, only to be txted by Nelson half way up rapaki. but didnt matter cos i'd wanted to split early and get as much ride as possible. hell of a wind. it was howling, probably up round a hundred kph on tops. so, up rapaki, left along single, then hopped fence onto lyttelton side and rode the walking track, was somewhat out of the wind, then up road to castle, helluva wind, then castle rock to bridle path was sweet, mostly sorta sheltered, cept for one or two bits. its riding really nicely at the mo. they've put gutters in for all the worst spots from winter, so will be good to see how it holds up next year. then along summit under gondola. nearly blown over. couldnt believe the gondolas were still in use, woulda thought the wind was too much. round john britten reserve the wind making the singletrack interesting, having to dab now and then, just to stay upright. then over Greenwood, tail wind, blissful, flying. creamed it, cleaned every ounce of it, wind wasnt an issue, cos it was in the lee of the hill. bombed it down to Evans, just taking it easy tho, cruising. noticed some event coming towards evans along godley track, and down Capt Thomas. Damn. runners. a race. anyway, top bike section of captthom was free, they were coming in where it used to end, and i managed to pick a big gap between groups, and was tailing these two people for a while, then several times just held back let them go til i saw the next few coming, then i'd take off, normal pace. cleaned all the usually tricky odds and sods. not so much fun having to curb my styles tho on the lower section... then on to sumner, and home along the road, into the wind, exhausted. utterly utterly burned out.

Sunday, had yard stuff to do in morning, so did that, and then got out about 12. headed across up rapaki, rode the valley for the top section, that was interesting, dabby, tussocks, ruts... steep too. then up singletrack, round vernon, then down the Old School Bowenvale. Sweet. cleaned everything as usual, blitzed it. lovely flow. then home.