no ride weekend...

alas, hand needs to rest. but, here's my leg!

Thumbsday night Mcleans singlegraze

a whole week with no riding, crappy weather and other commitments... finally, last night, nelson and me, van, Mcleans island, singlespeeds. drizzly, track in good nick, unchanged if not not as wet as last time was out there the other week, tho a bit splecky in the eye a couple times. first lap was sweet, spun round in good time, taking turns leading, getting to know that track pretty good now, tho some sections still seem to go on longer than i'm expecting.

second lap, decided to ride the trail backwards, as in Wrong way (not as in sitting on the handlebars...) anyway, all good, some corners obviously dont flow as well as they do the right way, but no matter. anyway, nearing the end, chasing nelson, probably 2-300 m from the finish, blazing round this long sweeper, frontwheel starts to slide...oop, i'm going down...i'm down, land on my right side, sliding on my knee and shin, handlebars spin, left hand thumb poking into the ground and sliding bending ...that...doesnt...feel...right... cant...do...anything...about...it... let off a nice swearword as i come to rest, oooshh. sure it was broken, it looked all wrong. picked up the bike, chain off, other than that, no probs. limped final distance back to van, drove on. nearly home i decided the pain was too much and it wasnt right so went to afterhours, check, xray, and cashectomy later i'm strapped and have landed some 75mg diclofenacs for the taking. got home, shower hurt like hell on the leg, then sleeping was tricky cos bandages only fit one of the graze spots.

rode road... to mist mud and muck and a revelation

had a task to do, ie, load a trampoline onto a trailer at the top of Clifton Tce... so, nelson and me vanned with the singlespeeds to McCormacks Bay, rode up Mt Pleasant Rd (relentless, standing, working all the way), entering the drizzly mist about a km from the top, jumped onto the Greenwood singletrack, all spatial references removed by blowing mist and fog, all traction removed by mud and slippery rock, riding along totally lost suddenly i'm at that tree thats around on the eastfacing slopes, whereas i was thinking i was miles further back... we headed down farmtrack to the big pines on Richmond Hill, water and grit flicking high, barely any visibility still in foggy mist, then over road and over stiles down farmtrack, more water and grit to watertank then on down to gate to meet a sign saying "Private Property. Track --> ". so, carried bikes up hill to another stile, which if we'd been able to see anything we would have ridden straight to. then down this wicked singletrack (with several options) beneath old man pine shelter, roots and rocks and mud but fun. ending up on Revelation Drive... quick blast down road to trampoline house, met with Andrew, carried biiig trampoline down off lawn onto trailer, then headed on down the Zig Zag, two lots of steps, the rest tight rideable switchbacks dropping at least 100m alt straight down into Sumner. tootled back to the van all mucky and wet and smiling..

sunday frostbitten muckfest

possibly the hardest frost of the year, so far at least, rode across to steve's just before 9, shins burning with the windchill, hands freezing even in my Chippolatas, and feet going solid even with thermal socks. headed up rapaki, hung a left. any dirt there was on any of the singletracks was sticky and mucky, splecking, flicking, spraying, coating bikes and riders alike. control was marginal, two wheeled steering round bends, glancing off rocks, technical. except the shadiest bit of Greenwood, which was frozen solid like a very grippy concrete, perfect. (we shoulda been riding 2 or 3 hours earlier, and the whole trail would have been frozen solid like that) but this mud, it was just no good. and bad for the trail too. Nick the singletrack ranger will be most unhappy with us...

anyway, castle rock to bridle, not bad going, cleaned first hairpin, section between hairpins was dabby out of control, second hairpin i just had to stop and laugh... rest of it was sweet tho. road to JBritten's, sweet. J Britten's reserve trail was fine, greasy, but fine. then Greenwood, diabolical. still managed to clean most of it, but dabbed in some bits you'd never normally dab. crazy. then we discussed riding down Capt Thomas, but bailed and took the road. cold and fast. T, O and GG happened to be in Sumner, so picked me up. bike needed a damned good wash and lube once home...

Wednesday Foggy rapaki - vic, cashmere, hollis

Nelson and me hit Rapaki about 6.30, both on the geared bikes. hard work to the top, neither of us feeling 100%, me cos i'd been up since 5am, full day in wellington (meetings etc), him cos of a cold. and i think the dirt was just a tad soft, coupled with a head wind, made it all difficult. Lots of funky fog up rolling over saddle at top of rapaki and on round first section of Mt Vernon. Decided to give the single track a go, and found it in surprisingly good nick. The summit trail is holding together beautifully, with the stretches of teddington chip hard as nails. There were probably 3 short sections from rapaki to vic park that were mudbaths, only short tho, and the rest of it was sweet, no damage, no harm done. Nick Singletrack the ranger is being very protective with notices on vorb warning us to keep off. I'd be keen to get up there with him and fix those few sections that need it, and then rapaki to vic park would be clean and ready to roll in all conditions. The worst bit was just before top of farmtrack, there's two small gulchy (kinda ex-slips) bits, one of which they filled with good sized rocks not so long ago, that was really bad in there, cos there's never been any tedd chip put in, and the only other standout bad bit I can think of was below sugar loaf, not far round from where we often stop at that sign.

Anyway, got to Vic Park, floated through the pines, then down through the gums, which were in good nick, ie, the trail is soft but we werent cutting it up, and the gum leaves provide exce;;emt binding material and traction (surprisingly). then down the wee singletrack from jumps to 19th Battalion War memorial and on down past the ranger centre, then *ahem* down through the dog park, down the side of the pines above cashmere, riding the roots and trying not to gark our arms on the barbedwire, overlooking bowenvale ave, then down the funky ass singletrack to Longhurst Tce. Cabbage tree leaves also make excellent trail binding material... then we explored a walking track (that was 80% unrideable due to steepness and steps) which connects through a wee reserve into Hollis Ave. yeah, we were a bit spleckled with mud at the end of it, but we did very little damage to the trails because they're holding together very very well.

thursday and sunday singlespins

Thursday night, lift with Pete and Matt, to Taylors, met up with Steve, Tony, Wayne, Andrew, and Nelson. Nelson and me on the singles, headed up new section then round to boulder bay. then up steep (walked), to top, then out to gun emplacement on the end (at top). sat and all imbibed a beer each we'd brought. i had a Wigram Dunkel, which was really tasty. everyone had something different... as we were leaving the gun sites Nelson pinchflatted on a concrete lip, and as he pulled out his back wheel he broke his single-ator, meaning no chain tension, so in the end he pulled off his whole chain and just scooted and rolled all the way back. even like that he was 3rd fastest down Anaconda... brilliant flight down.

Sunday, morning. had been raining all friday into saturday, so we gave the hills a rest and got out to McLeans Island. spun round there on the single too. two laps, about 1 hour. even on the singlespeed i'd get miles ahead, slow and rest til i saw them again then get going again.