Nelson turned up to my place and we woulda headed out door about 8. up North Parade, into Banks Ave singletrack, riding several sections of it, then turning back to Archilles, Ajax, New Brighton Rd, across Burwood Park, coupla jumpies on the bmx track there, then into Horseshoe lake. Burned through first section then hit the walk track that goes through to the river. FUN. i'd never ridden it before, and it was awesome, some boardwalks, plenty slippy, much longer than we'd thought it would be. cool. then, all the way up Burwood Rd.
into the forest.Bombed through the usual and on up to Spencer Park. then hit the Brooklands Walk track. rough. sandy in places, soggy. hard work, quite a distance too. then back to Spencer Park, snack stop, then met these bikers at the BBQs with some meat and beer... then back into the forest, back to Waitikiri, back usual way then caught a bit of Horseshoe, coupla jumps, home via Banks singles and River...follow the lines...mappage 40 odd kms... home just after 11...
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Too long... then Saturday, ride to planting
Dropped O off up at my folk's, then headed to bottom of rapaki to meet the boys. Steve, Tony and Wayne showed up. we trundled up rapaki, hung a right, breezed up singletrack, running into Matt and a mate of his John, who were riding to meet us. they turned round, we headed round for Vic Park. bumped into James Marshall, angrywadder who i've not seen for a while.
headed down, couple jumps on the Brakefree, then down gums, dazza's and across to planting. planted lots of trees, steve and wayne took off. tony and me went for bbq at ranger station, then he headed down, and i bombed down dazza's again, on down, into valley, around and down
headed down, couple jumps on the Brakefree, then down gums, dazza's and across to planting. planted lots of trees, steve and wayne took off. tony and me went for bbq at ranger station, then he headed down, and i bombed down dazza's again, on down, into valley, around and down
Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday Bottle Lake spin
Nelson picked me up, we drove out to find the carpark chocka post the Wednesday Night Racing... on our geared bikes, cos his first ride on his replaced frame, headed into the forest, took the middle trails out and round full loop, going hard, me wheezing a bit in the cool, hardly stopping, full loop back round to start, then headed right and out towards beach. my chain broke strangely. was the quicklink that had split. luckily i combed back up the trail and found the missing culprit, and put it back together. then we headed out to beach, back along and the back in to carpark. good spin...
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Hanmered winter wonderland
amazing weekend in hanmer. bigfoot is my new favourite track.
Jerry and me left the bach we were in, riding around to and up Jacks. took the right on one of the early corners and headed down the track Al took me last time. nice wee climb up to new majuba connection behind conical. bad sidle on majuba to the nice rest of it. jerry did really well, falling off twice cos his clips were too tight and then at the bottom of majuba managed to get his butt pretty good. then we headed down Pawson's, and up Dog Stream.
At Joliffe's rd i pointed him in the right direction and tootled up to do upper dogstream, nice nice nice, one close call hand nearly bounced off bar. then met him at picnic by lower bridge. up mulgins, he bailed out down the lower upper dogstream, top bridge down, and i carried on up to Bigfoot. cleaned it all up bar one or two bends, then the downhill was blissful. bombed it with such flow, saw a dude coming up, got to the bottom and had to do it again, took the fir back up, cleaned bigfoot climb again bar the same two, awesome, and better descent. then up nature, onto detox, back up road, dogstream down to joliffes again, up there and out redrocks, then home. i hope Jerry enjoyed it, i tried to show him interesting riding... here's a googlemap of it like
that afternoon it snowed, 3 or so inches by end late in the evening. froze hard overnight. gorgeous winter wonderlands. white landscape driving home
Jerry and me left the bach we were in, riding around to and up Jacks. took the right on one of the early corners and headed down the track Al took me last time. nice wee climb up to new majuba connection behind conical. bad sidle on majuba to the nice rest of it. jerry did really well, falling off twice cos his clips were too tight and then at the bottom of majuba managed to get his butt pretty good. then we headed down Pawson's, and up Dog Stream.
At Joliffe's rd i pointed him in the right direction and tootled up to do upper dogstream, nice nice nice, one close call hand nearly bounced off bar. then met him at picnic by lower bridge. up mulgins, he bailed out down the lower upper dogstream, top bridge down, and i carried on up to Bigfoot. cleaned it all up bar one or two bends, then the downhill was blissful. bombed it with such flow, saw a dude coming up, got to the bottom and had to do it again, took the fir back up, cleaned bigfoot climb again bar the same two, awesome, and better descent. then up nature, onto detox, back up road, dogstream down to joliffes again, up there and out redrocks, then home. i hope Jerry enjoyed it, i tried to show him interesting riding... here's a googlemap of it like
that afternoon it snowed, 3 or so inches by end late in the evening. froze hard overnight. gorgeous winter wonderlands. white landscape driving home
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Worsley Grease-fest...
Rode over to Nelson's about 5.30 on the Soul. He had to ride his singlespeed cos he hasnt protected his new frame yet. so, we headed across town to Worsleys. round the first corner it was a good 10 or more degrees warmer we had to stop and get layers off. continued up road, him getting way ahead cos of the standing and grunting, me spinning a lower gear.
hit the dirt, it was wet... the surface was juuust sticky, but not to the wheel clagging stage, and most ruts had either flowing or standing water in them. Grease is the word. a fair bit of walking ensued, but surprisingly rode a few bits i wouldnt have expected to. staying on the ridges between ruts was tricky at times too, and then the body bag was a complete walk, no way could you get traction, it was hard enough on foot... re jacketed at top, and had a bite to eat. wind had changed up there to southerly, clouds building a bit to the south.
headed up Marley's. most of the descent was pretty good. greasy sticky bits following Teddington Chipped corners which were nice and dry. the new section is coming along amazingly, with some awesome rock armouring and a fantastic line with good flow. riders should make tracks... good bomb to kiwi, slippin and sliding here and there. up road to top of vic. and round the summit trail all good, tho my legs were struggling by this time on all the ups and nelson was ploughing ahead of me.
Top of Huntsbury, headed down, then out the landing strip, then over a fence and picked lines between tussocks over the ridgeline, down to pylons, with some nice flowy bits, then down various off piste lines over the two wee jumps and down onto the road. then down to Nelson's property, had a look around that, scoped out the reserve below it, but couldnt see well enough to risk going down and having to clamber back up, so headed down Major Aitken Drive, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz all the way down, home via Eastern, Wilsons etc, southerly wind blowing me home...
hit the dirt, it was wet... the surface was juuust sticky, but not to the wheel clagging stage, and most ruts had either flowing or standing water in them. Grease is the word. a fair bit of walking ensued, but surprisingly rode a few bits i wouldnt have expected to. staying on the ridges between ruts was tricky at times too, and then the body bag was a complete walk, no way could you get traction, it was hard enough on foot... re jacketed at top, and had a bite to eat. wind had changed up there to southerly, clouds building a bit to the south.
headed up Marley's. most of the descent was pretty good. greasy sticky bits following Teddington Chipped corners which were nice and dry. the new section is coming along amazingly, with some awesome rock armouring and a fantastic line with good flow. riders should make tracks... good bomb to kiwi, slippin and sliding here and there. up road to top of vic. and round the summit trail all good, tho my legs were struggling by this time on all the ups and nelson was ploughing ahead of me.
Top of Huntsbury, headed down, then out the landing strip, then over a fence and picked lines between tussocks over the ridgeline, down to pylons, with some nice flowy bits, then down various off piste lines over the two wee jumps and down onto the road. then down to Nelson's property, had a look around that, scoped out the reserve below it, but couldnt see well enough to risk going down and having to clamber back up, so headed down Major Aitken Drive, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz all the way down, home via Eastern, Wilsons etc, southerly wind blowing me home...
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
SS-tagalong, then Wharfdale non starter.
Saturday, O and me went out to Bottle Lake with the tagalong. nice spin, fun with him. start of inside loop, then out to beach, then back along beachside track, and in the old (blown out connector) then on round. surprised at permafrost bits, frozen puddles and patches of frost in spots.
Put the Soul back together (using the derailleur i scored off Mel on Vorb), tuned up and ready to rock.
Finally thought we were gonna get to do the Wharfdale again, after well over a year since any of us had done it, yesterday. but disaster struck... drove all the way out to Oxford, and round Woodside to View Hill, towards the Wharfdale. Headed in the Wharfdale gravel rd, hit the first ford, entered it, it got deeper and deeper, pete had an “oh shit” moment, and the engine conked out.
So, there we are sitting in the middle of a river, water all up round the doors, all of us going “this is bad” and “holy crap” etc. Nothing to do but get out and let all that water in. Tried to push the car, it were too heavy (falcon v8). Got the hell out of the water cos the pain was too much to bear. Formulated some plans. I said I’d go get help, but of course needed to get bike off the rack. Tony’s first, then a couple wheels, then my frame. All the while YOWCH YOWCH YOWCH in the cold cold water. Headed back down the road, first house, older lady, said they're just a small holding and dont have anything capable, but try Derek the farmer down the road. So biked to this guy and said to him “you must get this all the time, but my mate has parked his car in the middle of your ford. Lady down the road there said you’ve towed people out before. any chance of a tow?” he said yep. So I rode back to the boys and in due time the farmer came along and pulled the car out with his hilux.
Then we sat and waited, and scooped water out of the foot-wells, and got rained on, and ate some bacon and egg pie. Matt was came from chch to tow us home. It was looking like a very long trip home… Matt arrived, hooked up, started out. and then a few hundred metres up the road pete signalled to stop. Brakes (being power assist and being wet too) and steering were very very bad, meaning matt was gonna have to take it really easy… also, being an auto, we were gonna have to tow slow anyway. But then Pete tried starting the car up. And amazingly he got it going. It was a bit sluggish at first, idling really roughly, but revving out okay, blew a good gallon or two of water out the exhaust (that had flowed in whilst in the river), then ran beautifully. A few of the warning lights were on the dash, but it ran fine. so we headed for town. Stopped half way down South Eyre Rd to check pete’s oil, which had a little water in it, but other sodden carpets, and upholstery, car seemed alright. Insurance will take care of everything. So, Wharfdale, if you're listening, we'll be back.
Put the Soul back together (using the derailleur i scored off Mel on Vorb), tuned up and ready to rock.
Finally thought we were gonna get to do the Wharfdale again, after well over a year since any of us had done it, yesterday. but disaster struck... drove all the way out to Oxford, and round Woodside to View Hill, towards the Wharfdale. Headed in the Wharfdale gravel rd, hit the first ford, entered it, it got deeper and deeper, pete had an “oh shit” moment, and the engine conked out.
So, there we are sitting in the middle of a river, water all up round the doors, all of us going “this is bad” and “holy crap” etc. Nothing to do but get out and let all that water in. Tried to push the car, it were too heavy (falcon v8). Got the hell out of the water cos the pain was too much to bear. Formulated some plans. I said I’d go get help, but of course needed to get bike off the rack. Tony’s first, then a couple wheels, then my frame. All the while YOWCH YOWCH YOWCH in the cold cold water. Headed back down the road, first house, older lady, said they're just a small holding and dont have anything capable, but try Derek the farmer down the road. So biked to this guy and said to him “you must get this all the time, but my mate has parked his car in the middle of your ford. Lady down the road there said you’ve towed people out before. any chance of a tow?” he said yep. So I rode back to the boys and in due time the farmer came along and pulled the car out with his hilux.
Then we sat and waited, and scooped water out of the foot-wells, and got rained on, and ate some bacon and egg pie. Matt was came from chch to tow us home. It was looking like a very long trip home… Matt arrived, hooked up, started out. and then a few hundred metres up the road pete signalled to stop. Brakes (being power assist and being wet too) and steering were very very bad, meaning matt was gonna have to take it really easy… also, being an auto, we were gonna have to tow slow anyway. But then Pete tried starting the car up. And amazingly he got it going. It was a bit sluggish at first, idling really roughly, but revving out okay, blew a good gallon or two of water out the exhaust (that had flowed in whilst in the river), then ran beautifully. A few of the warning lights were on the dash, but it ran fine. so we headed for town. Stopped half way down South Eyre Rd to check pete’s oil, which had a little water in it, but other sodden carpets, and upholstery, car seemed alright. Insurance will take care of everything. So, Wharfdale, if you're listening, we'll be back.
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