no ride week...

no mtnbike rides,
Tuesday rode over to Steve's on the Ghetto Spesh for an evening of mtnbike dvds and tasty beer. i took with me a couple of La Trappe Wittes, an Emerson's Dunkel, and Renaissance Stonecutter...
Wednesday, biked to Cannon Hill, which felt like some miles, but really, plenty of people do that both ways every day, so its not really much...

Hopefully, planning to get up hill tomorrow to assist with the maintenance of the Castle Rock to Bridle Path singletrack.

Hanmer and Cycle.

Awesome ride Saturday morning in Hanmer, with Al.

headed from his folk's, up Chattertons, up pylon steep grunty little bastard of a track, i walked the steepest bit, Al cleaned it. then my rear brake messed with my head, so muddled with it and it seemed to come right.

down Tank track the top of which is a bit messed up, but the rest still rocks, beautiful rooty goodness. then up onto one of the lower Conical hill trails round to Majuba, found one coming down, so we walked up it, found another going right up to the top with a munty rock garden built on it, so, walked up that too, to the top of Conical hill, second knoll... were told later by a local that that trail is called the Eagle's Nest. bombed down it, dabbing over the rockbridgegardenthing, then dabbed through the tight hairpins and bombed the last bit down onto the Majuba.

then through and up onto Joliffe's, upper Dogstream, all good climbs, most of which i always forget how long they are... then up onto Big Foot. beeeaauuuttiiiffuuulll... Nature, conect to Detox, loose and greasy down Detox, rutty and a little bit messy, tho nothing on what the Port Hills've got right now. then back up the road, and down Lower Dogstream up Joliffe's again, up RedRocks, through two lots of Track Closed for Logging tape, rode most of the way down and into the clearfell... R.I.P lower Red Rocks... then back into the village...

minty minty singletrack... love riding up there.

Thurs night Bottle Spin - 2 singles

Spun out quick to B.Lake on the newly ratio'd (42:18) switchy, met Andrew in the carpark, he with his magic Marin (42:16). took a jaunt round the inner circle, going hard out then having a break then going hard out again. trails are loose in places, slick and greasy in others, and downright crappy (Teddington SUCK anyone?) elsewhere... with stretches of nice fast dry stuff too. anywho, good ride, burned the legs, slowing towards the end, then back to the carpark and each to their respective rides home, mine spinning frantically. enjoyed.

also, we swapped bikes for a couple hundred metres. was interesting to try something different. i found his to be comfortable, providing a good ride, and the drivetrain felt tight, in a good way. the forks however, i found very slack and thought they kinda flopped from side to side. the frame was designed with 3 or less inches in mind, so the extra degree or two of slackness are probably just a bit too much, for my tastes, anyway... he didnt particularly like the switchback i think... the Mary bars maybe just a bit too much, and the short (4 inch) fork making its geometry heaps steeper than the slack (also 4 inch) on his marin.

FINALLY, Tuesdaynight rapaki summit road pleasantness

finally after over week off, i made it out. Missed thursday night cos just couldnt be arsed, and then sunday, the first day that singletracks on the hills would have been ridable for months, i was laid up in bed. anyway, last night, over to steves for a 6.15 depart. good crowd showing, Andrew, Tony, Pete, Matt, Steve-the-accountant (who was heading off as i arrived - for rapaki to meet helmutlessMark already up there), a new guest Marcus (that Matt had picked up at a library)(on a 29r stumpy), Steve, and of course yours truly. Txts from Nelson put him late and i held back a bit letting him catch us up at the second gate. by the time he'd gotten there most of the others were already at the first corner disappearing, so we put the power, overtook them, gained the lead and held it all the way up. i felt surprisingly good, seemed to have good power and endurance, amazing what a week off the bike seems to do, - builds up glycogen reserves i guess... rapaki was pretty soft in places especially where the dude crashed on his face the other weekend, noted someone had stuck a stick into the ground there with plastic bags on it (as warning). top still had just enough snow to make for an interesting lumber out.

helmetlessmark and accountantsteve appeared from some shelter when we all piled up, and off we trundled round the summit road. ice just starting to sparkle in places, but nothing black and slippery. stopped for a bit at Castle Rock. i would have been keen to explore the trail from there, cos it was well covered in snow, it would have been interesting, but the lower slopes would have been quagmire. froze our asses down to the Bridle, then on continued round and up to top of Pleasant. 'nother short break, then off for the flight down Mt Pleasant Rd. wish i'd put my chippolatas on. brrrr... bombed it down, road drying out the lower we got. then at ferrymead bridge, i peeled off and headed my happy way home down linwood. home just after 8, not bad.

Sunday Morning, Snowville.

Slick black ice ride across to Steve's after rain and sleet finished at 2am and it cleared... good group, Steve, Pete, Andrew, Tony, Hubby, Wayne, Matt, English Mark and your's truly. headed up Rapaki, soggy and sapping a little. then at middle gate, headed up farmtrack onto Montgomery Spur. up to the trig marker, on snow mostly. quite cool. thats me, giving the stick...

good views from that knoll. must explore further down sometime, and find some sheeptrails back to the bottom of the 'paki. whilst up there we were joined by a fellow Switchback rider, running 32:18, white rigid single. back down to Rapaki and on up it. at the bottom of the straight there was a bunch of people and a guy down, in spaceblanket and coats, blood all over his face. the chopper came in before we made the Summit Rd. quite cool to see that too.

then on up the road to top of Farm track, and off piste snow riding down the ridge. brilliant! heaps of fun just drifting down on a really good snow surface, maybe 2 inches, but well packed and crunchy. picking lines and flowing. alllll goooood. eventually back onto the farm track, splattered our way down and muckily we went to cafe opposite St Martins New World.

no singletrack was harmed in the making of this ride...

Wednesday Night 3 Bottled Singles...

Nelson picked up Al and me from mine about 7-7.30. headed out to the 'Lake. all of us on the singlespeeds. entered the forest and took the usual internal loop, left, through, all good. spin spin spin. full tummy made me wheezy so a few short stops in the first section before the pond/lake. then good rip through onwards. bombed it, mostly good trail conditions, til we hit the Teddington Chip... Teddington Shit more like. sapping all your power, sticky and soft. that stuff SUCKS in the wet. the old surface of the grey gravel (graded river gravel (FAR more sensible, cos it's naturally draining)) is heaps better... anyway, just cut a quick internal loop, back to the start.

then, to mix it up a bit, headed back round the wrong way. MINT!!! a whole new trail. the usual track and corners were all completely new and fresh. you knew where you were but putting the pieces together you couldnt figure what was coming next. and, sections seemed to be faster and over sooner... was cool. so, did a full long loop back out to the beach and down, then back round from the south. all good, except for the Teddington Shit. it makes me doubt very much whether its the best stuff to be putting on the summit trail etc.

Most of the time Nelson led, followed by me, usually close on his tail, and then Al. Al's gearing is slightly lower than ours, so he was having to spin more to keep up. home 9.30ish

been away...

in the bush, fiordland... riding will begin again, soon.

before i went away tho, Kris serviced my Vanillas...