the norwest mildness had stuck around, and so it was a perfect night for riding.
a few of us assembled at Steve's, who turned out wasnt riding cos he'd forgotten to charge his light from last week (or that's his story anyway...). Pete, Andy, Warren, Tony and myself headed off and cruised up Rapaki. Pete, Andy and me got into a good groove and rode ahead, lightless pretty much the entire way up. Warren and Tony tail-end-charlied it with their lights on. with the city glow off the clouds, there was plenty of light to ride by. made the top in reasonable time, but most were feeling it.
quick spin out and back on Witch Hill, with most of us fucking up at least once. nightridebalance issues methinks. as we passed back over the top of Rapaki, there was a group of something like 15 riders. said gudday to them. no reply. dicks.
then it was up the Vernon singletrack. i blew out on one rocky section overlooking rapaki, and then again on the first hairpin near the top. cleaned the top rocky section perfectly, finding the smoothest line i've ever seen there. stopped just over the road and regrouped. the huge group from top of rapaki regrouped there too, and not one of them said hello. what a bunch of fucking imbecile asshole stuck up wankers. flash harry wankers. then Hubby turned up from the direction of Vic park. we stood and chatted a bit as the wankers all filed off.
then we hit the trail, with the first 5 heading down OldSkool, and hubby continuing round to where he'd parked his car at kiwi to do a few laps of the nun. good waft down through the offpiste tussocks'ville, and then a blast down oldskool. no sketchies, took one of the steeper droplines down the rocky bits, and then had a good blast down the lower new.
home by 8.30.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday Rapaki Traverse Nun Vic
turned out a nice warm norwest day. Warren, Steve, Wayne, Tony, Rex and myself assembled at Steve's. Three of us at least nursing heads and guts from Tony's party previous night, with Pete piking (we think) for that reason, and Andrew otherwise besetzt. Up Rapaki at a surprisingly good pace, Rex and me feeding off each other a little for speed, so i directed him onto the valley singletrack for the last leg to the summit... i was too wiped to contemplate it, but it gave him a little bit of adventure.
hit the singletrack and cruised round to top of Vic, enjoying a good blast along the Traverse, then hit Thomsons to Kiwi, running into Hubby on his way up road. Then off we went on up road to top of Marley's. Bombed flying nun, enjoying it all but overcooking a couple of the new jumps and nearly ploughing myself into the bank. Steve's rear brake was for some reason starting to rub so he bailed down the Dyers Pass Rd. the rest of us headed up the Summit to top of Vic, flowed down into the Gummies and then on down Dazza's Brent's Flow and Bridges, me taking the high line that i love so much and cleaning all the droppy bits nicely. Discussed heading up the (by the looks of it -newly worked on) trail into the Hidden Bush valley to take in the lower Old Skool, but figured Steve would be waiting at bottom of Bovenwale, so headed down and out. out by 11.30 pretty much. Steve was waiting, so all but Tony went for coffee at St Martins. after which i pushed into a helluva head wind home.
hit the singletrack and cruised round to top of Vic, enjoying a good blast along the Traverse, then hit Thomsons to Kiwi, running into Hubby on his way up road. Then off we went on up road to top of Marley's. Bombed flying nun, enjoying it all but overcooking a couple of the new jumps and nearly ploughing myself into the bank. Steve's rear brake was for some reason starting to rub so he bailed down the Dyers Pass Rd. the rest of us headed up the Summit to top of Vic, flowed down into the Gummies and then on down Dazza's Brent's Flow and Bridges, me taking the high line that i love so much and cleaning all the droppy bits nicely. Discussed heading up the (by the looks of it -newly worked on) trail into the Hidden Bush valley to take in the lower Old Skool, but figured Steve would be waiting at bottom of Bovenwale, so headed down and out. out by 11.30 pretty much. Steve was waiting, so all but Tony went for coffee at St Martins. after which i pushed into a helluva head wind home.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday Night, Bottle Lake cruise.
9 folk bowled up to the Broadpark carpark. if i remember correctly, warren, dallas, andrew (on his longlegged singlespeedsteed), steve, pete, tony, steve and marie. and me (on the singlespeed). tootled up the coast and hung a left into the park. some rode the first uppydowny section, others took the 'road'. then through to the old dump. met a few up by that shelter, them calling me the pied piper cos of the string of lights following me... headed on into the forest, against the flow of traffic, meeting two groups of assholes who didnt know how to move over. the track is bi-directional, get with the fucking programme, losers. anyway, round to near waitikiri and bombed on into the usual loop. little bit of fun had playing with slightly longer paths from the front and ending up in second or third place. and a few times we all stopped and steve and marie continued on through after they'd caught us up, which made for some fun overtaking. i seemed to always overtake steve on a jump, me flying (literally) past him.
mosied out to Spencerpark, sat about a bit, then headed back in. by this stage Marie's underpowered light was starting to die, but dallas came to the rescue with a groovy led thing. we rode on, he bailed at waitikiri, we continued back through, towards the end Tony's light was dying.
as usual, the weird creak reappeared in the latter stages of the ride. gotta sort it.
mosied out to Spencerpark, sat about a bit, then headed back in. by this stage Marie's underpowered light was starting to die, but dallas came to the rescue with a groovy led thing. we rode on, he bailed at waitikiri, we continued back through, towards the end Tony's light was dying.
as usual, the weird creak reappeared in the latter stages of the ride. gotta sort it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday Night, fog-coddled Worsleys Nun Vic.
got out with Nelson last night. probably at his place 7.30-45ish, dunno what time we hit the road, across to Worsleys, via Earnsleigh, Heathcote and Cracroft singletrackies and on up the road. i was stuffed, had been at a 1 yr's b.day party all afternoon stuffing myself with cheerios and lollies etc and was full full full.
hard work getting up the hill, but pushed and pushed up into the fog. we rode with minimal lighting. both just using our small LED's for the entire climb. was magical up on the dirt, cos you were coddled in this fog, with only the beam of the LED and the quietness all around. the last section before the gate at the bottom of the bodybag just disappeared, suddenly there we were and the harsh climb began. top of the bodybag got the better of me. blew out where i used to always blow out, not through loss of traction, just loss of lungs... meanwhile, nelson middle ringed the whole bastard. i walked to the finishline. then onto the nun climb a brief rest, now just sitting in the top of the cloud level before the glorious, and tricky to see descent...
nelson lead off and we picked our way down, still pretty quick but careful not to out ride the lights too much(which were glaring in the fog back at us). boosting through the new corners, all minty and fun, dust kept down by the moisture filled air. some sketchy moments but mostly smooth. loving the rocky section, and the blitzing down the old... until my chain jumped, the crunched and jammed. poor chainstay all gouged and scratched, was bloody hard to pull the chain out from where it'd wedged between granny ring and stay. got moving again and were surprised by a new (since Wednesday!) section in the last leg before popping up to Kiwi, i think it was here it was about 9.18.
Kiwi to top of Vic up road, in fog, car headlights sooo dim in distance. Bombed first bit down to see-saw, which we bypassed, then took the oldskool line down to the Gums. first rockgarden was smooth, me in the lead, then we were fog free for a bit through the gums, peeled left (where no one seems to ride anymore) enjoyed the wee jump, i slid beautifully through corner berm and on down through next two berms then blew the wee climb back up to Skiddersite...
then we rode over to Dazza's and explored on foot the wee yumpy trail that starts just to the right. wandered back to the bikes and hit up Dazza's. good flow down through there, me tight on Nelson's tail, then at Brents we peeled onto the "Track Closed" trail. just for a look. rode in and walked over the first jump, then the next, and the next. then there's this wicked swoopy uppy downy blast section, then a couple more drops and jumps that are unrideable to us. good to explore tho, and see whats happening in there. the unfinished end led us through to the 'Darkness' section of Cool Runnings, bombed out the rest of that and onto Flow and Bridges. took the high line above Bridges and had fun dropping down the the drop and then just blew on down out the valley.
rode back through to Nelson's and it was 10pm when i drove home. good use of a sunday night.
hard work getting up the hill, but pushed and pushed up into the fog. we rode with minimal lighting. both just using our small LED's for the entire climb. was magical up on the dirt, cos you were coddled in this fog, with only the beam of the LED and the quietness all around. the last section before the gate at the bottom of the bodybag just disappeared, suddenly there we were and the harsh climb began. top of the bodybag got the better of me. blew out where i used to always blow out, not through loss of traction, just loss of lungs... meanwhile, nelson middle ringed the whole bastard. i walked to the finishline. then onto the nun climb a brief rest, now just sitting in the top of the cloud level before the glorious, and tricky to see descent...
nelson lead off and we picked our way down, still pretty quick but careful not to out ride the lights too much(which were glaring in the fog back at us). boosting through the new corners, all minty and fun, dust kept down by the moisture filled air. some sketchy moments but mostly smooth. loving the rocky section, and the blitzing down the old... until my chain jumped, the crunched and jammed. poor chainstay all gouged and scratched, was bloody hard to pull the chain out from where it'd wedged between granny ring and stay. got moving again and were surprised by a new (since Wednesday!) section in the last leg before popping up to Kiwi, i think it was here it was about 9.18.
Kiwi to top of Vic up road, in fog, car headlights sooo dim in distance. Bombed first bit down to see-saw, which we bypassed, then took the oldskool line down to the Gums. first rockgarden was smooth, me in the lead, then we were fog free for a bit through the gums, peeled left (where no one seems to ride anymore) enjoyed the wee jump, i slid beautifully through corner berm and on down through next two berms then blew the wee climb back up to Skiddersite...
then we rode over to Dazza's and explored on foot the wee yumpy trail that starts just to the right. wandered back to the bikes and hit up Dazza's. good flow down through there, me tight on Nelson's tail, then at Brents we peeled onto the "Track Closed" trail. just for a look. rode in and walked over the first jump, then the next, and the next. then there's this wicked swoopy uppy downy blast section, then a couple more drops and jumps that are unrideable to us. good to explore tho, and see whats happening in there. the unfinished end led us through to the 'Darkness' section of Cool Runnings, bombed out the rest of that and onto Flow and Bridges. took the high line above Bridges and had fun dropping down the the drop and then just blew on down out the valley.
rode back through to Nelson's and it was 10pm when i drove home. good use of a sunday night.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday Night, Dyers, H.Ell, new, Nun, Traverse, Old Skool.
excellent ride last night. drove over to Nelson's and we watched the Craigieburn footage he'd gotten. worked out pretty good.
then we hit the road, Strickland, Colombo and up Dyers Pass to the H.Ell Track. burned up there under LED light only and made the Kiwi in good time.
then up the summit rd to the top of the new tasty singletrack that shoots down into Govs Bay. EXCELLENT WORK in there. its finished to the top (opposite where Flying Nun meets the road) and is gonna be hella dodgy in the winter, with permafrost sections and slippery slippery mud. it looked like it was gonna be slippery last night, the dirt was dampish, but proved to be good traction. cool bridge section half way down too. flowed down that and decided to turn tail and ride back up it. not a bad wee climb, but my legs were starting to suffer cos i think i pushed too hard coming up the road earlier, spun out a couple of times.
from the top we continued up Summit Rd to top of the Nun, BOMBED down that, me leading, loving all the new corners up the top, they flow so well. Nelson had a mishap up there somewhere, i think jumping and landing in the rut of the old track. enjoyed the rocky well-worn-in lower sections too. i waited for him a couple of times but never let him get too close on my tail. but we both got to the bottom safely, albeit me a bit ahead.
then up the road to top of Vic Park. hit the Traverse Highway, spun round there, stopping for snackage at sign below Sugarloaf. Nelson pinchflatted his front wheel at top of LavaFlow, so short delay while he swapped tubes, then as we were cruising down through the tussocks on our way to Old Skool i did the classic-slowmo-frontwheel-stopped-by-a-tussock-over-the-bars, rest of bike clattering down on top of me, (literally - rear drop-out and wheel hit my helmet!). luckily tussocks are a soft landing. laughed out loud at it and had a good laugh while we continued and then we BOMBED down to the gate and did the top section of Old Skool pretty damned quick too. took all the piste-off lines - which are ruttier than ever, and then hit the sheepshit strewn singletrack. i had an excellent roost down there, creaming the whole lot. one dodgey section on some of the upper new stuff where there's a really bad wetspot (leaky pipe up hill or something?), appeared from behind a tussock and is a muddy mucky rutted hole, nearly lost it but made it through alive and continued with the bombing.
out Bowenvale Ave, back to Nelso's round the river and the 'lombo, all up a couple hours not bad.
then we hit the road, Strickland, Colombo and up Dyers Pass to the H.Ell Track. burned up there under LED light only and made the Kiwi in good time.
then up the summit rd to the top of the new tasty singletrack that shoots down into Govs Bay. EXCELLENT WORK in there. its finished to the top (opposite where Flying Nun meets the road) and is gonna be hella dodgy in the winter, with permafrost sections and slippery slippery mud. it looked like it was gonna be slippery last night, the dirt was dampish, but proved to be good traction. cool bridge section half way down too. flowed down that and decided to turn tail and ride back up it. not a bad wee climb, but my legs were starting to suffer cos i think i pushed too hard coming up the road earlier, spun out a couple of times.
from the top we continued up Summit Rd to top of the Nun, BOMBED down that, me leading, loving all the new corners up the top, they flow so well. Nelson had a mishap up there somewhere, i think jumping and landing in the rut of the old track. enjoyed the rocky well-worn-in lower sections too. i waited for him a couple of times but never let him get too close on my tail. but we both got to the bottom safely, albeit me a bit ahead.
then up the road to top of Vic Park. hit the Traverse Highway, spun round there, stopping for snackage at sign below Sugarloaf. Nelson pinchflatted his front wheel at top of LavaFlow, so short delay while he swapped tubes, then as we were cruising down through the tussocks on our way to Old Skool i did the classic-slowmo-frontwheel-stopped-by-a-tussock-over-the-bars, rest of bike clattering down on top of me, (literally - rear drop-out and wheel hit my helmet!). luckily tussocks are a soft landing. laughed out loud at it and had a good laugh while we continued and then we BOMBED down to the gate and did the top section of Old Skool pretty damned quick too. took all the piste-off lines - which are ruttier than ever, and then hit the sheepshit strewn singletrack. i had an excellent roost down there, creaming the whole lot. one dodgey section on some of the upper new stuff where there's a really bad wetspot (leaky pipe up hill or something?), appeared from behind a tussock and is a muddy mucky rutted hole, nearly lost it but made it through alive and continued with the bombing.
out Bowenvale Ave, back to Nelso's round the river and the 'lombo, all up a couple hours not bad.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Easter, Little Akalala
Little Ak, took the Cotic over. rode it around the section a bit, and down to the beach with O once. in cutting wood i've cleared a bit of a trail up into the forest, and rode down it a couple of times, nice techy rooty dirt trail. working out a feasible loop route too. also tootled around testing out ratios for the SS project i'm building for over there...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Capt Thom and Godley under first lights.
got a lift with Pete and met up with massive group assembled outside dot com. Nelson, Steve, Andrew, Hubster, Tony, Warren, Rex, Mother Ted and Pete and me.
Good blast up Capt Thomas, nice and mild on the hill, Nelson and me leading out, riding without lights for as long as mentally possible. I turned mine on briefly in the gulch near the bridge, then off again, until the wee descent over rocky bit further up. dismounted the usual dismounts, but cleaned everything else. good blast to top, tho legs were feeling a bit wiped by Evans. All regrouped there, was amazing watching the tailenders lights from up top.
Hit Godley, balance all over the place, blew the first climb, and had lots of weird offbalance dabs most of the way out. bit of a regroup round at the start of the first main descent, and then off we went, nelson leading out onto the newly laid Teddington Shit. most spectacular crash i've ever had the pleasure (and shock) to watch. it was amazing, i saw his front wheel go out then suddenly the bike was flying through the air and he was crashlanding and running and stumbling and tripping as the bike somersaulted and vaulted off the track and down the hill. amazing. he was okay, just a small graze (which is gonna bruise up nicely) on his thigh, and some scrapage on his shoulder. he led off again, and nearly lost it again before the wee bridge, so i led off and blasted the rest to Livingston. not a bad run, taking it reasonably easy, but still getting a good speed on. From Livingston, i tackled the climb quite well, but my random dabbiness was still in action on the rocky bits near top. then good spin down to Breeze, tho with a massive bottoming out of the shock on the last leg.
The others all bailed down Anaconda, while Pete, Nelson, Rex and me tootled along the road under moon's light to the end. watching the other's lights powering along the 'conda. Nice blast back on the singletrack, then onto the 'conda for us. i was getting my eye in, and managed to really fly down.
Then it was up out of Taylors, Nelson and Rex powering off, my legs still recovering, (craigie-)burning from Sunday's jaunt, and Pete not far behind. then blasted down Nicholson, and at Scarborough Fare looking back, no sign of Rex... thought he'd crashed, but his light had died so he'd come down the road. regrouped with the rest and most of us stayed for snackage and coffees/hotcho's at the Slotcom.
Damned good timing on craigieburn on sunday, as last night it snowed a lot up there.
Good blast up Capt Thomas, nice and mild on the hill, Nelson and me leading out, riding without lights for as long as mentally possible. I turned mine on briefly in the gulch near the bridge, then off again, until the wee descent over rocky bit further up. dismounted the usual dismounts, but cleaned everything else. good blast to top, tho legs were feeling a bit wiped by Evans. All regrouped there, was amazing watching the tailenders lights from up top.
Hit Godley, balance all over the place, blew the first climb, and had lots of weird offbalance dabs most of the way out. bit of a regroup round at the start of the first main descent, and then off we went, nelson leading out onto the newly laid Teddington Shit. most spectacular crash i've ever had the pleasure (and shock) to watch. it was amazing, i saw his front wheel go out then suddenly the bike was flying through the air and he was crashlanding and running and stumbling and tripping as the bike somersaulted and vaulted off the track and down the hill. amazing. he was okay, just a small graze (which is gonna bruise up nicely) on his thigh, and some scrapage on his shoulder. he led off again, and nearly lost it again before the wee bridge, so i led off and blasted the rest to Livingston. not a bad run, taking it reasonably easy, but still getting a good speed on. From Livingston, i tackled the climb quite well, but my random dabbiness was still in action on the rocky bits near top. then good spin down to Breeze, tho with a massive bottoming out of the shock on the last leg.
The others all bailed down Anaconda, while Pete, Nelson, Rex and me tootled along the road under moon's light to the end. watching the other's lights powering along the 'conda. Nice blast back on the singletrack, then onto the 'conda for us. i was getting my eye in, and managed to really fly down.
Then it was up out of Taylors, Nelson and Rex powering off, my legs still recovering, (craigie-)burning from Sunday's jaunt, and Pete not far behind. then blasted down Nicholson, and at Scarborough Fare looking back, no sign of Rex... thought he'd crashed, but his light had died so he'd come down the road. regrouped with the rest and most of us stayed for snackage and coffees/hotcho's at the Slotcom.
Damned good timing on craigieburn on sunday, as last night it snowed a lot up there.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Craigieburned it up.
huge pile of us, ten in fact, assembled at Steve's. incl: Steve, (abba)Steve, Andrew, Pete, Nelson, Tony, Wayne, (hel)Mark, hubby and myself. drived there, weather looking ominous, but turning out good.
previous trips, once on way home from Kaniere (pre blog), then May06-marys-first with al.
March07-luge-draco-cheese-taboggan with harry from work, and
Jan08happy-new-yeah with nelson (hard to believe that was the last time i did it... )
parked up, and headed up the road to the Luge... i led off, cleaning heaps but walking some of the steeper rootier sections that plague the lower 1/3rd. having not ridden for a couple of weeks meant my lungs were struggling. sat for a spell on the bench 1/3rd of the way up, and regrouped, then headed on up. granny for a start but middle ringing the top 1/3rd no prob. Lyndon saddle, and off i led blasting the way down to Craigieburn access rd. absolutely flew that section, i think it was my best riding of the day. even nelson couldnt seem to keep up. he put the camera on from the turn off and followed pete, who said he had trouble staying on my tail down to the road.
then the grind began. well, not really. the road is sweet to start with, middle ring most of the way, but after the ford/bridge the steepness begins. nelson cleaned it all middlering, but i grannied/2nd it all the way up, the straights looking not that bad, but biting nonetheless.
regrouped in skifield carpark, bit of drizzle drifting in, lotsa wind about. climbed up and hit the trail. the edge. of reason. here's me on it... right near the top, when i was feeling okay about it...
previous trips, once on way home from Kaniere (pre blog), then May06-marys-first with al.
March07-luge-draco-cheese-taboggan with harry from work, and
Jan08happy-new-yeah with nelson (hard to believe that was the last time i did it... )
parked up, and headed up the road to the Luge... i led off, cleaning heaps but walking some of the steeper rootier sections that plague the lower 1/3rd. having not ridden for a couple of weeks meant my lungs were struggling. sat for a spell on the bench 1/3rd of the way up, and regrouped, then headed on up. granny for a start but middle ringing the top 1/3rd no prob. Lyndon saddle, and off i led blasting the way down to Craigieburn access rd. absolutely flew that section, i think it was my best riding of the day. even nelson couldnt seem to keep up. he put the camera on from the turn off and followed pete, who said he had trouble staying on my tail down to the road.
then the grind began. well, not really. the road is sweet to start with, middle ring most of the way, but after the ford/bridge the steepness begins. nelson cleaned it all middlering, but i grannied/2nd it all the way up, the straights looking not that bad, but biting nonetheless.
regrouped in skifield carpark, bit of drizzle drifting in, lotsa wind about. climbed up and hit the trail. the edge. of reason. here's me on it... right near the top, when i was feeling okay about it...
i led the way, but soon felt out of my depth. cleaned lots of tricky stuff, but dabbed in so many places i shouldnt have. was just feeling very very careful i guess. anyway, sections of absolute brilliance followed by sections of near shitting myself rounding corners with shitscary drops off. the final scree was washed out on what it was last time we rode it. nelson nearly offed, pete cleaned lots of it. most walked bits, including me.
then the climb, back up to Lyndon Saddle, and at one point i stopped, rocked backwards slightly and heard this 'ting' from my front brake. the pads were so low that the spring that holds them apart had caught on the disk and bent. rode it to top and got to work. tried bending it back, no good. so new pads installed, (with me being given a hard time for no apparent reason other than holding everyone up - tho, it didnt take me THAT long...), and off we rode. pete, nelson then me, then hub. me breaking in my new pads... hauled up at the benchseat, hub continued on, and then off we all bombed again. pete then me then nelson and the rest. mostly an excellent drop down, tho i dropped my chain near the bottom which slowed me up a little, tho not that much, more of a nuisance than anything else... then talk of climbing up and doing more, but instead we bailed... through gales on the drive home. andrew's car got all chipped up by blown gravel.
then the climb, back up to Lyndon Saddle, and at one point i stopped, rocked backwards slightly and heard this 'ting' from my front brake. the pads were so low that the spring that holds them apart had caught on the disk and bent. rode it to top and got to work. tried bending it back, no good. so new pads installed, (with me being given a hard time for no apparent reason other than holding everyone up - tho, it didnt take me THAT long...), and off we rode. pete, nelson then me, then hub. me breaking in my new pads... hauled up at the benchseat, hub continued on, and then off we all bombed again. pete then me then nelson and the rest. mostly an excellent drop down, tho i dropped my chain near the bottom which slowed me up a little, tho not that much, more of a nuisance than anything else... then talk of climbing up and doing more, but instead we bailed... through gales on the drive home. andrew's car got all chipped up by blown gravel.
Friday, April 03, 2009
heeeesh... no rides to speak of
fiordland last week, and only riding to work and the Specialized Ghettoglobe jaunt to Andrew's on tuesday night for a pfmtbc meeting about this October's trip to speak of...
plan is to do some Craigieburnin' on Sunday. and Nels and me might do a spin on the hills Saturday night, cos its Daylightsavings ending, so the evenings are gonna have to be lit from now on...
plan is to do some Craigieburnin' on Sunday. and Nels and me might do a spin on the hills Saturday night, cos its Daylightsavings ending, so the evenings are gonna have to be lit from now on...
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