Friday night Up and Back down

Not enjoying my tires the last few rides, in the afternoon I slapped on a couple of newbies, a 2.4 Nobby Nic up front and a 2.35 Hans Dampf on the back.  Once mounted the Hans Dampf looks bigger, so I think I'll swap them round.  And, as soon as I got the front on, I could hear the hiss of a flat... didnt have time to repair til Nelson turned up to pick me up.

And so we headed out to Sumner and up to Evans Pass.  Parked up and headed up Greenwood, as we'd not headed up this for quite some time.  Twas good checking out the trail on the way up, spotting where all the potentially dodgy bits were.  Ride up was good, mostly.  Trail condition was good, slightly damp, but not sticky or greasy; well packed.  One or two sloppy bits higher up, but lower down they've filled most of the dips with good piles of rocks.  Jolly good on the 5.Spot.  My climbing was a bit diabolical.  I've still to get used to the full squish in climbing mode.  Hardtail technique doesn't work and I've much to learn.  A case of full suspension NOT improving my riding... as a result, I dabbed a lot, straddle-walked the bike a bit, and spun out a fair few times too.  In the corners below the ruins I put a few more psi into my rear shock, taking it up to 200, and fiddled with the rebound too.  We carried on up and it was much betterer!  Made the ruins, and continued on up up and up.  Surprisingly level above here before the techy rockfest to the top, much of which I walked.

7.47pm at the top, Nelson fiddling with his gears, then I led the way down, wide open.  Total blast down.  Muppetry over the bit where you're looking down into Lyttelton, but once out into the tussocks smoothed it up and got some groove on.  Lost the track a couple times in the dark under the tussocks, but got faster as we progressed.  Into Greenwood proper and what a revelation.  For the first time i was 'getting' the bike, and it was a blast.  Totally comfortable, flying over rocky sections that have stalled me so much in the past.  Fantastic.  Nelson noticed i entered a couple sections like i would have on the BFe, a little slower, but then once in them realisation obviously hit me and I accelerated through them and out.  W00T!  Down down and out the bottom.  Big grins.  I reckon the Hans Dampf needs to be on the front, grip wise too.

Then across to Godley cos Nelson wanted to just hit up the wee beginning.  He cleaned it in one, I failed once, failed twice...    Then turned around and back to the car and home, picking up some beer on Stanmore Rd at 8.50, before they closed at 9.