Vegas 2: Whakarewarewa Sunday 16th

Got going in the morning and headed across Tarawera Rd and straight into the forest, finding As You Do upon which to climb.  It shortly dove into the forest away from the road and started climbing.  It was pretty mucky from the previous day's Endurogeeks so was soft and messy making for quite difficult climbing.  Nelson cleaned a heap of it, whereas I spun out and most did too, so lots of walking was done.  Eventually we reached the top.  Checked out K2 for future reference, and then reassembled and headed down to Gunna Gotta.  Oh, and Bernie was with us, on a rental, visiting from Cambridge.  He was struggling with what we thought of as fun.  Thought we were a bunch of mad bastards.  Gunna Gotta was good, regrowing pines on the top (was all cleared last time I was in there), with the lower native section still in place, and still just as fun.  Everyone enjoyed this, muckfest withstanding.  Bernie still thought we were insane.

Regrouped, then up to A-Trail, now called Paddy's Run (Formerly A-Trail), and descending, smooth curvy fun through nice forest around and down to another road.  Bernie, I think, liked this better.  Along a bit and into Tickler, me baulking at the big droppy bit on at the bottom of the first descent, most of the crew opting for the right hand line.  Meander and then climbing and meandering around about the place, catching some other riders, and eventually out to the intersection so many trails start from.  We thought we'd be able get a shuttle from Waipa base at 1pm, so we were aiming for this, heading down BRude from here.  Nice blast, tho personally I liked it better before it was logged all those years ago.  Into the forest section and more interesting again, onwards down and out to take Pig Track across, somehow turning left and ending up at a road, catching a little Grinder, down and out, into the tail end of Creek, then we're back at the end of BRude again...  Huh.  Oh, kay.  Into Mad If You Dont and headed down towards the road where we rode down to the base.  No sign of any shuttles, we asked someone and they told us they only leave there once in the morning then loop up top.  Oh well.  Bernie bailed from here.

Lunch was had and we headed off up the road again, Ball and Chain, then up the road to the pick-up point.  Cant remember waiting long and the big bus arrived and off up we went.  Some faffing at the top and then up the steep to Billy's entrance.  This trail was a blast.  I ended up on my own.  I held onto the sight of Nelson and Pete for a while, but then they went and no-one was close behind me, so I just kept my own company and pace, a reasonably fast one, nothing too scary.  Got to where Tihi o Tawa comes in and a girl was waiting for me to ride past, she followed me down to the big drop.  Nelson just disappearing over the lip.  I though, oh yeah, no worries, then looked closer and talked myself out of it.  As did Pete, and the girl (who's boy dropped it too).  Hung out here, all the rest turned up and we all assembled at the bottom where there's a big double gap jump, which Nelson bombed the drop and gapped the gap nicely on.  Then off again, and out to the bottom.

Into G Rock.  Great blast down through this, typical Whakarewarewa style trail.  Hauled some ass, chasing Pete and Nelson, down to Chesnut Link, then into Rollercoaster with it being a bit soft therefore making the climbs annoying.  Next up was the chinese takeaways and they got worse and worse and worse, the climbs ever more painful, til finally we were just below the BRude start intersection again.  Jumped into Dragon's Tail, which was a blast, and then across to finish off BRude again, this time turning right to head for the Lion's Trail climber which took us back up to the bottom of Gunna Gotta and from here we went down Katore Rd and into Exit Track, a final ballsy blast down this, Nelson cutting me up near the bottom in order to slay the final jumps.  Rode along Nursery past the Redwoods and back up to the house.

42 kms, with a 913 gain (of which 300 or so was in the bus - so still not much climbed, really - compared to our usual style of riding)