Lots of up tonight, much of which was on foot. And down some never before travelled. Newly regular pick up from Countdown Moorhouse and followed the sheepletraffic east, Ferry Rd, Causeway, to Sumner and up the hill to Evans Pass. Parked and rode upwards, onto Greenwood and climbing this, meeting only one descender, up round the corners and at approximately the drop-jump we headed through the gate and followed a sidling-climbing sheep trail towards the ridge, then up the track we'd ridden couple weeks back, through the stinky macracarpa and over the fence. This time we headed down Chalmers Track. Steep, and once in the bush, greasy as all greasiness, rocks, and wet dirt accumulating on tires, proving sketchy as. Rode and walked bits and rode, and explored and got to the bottom eventually - talking with a farmer lady cutting fly-blow off her little lamb. Down the road, a long way, and left into College, climbing steeply up to the left, not really knowing if we'd find an access into the reserve from here. Hmmm... We did, but.
Found a wee singletrack at the end of this dead end street and started pushing. And pushing, and pushing, and pushing. Altitudinal insanity. Calves burning like crazy walking up this steep shitslope, eventually ending up on the ridge above Urumau Reserve. Phew. Down a skinny techy singletrack and onto the main track, into Looper, then Stormer, climbing and finding it a tad greasy. over the top, steep techy descent then caught up to Nelson waiting and off he led, down the first steep arse drop, rolling down to the next, where I baulked, but then wheeled back and rode, and down over the next roller. The straight-ahead track here was gonna be carnage, so we took the left hand, and rolled down around, a few greasy techy sections including the very steep section at the bottom which I walked. Then around to the left, sidling and dropping, greasy corners, front wheel washouts, slipping and sliding. Nelson dropped one of the log drops, I slid around it. Then the trail got nice, with big roller dippers, and then it was time to climb again. A few greasy corners, but pretty much all rideable (until you got to the track we'd gone down). Next up it was round the sunny side of the hill, sidling across then climbing back up to the main track. Climbed this, zig and zag and back up onto the ridgeline. Sun was starting to lower, so we figured we'd find a way up the ridge, or across to Chalmers, rather than descending all the way down to the streets and climbing them.
So, up the ridge, pushing and carrying, a long way up, sketchy wee ridgeline track, with newly cut steps in places, and spectacular views, and carrying the bike. Mostly pushing it to start, then picking it up sometimes, then near the top it was easier for me to just flip it up onto my shoulders, Mt Oxford style, and carry it, trudging up to the top of the ridge. Did I say spectacular? Well earned food rest up top here, watching the sun getting lower and lower to the hills, and then off again, past Chalmers top and up the way we'd gone two weeks ago, walking a bit again, then riding up to the gun emplacements, and across onto Greenwood.
Good blast down Greenwood, rocks slick-ish, but not so bad as to be uncontrollable. Good pace, all the way down, meeting 2 climbing guys, and then around into Gloomy Gulch and rolling through and down, good pace, but Nelson getting away on me a bit down here. He dropped the jump, I rolled the sideline of it, and we were off down through Dave's corners and around the way we'd come up. I was exhausted by the time we made the rocky ups, and bailed for the first. Then blasted down to the car.
Bonus extra for me, I headed off down Captain Thomas, while Nelson drove down the road. I had a pretty good run down here, fast in the top section, fast through to the first of the rocky techs, then cruising around and down to the next rocky techs, cleaning the first, but my front wheel slipped just before the second, so I got off and walked it. Cleaned down the next bit and into the climb, walked 2 metres of that, then blasted down the rest of the trail and he picked me up in the cul de sac.
Awesome 13 and three quarter kilometres, and just over 700m climbed.
Found a wee singletrack at the end of this dead end street and started pushing. And pushing, and pushing, and pushing. Altitudinal insanity. Calves burning like crazy walking up this steep shitslope, eventually ending up on the ridge above Urumau Reserve. Phew. Down a skinny techy singletrack and onto the main track, into Looper, then Stormer, climbing and finding it a tad greasy. over the top, steep techy descent then caught up to Nelson waiting and off he led, down the first steep arse drop, rolling down to the next, where I baulked, but then wheeled back and rode, and down over the next roller. The straight-ahead track here was gonna be carnage, so we took the left hand, and rolled down around, a few greasy techy sections including the very steep section at the bottom which I walked. Then around to the left, sidling and dropping, greasy corners, front wheel washouts, slipping and sliding. Nelson dropped one of the log drops, I slid around it. Then the trail got nice, with big roller dippers, and then it was time to climb again. A few greasy corners, but pretty much all rideable (until you got to the track we'd gone down). Next up it was round the sunny side of the hill, sidling across then climbing back up to the main track. Climbed this, zig and zag and back up onto the ridgeline. Sun was starting to lower, so we figured we'd find a way up the ridge, or across to Chalmers, rather than descending all the way down to the streets and climbing them.
So, up the ridge, pushing and carrying, a long way up, sketchy wee ridgeline track, with newly cut steps in places, and spectacular views, and carrying the bike. Mostly pushing it to start, then picking it up sometimes, then near the top it was easier for me to just flip it up onto my shoulders, Mt Oxford style, and carry it, trudging up to the top of the ridge. Did I say spectacular? Well earned food rest up top here, watching the sun getting lower and lower to the hills, and then off again, past Chalmers top and up the way we'd gone two weeks ago, walking a bit again, then riding up to the gun emplacements, and across onto Greenwood.
Good blast down Greenwood, rocks slick-ish, but not so bad as to be uncontrollable. Good pace, all the way down, meeting 2 climbing guys, and then around into Gloomy Gulch and rolling through and down, good pace, but Nelson getting away on me a bit down here. He dropped the jump, I rolled the sideline of it, and we were off down through Dave's corners and around the way we'd come up. I was exhausted by the time we made the rocky ups, and bailed for the first. Then blasted down to the car.
Bonus extra for me, I headed off down Captain Thomas, while Nelson drove down the road. I had a pretty good run down here, fast in the top section, fast through to the first of the rocky techs, then cruising around and down to the next rocky techs, cleaning the first, but my front wheel slipped just before the second, so I got off and walked it. Cleaned down the next bit and into the climb, walked 2 metres of that, then blasted down the rest of the trail and he picked me up in the cul de sac.
Awesome 13 and three quarter kilometres, and just over 700m climbed.
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