Thursday, February 22, 2018

Thursday Night Quick Vic Traverse Old Skool Loop

Nelson picked me up from mine and we dropped the Turner off to Derek for him to test ride it. Then we went and Parked in Bowenvale Ave to ride up the valley.

Nelson put a good turn of speed in on his whippetmobileXCOracerboymachine.  Up K2 around under the 23 footer and on up under the pylon, then taking the zig out and back from the 40footer to the skidder site, then up the grunt to Brake Free.  Sun was lowering but figured we had enough light to head for the Nun, so down Thompson and Thomsons and through the Kiwi up the road to the top, ignobly ignoring like ignoramouses the Too Wet, Track Closed signs (it wasn't, it pretty much needn't've been).

And so, I led the way because I was on the burlmachine vs Nelson on his XC-treadlightly.  Pipeline performed very satisfactorily.  I'm still taking it easy, getting used to the new position/geometry/wheels/length/tires....  but man, those tires grip, and float.  Nice cruise down, me, for once, leaving Nelsie behind.  His tires were not grippy, picking up a bit of damp dirt then making rocks slippery.  And he was being ultra-aware of pinchflat potentialities.  Second half is getting pretty blown from all the Park traffic, but my Pipeline just wafted on down it.  It really likes popping air, lifting off effortlessly, however the final jump (that I crashed my shoulder on) I bypassed.

Next up, up Summit Rd to top of Vic, and onto the Traverse.  Good run around here, tho the climbs were starting to tax me, and Nelson's whippetmachine was whipping him along at a helluva clip (and he was holding back so's not to blow up!).  Around above Lavaflow and down the upper Huntsbury trail, big tires gripping the soft soil and potentially slick (but not to me!) rocks, launching the jumps nicely.  Then bombing down the smooth(ed out) 4wd to the first gate.  We'd spotted some extra lines in this zig zag section so looked for them, tried them out (some exposure(!) on one of them) and then continued on down the bits we already knew.  The off camber new corners down towards the pylons were crazy sketchy for Nelson, but my big tires just stuck down awesomely.

Rest of Old Skool was cool runnings, smooth and flowy, more and more getting the hang of the new machine, but still just relaxedly cruising it, picking up speed on some bits, and easing through others.

My MMR has crapped out, seemingly refusing to see any satellites - so I had to copy Nelson's... (my top speeds would have been higher :) ). 17.5kms, and 617 m climbed.

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