Boxing Day Craigiecheeseburning. Edge, Luge, Dicks On, then Cocaine Alley

What a ride... Journeyed out to Broken River in Nelson's wee Clarion-Vitz and headed around the Sidle73 to the CV road, climbing off up this.  Long haul up, with pursuit, two guys on our tails most of the way.  We seemed to drop them towards the top.  

Nice long rest at the skifield and they arrived, a son in his 20s(?) and his dad on a rigid singlespeed.  Nice!  They took off ahead of us on the Edge, but we caught them up sooner than we should have given the lead we gave them.  The dad first and then found his boy a long way further on waiting for him...  the screes were slightly nerve wracking but rideable (except for a tiny gulch on the last one (for me) and sooner than expected it was over.  Time for the climb of the Ante-luge.  Ugh.  I walked a bunch more than I ever used to.  Not sure why, (writing this long time after the fact so cant remember exactly why I wasn't feeling strong).  

Rest at the top of the Luge and then into it.  Nice run down this, good rooty bomb - again, different from memory.  Nice long enjoyable bomb.  

Next up, the climbing for the Dicks On DH.  Hot work, dropped over the first bit of ridge (rather than up the top, which we'd forgotten about) then in for a jumpy cambered crazy shot down.  Nelson lost it after one of the jumps giving me the lead for a bit.  I let him by as we headed into to the beech and we climbed briefly before dropping down through the scrubby section.  Some guts and ruts in here including wet muddy bits (where everything else was dry).  Down to the road fence.  Following along the singletrack to the gate then onto the road for the final push along and down to the car.  

Routed, 19.5 kms with 840 climbed...

Scoffed a nice healthy feed (by Nelson and Kirsty) here then drove back towards Cheeseman.

Up the Cheesy Rd parking at the bottom end of the Cheesy DH / Cockayne (cocaine) Alley.  Up the road, past the two other trails up here and super steep and long up to the corner we head across from.  I had to walk, my legs were just toast.  But, got there in the end, and across the traverse track for a while before a fun open frostlands roll down to the top of the forest.  In here it got steep and fun.  Super rooty.  Would be hell in the wet.  Loads of fun that just kept coming and coming.  Eventually, we popped out at the road and were like, wow!  

Coked out, 6.88 kms with only a 440m climb.

Tuesday Scorching Bluster to the Gee's

27 degree blasting nor'waster hissed me across the top from home to Mt Pleasant for dinner.  Hot climb up the Vic and then Singletrack all the way.  Too hot to bother with the wee singletrack after Witch Hill, but  good fang on the Castle, then around the front of Britten, then the main track til the hairpin which spat me into long grass and slight hard going til it pointed down enough to roll good.  Down the streets and into Joy's for dinner. 

Phew, 15.7 kms with 580 m climbed...

Monday Night Vic Explorations and Old Skool

Great ride tonight with more down than up. Drove down and met Nelson in Bowenvale Ave and we left his car there, driving his bike up to mine. We faffed a tad, oiling chains then got rolling, and in the process I completely forgot to turn on Map My Ride!

Up into Vic Park, observing the scour on the walking track from the previous week's month's worth of rain that had put all the gravel of the track down on Vic Park Drive and outside the Tahake.  Up the usual 19th route over to Skidder and up the guts.  

At the top of this we dropped for the first time (for me) into Radi Garden.  Steep and tech, but not as evil as some, not bad.  Spat out at that Rad^Sick corner, we drudged up to (what we now know is called) Razza's for a fun wee down this, buffing the rhoids.  Back up to the Rad^ corner and along the lower of the two 4wds, then up a steep one, which took us up to the top of Cool Runnings.  Nelson climbed his bike up a steep piece and we looked around up there, SO MANY TRACKS, and then I walked back down and he dropped it.  From here, strangely, we found ourselves riding up Upper Fenceline, all the way up to the fence and then pushed up to top of Pedalfine.  First time tried a new down - Cowabunga which may also be called Shrooms, looking at and choosing various options at each road, all the way down.  Eventually we got to the bottom after various harrowing or exciting adventures, and rolled out the bottom onto ?Bridges, taking the lower old techier line, then down Nu Bridges too.  Decided here to head up valley briefly and walked up the walking steps onto the surprisingly fun flowy zip thru to the Hidden Bonus for the final(ish) climb, to Old Skool, and down this at not quite warp factor 10.  I was following Nelson and noticing that he kept muppetting through rock sections incoherently, so now and then I blasted up behind him through smooth "dont take his line" lines.  Good blast down the bottom corners, and onto the main drag for a cooling roll down to the car parked in the shade.  

No maps, but estimate about 8-9 kms ridden, with around 300 m climbed, but an additional couple hundred descended...

Sunday Escaping Taylor's God-Snake

Slightly overhung ride after an awesome gig last night. 

Met Nelson just after 9 am at Taylor's and we headed off up the valley.  An orienteering / rogaine event happening around us (based in the valley), so we saw them running around looking at their maps (and gps's?) pretty much the whole ride.  Climbing proceeded to rinse the toxins from my system with lots of heavy breathing and heavy sweating.  A couple of steeps in the gully but mostly very nice climbing - it's a great addition to the Chch network.  Now, if they'd just build one in Bowenvale or Vic Park that climbs so nicely!  Across the top to Livingston Col, and we climbed straight up the steep, which got the better of me a couple of times, eventually looking for, and not finding, the trail across to the main track.  Onto the main track and climbing, up over the two boardwalk sections and stopped at the summit.  

Good rest here overlooking the ships and sea and grey haze, then we turned around and bombed back down the way we'd just come, staying on the main track for a smooth and fast fang down to Livingston, onwards climbing up over and dropping down to Breeze, long grass whipping our legs and arms.  

Across and up the trail onto the skinny trail super overgrown and surprising us at every pedal stroke.  Across to the lookout bunker, and a bomb down through to the road, and onto the below-the-road OG Godley for heading back to Breeze.  I kept a good pace, tho obvs Nelson was quicker, and when it points downwards a little bit I rounded a corner and there he was on the track.  Nice frontwheel wash crash.  Onwards again and we headed up the road to the top of the Anaconda 'new' entrance.  

Fun blast down the swoopy swoops, around onto the old and bombing, railing a good berm or many, down onto the Tail, for a very hard to see through the grass swoopy pump around to Briden's Bush and a rocky tech finish into the fast blast ending.

Hayfeveredly good (mmr belated start), 12 and a half kms with 480odd climbed.

Finally A Friday Ride

Jeez, that was a gap! Already a ten-day into December and the first ride of the month. Various weather, social commitments and mystery ailments being the reason... 

Anywho... Climbed up into the mist. Climbing, ever climbing. Across the Traverse, poached a bit of Crater Rim Walkway from the saddle, over the first hump to road (by pond) then into the next with a bit of walking ("if a biker rides a walking track and no one's there to hear it, did the biker make a sound?"), up in the trees for some down, then back across the road onto the Traverse again, around to top of Huntsbury DH FourPause, grabbing a bunch of down with some jumpies, down into the new AliExpress descending, back and forth, again and again, then the Old Skool, lovely pumpy flow down here.  Out the bottom and into a heap more climbing, climbing climbing.  Up K2, up through the Rad^SickZone, Skidder, and finally the garnish, a little down, out the 235 finale.

Not a bad wee 11.5 kms ridden, with 518 m clambered upwardly.