Felt like a change, lack of riding (field work last week, lots of bush walking), and needed some extra exercise so I rode the Troll to work this morning, thinking I'd get some extra work climbing home.
But then, sitting at my desk looking at the hills, and Rapaki in particular I thought, why not? So, for the journey home I mixed it up a bit and headed over Waltham Bridge and eventually Wilson's Rd and around Centaurus into cRapaki (over 2 and a half years since I last went up there). Clamber clamber clamber. The low gear is just low enough to clean it all sitting down, and with the street tires, standing up in taller gears requires rearward weighting to keep from spinning out. Mixture of sitting mostly and standing sometimes got me up pretty good. I was even "neearly" as fast as a couple of ebikers that crawled past me (but not the guy on the final straight who bombed past on I-dont-know-what-kind of plus-tyred bike). Over took a fellow accoustic rider (mtb). Onto the Summit Road for the up and around Vernon, then at Huntsbury, I hit the Traverse. A little sketchy for the first stretch, so at top of Lavaflow I 'adjusted my suspension' (ie, let air out of tyres). A guy rolled up, "need any help?" "nah, i'm good, just adjusting my "suspension"" "hey, you look familiar..." and a chat ensued where we worked out how we might have known each other. (turned out he knows Derek well (plus a whole bunch of others I know)).
Onwards, around Traverse, Trolie performing exceedingly well, and me having a jolly time. Under Sugarloaf up rolls Ranger Nick Singletrack, so we stopped and chatted (especially about my suggested options of climbing track out of Bowenvale). Finished with him, I rolled on and across top of Vic, down Rabbit, into Rocks and down my favourite Gummies, clearing yet more sticks off track. Out to Skidder and bommmmb down road to home.
Grand total of 15 kms with 485 climbed.
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