Thursday, September 12, 2024

Thursday Night Old Skool Lights

Choice old skool ride tonight. 

Up through Vic, 19th, Skidder and grunt to top.  Down quick spin around the jumpies and hard right into Worm, onto and across the Traverse.  Good around here, my climbing slower than Nelson's but the downs were fine.  Tired from a bad night's sleep.  

Top of Huntsbury/Fourpause, leaped off down.  Front wheel clanged on one rock leading me to worry about losing pressure, but it held.  Started down the fast flowy section below the jumps but Nelson realised his mistake and we rode back up to the 'proper' curly techier version, down this and over the edge onto the newer sections of AliExpress, down through the cattlestop and over more of the edge.  We dropped down the first tech to the next where we both baulked, it's become such a wheel-eating hole drop now as to be a bit scary, oh, and the wind!  Pushed back up to where AliExpress back-and-forth bits were out to the side, very un-ridden and full of twin lambs and mums ewes-ing the shelter of the tussocks and hill, and a few of them on the track, and poo everywhere.  Bopped and wove over this and then down the usual byways, wind slamming into us and at one point rutting Nelson almost off.  Rocky grinduro down and down then onto the barely cambered back and forth above the pylon, down onto Old Skool.  

Brief stop here at the highpoint before I launched off first and led the way.  Took some weird lines, nearly losing it on the cattlestop midway.  Got my groove on lower down, with a couple more massive pings off rocks.  Sure is bony at the moment.  At the big corner out towards the end we pulled up cos i noticed that the trail beyond had been well used.  Decided to go for a little explore.  Followed it along and found trails, then exploring further found a massive jumps park in the trees, higher up, below the Vineyard property.  Loads of sculpted clay berms and gap jumps, enormous gaps.  Completely invisible and hidden.  Amazing.  I was getting antsy about our bikes alone on the trail so we headed back and finished off the Old Skool and headed up valley.

Long and grinding climb ensued.  Cleaned and rode everything tho, that's a first for a while, especially Hospital K2 steeps (tho I did stop for a breather).  Eventually skidder, over 19th, down Tawhairanui, dogparkcarpark/235 all the way out to the H'Ell, clamber, last of the road home.  

A laudable 13.2 km, 544 m climbed, evening outing.


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