Saturday, super fine.

a week off, partly due to crapola weather, with 130mm of rain on tuesday alone, followed by a few days of fine... got out finally saturday afternoon, cos i werent gonna make sunday morning with the boys. A beautiful beautiful day, sunny, mild... hauled it across town to rapaki, up that, with its juicy scoured out ruts, hit the singletrack, walked the worst mud affected area, just above the shallow pond above the lower switchies, then rode the rest. holding together well, not much splatter at all. round the next section below the road, still the trail was good then off pisted it down through the tussocks following sheep trails to top of the oldschool bowenvale. had my headphones on, mp3player on random, mixing up Burial, new Fourtet's DJKicks, and Tunng's newest. weird mix of dark ethereal atmosphere, folk, and fourtetmixed beats/electronica/soul/80's synth... anyway, a good soundtrack to ride by. as i was descending the 4by switchbacks, a southerly whipped up real good. spittiness from the ominous cloudcover, rolling over the tops and blasting me down the 4by track, practically shunting me to a standstill when the switchbacks turned into it. thought it was gonna get worse so i didnt hang about. hit the singletrack sidle flying, there were areas like snowdrifts of clay, from where all that rain had pulled it out of the ground and washed it down hill. amazing. one set of tracks had passed before me, i wonder who, i wonder when. anywho, out to the bottom, with some treachery down the tunnel-eroded clay section at the bottom then onto the valley track, which was a mess. big slumpy slurries of mud all over that lower section, it was them that covered me in muck, not any of the rest of my ride... then tail wind all the way home, me thinking it was gonna chase me across town, but by Wilson's Rd it was still just hanging on the hills...

Rained a bit saturday night, then we had torrential rain all sunday night and monday. with snow on monday up there, so the trails are gonna be closed down for at least another week of it...

Yay, word from Kris is bike is ready. AND i scored some Mallets for $40. so i'm good to go, singlespeeeeeeeeeed. s'gonna be fun fun fun, which is what its all about !

Sunny and fine wednesday, should be drying out them tracks...

drizzly crashville mud and blood.

Sunday morning, rode over to Steves, tired as after a bit of a night before and only about 5 hours sleep... Steve, Pete, Andrew, Tony and me, up rapaki, and turned right, all good, got foggier and wetter as we went higher, and was starting to get muckier as we travelled around the tops. single track was all good, with the technicality of the slick rocks and mud covered tires getting the better of us occasionally, resulting in the odd dab... down to the kiwi, then up the road to top of Worsley's and down. started down the Body Bag (top of Worsley's) and my tire instantly started picking up dirt, til it was an inch thick, offering NO traction, i got rutted, front wheel washed out, i held it for a second then went down hard on my front, landing on my chest. nice. got up, tried to get going again and down i went again... classic. the worst bit over, i managed to hold on the rest of the way down. was a fantastic trip down, so greasy, and sketchy. just picking lines in the bottoms of ruts and interesting angles, trying not to wash out. blood mixing with mud running down my leg from two points on my right knee. we made a pact to go all the way down the tarmac part of worsley's road OFF road, found some sweet wee bits of riding too, and once at the bottom grabbed some muffins from Coffee Culture and headed round to Tony's for coffee-style-drink (ie, instant)... then Pete and me booked it across town, me exhausted, and mucky, home.

Tuesday now, and we've had torrential rain overnight, with blustery conditions. soaked to the skin into work today, and head wind all the way. This is gonna screw the tracks again...

couple rides. one with a trailside fix, and folks for tea.

monday night, having not ridden since that last ride, i took joy's jeep across to bowenvale ave and then biked round Centaurus to rapaki, and up rapaki.

all going good, until i got onto the flat section riding across that and my gears shifted weirdly, then wouldnt shift properly, cable all slack as i tried to change up to get up the hill straight. stopped, and noticed frayed and snapped cable at rear derailleur. pulled the outers out, unscrewed the barrel adjuster, and found i couldnt budge the cable out of adjuster... damn. fiddled and fiddled, tweaked and pushed and pulled, to no avail. finally realised i could use the derailleur cable clamp to hold it, then slid the adjuster. then, disconnected the middle section of outer from the top tube cable mount, which gave me a bit of slack, then hooked it all up and i was away. the shifting wasnt particularly good, and i found it was a bit jumpy in the gears i wanted for climbing, but it was fine for downhill and back round the roads to the car... haha, not a problem i would have had had i been on a singlespeeeeeed...

tuesday, big day, two presentations which always freak me, so, hit the road at about 5.20, to steves for exchange of The Collective for Roam, then up rapak, round summit, down thru vic to ma'n'pas... where T and O were for dinner. all up a very sweet ride. only mud i encountered was in back of the top cashmere houses, just below the big microwave tower. other than that, the whole lot was dry and sweeeeet. singletrack rolling. blitzed the rockgarden and gums. nice.

next ride? not sure. singlespeed? hopefully this week.

sunday sunday

Caught up with Kris on saturday, have set the ball in motion on my singlespeed. he's getting what i need together, and i guess will do most of the build. will catch up next week, pay week etc, and be rolling the following weekend... looking forward to spinning like crazy on the flat and not worrying about chainsuck on the hills... sounds like i'll have a 38 tooth front ring, meaning i'll run a 17 or 18 on the back, but i might get a smaller one i can get onto for bottle lake, either than or another chain and bigger ring.

sunday, cold frosty start, rode across town to Tony's, steve pete and andrew turned up and we headed out cashmere road to the quarry. across the field was icey, crunchitty crunchitty crunch, then up the croc, cleaned all the switchbacks, rode the greasy mud section, then on up the rest... a few dabs, here and there, cos it was so damn slippery. then up kennedys, hard work that. Steve experiencing bad chainsuck in granny, had to run middle ring all the way up, good for him i said, pete and me both ran middle ring most of the way too, in sympathy, tho, i'd been running it anyway. then i started getting a bit too, later on, bastard bastard chain suckkk...

then along summit road, bit of snow up there on the sides and clearly up top of marleys, which we avoided, speedily rolling down road to ride the lower marleys section along to kiwi, sweeeeeet run on that lovely track, then up road to top of vic. along first section of summit trail below Sugarloaf, then up onto road due to the trail just being too messy, and us messing up the trail... round to Mt Vernon, we got up onto the single, which was a quagmire... greasy and mucky, rode it down to rapaki, its holding together surprisingly well, then we BOMBED it down rapaki... lots of other users, walking, biking, dogging,,, slow to manageable speed on approach then kick it down and bomb it again just as you're passing... lotsa fun. a couple of times i was catching beautiful air right next to punters, musta looked grand. then the final bomb down the road, and the slog across town home. later than i should have been. pretty munted for rest of day too.

Fog bound, for a bit...

amazing up on the hill last night. up the wee valley below Rapaki. that involves quite a bit of scooting, getting off, walking, pushing, and granny gear pedalling. it was about the same fogginess/low cloud as the rest of town, not too bad. when i got up to where my track met the Rapak i got onto the main track, cos my valley track was actually a bit muddy, the fog got thicker and thicker and thicker as i ascended. the headlight just glowed up the whole field of view, no visibility, barely even see the trail, anyway, got to the top, completely engulfed in fog, it was other-worldly, spectacular, light off and there was no glow from anywhere, just dim fog all around, it was 7 when i was at the top. another cycle headlight started to appear in the fog on rapaki, so i headed off up the single track... up the first two switchbacks and along a bit and suddenly i could see the lights of the city, and there behind me was a wall of fog, a tongue of it rolling over the saddle that is the top of rapaki, the suburbs at the foot of the hill were clear of fog by this stage, and the ridges and hill i was on were clear too. but out to the western side of the city, and north of about the square was completely under fog, with the city lights below making the fog glow, it looked beautiful...so, when i got to the road, i turned back along the summit trail, then down Farm Track. about half way down i deliberately left the track, and just rode sheep tracks most of the rest of the way down. that was fun. then home across town. good ride.

Turd'sday night...

relatively short but strangely long ride. rode to pete's, drove to pick up steve, then a roundabout way to Halswell Quarry. rode up the Crocodile, drier still, and wonderfully cleaned all of the muddy section down to the bridge, and every single switchback. up Kennedy's track to top of single, then back down.

muddiest sections were on the flat riding across to the bottom of the track., and one small section just before the frogpond and square log down off kennedys.

all in all, nice night to be out, bike needs a hose and a lube. thinking it might be time to change out my fork oil. and perhaps pull down my wheels and re-lube the hub bearings and probably pull apart the pedals and clean everything and of course force some grease into the headset...

no riding over weekend as i was sole charge of Otis.

Basking.

well, i went for a quick ride last night. it was beautiful on the hill. the moon was nearly full, tho partially shrouded by cloud, practically rode all the way up rapaki without my light on. it was warm and the air was fresh. whereas town was disgusting, smoggy and freezing cold. the moment i got up Rapaki Rd a little ways it was easily 10 degrees warmer. nuts.

had my mp3 player, GOOD sounds (Prefuse73 Security Screenings, Department of Eagles, Tunng, Burial, Open Souls) on random all the way.

trails are in good nick, no muddy bits anywhere, and a lot of repairs done on them where they were damaged earlier.

so, alls i did was ride up rapaki, here's Switchy at the top, looking down the Avoca Valley, Montgomery Spur the dark lump above the seat..., (gotta love that low res phone pixt schwag) then from here, rode round summit trail to Bush Head then turned around and rode back and back down Rapaki...

Greeeaaaasy sunday

FREEEEZING start, huffed across to Steves in the early frost of sunday, just pre 9 am, fingers and toes going numb in the process, but merino hood and Jetson windfleece keeping the core temp good... tony, hubb, andrew, pete, steve and me, assembled, pete realising he'd left his helmet took off home to get it while Andrew set up the camera on pete's bike.

headed up rapaki, warmed up enough to shed some layers by the first gate. on up, good spin, tony only lagging a little. tons of bikers around. turned left along single track, only that first little bit was mucky and the rest was sweet. then up road to Castle Rock, hit the single track there and it was grreeeaaasy. not muddy, just soft moist dirt, and slippery rocks. the odd patch of muddiness, til maybe 30-40 m before the first hairpin, then things started getting a bit sick... then after the first hairpin there was this trench forming, best to stay in it as at this point the hillside is steep and getting out of the trench means you're cutting up the rest of the dirt around it. but, one hole was almost up to the disks. pretty much dab-scooting along through all of this. then trail tidied up before the next hairpin and was good rolling from there... Andrew and Tony had sped down the road and were waiting for us at the top of Bridle Path. Andrew because he wasnt wearing clipable shoes...

then along road to johnbritten reserve, singletrack through there was sweet. i really enjoyed it, cleaned all the rocky bits with only one dab. then down to Richmondhill trail... first off the road the trail is very very nasty. the hillside is very boggy and where the trail should be is becoming a quagmire, so everybody's skirting it, thereby widening it. this section should probably be avoided and people should be entering from the old 4wd track down by the trees. anyway, once past the worst section the rest was sweet. stopped for a top up at the ruins.

the descent... i led, got away ahead, slithering and drifting all over the place. again, the singletrack was just greasy, with rocks a tad slippery, and only one or two wetspots. bombed it all good, round the corner to the native trees (ribbonwoods or lacebarks, never can remember) and stopped just after the wee ups that get you out of the tree's gulley. everybody caught up and we all laughed at what a wrestle the riding was. then i took off again, pete relatively close to my tail, and not far below our stopping point i had some wicked speed on and my front wheel just waaassshhhhed out, and i started scooting then lept off and was running alongside my bike for a second, thinking all the time "i'm losing it, i'm losing it!" and then remounting and carrying on, to shouts of encouragement from pete on my tail... stuck in and got more speed on and bombed the rest of it. it was sweeeeet. the traction was just marginal with drifting and slithering and greasy being the best descriptors. bombed the last section down to the road, trying out some body positioning as read in the latest NZMTBR mag. low, and more forward than in the past. feel quite perched in the middle of the frame, not uncomfortable, and the bike seemed to relish speed in this position... regrouped above evans

and hit the Capt Thomas. i bailed on three of the trickier sections, due to the apparent slipperiness of the rocks, but pete cleaned them all. out to the bottom was great.

then i hoofed it round the road to Joy's, she gave me a lift home and then Tracey and Otis, Mary, and Joy, and me went out to bottle lake and rode some trails out there. Otis in the kiddy seat behind Tracey. he enjoyed it for a while, but ended up kipping a little and then grumpy.
all up, about 4 hours on the bike...

brrrrrrrrr.... fiiiiinally after 13 days!!!

having had a crappy day at work yesterday, i split at 3 (i can do that, it just means i have to work longer for a day or two afterwards to catch up the couple hours missing...).

got home, did a bit of a lube (chain and grease-injection for the pedals) then hit the road around 3.40 across town around... 25 mins later i'm riding through Halswell towards the Quarry...

across the muddy and in parts frozen field to the bottom of 'the crocodile', up that, tight switchbacks to start with up through the pines, then a nice sidle track along, all in good nick, no mud, then a small descent into the wee gulley. even when its dry this gulley is wet, so with it being really wet lately, it was a total mud fest. passengered it for a bit (ie, no control, just holdin' on!) then got off and walked, front wheel entirely caked in mud, all splooged down over my brake, rub rub, rub rub... then over the bridge and onwards up the switchbacks, one after the other... one or two of them were soggy, but the rest of the trail was sog free.

then on up Kennedy's... sun setting slowly behind me. there was a cold cold wind blowing, the annoying north easterly, and i didnt really have enough clothes. also, having left it so late for departure, and having picked one of the more furtherly trails to ride, and having the sun set at 5ish, i was only about 5/6ths of the way up when the sun started to get tucked in behind the mountains. so by the time i made the top it was truly gone, with dusk settling its cool blanket over the Port Hill tops. and did i mention the cold. thought i was getting hypothermic for a minute there. but spun it round the summit road on down to where the flying nun (or Marleys) meets the road jumped onto the singletrack through to the kiwi, then, as it was still just dusky and still not quite dark, headed up to top of Vic Park, on road, then down the main fire trail to the skidder site, picking my way down the last bit under the darkness of the trees... no head light you see, just the flashies. so then i rode down the Vic Park Rd, right into Longhurst to the bottom, down the drive then down the track to Holliss and out to Centaurus and home, well dark by now. home around 6, chilled to the bone, utterly exhausted and extinguished of any energy. Had had to ride pretty slow along Wilsons, Nursery and Stanmore home, so slow cos i was so weak. got fire going. ate and ate and ate. hot shower. all fixed...

had i eaten, taken my headlight, and a few more clothes, i would have stayed a bit longer, maybe gone round some of the single track and down Huntsbury or something...

The bottom of Bowenvale is shut at the moment, cos of stock and muck. the Rangers are all freaking out cos bikes are cuttin' up the tracks so bad... Ranger Nick Singletrack said its the wettest he's seen them in at least 10 years...

on my way to a party...

T's mum had her birthday the other day, saturday, while i was up planting trees... and so she was having a bit of a party lastnight. it was to start around 7, so i had time for a wee ride.

oh, firstly, i must say, we had some wicked snow. here's a pic of the island covered in it. Chch is under that cloud on the right, this was taken 10am ish on tuesday morning...

So, anyway, wednesday, most of the snow had melted off the hills, meaning they'd be pretty wet, but i rode up anyway. i swapped off the Kenda Blue Groove on the back cos it was pretty worn and its been slipping out on a lot of rides recently, in the wintry conditions... anyway, reinstalled the old Green Wildgripper, 1.95, good treadpattern for mud. best darn mud tire i've had so far...
across town, about 5.30ish, closer to 6 actually, then up rapaki, lights most of the way, turned left, walked a little of single before riding cos it was so muddy and i didnt wanna thrash the track. then along road, and onto the Castle Rock - Bridlepath singletrack. interesting. flowy in places, but then messy as all get up in others. especially, before, between and after the switchbacks... i stopped and assisted a couple of drainage spots... then, as time was starting to run short, i headed down Bridle Path. then, after zipping up and swapping back to the windstopper gloves, down Bridle Path Rd to Joy's, where eventually T arrived with clothes so i showered.

i might add. on these frosty cold nights, town is at 0 or less degrees celsius, but hit the hill and its up closer to 10 degrees... inversion. keeps the smog down on the city too. i love it up there on these nights. but its yucky riding back across town.

saturday, trees for canterbury...

beautiful clear sunny winter's day. toodled across to Tony's saturday morning about 11.30, meeting Dan on the way. The fella's had left without us, so we were chasing, 5 minutes behind according to Tony's daughter... Dan's first time up Worsleys. after hitting the dirt section and clearing the first technical challenges got a call from Steve checking on our whereabouts. they werent far ahead, but still we didnt catch them til the bodybag. there's still sections of the track that are unrideable, due to the wetness of the claymud, and this is after a week of no rain...dewey nights, but no rain. so, cleaned most of the bodybag, got to top, and proceeded to top of the Marley's section of track, for a planting... 350 natives to put in, mostly kanuka, but i also got a few 5fingers, lancewoods, lacebarks, pittos and coprosmas in. a lot of them had plastic netting cages to be installed too, slowing the progress, but, probably 25 people took just over an hour or so to complete it. its gonna be great seeing that as the years progress, for i'll always be riding up there, and slowly but surely the bush will return... Pete and Alistair (jr) were dropped off for the planting and to join us riding down
then down marleys, single track still abit greasy, one or two drying mud sections, to kiwi, then up thomsons, i think i was the only one to ride all of that, the others took the road. then down through vic, thru gums, bypassed Dazzas and then down Nationals. bottom of K2 was a mud rut channelled slickfest... sick. Alistair had a nice crossup spill on the lower cattlestop, into the wee creek. i myself very nearly lost it there too. then home across town, too late for GeeGee's birthday arvo tea... on to making sushi in prep for potluck at ours.

lunchtime teambuilding...

Rebecca and Dan and me from work went for a lunchtime spin. nice ride across town, up rapaki, good clip, and down farmtrack. i had front derailleur issues. the mud from my last ride had caked it seized, so when i used the shifter it shifted but the derailleur didnt, and as a result the little nubbin thingy on the end of the cable popped out of its spot inside the shifter and so jammed. was jammed in middle ring all the way up rapaki, which is just fine, but at the top i fiddled with it again and it slipped into granny, with no shifting out of it possibilities... drat. good fly down farmtrack regardless, some areas of wetness/mud. both Dan and Bex had spills on the lower section, nothing major. riding back across town i grabbed a discarded plastic milk bottle and wedged it under the cable on the top tube, thereby putting it in middle ring.

post work muck

rode the switchy in to work then hit the road at 5.

down colombo, through Ashgrove reserve, along the Heathcote, up Worsley's. sunset was at 5.03pm, so by the time i got to top of the seal it was dark enough to need the light. it was wetter than i'd thought. most of the trail was a streambed, with flowing water. the ruts were deeper and the little ridges between ruts were narrower and in a lot of places the clay was saturated, making it the sticky cluggy muck that builds up on the tires, making large sections of the ride unrideable. the body bag, top section, i walked entirely. it was impossible to get traction, and i had started getting chainsuck earlier, due to the closeness of the front derailleur in granny and the chain to the tire and the mud... made the top of the hill and proceeded to ride up Marleys and hit the singletrack down. surprisingly, or not considering the excellent design the rangers have put in, the surface was only a little slippery, with very few muddy pockets. great ride down to kiwi, with only occasional hairy spots, the odd slick rock. fun! then hit the tarmac at the kiwi, did lower section of Thomsons, and decided to avoid the summit trail and stay on the road. it was getting late and i wanted to be close to home by 7, so cruised the summit road til Mt Vernon, then thought i'd give the singletrack a go again. not bad. the techy rocky section near top was very mucky, but the rest of it was sweet til the lowest bit before rapaki, near that wee pond. then BOMBED down rapaki. quite a few riders on the way up, but if they're like other riders i saw up there last night they will have stayed on the road. i wouldnt have wanted to ride up the Vernon section...

bazillion...

so... here's a comment about the proliferation of bike blogsssssssss

foggy start sunday morning...

a whole week of busy nights and crappy weather. so. along comes sunday. early start, 8am at Steves. woke up to a fog-bound city. visibility about 20-30 metres, got quite damp riding through it across to Steve's. Steve couldnt make it on account of his guts, so it was just Pete, Hubby and me. headed up rapaki, fog starting to clear a little and as we got into the trees on Rapaki we could already see the sun shining on the hillsides above us. looking back over the city, all you could see was the tops of the CBD buildings and the 4 light stands of Jade Stadium (where there'd been a fogged in rugger game the night before). over the course of our ride we watched the fog dissipate. up into the sun, nice gentle ride up rapaki, cept for the last leg i switched to a 2:1 ratio a la singlespeeding and cranked it up, just to see what it was like. hard. but doable. but man, you gotta have yourself a whopper set of lungs, standing in that gear and honkin' it up that slope. at top of rapaki the harbour was beautiful, a cauldron of fog, hills ringing it in basking sun. we turned left along the summit trail. the first section i walked cos it was so muddy, my back tire spinning and digging it up, so i gave it a rest. further up tho, the trail was in good nick, our tires barely marking it... got to the end of the first section and hopped over the fence and down to the craterrim walkway (not strictly legal...). it was very very muddy, and technical, slippery rocks (and one clump of Urtica ferox, native stinging nettle (which took a swipe at Hubby)), singletrack, cow trodden. our bike tires doing much less damage than the pugging and pooling of cattle hooves. if anything, we provided channels for the water to actually drain off in... then from the tors the last bit of road up to the Castle Rock section of bike track down it, which was in surprisingly good nick. cleaned it all nicely, slippery rocks being the only major technical issue... then down Bridle Path. i bombed it for a change. seems to be quite nice after wetness, well packed, not too loose. we stopped next to the Morgans Valley track, and headed the other way. there's a sign on the gate that said something, but its unreadable now. (i suspect it was something to do with Property?? cant imagine what tho!). headed along the farm-4wd track that follows above the bush thats above the Tunnel Rd Motorway, great wee spin, medium to big ring rollin', with a couple of little climbs, nothing major, then at the end, a gate, hop over it and there begins the barely followable 'secret singletrack'. down to the first of 2 big watersupply tanks, all under a treelucerne and various natives canopy. this trail snaked down and down and around the lower of the two tanks and then sidled down to a turn off that is adjacent to Martindales Rd on the Motorway. We skedaddled across the motorway, and then made our way down to Martindales Rd. from here, we travelled along martindales, under the railroad, left down Truscotts Rd to Ferrymead historic park, past that to the lower reach of the Heathcote, and then along the true right bank of that, up stream to the Tunnel Rd bridge. This section of riverbank is great, its walked by people with dogs quite regularly, so the trail is sweet, twisty, well defined. and of course, like all the trails today, muddy in places. once done with that section, we made our way to a Trees For Canterbury planting in Charlesworth Reserve. at this stage, it was a beautiful sunny day. planted a heap of natives, and i biked home along Linwood Ave after 12... later on, the fog rolled back in.

sunday cruise

so, sunday afternoon, al and me cruised to Hugh's, then up to Pete T's and then up rapaki. it had dried a bit since wednesday, pretty mellow cruise as Hugh doesnt get up much, but that was cool. then up singletrack to the right, where there were still some quite mucky bits, but mostly dry. after crossing the road the muddy holes that were there on wednesday were gone. the odd wet patch further round, some good flowy sections, so much flowier than at night when you cant see behind tussocks. hit the top of vic, and headed down thomsons to kiwi, up road to lower section of Marley's, bombed down that, down dyers track the start of which has been newly surfaced and is like a road, the longer flatter section still bumpy as hell, and then up into vic. i peeled off there and headed down to my folks for tea. not sure where the others were heading, down into bowenvale i think. was getting pretty low on light by the time we split...

Marys: performing better still. am getting used to them still. but did enjoy a certain laidbackness they gave. allllmost wonder if a slightly shorter and slightly angled up stem might position them slightly better... but. still getting used to them.

two rides, back to back, muckymucky wednesday, misty forest bottle lake thursday

first night ride Wednesday night, with the lights.

cross town, looked at watch on Wilson's Rd, was 17.31. cruised up rapaki, muddy in places, we've had a fair bit of rain lately, and there's only been a couple of days since, so its still all pouring off the hills. top of rapaki, was 18.06 (i know that cos i txted Nelson that i was there cos he'd txtd just as i was on the last leg). turned right, along the summit trail, first section to the first switchbacks was fine, then the steep bit from them was disgusting, rutted and greasy and wet and muddy... once it flattened off it was alright, the rocks being decidedly slippy, and then the bit round the front of Mt Vernon above the FarmTrack was nice and dry (in the sun all day's why), and actually it wasnt bad the rest of the way up to the road. next section, a few divets with sloppy mud, but mostly dryish. caught a guy on a Marin fullsquisher, i'd been gaining on him most of the way along the summit. and mostly trail was good except the odd spot all the way to vic.

thru the pines was soft, then down to and thru the gums was soft, new berms on a lot of the corners in the gums, gonna be sweet when they're dry. from the skidder site i bypassed dazzas, headed down that firetrack, hung a left down the Nats track, then a right before the 40footer down the valley track, then peeled left on the singletrack that goes into the Darkness... there was two streams in there, running clean fresh water that have never been there before...

crossed the little bridge, rooty section, sheepstop, bridge and onto the sidling track, which was disgusting. mucky, soft, running water, gouged and rutted. front wheel slid hit a hole and sent me over, rolled and tumbled down into the tussocks... unrideable, even with some speed. then down through the trees carefully, and bottom of k2 was its usual gouged out squidgey slippery rutted mess, then the main track down was fine. out, and home. bit of smog. 19.09 i noticed at home, some time after i'd gotten there...

cooked up a delicious feed, after the requisite shower. and hosed off the bike, which left the discs noisy. will lube everything before tonights ride.

Mary Report: good. excellent climbing, and standing out of the saddle pumping, and general singletrack control and comfort. Extremely steep, ass almost on the back wheel, descending, excellent, but middle steepness terrain i'm not so sure about. it might be something in the way i'm holding them, or maybe they just need another slight tweak. tonights ride is bottle lake, so will monitor and adjust accordingly.

Bottle Lake, Thursday night.
Al and me ended up biking out there, meeting up with Steve and Tony and Andrew, and eventually Pete (who got a speeding ticket on the way... hence making him even later. i hope his demerit points havent topped out!!!)Spun round the usual inside loop. checked out the leg towards Spencer Park, but it was closed due to them pulling out all the logs in the burned areas. shame, cos that burned out area was pretty spectacular, would have been cool to leave it the way they do in the states for natural regeneration... but then, this forest is far from a natural system, being a working plantation. mostly pretty good ride. one fun thing was when we stopped for a break, i managed to balance my bike all by itself. just hovering there, then Al and then Steve and tony all got theirs going too. was cool just standing around with all these bikes just floating there... heh.

Marys performed well. they really do excel when standing in the pedals cranking it. i'm still feeling a little crowded by my elbows... but am seeing if my body will respond by developing the appropriate muscles thru riding like this for a month... otherwise, i might return to the Azonics and put Mary on the singlespeed i'm gonna build with my 18 inch frame.

Craigieburnin', Marys first ride

Fresh and early saturday morning, first frost of the year pretty much, al and me split town about 8.30, headed up the plains. gorgeous sunny day unfolding in front of us. crested Porters Pass and rolled down into an icey valley fog, quite thick, which engulfed us all the way through to the Day Shelter at Craigieburn Forest Park, and filled the valleys most of the day.

parked up, rugged up into the appropriate clothes, and headed out onto the road, rougly 10am, low visibility. i was wearing my new Hoodlum, which proved very good for these conditions. my windstopper gloves (Krapmandu) were very good too. then we headed up the gravel road that is the access to Craigieburn Ski Field. starting altitude, 800m. this road winds up the side of this steep sided valley, through beech forest. there's a couple of major scree slopes that cross the road on the way up. its relatively steep, middle chain ring, second or third down on back. and up towards the top you have to slip down into granny and haul. snow on the ground from around 1200 m alt. there were a couple of vehicle tracks in the snow on the way up, and a few people working on the skifield, two on the roadside 50m from the carpark and then a 4wd with chains, heading up.

Mary bars first ride, felt that they made the front end a little lighter, but felt good in general, on the way up.

we got ahead of it and so were riding on virgin snow, apart from some Hare tracks. snow provided pretty good traction. then onto the singletrack descent... fun. had to layer up tho, cos there was snow dripping and dropping from the trees. the track is in and out of the trees, crossing a few big scree slopes. very good riding. swoopy and flowing in parts, then technical and dabby for a bit then swoopy and flowing again. couple of sections with a lot of roots, but mostly fantastic.

Marys very comfortable on this descent. good control, natural hand position, thought they needed rolling back a smidgen.

then a wee climb up to Lyndon Saddle, where we had a wee stop with a small hike up for some view and eats, then onto what they call the Luge... all down, nice rooty drops, swooping singletrack, down down down, all in forest. beeaauutiful. worst roots, slippery and dodgy in the lower third, then out onto the road and quick descent down that back to the car.

found the Mary bars very very comfortable on the steep technical stuff, and in general, i like their feel. still a little bit of getting used to to do, and i've tweaked their position slightly for next ride. i think there'll be a couple of tweaks and i'll be loving them

Total ride, 2 hours elapsed, rougly 600 m alt up and down in about 18 kms.. broken down: 8.5 on the road up 500m alt, ~4kms sidling down 250m alt, just under 1 km up 100m alt to saddle, then almost 3 kms singletrack descending 300m, then around 2 kms down (80 or so metres) hill road back to car, 12ish. had a feed, loaded up car and drove home, arriving around 2. still plenty of day left.

bikeblogs.com

so... roll along to bikeblogs May06 and you'll see yours truly rollin' with the other bloggahs...

might just get out thursday night. provided promised rain doesnt hit. and then saturday, longrange looks good, Al and me will Craigieburn it... yeah drop in episode one, thats us.

septo de mayo

Al collected me and we rode to Steves for 9am start. hubby, andrew tony and steve were already in attendance, and pete turned up shortly thereafter. we headed up rapaki. good pace all the way up. i was a little ahead of the group when i turned and saw a guy passing them, so i took off at a slightly faster pace, just to keep him on his toes, he eventually caught me and overtook, but i stayed on him the rest of the way up. i was feeling a bit overhung, tired, from two shortnights sleep. cold and windy up top, overcast day, from the south. rode left along the summit trail, donned my jacket on the road section. bombed it down the castle rock section. interestingly greasy down through there, with just slightly damp dirt, which carried from tire to rock so's to make for a more technical ride. good pace along road to Britten Reserve, new section in there needs a wee bit work, it just doesnt quite flow yet. then breezed down road onto Richmond hill singletrack... fun. greasy. quite a few dabs, one near shoulder barge with a rockface when the rocks i was skittering on got too skittery, then most of the way down, i feel like i've bent my brake lever, but no, slowly my handlebars are twisting back (the other day when i tried out my mary bars i obviously didnt quite torque the clamp up enough and now i'm paying for it...) riding got harder and harder as my handlbars became more and more swayed back. levers getting more and more horizontal. we stopped in the Macrocarpa at Evans for foodsnacks and pete's twisted chain link removal and my handlebar reallignment (i got to test out my new multi tool multi5 received as gift for subscribing to Spoke magazine last month).

then off out godley trail. after first climb pete's chain pin had started to poke out so we stopped again and they used a proper pin. then it was fantastic downhill, trail drier out there. next climb and then down to breeze col. decided just to drop it down to taylors.

Anaconda... wickeeeed. couple of other riders had taken off ahead, we'd given them a bit of a head start, but me in the lead soon caught one of them, and on the first right hand sweeper i caught him after a jump and juuuuust about lost the front wheel, washed out a bit, and i found myself heading off the track, so i just held on and cut out a big corner, taking my place ahead of him, and just let it go, screamed down popping excellent air on every jump. caught the next guy on the big long sweeper that i crashed on another time, sat on his tail a bit but he wasnt moving over, so i paused to watch pete and the others behind catch up a bit, then i hammered on and caught that guy again before the bottom. sweeeeeeet spin. then the grind out of taylors. nichelson park, coffee at .com and the long slog home...

Happy birthday Blog...

One year old today.
a whole year of rides contained herein...

finally, after a week and a half...

just getting more and more antsy, finally last night i managed to get out. split work early, home quick, changed, jumped on switchy.


Left home at 16.32, was somewhere on Rapaki Rd at 16.46 (cant remember quite how far up but well before first gate), made good time up Rapaki. passed a couple of guys between first gates, then caught this smiley youngish but greyhaired german dude on a kula deluxe (same colours as Nelson's) a km up from the second gate but then he caught and passed me 200m from top. made the top at 17.08. me and the kraut exchanged friendly words at the top, what a great night it was etc. then he went towards the Bridle Path whereas i turned right. when i got up to the upper switchbacks (just above Farm Track) i caught up to a dude on a Santa Cruz (Blur(i think)) who managed to keep ahead of me, so i tailed him until i peeled down the oldschool Bow'nvale, took it a little easy down there, as bits were slippy, lovely descent, tho, i bailed on the worst of the rocky outcroppy bits, cos of the minor greasiness issues. then the singletrack was bliss, just cruised it down, hearing voices, til finally i came upon a couple of walkers..., and was spat out the bottom and on the Avenue at 17.35... quite possibly my best time ever for home to Bowenvale Ave via that route. .

no riding light needed either, just the flashies across town home.

so, i feel much better.

mary mary, quite contrary

so, mary arrived this morning. popped home to see her. eyed them up, and thought i might juuuuuuust be able to install, but got grips, shifters, levers all off the olds and got them lined up and just as expected, the angular bar just pushes the brake hose too far to be possible. it was always a little dodgy since i got the 20inch frame. so. have to wait til i get the cable lengthened. Kris said $75. must get that organised.

too wet to really ride tonight. havent ridden since last sunday, week ago. am seriously jonesing for a ride, as the americans used to say. might just go anyway. bah. will see how she's looking. do the responsible thing, go home, cook dinner for the girl and bubs, and then decide...

oh!, and my Hoodlum is SWEEEET... all good. wear just it and basically a teeshirt in these climate. water beads on the outter and its snug and toasty.

Try this for size...

hooee, just scored myself a Hoodlum, from RaceFace... niiice.

sunday, anzac a day away...

sunday morning, steve and pete were up watching race cars waste petrol around the Pukekohe tracks, so Andrew and Tony and me met outside steves anyway, and headed up rapaki, round the summit to vic. they went downhill from there due to time constraints, i carried on along thomsons to kiwi, up road to lower section of flying nun, then on down below dyers... heh, bombed down there, caught and overtook a woman who was inching her way down, then tookdown her hubby who was also inching down hill... flew down the rest, then climbed back up into vic, down dazza's, hung a right up a little ways and down the valley tracks, round and down bowenvale. my front mechanism was getting very jingly jangly on the way down, i thought it was my cluster coming to bits, but no, just the cage on the front mech. rode home... all in good time. home by 11.30 i think.
next day, flat tire on bike. pulled the tube, tiny hole, found the culprit gorse needle, but it broke off before i could pull it out, fixed the flat, left tube out and pumped up over night, still hard in the a.m, so put it back into tire, and later that day its flat again. damn. must be more of those gorsey bastards. time for a new tire perhaps...

OH. and my Mary Bars (here or pics of them on a bike here ), by On-One, are nearly here... YAY!!!! scored through Paul at EssenceBikes ... good bloke to deal with. cheers paul. so, ride reports as soon as they're installed... i'm just praying i can get away with my rear brake hose... it might be a bit on the short side.

Banks Pen View Hill

Friday, Good Friday, Steve Pete and Andrew came over to the bay, (T and O and dogs and me went over thurs night straight after work). we drove to top of bay, pete's car overheating in the process, parked on summit road, and jumped on our bikes...rode towards Okains Bay to first ridge, then rode and walked along this to flanks of View Hill (762m) up to pretty much the highest point, then down down down paper road, through Chorlton, down on down to snappy wee singletrack down into Raupo bay where we stopped and enjoyed the beach and the mega surf pounding in from a massive southerly swell. then rode up onto Long Lookout. On the way up, you come up to the cliff edge, and there, framed by the cliffy headland and the pounding surf was the Spirit of NZ, in nearly full sail, heading south, very spectaculer.
That dark smudge in the distance, believe it or not, is the ship...
continued riding back up to Chorlton and down into Little Ak. all up, 20 kms, 440 m ascended, and 980 descended. then after some cheese scones kindly baked by Tra'y and a refreshing beer, we loaded 4 bods and 3 bikes into the fiat and i hauled them up to their car at the top...

Monday, Easter Monday, i biked up to Chorlton, then up View Hill Rd to the fork, then left along the branch i'd not explored before. up to around 600m alt, then turned tail and back down. only this time, instead of riding the 4wd road, i rode all the animal tracks on either side, off piste, technical and fun. then bombed back into the bay. quick trip.

ripsnortin'rockin' it!!!

good turn out yesterday. usual stv peat tone and me, plus hubster and Mark, and an additional Milan, from work. Andrew's wrist is still playing up.

so, toodled up rapaki, good pace, turned left, singletrack road singletrack road singletrack road and onto richmond hill. stopped for a bite at the ruins, and the BOMBED it down. first of me on Mark's tail, hammering it, kept up with him pretty good. then he bailed to adjust his seat just before the sweeping switchies, so i pulled in front with him pushing me. i was going so fast, my arms have never felt that pumped by the time we got to Evans. some vvveeeery sketchy turns... then Capt Thomas, i let Mark go in front again (this guy is on a Kona Coiler, 6 inches of heavyduty travel both ends..., vs me on the switchy, 5inches up front is IT) and again we bombed it down this, i cleaned all but a dab at the bottom of the first of the two dodgiest rocky bits. down past the two stiles and the wee bridge Mark's chain got eaten up, and got some horrendous twists in it. so he had to pull it off and ride the rest of the way without it... he repaired it over coffee at the Com
Milan did good, a bit slower on the downhill stuff, but pretty good round the rest of the singletrack. but then we lost him in Slumner, cos he didnt know which cafe we were going to. i waved and waved, and then went after him a bit but he took off. txted him. no worries...

sunday cut short and tuesday speedy to dinner...

sunday, usual suspects, steve's, 9am, up rapaki, right, 'long summit to vic. were gonna carry on up to top of marley's and down below dyers back into vic and down bowenvale, but Andrew's wrist was playing up from his silly crash on the rocks last week. so, we cut it short, headed down thru the gums, then i took them across the upper track to the new track that i rode by myself a couple weeks ago and then rode all of with Nelson another week or so ago... so, i rode most of it, had to shimmy one little steep bit next to a tree, but pete rode all of it, and andrew, steve and tony walked pretty much all of it... we hooked onto my 'favourite' and continued out bottom of bowenvale.

then last night, tuesday, nelson met me at my place after work, and we rode across to farmtrack, up it, quite fast, i was blowin!, cos it was getting quite dark in the clouds so we rode round the road to the rest of the singletrack, bombed it to vic, screamed down through the gums, and on out to the vicpark road, down to top of cashmere, where i was having tea at my folks... niiice ride. i was on fire coming down. but i blew going up.

wednesday slightly soggy spin

been grey and rainy a bit for last week or so. S.A.D getting the worst of me, so a ride was a damned good thing... left work a bit early, got out the door of home at 4.45pm, rode across to and up rapaki, which seemed very hard, head wind all the way up, and the dirt was softish from previous rain. hit summit trail and got my groove on, one or two muddles but mostly plenty dry, nicely packed, drainage very good thesedays. hit top of vic, and down through gums, GREEEAASY, then i bypassed Dazza's and went down my "favourite" but bailed on the first cross track, cos it really was pretty greasy and sliding was rarking up the leaf matter and trail a bit... took the final bit through (what i've started to call) "the darkness", where the pines and mac's are so thick its really dark in there (especially on an overcast day), and it was hairy through there, with two wheel slides into ruts etc... interesting. the rest of the trails were okay, but that last little cattlestop right at the bottom before the gates i got the bike sideways on, scared the bejeezus out of me. Stopped in and saw Kris on Bowenvale on way out too. then flashies across town home. in the door 6.45...

sumner morning...

rode to Pete's, we drove, picked up Andrew, and met Steve and Tony in Slumner... biked up Capt. Thomas out godley and taylors and back to coffee at .com. way up capt thom was sweet. cleaned most stuff or more than often. cleaned heaps of godley, one or two dabs at the start and that was about it. while we waited for Steve to void his bowels at Godley, Andrew was dooffing about on some rocks and had a wicked tumble. winded the crap out of him. garked up his legs a bit too, and jimmied his wrist. yowch. awesome descent into taylors, they'd really done some work on the trails for the Crater Rim. and nice climb out of taylors. dropped some awesome wheelies on the way up. steve and me first. then down through nicholson park, speeeeedy... good run in all. only a couple hours.

sunday morning monday night...

sunday morning, biked over to steves, then him and me biked to TFC picked up the van and drove out to Slumner. met andrew there, parked right outside DotCom and headed up Capt Thom... nice climb, i seemed to have heaps of speed all the way up. the other two werent so quick, so i stopped and rested a lot, meaning i had heaps of speed when we got going again... hot and sticky in the top valley just before Evans. quick rest inside the Macracarpas at the start of the Richmond Hill track. then up up up up up... then, turned around and came back down it all. bombed it. beautiful descent, switchy playing very nicely. then down Capt Thom, cleaned everything, except that on the first of the two gnarlies, i had to bale at the very bottom of it, the rock that sticks up straight across the track exactly one bike length from the bottom of the drop jumping into my way just at the last and i didnt want it to do what it does best, which is stop your bike dead and throw you over the handlebars, or worse still, straight onto your top tube, yowch... then cleaned the rest of the trail... lovely, and coffee at Dot com.

Last night (monday), headwind home from work, changed and met Nelson at bottom of Rapaki, up we slogged, turned right, round the summit to Vic, then down through the cattlestop next to the A frame, turned right and along the fenceline and down, (instead of through the fence and riding the "upper fenceline" track), and down the wicked ass DH tracks, steeper than we usually ride... cleaned most stuff, i walked one drop that nelson rode, it was just too scary coming into it, and then rode some wicked bits, and walked one jump that nelson popped off, i'll do both bits next time for sure. it was the track that i hooked up with a few rides ago. then down the usual and out. nelson took an awesome line on the washout next to K2, jumping off this bit the nats DH riders were popping... and now that its daylight saving, i used my flashies riding home across town. home by 7.

Swtchy, in the flesh

a snap of me bike from me fone... blurry eh?

wednesday with da girls...

left work at 4.30 or so, with a couple of workmates, Bex and Snoozen, headed down Clumbo St to Earnsleigh Reserve along the Heathcote River, past coffeeculture and Prncss Maggies Hosp, down the steps just past Cracroft along that wee forest trail and then up the slog that is Worsley's... me in middle ring one down on back, Snuse and bex both in grannies... overtook some big travelly boys, up up up, good ride up the dirt, nice and smooth flowing, no real dabs, all the way up. Marley's was particularly nice, down to Kiwi, then up Thomsons into Vic, i proceeded down through the gums, and the grrrls headed down the fireroads. regrouped at the Jumps skidder area, where a friend of S's was hangin', him on a Crack'n'fail Profit, nice and new. Him and me took Dazza's while the girls took the pikeroute, straight down. then followed the Nats track down. couple new bits. bombed out bottom of bowenvale, then slogged it back across town to work, grabbed my bag and headed home. quite a long one in the long run. home at about 7.10pm... long. lotsa stops i guess. then i went to quiznight and had a few guinnesses (preempting friday by a couple days) and scoffed down a rare-as steak and chips and yummy yummy salad. as usual, 3rd equal in the quiz, and lost the tiebreaker! bah.

sunday arvo outting...

Sundaymorning ride was planned, but the weather got in the way, with a blistering cold southerly dropping a fair bit of rain overnight and in the morning... so, we duly canned the ride with possibility of getting together for one later in the day. ended up going out by myself at 4.30. tracks were already nice and dry. howling southerly still blowing cold. rode across, into the wind, up rapaki, into the wind, turned right, along singletrack. on the switchbacks above the farmtrack a guy caught me up, gave me a bit of a fright actually, and as i let him past just after the second switchy he said "same bike" and yep, he was on a black Switchback too! cool. i replied, "nice ride". from then on, i stayed just off his tail. i noted that on all the downs and all the flats i was quicker than him, but on all the ups he juuuust got away from me... stayed on his tail all the way round to Vic Park, just before which we'd started chatting a little. we both agreed they're a nice bike to ride. his was a 16 inch, but he was quite a bit shorter than me. he looked like he could easily handle an 18 inch, having quite a bit of seatpost out, like when i had the 18incher... we parted ways, i bombed it down through rockgarden and gums to and out to vicpark road, then down to the below dyers pass road track. went up it, saw the other swtchbckr on his way down, "hello!" and then at the kiwi i rode up the road for the next section, lower nun or lower marley's (depending on your naming convention), down it back to the kiwi, then cross dyerspass road and up to thomson track, all the way up it to top of vic park again, then down through the gums again. then, instead of going down Dazza's or the track Dazza's comes off, i went up the track just to the right of them. this takes you across various of the DH tracks, out to the end, where i saw a new wee track cut, so toodled down it, to a wicked wicked dh track. rode it, with great difficulty, then out to my 'favourite' down it, round to k2, where i baulked the wicky drop, so pushed back up and did it again, out and down, tailwind home across town...southerlies are good for some stuff.

another quickspin...monday night norwester

Monday night, in a hot norwester, left home 1714hrs, across town, up Worsley's, oh so hot. couple of fires out on the plains, one northwest of Lincoln, and the other way way further in the distance. hard work getting up there in the heat. once on the dirt tho, much better, tho still hard. cruised, pretty good. made it all the way up the bodybag and then spun out just as i was cresting the top. easy start up again tho for the last haul... couple of female runner/walkers up top. they took off back down when i got there. then onto the flying nun, or marley's as i prefer to call it. down to the kiwi, where there was a roadie lying on the road, picking himself up. i think he'd just come out of the kiwi drive way and had toppled. didnt look roadrashed... cross dyers, up summit bypassing the first bit of Thomsons but taking the second. then bombed it down through vic to the gums, down to the skiddersite, then down Dazza's, back up the Nats DH and down to "my favourite", across to K2 then down and out the bottom. then home into the howling norwest.

Off to Melbourne tomorrow (thursday) for a week. so wont be getting any riding in, but it should be fun. gonna try'n find me some of those new Oakley shoes that MBA featured briefly this month. they look really styley, and my old Rockhoppers have clicked and creaked for too long. so. til next time... whoeverso out there reading this, wait and see what happens.

hi john. i think you're probably my only reader.

back in Hanmer...

well, i had twisted my chain, predominantly in one link, so i pulled the bad link, and am now running a link short... seems the last third or quarter of all my chain's lives are run with a link short ...and am trying a new chain lube. at the suggestion of Dougal, who's a regular on the mountainbike.co.nz website, i scored me a big bottle of Chainsaw bar lube. $5.85 at the Warewhare (compared to a tiny little bottle of Rock'n'Roll for $20 (1/10th the size of the Chainbarlube)). seems sticky like motorbike chainlube but not quite as sticky. doused the chain and wiped it all off again (which, John, is what you're supposed to do) and is running nicely so far. will be interesting to see how much dust and muck it picks up.

a beautiful day greeted me in hanmer, there was a slight smell of smoke when i first arrived, due to a wildfire up the waiau river towards the Lewis Pass, but i didnt notice it later on. was waiting for some riding buddies but they ended up being longer than anticipated, having a hard time of it paddling on the Waiau (very low flows make for less water over obsacles making for trickier paddling)...

so, took off on my own, rode up the Chatterton river valley, hit the mtb link track, which is a steeeep wee huff up to a pylon then a bit more climbing on a singletrack, which leads to a sweet little descent and sidle round to the Jack's Pass Rd, spitting you out opposite the watertank. just behind the watertank is a singletrack that leads down into the forest, below Pawson's Rd. John's Drop, No Bull seems to be what its called. its a great twisty wee trail with quite a nice steep descent or three in it, and a grunty wee climb in the last third. it chucks you back out on Pawson's, not far from Conical Hill Rd, which you roll on past to the first left, which is a road for a minute and becomes a single track climb, huffy for a bit, up up up, granny all the way, til you pass between two silverbirches on a steep wee step up, turn right climb a tad more, and bam, you're descending like buggery, swooping down another fantastic bermed singletrack tree trunks whooshing by millimetres from your shoulders. and it goes on and on and on, i had a couple of near misses, with the front wheel getting sketchy in the loose stuff, but mostly it was just divine. you cross Pawson's and carry on down to a stream, following that for a bit. This is all exactly the same ride as i did with Al last year, (may 24th 2005 blog) and here i'm upto where i broke my chain. funny, i remembered a lot of it being a bit more difficult, and some of the steeps steeper, but my riding's improved that much that i just flow it all now. anyway, this trail winds its way back round to pawsons, without getting too steep. then you have to follow pawson's to your right - up a bit, then down quite fast for a bit til you get to the Joliffe's Saddle turn offs. not really any signpostings so you pretty much gotta find your own way. i took the singletrack up to joliffes, then at the top, if you're standing looking across at Jolie's pass, Mt Isobel on your left, there's a new trail on your right, marked by a roadmarker . same as Al and me did last year, but they've changed where it descends, added some extra in the open stuff on the top and then added heeeaaaps of sweeeet trail in the forest later on. so this track, climbs heftily up over some rocky crags, then out onto this really open bit, with a bit of the pink stone breaking through, (hence the trail's name, Red Rocks) descending you down this fast and open tight singletrack, and eventually chucking you into the forest, there's some lovely rooty drops down, a couple of wee climbs, and more descending... then into a very new bit (possibly parts still under construction), eventually taking you out to upper dog stream trail. you could easily ride up it and get back up to Joliffes to do that again, or like me, just head out and down to lower dogstream singletrack back to the house. got back and Matt and Sean were stiiiill on the river. they called not long after tho and were on their way back then. i just cruised out. all up, only riding for 1 hour 20 or so. sweeet. woulda done it all again if i'd not been tired. really have got to get up there again soon.

tuesday quickspinspinspinspin

Tuesday night quick spin, was a good ride, except i felt truly crappy going up rapaki, tho, i was pushing myself a bit, cos when i got to the gate at the top of the trees, i saw a guy on a red specialised disappearing round the corner up ahead (~200-300 m ahead) so i was pushing to catch him, but when i got to that corner he was just disappearing around another corner about as far or further ahead so i had to push a bit harder... by the next bend in the track i was a tad closer, but still some ways behind, as i entered the last climb i was probably 100 m behind him, slowly gaining, so that by the top i was only about 40 m behind... and he was paused at the top when i got there, but took off just as i got there. i rested a bit letting him get another 100 m or so ahead again and this other guy came up on a Titus (rare bike round here and $$$bling too, nice blue Chris King hubs etc, very flash). he'd obviously been chasing me, he was one of those guys who i'd say is a multisporter, really lean in the face, super fit looking, he had massive muscles on his legs and he hardly looked to be breaking a sweat, plus that Titus would have been worth maybe $6 to $8K... said hi to me, friendly like, and i let him go first. i stayed on his tail a bit, and a we both caught the guy i'd been chasing all the way up (i said to him, "i've had a helluva time catching you!" and he apologised!), over took him then the superfit guy got away on me, tho i was holding his tail for a bit... he was only a bit faster than me. anyway, all in all a good ride. up rapaki, right, along summit trail to vic park, down Thomsons Track to the Kiwi, then up to top of marley's hill, down single track back under the kiwi, down singletrack below dyers pass road, up into vic park, over and down into bowenvale... flowing very smoothly. my bike was really feeling in tune... til the gears started skipping, which was annoying, but will be tunable, (i couldnt get it tuned quickly as was running out of time), or at worst, i might need a new chain. i tweaked it at one stage along the summit trail, i was shifting onto the big ring and it over shifted, then kinda got tangled in the crank and pedal, but then i thought i'd gotten it and tried to pedal on, but it was a bit stuck, which may have bent a couple of links. i had to stop and unloop it, and from then on it seemed to just kinda clickity click every now and then. might need to get a new chain, but may just get by with a good lube and worst case (other than a new chain) would be to go through and swap out the bent links... i've got a few remainders of chains lying around, from the leftover links when replacing them. at least, gotta get something sorted, cos Saturday, i'll be riding in Hanmer! yeah. bunch of guys i know are getting together to ride and drink and eat bbq'd meat. should be good... update as soon as after i can.

service...

well, took the bike to Kris on saturday morning, and he taught me how to service my shocks. ended up only costing me the price of the special oil that they require ($40 - which will do 4 oil changes (required only a couple times a year))... cos he figured he kinda owed me a service. took it for a spin yesterday afternoon. i was feeling beat, cos we'd been to barbie at Steve's saturday evening and i'd eaten way too much meat (as usual) but only had 7 beers, but didnt sleep well after (digesting all that meat i'd say) (oh yeah, got home and had to move all dad's scaffolding from where wilson used to park his car to the back of the house (heavy! and in the dark)) and then sunday we went to Al and Zoe's for brunch, then we went to Centennial with Otis to play in the water and then i took off on my ride from there, and having eaten pancakes and banana and maple syrup and bacon at 11.30ish, then the swim, then riding about 3.45, i was hungry, and weak from being tired, and bloody well took myself up Farm track, which is exhausting at the best of times. felt fat and useless and had nooo energy... still managed to overtake people on the summit trail tho, and then headed down the oldschool bowenvale track, which is always a favourite of mine except i dont think the rangers think anybody rides it anymore, cos they never take the whippersnapper down it and so its a bit overgrown, and the heat and dryness of it had me worried again that my nearly redhot disks would set it alight... (didnt see any smoke from the bottom so should have been alright :-).
anyway, the forks were PLUSH. oh so comfy, oh so amazing... beautiful
oh yeah, watched thursday's Drop In on fridaynight. brilliant. that was the craigieburn track that first one with the offcamber scree then the rockin' twistie turnie through the bush. beautiful and Naseby, oh, naseby. i've SO gotta get down there again.
So, anyway, i wrote the local ranger Nick about the trail... I said "Hi Nick,
I realise you must have been busy with setting up the trails for the Crater Rim, but just wondering if anybody's going to get a weed-eater down the old bowenvale track or the upper fenceline track in Vic Park anytime soon? i was actually concerned about the fire risk last time i came down the Upper Fenceline, cos disks get pretty hot, and the long grass on the track was extremely dry. and the last couple times i've ridden rode down the oldschool bowenvale track its been pretty over grown too... (the last time the Thistles were very bad, but they've died down now (rode it yesterday))
i realise neither of these trails are particularly heavily used, in fact, in the last few years, i dont think ive seen another cycle on the bowenvale once. i still really enjoy it though. but i think a lot of the older riders have forgotten about it and the younger ones dont know about it. anyway, just thought i'd see, are they in the loop as far as mowing resources are concerned?
cheers."
To which he replied:
Hi swtchbckr (not really, but you know what i mean),
Thanks for getting in touch.I was hoping the sheep grazing in the area might have kept it under control. I agree with you that it has become a bit of a forgotten track but its still fun to ride. I've booked it in to be cut in the next fortnight. I'll get Upper fenceline cut as well.
RegardsSenior Ranger- CCC

tuesday fast

Limited time tuesday, had to be home by 18hrs45, so left at 1710, Blitzed across town and up rapaki in 35 mins, then round summit and down through vic and out bottom of Bowenvale in only half hour ... i'm thinkin thats a record time. with the boys its normally about 33 mins from Steves to top of rapak. sweeeet... i burned up rapaki in a gear (middle ring and 3rd down) higher than usual, and rode the single track reeally sweet. came down through the rockgarden to the gums, zigged and zagged through them, down dazza's, then turned right at the 40fter, and down the next bit into what i'm gonna call "the darkness" from now on (where "my favourite" comes in), out that little valley, round the sidler to K2, and bombed down the main valley road, nice wee bit of air on the yumpy... stopped in and talked to Kris for a few minutes cos i was making good time, then hauled ass across town home in just over 10 mins. home by 18hrs40. sweet.

sunday morgans

Met at steve's, the usual suspects, Pete, Andrew, Steve, Tony and me. up rapaki, i was cruising nicely. had a few chats with people on the way up. one guy asked me what i'd had for breakfast, Fish i said... cos i had, had Red Cod for breakfast. yummy. then turned left around the singletrack, i thought i was getting a flat back tire, but it was fine... along summit, overtaken by a sporty dude training for CraterRim, on a Cannondale. down the single track from Castle rock, i ROCKed, flying down it, running really smooth at the mo. then we plummetted off down the Bridle Path, (where i'd walked up the other week), town side, wasnt as loose as usual, seemed to keep quite a good speed on and didnt feel out of control like usual. then peeled before the bottom onto the Morgans Valley Track, which, tho is officially a walking track, fails to mention this until you're already committed... and, when dry, its a perfect bike track, bar some steps near the end. anyway, its a nice wee track, without too much altitude, sidles around the valley above the new subdivisions in the Heathcote valley, and ends at the Heathcote Quarry. then there's a ton of steps to ride down, tho, i managed to only ride on about three steps total, riding to their sides... then back around the riverside of the Ferrymead industria, and i treadled home from Radcliff St. quick ride, i think i was home by 11.30. Bloody hot day too. 29 or 30.

walkin' huffin' skiddin' chuffin' blowin'...

well, following that last sunday ride, on the wednesday i ended up having to go to Lyttelton to pick up Otis, so i biked across to the Bridle Path and walked up it, 20 mins bottom to top, then, and this is on my town bike, not the switchback, let a bit of air out of the slicks at the top, and proceeded down into Lyttelton cautiously. quite hairy, but it is how we used to do it, what with the vee brakes and the rigid forks etc... anyway,
went to little ak for weekend, took swtchbck, rode it around the property but thats about it. i did take it up to Chorlton to try to get a celphone coverage, (which i didnt) but had the dogs with me so couldnt speed back down. anyway, one loop i had going fast in the orchard ended up sending me over the handlebars... that was fun.

on tuesday, nelson and me rode, met at bottom of rapaki, there was a HOWLING easterly blowing, a warm muggy one, we turned left at the top. i was huffin and a chuffin to keep up with him, he always pushes me harder than i would myself, whereas riding with the other guys i'm always taking it easier than i would by myself. anyway, bombed down richmond hill. oh, before that we trialed the new John Britten Reserve trail, just being built, not open yet, but i figure, riders riding it makes it. shows the builders where to build it... so, bombed down Greenwood (called it Richmond Hill at the time), then down Capt Thomas. i baulked on only the first of the doubletroubles... and there's a stupid new set of posts just before you're about to enter the pines near the bottom... and i lost my endcap on the eggbeaters, so a service kit is on order. so yeah, major tail wind home across the causeway, but linwood ave was tiring. took a good 20 minutes longer than that time i did it myself in 2 hours... must have been the head wind along the top, and i did stop and re tune the gears at the top of rapaki too...

riding tomorrow with the usual suspects.

sunday

across to steve's, up rapaki, Andrew, Chris, Hubby, Steve, Tony and me. turned right, round the summit, into all the on-coming plebs training for the big Crater Rim race, everybody friendly for a change, including a rude dude on a red Epic who we'd seen tuesday before. his blonde girlfriend had overheard us bitchin'n'moanin' about him then, so perhaps she'd put a word in his ear... anyway, then we rode Thomsons to kiwi, up road to the top section of Marley's, or the Flying Nun if ya wanna call it that, which they seem to insist on, then down Worsley's. I bombed it. fantastic run. leaped of heaps of leaps, and left all behind in my dust. did a beautiful big long squirly sliding skid at the bottom. it was awesome. then down the road, and we just clipped 80kph before the last bend... then back to tony's for a coffee (instant) and muffin's we'd picked up from that cafe at Craycroft shops.

not riding tonight, might bike to lyttelton tomorrow night, or have a ride on thursday, or both.

tuesdy's regs plus and minus some...

Following monday's ride, tuesday night rolled over to Steve's, to find Mark, Hubby, Tony, Andrew (who then bailed to the hospital to see his boss), Andrew's brother Chris, and Steve... so, the rest of us cruised up rapaki, round summit, checked out the top of the DH race track (which we'd watched last saturday), then did the gums, dazza's, back along the nats dhtrack from the 40footer and down through the gulley (where i'd ridden up to the night before), then out the valley. came incredibly close to a crash at the bottom of the washout drop, where the dh track hits k2... i was gonna crash, but i luckily kept one foot clipped in and kinda hung off the back of the bike til i got the speed undercontrol... niiice. boooked it down the valley track. and home into a hella easterly... muggy.

should be riding sunday. longrange forecast is gooood.

week or so...

last tuesday morning on the way to work i had a bit of an off. crossing Fitzgerald ave, on the median strip, i was scoping the traffic and there was a gas bottle truck coming but nothing else, and he was far enough away that i was gonna make it across no problem, so i was bookin', and suddenly wham i'm flying through the air and landing on the centre lane, came down hard on my right hand side, scrapin' crap out of my right wrist, elbow and knee... and bruising my thigh nicely with my keys... picked myself up, dragged myself and bike off the road, SOOO lucky nothin' coming to wipe me out... one asshole old guy commuter didnt even say a word, and a stupid bitch walking commuter went by without a word either... scumbags, not even a "are you okay?" what IS it with people these days... anyway, carried on to work going ouch ouch ouch. got some firstaid kit supplies applied once at work. then tuesday night, pete was a bit wiped out by the heat so we did a town ride. from petes, along river road all the way in cambridge tce, to vic sq, bit of tooling about there, was a dude on a banshee showing off jumping off big drops that we werent even considering. then onwards in to artscentre then round hagley, north, and back along deans ave edge, into rotunda area, hung by a bench by the "wrestlers" then rode all the way back along the river and i went home early...

no rides over weekend, but last night, headed out about 6. rode across to and up Farm Track, round summit to vic park, down the upper fenceline track. at the top, after only a small quantity of descent, i stepped off the back on a steep section and singed a nice wee crescent of disk tat on my right calf... yowch! carried the bike back up that section and rode it again, cleanly, and on down the track.., a bit further down i was seriously concerned my hot disks were gonna torch the long dry grass... pedalled back up one of the fire roads a ways, towards the nationals track, then down the little valley single tracks, and then out and round and across to k2 and down and out bowenvale... into the easterly home.

off out tonight too, up rapaki from steves.

Sunday Flatsville

drove from Pete's to Sumner, rode up Capt Thomas, hot hot morning, still and hot, cooking up the trail. cleaned a couple sections i dont think i usually clean, still a few bits ya just gotta get off on. rested in the shade of a rockface at top of Evans. then attacked the Godley singletrack. got a lot of that first section, cept my rear cogs were slipping a bit (tuned that out later). Parts are vastly improved. then on the first major descent, i thought my balance was all up the wop, the bike seemed to be squirrelling all over the place in the ruts and i felt quite off. got to the bottom, and actually found my front tire at probably 10 or 15 psi... swapped out the tube, was a leaky old patch. pump pump pump and carried on riding, flying down the next descent and oh shit, its happening again, bike very hard to control, only the flat happened quicker this time and i ended crashing quite spectacularly not being able to scrub enough speed off in time. walked ran down the rest of the hill to bottom and got a tube off Tony. this time was a pinch hole from a spoke hole i think the rim tape had slightly shifted on the last tube change and so had punctured. no worries for me from then on, we rode up and over the last hill to the godley carpark where the boys wanted to top up water. got down there, the others had gone ahead, and steve is there with bike upside down. his derailleur all munched up, chain twisted as, hanger snapped. his back wheel had locked up on the way down the hill. MUNTY. so, they tried as they might to singlespeed it, but the chain was just too twisted in too many spots. so, steve rode the anaconda with no chain. did mighty well too. you dont need a drivetrain to get down a hill. then we all pedalled ahead over from taylors to slumner and tony went back for him in his ute while pete nick andrew and me had coffee. other riders, hubby, and nathan, and of course steve..

Gun Emplacements

the usual suspects, S P T A and me drove to Taylor's carpark, rode round the boulder bay track, first time i've done it in daylight, so interesting to see the sheer drops to the left in places down to the surf and rocks... up the head to the top where we rode out to the newly accessible WWII gun emplacements that are up on the top of Godley Head. Interesting area, with lots of info about the site, and you can get down into the magazine store, which is way under ground, and lights automatically. sat up there and had a beer, then rode back round single track to top of the Anaconda. met up with a slightly older dude on an older specialized from Nelson, BC, we told him the way down. Pete crashed pretty big time on one of the last yumps on the 'conda, and totally taco'd his front wheel. had to take it out and bounce on it to get it to spin.

so, not the longest ride, and not the best, but good nonetheless...

Bottle Lake will be closed right now due to fires at both ends.

Sounds like...

...fun. long drive up coast, stopping lots for little man, picturesque beaches, etc... Waikawa. a night of rain, and then summer holiday. rode every one of the three days we were there, each morning while O slept. on the first day i met up with a guy on another Switchback! fantastic. he had a good set up, double front ring, instead of triple, and large disks. we rode together up this trail that started out interesting and got steeper and steeper, and him being young and fit made me feel old and fat and slow... i chuffed and chuffed eventually getting off and walking the last 20 or 30 metres up... to the top of Victoria Domain. he'd just come back from doing the Snout, so i went and did it. that was fun. tho you had to watch for walkers round every bend, tho i didnt see a soul on the final leg out to the snout and back... the snout, for those geographically interested is the point between Waikawa Bay and Picton harbour. Anth and me tried to fish off it last time we were up there. anyway, riding back up it was long, tho really only half an hour or so. maximum altitude is less than 180 m. but the ups are steep, full granny granny, big cog in back, smallest ring in front, granny granny... an exercise in keeping the nose down.

so, ended up just exploring that the first day, rode all the way through to picton the second on the Waikawa Picton walk/bike track, and back down the steep gnarley trail i'd ridden with the other switchbacker and then back up it to try to clean it, rode more, but still walked a couple switchbacks, then found more of the twisty singletracks in the scrubby bush behind the highschool and the new slobdivision. heaps of little twisty trails, so fun, not much altitude but what there is is steeeeeep. played in there, rode back. then friday rode the first bit of the snout again, and played in the twisties again...

Yesterday, Pete, Steve, Tony, Nathan and andrew and me rode up Worsleys, over marleys to Kiwi, up thomsons, down the doubleblack that kuts just before the gums, down dazzas then down a trail we havent ridden for ages into the gulley and out bowenvale... was fun, fast tho with lots of breaks. hot hot hot norwest day, hella headwind home for me. talked to Krs about new front tire, will put the Conti on the back... wanna get a Nevegal.

Exmass Excess...

ugh, sitting here, latish, mid holiday, with not enough riding behind me... soooo... dredging back into far history, before xmas, tuesday night, i believe Andrew Tony and me did rapak summit vicpark, i remember being on fire like the last capt thomas run...

saturday, xmas eve, steve et al a large group rode with Clint from Aus, rapak summit vic i believe. Al and me did rapak left to capt thom i recall, very good ride, caught a guy who'd caught us on the descent, thrashed him on the last stretch but when got out the bottom saw he wasnt running a front caliper!!! without that braking its no wonder i thrashed him out...

eat eat eat drink drink drink,
then wed's 28 a.m. rode with steve and Nathan, welcome back nathan, LONG time no ride... and we did rapak and left... down capt thom. coffee at .com good tail wind home, streamed a truck for a bit, but the others hadnt gotten on so i pulled out and waited for ages for them.

garden garden garden,
little ak, gnu yeah's eve, swim in bay, ride about on the old Phillips Roadmaster out to wharf and all over Little Brook.
and tomorrow, off to sounds, taking Swtchbck with.

Couple rides... couple weeks...

Sad, but only had three rides in the last two weeks. tonight will make four i guess. anyway, where am i. last i spoke with thee was that monday night i spun round rapaki and capt thom. well, didnt ride again for a week and a half, to Thursday last to be precise. Otis had his preschool Eczemass party at 5.30, so i got T to take my bike and gear in the car and i bussed thru straight from work. and then about 5 past 7 i left the preschool and headed up the Bridle path, Lyttelton side, rode the whole thing, road inclusive, and then onto the single track heading for Rapaki. that was all sweet, was a very muggy warm evening, overcast but not cold. took the craterrim walkway section from the Tors to the singletrack that blips round Witch Hill. then i rode up the Vernon singletrack above the road to the highest point, turned around and back down it, then down Rapaki and home. it was fun.

then sunday a bunch of 5 of us met at steves, we did the same loop as i did in my last post. up rapak, round summit over richmond down capt thom. once again, i was ON FIRE. sweeeeeet ass riding. stopped for coffee at Dot Com and then i departed a little a head of the boys as i had my olds coming for lunch. 20 mins, countem, 20 mins door to door, sumner to home. i thought that was pretty good timing.

tonight we're in for a quick ride ithink. not sure what. but sounds like steve's out.

excellence

well, i went for a wicked ride last night. from home, across to rapaki, up, turned left along singletrack, then road to castle rock, then singletrack to bridlepath, then road to mt pleasant then singletrack to evans pass, and capt thomas track to sumner, then home, all in 2 hours... haulin'! anyway, it was an awesome night, and there was this huge thunder cell out off little akaloa heads, just out to sea, was PISSING down out there, but nice and fine where i was. was surprised tho, when i got to sumner, the roads were wet and there had obviously been quite a downpour at some stage a bit earlier in the day. my riding was like a work of art. i was really on form. and felt good until i was almost home, then i started to flag a little... had one nearly off, down this wickedly tricky rock section on Capt Thomas, one of the bits that i've only ever ridden a couple of times, and i was millimetres away from going over the handlebars and over a cliff. well, a large bank with a steep hill below, woulda tumbled a ways, but was pretty low speed, so wouldnt have been a worry. but man, there's that point that you think there's no returning from, up on the nose of the bike, weight shifted to the wrong place, but i somehow managed to keep in under control and carry on riding... dodgey. its moments like those you live for, the adrenalin that kicks in afterwards only makes you faster and wickeder. very nice. just BOMBED it the whole way, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic...

thursday night quickspin

alone, again. rode across to rapaki, up, round summit down bowenvale, home. hour twenty or so. on way up rapak caught up to dude on Chapparel, doin' alright considering the weight of those things. chatted a bit. then i got going. cleaned singletrack nicely. and bombed the bowenvale. overGROWN, needs a clear, the grass hides the trail surface, and so you get caught out heaps. lower down well grazed but covered in milkthistle, spikey nasty on the legs and hands (tis tall). and then a bit of gorse, but thats par for the course.

T's gone to sydney, so 's just O and me til sunday. so, no rides.

sunday...

nigel no mates sunday, everyone else either away or off pissing up watching petrol and rubber burn at ruapuna. so, drove myself across to bowenvale ave, rode round to worsleys, up up up, nearly puked at top, but dabless all the way. then over marleys, down dyers, up into vic, down dazzas, back up the nationals track down to my 'favourite' down and out to bottom of valley. down to car. nice. didnt feel too bad. but at top of worsleys some xcgeek pulled up while i was still getting my breathback. on some light ass xtc with SID forks, and slightly older, but of the mega multisporter variety, the guy, not the bike. anywhoo, he rode off and i sat on his tail up the marleys track, tho he was fresher than me, for some reason, and i let him go. was gaining on him on the descent but never quite caught him and he went up at the kiwi, whereas i went down... dyers trail is sickypants bumpy. makes ya want fullsuss. once back at car, went and got veges, then we cleaned up the garage, new space now wilson's gone.

sunday and tuesday...

quick ride sunday afternoon, due to other commitments. drove across town. parked on a little known side street near the hills, and the Heathcote river, and headed up Farm Track. steepest puppy in the middle of the hills. relentlessly steep, i love it. caught up with some grommits, one of whom was on a nice full susser, a spec i think, but the fools had their seats too low, thereby making their ride up hell. they had another mate, further ahead, caught and took him too. rode the whole lot, they were walking bits. then on the summit two guys just flew past as i was just crossing summit road, so i hooked onto their tails and kept with them. one guy on a Heckler the other on a Jeckyll i think. good pace, i was pushin it. said as much to them too. we chatted at the road crossing, and then i stayed with them all the way round to Vic where i shot straight down, hung the left on the doubleblackdiamond just before the gums and dug it. then down dazzas and then out the nationals (pylon, rutsville) track. caught some niiiice air at the bottom on the jump, near the end of the valley track.

then tuesday night, assembled at Steves, to be told no pete, no steve, so just andrew andme and tony headed up rapak. tony's doing a bit better. had a mellow ride up, middle ring, and biggest in back, slow easy cruise... then round the summit to vic, lots of speed, and down i did the doubleblack diamond again, met the othertwo at the skidder site and we headed down dazzas and on down into the gulley. then out to k2 and down the rest. niiiice strong tailwind back across town to home, southerly, quite chilly, was wearing double merino and windproof vest most of ride. so. good couple of wee rides. i'm dying to get up Worsley's... sunday hopefully.

Tuesday nights standard

No sunday ride for me, on account of being at the Bach... Ah, Little Akaloa. took an old dunger bike over and left it there, its a Phillips Roadmaster, probably from somewhere in the 60's or 70's, but possibly older. anyway, its got 1 3/8ths tires, which i got two new ones of, and its well lubed and runs pretty good. i used to use it to commute, but its a slug. and its a singlespeed, quite a big gear, so nigh on impossible even to ride up the drive at the bach. took it for a spin up the road, into a howling southerly, and then coasted / sailed back down...

Tuesday night, the usual suspects(steve, tony, andrew and me), minus Pete, assembled at Steves at 6. we headed up Rapaki, i explored a little side track i'd been wanting to check out for a while, between the Manuka and the chute, there's a cattle track that leads up onto the bank, and near the manuka a drop down onto the track which has always looked rideable. with just the tiniest bit of work it could prove an interesting interlude to the rocketship ride rapaki usually is. then further up on the midlevel flats i rode every little rocky sidetrack. then, i raced up the last section, got to the top ahead of the boys, especially tony who was lagging waaaaay behind, and so i took off round the summit trail to the left to the first highest point, turned back. nice. so, well and truly warmed up. Andrew and me hit the single track while steve and tony dawdled up the road. the next section was fun. met a guy at the sign on the saddle next to sugarloaf who was on his new Reign. nice looking bike, and light. a LOT of bike for $3100... very nice. i'd caught him, he wasnt too quick. then we blitzed it round the next section, bombed down through the gums, down dazzas and on down the next bit into the gulley, with Tony riding nearly all of it, which is really really good for him. the final sidle track round to the trees and down to k2 was fast and messy. i took the drop of the nationals track where the sidler meets k2. then we bombed the rest of the way out. i was very tired riding home. got home and just crashed! hot bath. food. brrrr... couldnt shake the chill of the easterly from riding home. the bath fixed it tho... now i'm dying for another ride, and i think im wanting more and more an evil sovereign.
http://www.evil-bikes.com/structures_sovereign.htm
to me this would be an ideal "structure" upon which to transport myself at breakneck speed up and down the hills... at US$800-something, we're talking $12-1300 NZ at the mo. droool. then again, for $3000NZ i could score a pretty nice full susser?

Sunday Tuesday...

Sunday, bit of a southerly through, dampening things a little, from Steve's we rode singletrack along Heathcote to Mt Pleasant and up that road. not bad tarmac climb, steady as she goes. then onto the Richmond Hill Singletrack, oh, blissful joy. tight and well used, and not muddy like earlier in the year. i bombed it, leaving all in my dust. Pete filmed, caught some good footage of me leaving him behind. then down Capt Thomas, i cleaned for the first time EVER, Every single trickyspot. 100% of the track ridden. normally there is one or two spots i just dont ride, but i hammered it all. then out to Dot Com for a coffee, a Bundaberg Sarsaparilla and a date scroll. yum, then a lonnnng slog back home across causeway, humphries and linwood, with pete and Al.

then last night i rode across town to Rapaki, i over took most people, but this one guy overtook me, be in is late 40's, obviously a multisporter, competitive type, spinning fast and easy. i was choking, been a bit sick so not 100% at all. then round the summit, had a good spin round there, to Vic Park, then down and just as i entered the gums hung a hard left down the double black diamond that me and pete have only ridden once before, takes you out to the skidder site, its steeeeep as, ass hittin' the back wheel almost, then from skidder down Dazza's, then up the Nationals track and down to "my favourite" which i just bypassed and hit the mega downhill chute, out to the sidling valley track and down bowenvale. caught a guy in the private land spot, took him a bit further down. then home across town.

rode hard, got home pretty stuffed.

Okiwi, Nelson, Linkwater, and since...

so much to cover... so many rides done, so many trail miles completed, and soooo much altitude gained and lost. Nelson and me rode ~150kms, and climbed and lost over 4 kms of altitude...

Okiwi Bay
The journey began, departure from the smaug city bout 5.30, dropped my dog off at Surrey's and carried on to Okiwi Bay, north of Kaikoura, just south of the Clarence River mouth. Found the carpark which is on the landward side of the railway tracks, which at this point lie on the landward side of the road. small driveway off the road over the tracks into a nice and newly crushed limestoned carpark, from the corner of which the Okiwi bay track leaves... this pic is from on the way up the track, and is the pic that alerted me to the existence of the track. http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/snaps_summ2006/pages/02-2006.htm It was about 11 pm when we pulled in, so pitched the tent under these old Totara trees. Pretty heinous sleep, cos of trains and trucks hauling past all night. and the crashing of the ocean, and then at about 3.30am we heard a vehicle shifting down through its gears, and obviously pulling off the road into our wee driveway... then heard the engine running for ages, and then this flashing light... "what, is that the cops?" poked heads out of tent and there was one of the Railway workers little Suzuki jeeps equipped to drive on the tracks, heading off. phew. Got a little more sleep then once light, got up, had breakfast, and rode the track. Steeeep. UP. 0 to 600 m in about 5 kms, with a couple of small downs, took us about 2-2.5 hours up. rewarded with WICKED views. and then an incredible downhill, 20mins back to the van.

Annual Trip prePFMTBCInc, in Nelson City
On up to blenheim, dropped some stuff off to N's Dad, and then on to the town of Nelson. Arrived at the house to find the boys, and a nice backyard.

Fringed, Devil's, Third House, Dun Walkway.
Saturday, rode up Fringed Hill, 793 m, then down the Devils Tail to the Dun Mtn Walkway, then up it to the Third House and back down. a hoot. Devils tail is ALWAYS sweet, with a couple new lines experienced this time, including Nanna's, which was a sweet wee section of trail. i utterly bonked on the way up to the third house. was TOTALLY out of steam, and had no boost to get me there, so just had to persevere and plod up the trail to the hut... had a leppin off steve and lots of nuts and raisins off others. fixed me right up.back down we went, speedy speedy, steve and me ahead. what a blast. back to the house, and lots of beer and bourbon'n'drys.

Codgers - before it was called Codgers
next day morning up to Tantragee, up Fireball Rd, down a new track, then round to the Dogs. the new track was steeper than some of the boys had ever done, but was no worse than the Devil's and no where near as long. fun. only dabbed once i think. forgot to mention, we'd hooked up with this local guy, a friend of Tony's. Bloody good bloke he was too, riding a Spec. Enduro. good rider too, especially for someone who's only been riding 2 years and is in his early 40's. the Dogs, i think there's the Tired Dog, the Lazy dog and one other, are a selection of wee trails that traverse and drop in some wickedly steep ass pine forestry, down to the Maitai. we had lots of fun, including Steve who crashed right in front of Pete filming... alas, pete wasnt actually filming bah! oh to have seen steve go down again and again. ne'er mind.
Sharland's Valley
that afternoon we went up Sharland's Rd, up Bob's Fern Rd, to the top of the 506 trig, then down the Doublehappy into the Scotswoods. NIICE. i did this last time i was up in nelson, back at PHoenix's birthday weekend.

Grampians
Sunday, we went up the Grampians, but took the wrong way up. ended up walking alot, up a very steeeep pylon track to the lookout. but then we went down Fuschia, and down Kahikatea, beautiful trails in there. That was good.
NZ Centre
That night, we rode with lights up the Centre of NZ, then round Walter's Bluff and down the zigzag. it was here that Mark had us all trained in the art of quick-cornering. a method that will disturb hardcore XC'ers, and trail makers, cos it involves: unclipping your inside foot, hanging your leg down, and skidding your back wheel around the corner. it makes for very fast and controllable cornering, but it skids on the trails. we promise we wont be doing it too often!

Cullen's first time.
Nelson times over, the next morning we cleaned up, and Nelson and me took off in the Van. on the way to Waikawa Bay, we stopped up the valley behind Linkwater, at the site of Cullensville, a town that had over 600 souls at its peak, and is now just paddocks and trees, and a few indentations in the ground. one gold nugget pulled out of there was 26 ounces! and rode up at track that was built by goldminers between 1888 and 1893, hand cut into cliffs, a nice sidling benched single track up the valley. DoC were blasting a section so on the way up and beyond we heard a couple of really loud bangs... this trail is called the Linkwater Long Cut in the Kennett's 'guidebook'. rode til we were in beech forest, and then turned back. 2 hours up, will have reached about 720 m, and 20 mins down.


Home again, Bottled, Quarried, Crocked.
Then had a week in Waikawa with T and O. lovely. orca. paddling in canoe, little fishing. suntan. then since i've been back, i've only managed to get a friday evening quickspin round bottle lake, and then last night steve, pete andrew tony and me rode up round Halswell Quarry, up Kennedy's a ways, and back down the newish singletracks. down the crocodile and out. quick.



ANNUAL TRIP HISTORY:
Post Script:  This was the third Annual Trip I'd done, the 4th of all trips by 'the group' (in future to be called PFMTBCInc...

The very first was just Pete, Steve and Andy, and was on the Queen Charlotte.

The next year, 2003, my first, were Pete, Steve, Andy and me, at Lake Kaniere where we rode the water-race, a loop north of the lake and No Name Rd.  Can't really remember if we rode anywhere else.

The following year, 2004, Nelson joined us this year and we went to Naseby and Alexandra.  I remember Naseby being really good. Except that it was on this trip that Andrew crashed and nearly broke his leg.  Taking the bark off a tree.  It was a truly spectacular crash, viewed by Nelson and me, and heard by all the others.  Over a jump, flying through the air, leg out to one side, and colliding with said tree, just above the knee.  Lower it would have destroyed his knee, higher might have broken the femur.  OUCH.l
But I have no recollection what or where we rode in Alex...