Capt Thom and Godley under first lights.

got a lift with Pete and met up with massive group assembled outside dot com. Nelson, Steve, Andrew, Hubster, Tony, Warren, Rex, Mother Ted and Pete and me.

Good blast up Capt Thomas, nice and mild on the hill, Nelson and me leading out, riding without lights for as long as mentally possible. I turned mine on briefly in the gulch near the bridge, then off again, until the wee descent over rocky bit further up. dismounted the usual dismounts, but cleaned everything else. good blast to top, tho legs were feeling a bit wiped by Evans. All regrouped there, was amazing watching the tailenders lights from up top.

Hit Godley, balance all over the place, blew the first climb, and had lots of weird offbalance dabs most of the way out. bit of a regroup round at the start of the first main descent, and then off we went, nelson leading out onto the newly laid Teddington Shit. most spectacular crash i've ever had the pleasure (and shock) to watch. it was amazing, i saw his front wheel go out then suddenly the bike was flying through the air and he was crashlanding and running and stumbling and tripping as the bike somersaulted and vaulted off the track and down the hill. amazing. he was okay, just a small graze (which is gonna bruise up nicely) on his thigh, and some scrapage on his shoulder. he led off again, and nearly lost it again before the wee bridge, so i led off and blasted the rest to Livingston. not a bad run, taking it reasonably easy, but still getting a good speed on. From Livingston, i tackled the climb quite well, but my random dabbiness was still in action on the rocky bits near top. then good spin down to Breeze, tho with a massive bottoming out of the shock on the last leg.

The others all bailed down Anaconda, while Pete, Nelson, Rex and me tootled along the road under moon's light to the end. watching the other's lights powering along the 'conda. Nice blast back on the singletrack, then onto the 'conda for us. i was getting my eye in, and managed to really fly down.

Then it was up out of Taylors, Nelson and Rex powering off, my legs still recovering, (craigie-)burning from Sunday's jaunt, and Pete not far behind. then blasted down Nicholson, and at Scarborough Fare looking back, no sign of Rex... thought he'd crashed, but his light had died so he'd come down the road. regrouped with the rest and most of us stayed for snackage and coffees/hotcho's at the Slotcom.

Damned good timing on craigieburn on sunday, as last night it snowed a lot up there.

Craigieburned it up.

huge pile of us, ten in fact, assembled at Steve's. incl: Steve, (abba)Steve, Andrew, Pete, Nelson, Tony, Wayne, (hel)Mark, hubby and myself. drived there, weather looking ominous, but turning out good.
previous trips, once on way home from Kaniere (pre blog), then May06-marys-first with al.
March07-luge-draco-cheese-taboggan with harry from work, and
Jan08happy-new-yeah with nelson (hard to believe that was the last time i did it... )

parked up, and headed up the road to the Luge... i led off, cleaning heaps but walking some of the steeper rootier sections that plague the lower 1/3rd. having not ridden for a couple of weeks meant my lungs were struggling. sat for a spell on the bench 1/3rd of the way up, and regrouped, then headed on up. granny for a start but middle ringing the top 1/3rd no prob. Lyndon saddle, and off i led blasting the way down to Craigieburn access rd. absolutely flew that section, i think it was my best riding of the day. even nelson couldnt seem to keep up. he put the camera on from the turn off and followed pete, who said he had trouble staying on my tail down to the road.

then the grind began. well, not really. the road is sweet to start with, middle ring most of the way, but after the ford/bridge the steepness begins. nelson cleaned it all middlering, but i grannied/2nd it all the way up, the straights looking not that bad, but biting nonetheless.

regrouped in skifield carpark, bit of drizzle drifting in, lotsa wind about. climbed up and hit the trail. the edge. of reason. here's me on it... right near the top, when i was feeling okay about it...

i led the way, but soon felt out of my depth. cleaned lots of tricky stuff, but dabbed in so many places i shouldnt have. was just feeling very very careful i guess. anyway, sections of absolute brilliance followed by sections of near shitting myself rounding corners with shitscary drops off. the final scree was washed out on what it was last time we rode it. nelson nearly offed, pete cleaned lots of it. most walked bits, including me.

then the climb, back up to Lyndon Saddle, and at one point i stopped, rocked backwards slightly and heard this 'ting' from my front brake. the pads were so low that the spring that holds them apart had caught on the disk and bent. rode it to top and got to work. tried bending it back, no good. so new pads installed, (with me being given a hard time for no apparent reason other than holding everyone up - tho, it didnt take me THAT long...), and off we rode. pete, nelson then me, then hub. me breaking in my new pads... hauled up at the benchseat, hub continued on, and then off we all bombed again. pete then me then nelson and the rest. mostly an excellent drop down, tho i dropped my chain near the bottom which slowed me up a little, tho not that much, more of a nuisance than anything else... then talk of climbing up and doing more, but instead we bailed... through gales on the drive home. andrew's car got all chipped up by blown gravel.

heeeesh... no rides to speak of

fiordland last week, and only riding to work and the Specialized Ghettoglobe jaunt to Andrew's on tuesday night for a pfmtbc meeting about this October's trip to speak of...
plan is to do some Craigieburnin' on Sunday. and Nels and me might do a spin on the hills Saturday night, cos its Daylightsavings ending, so the evenings are gonna have to be lit from now on...

Paddy's Croc

picked up Nelson and we headed for the Quarry. arrived to find Wayne, Steve, Tony, Warren and Rex, and then Pete showed up. headed through the quarry park to the bottom of the crock. up that, cleaning all nicely, to bottom of Kennedys, then on up newtasty, young cattle all over the top half, that didnt seem to wanna get out of the way. i botched one of the little ups. nelson and me powering miles ahead of all the rest. regrouped at highest gate, then on over to the next one, nelson filming that descent with camera facing backwards on seatstay this time.

turned around, and climbed back up, then filming again, nelson leading, us all bombing down down down down. Nelson got bailed up by the twistytricky little rock gut on the lower section in the valley, i nearly crashed into him, and then pete ended up juuust bumping into me, coming to a halt with my pedal IN his front spokes. if he'd moved another 3 inches it would have taken some out. then onwards down, grunted up the climb, cleaning it, regrouped and on down the rest. some tasty sgilfs walking their doggie were a treat to behold, and on down to the cars... the others went for a st paddy's day beer while i went and got a bike for O.

para para again

went in and did it again. Started into Forest again, over Saddle, round Little River, up Ridge, down DH, up Estuary, up Ridge, down Ridge, round Big River, back out Forest, then up to Estuary trail, down that and back round the flat to car... was fun...
time limited me to doing only that again. spent 2 nights at Marahau and would have loved to have ridden the Kaiteriteri trails again, but family time took over and walked Anchorage back instead...

Rameka'd, and Parapara

En route to Totaranui on the 2nd March, T dropped me at top of Takaka Hill and i cruised out the Canaan Rd to end, 11kms in a bit less than an hour, prob 400 odd m of climb, then at end there's a sign, roughly 1 hour to bush edge, another hour to Takaka... well, dunno who that's for. 35 mins to bush edge and another 35 to Takaka.

Anyway, mint ride. was a beautiful day, perfect views everywhere, the road in was cool, only met two cars on their ways out. got to trailhead and hit the singletrack. wee climb to Rameka turn off, then the sidling benched gorgeous track began. winding in and out, less of a gradient than any of Wharfdale, middle ring cruising, roots, puddles, the odd stream crossing. nice flow... then, towards bush edge, finally a bit of a flowy descent, then into gorse, steeper, some mildly tech descent into a gulch, then back up other side on a carved out of a rocky cliff bench to the end of the track. 4wd for a km or so, then gravel rd down down down down to a Project Rameka sign (Kennett project), nice wee flowy piece of singletrack deviation from road on original rameka, and then back onto road, near miss with a 4wd coming up, and good bomb to a ford and valley bottom downhill gravel road for a good few kms out to a sealed road... hmmm, which way? left felt right, so took it and ended up about 3kms from Takaka on main road... 1 hr 10 or so since i left the Harwoods Hole carpark, surprising Chris and Lottie at the pub.


No real riding at Totaranui. just 5 days on glorious golden beach, bush, sun, some torrential rain and lotsa beer.


then Collingwood. so far, yesterday morning i drove round to the Parapara inlet, and hit the parapara trails. small, not even 1km sq piece of forestry, with about 60-80 m of altitude in it, and heaps of trails. followed signs, Forest Trail, Big River Loop, Little River Loop, Ridge Track, Estuary Track, Ridge again, estuary again, up an unnamed DH track, down Ridge, Saddle both ways, back round Big River and back round Forest. all up probably 1.5 hours? no idea how many kms or m alt, but a lot of it is twisty low speed stuff. the whole time i was thinking how cool a Pugsley would have been, bouncing over roots and stuff... fun tho.

Might try'n get in Aorere Goldfields, walked up there yesterday and looks like fun country... otherwise, we're prob off to Marahau in which case i'll try for Kaiteri again, or Nelson, do something there again...

Peaky.

I'm on Holiday!!!!!
Today, headed out 1.30-2ish, rode up Codgers to Tantragee and a guy had just come down off Fringe Hill, said its shut cos of the logging (that i could see up on the old devils tail). so, headed round Dun Mtn Walkway. good jaunt up there, probably an hour? less?? the wind damage from last year is madcore, whole faces next to ridges just clearfelled. mental. right pedal wouldnt clip in, had a look and it was bent, and the bolt/screw thingy that holds the whole spring set up for one half of the pedal was out. worked on it for 15 mins or so and just couldnt get it in, so tightened it up as best i could.

had a rest at 3rd House and then tackled the walk up through the decimation to windy ridge... probably 20mins carrying the bike. really messed up in there. then up the ridge a brief distance and whoopee, down Peaking Ridge (see here for last year's)(a year to the day, nearly!).

Absolutely more insane than i remember it. the new 'built' bits are few and far between, the rest is still just as rooty and crazy as before, except that there's huge expanses of it, maybe 40%, that have been windfelled. excellent work by the trail pixies who've been in and re-cleared it... a little way down i spotted my pedal wasnt looking so happy, so i took all the bits off and only had one half to clip into. so, even with that, no real tight moments, quite a bit more walking than last year, cos of the fact that it must have rained in the last 24 hours and the roots were a fair bit slippier than the dry trip down i had last year. the last section especially, i thought i remembered cleaning it all, but this time i bailed on quite a few of the steeper sections... had to keep myself safe, right?

anyway, got to bottom, Maitai River, and stayed on the side i was on (vs switching over cos of track work last time), and nice wee ride down benched singletrack to a bridge, then onto the gravel road alllllllll the way down the Maitai.

When the seal started, i popped over the river, and headed up Tantragee to the top and then down Codgers. back at Flamedaisy at 5.30ish.


Loads of bikers in town, cos Nationals are on this weekend, and a cyclone is about to hit. got this ride in today cos forecast looks like a LOT of rain... wet racers... the track was around Codgers, lots of tape around there.

Are your mcleans showing...

nelson, me, singlespeeds. 3 laps. just done. filmed looking backwards from nelson's bike for one lap. overtook a couple people, as well as a group of scouts we kept seeing, and got taken by one speedster on our second lap. he had gears and a nice new looking lightweight weightweenster bike, so it was no surprise really... anyway he only caught us on the straights, couldnt keep up in the corners. first lap, 23 mins, second a bit slower, third, maybe as fast?

Wednesday evening, Cashmere quick blat

Had Nainy over for dinner, so dropping her home up the hill decided to have a wee ride. Picked up Nelsy on way across town, and we hit it from her place, up the zigzag, gasping for air, up the Vic Park track, dropped down to Old Dyers, up to Kiwi, up road, checked out the trail progress into Gov's, they were working on it, looking good, nearly connected thru..., then up over marleys, legs tired on the up, followed by my best run down i reckon ever, then up thomsons, down thru Vic, with me doing the Seesaw for the first time ever - finally!!! then down through gummies, stopping and walking up to check out the madcore jumps track off next to bottom of them, then singletrack parallel to fire access down to 19th battalion and Rangerstation, poached paths up round info centre, then across playground, poached dog park where Nelson flatted, fixed that, easterly cooling us down a bit, then it was nearly getting too dark to see, picked our way down the barbedwire-kiss trail beside the pines, below the houses, explored past the no access to see why its no access, and understood why (trees down and gulch washed out), then back to Nainy's. All up a pretty short but good ride.

Sunday, Worsley 'nun gov dyers dazzas nats hidden oldskool

dropped in at work to set a process running, then hit road about 10. straight down Colombo, into Ernsley(sp?) then round river (nice jump on that bridge by Princess Marg's) to Cracroft river and up Worsley's. pretty warm. seemed like hard work but made pretty good time. made the top at 10.50, cleaning entire. seemed to be lots of bike-orienteerers around (Rogainers?), with checkpoint thingies up Worsley's and elsewhere i noticed.

Excellent bomb down the 'nun, the braking ruts not really all that bad, just gotta scrub the speed before them or ignore them entirely. lower rocks fun, then excellent run down lower til i got stuck behind someone. that made me decide to peel off up the little side track halfway down the lower section, and pop over onto the trail that drops into Gov's bay. i'd been wanting to check out progress on the new track. bumpy bomb down towards gov's, hung a right onto the new bit and pedalled on up. miles further than last time. surface a little bit sticky from recent(ish) rains. got to end of where they'd worked, and turned round and floated back down. nice flow. then worked it back up to the summit road, and over back onto the bottom of the nun. continued on into Old Dyers. spotted a couple of other riders a ways ahead. chased them down and passed them on the straighter bits, cruised round to Vic.

climbed up into Vic, took singletrack to skidder site, then hit Dazza's. peeled left before the bottom and grabbed Pono's down to the pylon, then down the Nat's course (avoiding the rock drop), bypassing the 23 footer, hoofing down into off camber, and crossing k2 and on down through the drop. then hung a right into the gorse and clambered up towards Hidden Valley. instead of going up through hidden, i took the old track. more work than hidden i think. up to pylon, and onto the Lower Old Skool. saw a guy ahead, chased him down took him before the newbits, and bombed rest of way down. bit of a head wind across town home. home by 12.15 - not bad timing.

Then, took O out to bottle lake, singlespeed and tagalong. rode in, hung a right, out to and along beach, then back in past the pond. he enjoyed it, i was feeling a bit tired tho.

Tuesday Lunchtime Blast

Left work just after 12. headed Manchester, High, Barbadoes, Waltham, Wilsons, met Nelson at Centaurus, we headed up Rapaki. pretty quick climb, first section graded flat and smooth, blatted to top. hard work. then up round Vernon singletrack, which had been weedeaten most of the way up, with very very very very dry grass all over the trail (this'd be hella slippery coming down). the weedeaters were parked up for lunch. Hit the first bit of Traverse, then bombed off piste and onwards down Old Skool. excellent run down there, cleaning all nicely. nelson made his leg bleed by scraping it with his back tire off balanced in a rut. lower section of singletrack full of sheep and shit and trodden up dusty trail. out bottom, Bowenvale Ave, Birdwood, Sandwich, round river to Colombo, all the way back to work, Nelson peeling off at Milton... back at work by 1.45.

this was just what i needed after a more than a week off the bike.

Packhorse, pack of heat...

Mint ride yesterday with Nelson. rode over to his place by about 8.30, and we jumped in the Bongo, headed round to Motukarara and up Gebbies.

parked up top (160 m), and hit the trail. gravel road for first 800 odd m, mild gradient, then into pine forest singletrack. slight climb then sweeeet descent into a valley, then a climb up a bit and over a stile then climbing along side forest and round a corner, onto a forestry road descent, which then peeled onto a sweet flowing climbing singletrack through fir. a coupla switchies too tight and steep to ride, then pedalling again, all the while in forestry. man, have we discovered the untouched unknown forested singletrack riding destination on the outskirts of chch??? Possibly. climbing easily some more ups and downs, nothing major, passed a couple of walkers, then it got steeper, little bit of walking, not much tho, heat getting to us, so muggy so stopped for rest. walkers passed. rest some more, then onwards, up towards the final fence of the forest. quite steep hillside here, with the track lightly bench cut into it, going up at a nice gradient, kinda bottom range middle chainring, or a few down on back in granny, sidling round the hill. you wouldnt want to tumble off the side... up to the Remarkable dykes with some nice rocky trail here, and they really are remarkable... then its about 5 minutes round to the hut (460m)... all up, about an hour from van to the hut.


the hut had been full over night, with people camping around it too. most had departed by the time we got there. nice hut. great views, down Kaituna, across Lyttelton Harbour, over the porthills all round. no sign of the southerly.

anyway, we decided to explore a little further, and so headed round back of Mt Bradley. nice trail round to a wicked patch of bush, trail sweeetness through it, except for the onga onga that crowded out the trail at one point, then out of the bush onto a zig zag track up the hill. spotted some goats above us. ended up getting tighter and tighter up to about the 650m contour. then we turned round and rode the 200m altitude back to the hut. then after waiting for a few walkers to come up, headed on down the track to Gebbies... much better downhill, obviously.

carefully round the sidling through the dykes and on down to the forest. then into the forest and a smooth flowy bombfest ensued. luckily encountered no walkers, tho the visibility is such that it wouldnt be a problem, not really any blind corners anywhere that you're not going carefully round. awesome flow all the way back down. the first few little ups are easy blasts, but towards the end theres a couple of grunts that were pushing my heat and sleep deprived exhausted bones. the last climb (that was the sweet descent at the start) had a few corners of walking. then a blast down the gravel to the car. all up, about 25mins back down from hut. We're thinking this'd be a great night ride.

Tuesday night, into the wind...

bit of a southerly blowing, pushed into the wind over to Steve's to find him not riding (again!), this time cos of his wrist tweak (cause unknown) of sunday. Nelson, Andrew, Tony, Warren and myself were the only starters. tootled round, up busy Rapaki, taking down a few people, helluva wind up on top, waited for Helmetless Mark, Marie, and accountant Steve, aka Abba... my legs still not fully recovered from heat and ride on sunday.

struggled up round Vernon, then blasted round Traverse to Vic, Thomsons, Kiwi, up road to top of Marleys, struggling majorly with the road and last 4wd climb. (Marie riding up Flying nun from road to meet us part way up). Bombed it down the 'Nun, passed Marie by, and hauled ass down to Kiwi again... everybody seemed to have a pretty good run. i felt good, getting to know what to expect on every section now.

Up road to top of Vic, and down to brakefree, then down ?Sesame St? into new section with cool wooden wallride. then Tony, Marie, Mark and abba bailed, and the rest of us went down Dazzas, into Brents, Flow, Bridges, top line again, cleaning all, then barged up the being-rebuilt-zigzags, up Hidden Valley, to pylon, and caught the lower Old Skool singletrack for a blast down. all good.

streetlights were just on as i rode home across town, nice tail wind to push me, tho it'd died a bit (as per..).

Hot as hell, Sunday. lots of rests in the shade

Left home 8.35ish, warm sunny morning. Nelson was riding slowly to meet me and we rendevoused alongside Lancaster Park. both pretty tired, me cos of an excellent saturday enjoying Fat Freddy's Drop followed by a slightly late night, nelson just cos of a late night. we cruised very mellowly down Wilsons, Eastern and up Bowenvale. Hit Old Skool for the climb, already feeling the heat, but thankfully, a lot of the singletrack was still in the shade. however, the final zig zags were not and we cooked. i had to stop twice due to poaching of the brain. stopped in some shade for a rest just above top gate. rode on up, hit the Traverse and hauled ass round to Vic park, then down Thomsons to Kiwi. Nelson got some more water, i bought a Budget Ice Cream Soda, knocked back its sugar, flavouring and colouring goodness, then on we went up to top of Marleys. sat under shade of Worsley's big pine tree for a bit enjoying a cool breeze and chatting to some folks with a flat.

rode up and hit the Flying Nun... nelson following, camera mounted on handlebar. bombed it. flew down, enjoying every berm and yumpy and rocky bit. all the way down. caught upto and were briefly held up by a woman on the lower section below road, she pulled over and on we flew. then on down Old Dyers. best ride down there in ages. the middle section that is usually heinously bumpy was smoothed out somehow and we seemed to float down it in now time.

climbing up into Vic from the road was killing me, took off my helmet and when we got to the 19th battalion memorial stopped under a tree in the shade for a rest and discussed how people on sundays seem to be mostly rude...

after a rest we tootled up to skidder site and passed top of Dazza's down to middle section of Cool Runnings, swooped down it, round Flow, upper line of Bridges cleaned all drops into washout bottom of K2, nelson stepped off, then on down out and home by 12. all up bloody good ride, but tired and heat are not a match made in heaven.

meanwhile, the boys rode like this which i would have done if i'd not been doing the bees in the afternoon.

Tuesday night, rapaki, vic, nun, vic, oldskool. Kar Nidge.

good sized group assembled at Steve's (who'd returned from holiday), to find Steve was piking all due to a measly little flat tire... tubeless, eh? who'd run 'em.? :). anyway, there was Pete, Andypandy, chris, weird-little-tony, waynus, nelsy, warren, and then we picked up english mark at bottom of Rapaki Rd.

tootled up, nelsy and me putting a bit of distance on everyone, tho mark keeping up well and the others not that far behind. i overtook these two guys half way up the first half only to be overtaken by them on the last section. chur! some nice views to be had, and hoards of other bikers, runners and walkers. busy busy. made the top and had a good rest, then on up Vernon. legs tired from sunday i reckon, but cleaned it all good,

took off from below road round traverse, haulin' ass, me trying to hold on to nelsy's tail, which i managed to mostly. and just before the lava flow i started something that i seemed do from then on, which was taking a differing line from him (more on that later). good bomb round to vic, with one incident just before the pond where this guy could have easily pulled up and let nelson thru, but cos he was on the uphill decided he had right of way and nearly collided with nelson, and me right behind. sure, uphill has right of way, but only where practical, and its courtesy to give people way if its easier... dumbass.

all assembled eventually at vic, and no sign of waynus. weird-little-tony went back, andypandy checked his txts and there was one from wayne, flat tire... right back at the start. he showed up eventually.

then it was over and down Thomsons, some taking both bits, others not., then up road to top of Marleys. Nelson and me just absolutely flew down this. really getting the flow on. bombing the rocky bits, jumping, nelson nearly losing it on the jump into the old below the road. made the kiwi and waited. and waited. mark turned up. waited. waited... then along come the others. Pete in a bit of a state. blood leaking from knee, what will be a very bruised chest, scaped hip... he'd lost it on the same jump nelson nearly did.

Pete bailed down Dyers Pass Road, we went back up into Vic. all taking different lines to Brake Free, then into the new below that, me chasing andrew to skidder site, others ending up there.

then into Dazza's, nice flow down, bottom bit a bit brake-cut. into Brents, flew thru there. before Flow, Tony busted a whole bunch of spokes, so he bailed, walking back up to road and out home, the rest of us continued down. took the high line across Bridges, into K2, i cleaned all and down 'washout', the others walked down. then wayne crashed at top of washout...

then the others continued down valley and nelson and me took newly nearly-restored zigs and zags up to pylon at beginning of lower OldSkool. bit of granny, bit of walking, but moderately effortless gain of altitude to an excellent flowy descent, me taking every line nelson didnt... including the old bit that has the overhanging gorse, extrawidth thistles and sketchy rocks, which surprising cuts a couple of minutes off the descent... waited for nelsy then bombed the last. out bowenvale, home across town, just before dark, lights'a'flashin.

Sunday, rapaki to thunder to sumner

just the 4 of us met outside steve's. Tony, Wayne, Rex and me. headed up rapaki, good haul up there, Rex pushing hard as he's training for the Vulcaniser this coming weekend. At the top we hung a left. the sky was looking ominous, with huge thunder-head type clouds, darkness below. had a good spin round witch hill then a bomb up the road to the Castlerock.

waited for some guys to come up towards us, then waited for a couple of other riders who'd caught up. then let them get ahead in case we got stuck behind them. i said "i bet i'll catch him on the 2nd hairpin"... wasnt far wrong either. hussed down the trail, wishing i didnt have quite so much pressure in my rear tire, and would have caught the guy by the second hairpin, except that a rider comin the other way slowed me up... anyway, caught him by the end, and his mate had a pinch flat.

Stopped at top of Bridle path to admire the roar of hail on Heathcote Valley. could see it slowly creeping up the Tunnel Rd motorway, and the roads in the valley were all saturated. Thunder rumbled overhead and around us. very spectacular... headed round summit road and under the gondola a bit of rain spat on us, but nothing major. by the cutting the road was drenched but rain had passed on. walkers were soaked to the skin and complained of hail. John Britten was soaked, i stopped and cut a couple of drains in places, mud flecking all over us.

down road to Greenwood, trails quite wet. musta been a downpour, the clouds heading towards Port Levy and along the coast. just prior to this time there was a waterspout off sumner pics . was a fun spin down greenwood, with the greasiness making it interesting. amazingly, the steepest bits were the driest, as the water would have run straight off, whereas the less steep stuff the water had soaked into. not too much carnage, tire to trailwise, a group had been through before us and their treads were barely visible. all cleaned it nicely, out to Evans.

Then, time for the Captain. once again, i led off. strangely i took the new(ish) low line (which we normally climb up). baulked on the big rock with the wee steps cut into it (its been getting me every time lately). then cleaned everything else. had a great flow. all the way down. then to Dot Com for coffees, disturbing some snobs who made comments about how 'there should be dress code', us giving mud splattered evils back. they can just fuck off back to their poxy McMansions and stick their middle aged middle classed heads back up their middle new zealand assholes.

Wednesday night, MacCormacks, Greenwood, Godley, Snake, husshhhh...

totally mint ride last night. i drove over picked up Nelson and we drove to MacCormacks Bay. headed up the grunty singletrack, cleaning most, only walking the round two lowest corners (and me the second of the final switchbacks at the end), and the steps at top. then on up Mt (un)Pleasant Rd, which is always about a km longer than you think its gonna be... short break at top of Greenwood park, then the bomb began. Nelson led the way, i sat right on his tail most of the time. sometimes i couldnt see the trail for the sun shining on the dust he was rarking up. once or twice he got away from me but i reeled him in on the rockier stuff. excellent flow down with only one near-whoops that didnt result in anything.

crossed Evans Pass and hit Godley track. both botched the first rockies, pounded the rest no probs. i led after i passed Nelson part the way up (where i broke a pedal once, under a rock overhang near the top). excellent flow through to Livingston, bit of easterly shove from the left on occasion, then clambered up and over next lump, with a good flow down to Breeze, a few cattle in the way (and their tasty deposits to avoid).

Hit the Anaconda. I led off, haulin'. possibly one of the best runs down the snake we've ever done. Nelson reckoned it was one of his fastest and he was on my tail, so i musta been quick enough i guess. i was more concerned most of the way down with the fact that my chain had fallen onto the granny... but yeah, a wicked run down and a couple of major g-outs round some of the bermy corners... then a good blast down the 'tail. (part way down we stopped and watched briefly.. surf was messy, but quite big, not that many surfers out)

thru the car park and on up the road. but not all the way up...(disclaimer: there is no sign that specifically says "No Bikes"... = fair game) we finally tried out a trail i've always wanted to test. it proved a good climb, a few wee switchies that are too tight to ride, and the very last bit of climb i walked (cos my legs were dead by then), then over the ridge and the view of Sumner very good, then the trail sidles along the slope above these big muthahfucker cliffs. quite techy riding, which would be doable were it not for the 100m (or more!) drop below you. no wonder its never been touted as a bike trail, too dangerous. then towards the end it got WAY too techy, so we walked and carried between short riding stints. a few zigs and zags (ride, ride, carry, ride ride) and we were down onto the road, where we blasted down and back round through sumner etc to the car... all up a mint ride.

I can see us using this 'new' trail in the future to get back up onto the Godley track to go back to Evans on then down Capt Thomas, thereby extending those rides and keeping up the singletrack content (and avoiding the road out of taylors and the stupid fucking boyracers who dont seem able to navigate it properly)

Thomson stem report #2. bloody good. still able to climb like a mtn goat, but descent and control is well good.

Sunday, Worsley's, Nun, Traverse, Old Skool

fitted new (short) Thomson Stem on saturday, so was interested to see how performance was affected. it took off 20mm from the old FSA (which has been re-allocated to the Singlespeed).

Excellent ride. spun across town to Tony's, to find a big group (Andrew(pfmtbc), Wayne, Tony, Fi, Englishmark, Andrew's bro Chris, and two others- Warren and TRex(?). we tootled round to Worsley's and picked up a couple of MotherTed's friends, then halfway up the hill, Marie. good climb up the hill, onto the dirt, and i kept the power on the whole way. passed a Landrover Discovery part way up, front tire blown off. stolen? i cleaned the bodybag, as did a couple of the others, which is always good. the shorter stem definitely lightened the front end on the steep, but was manageable... we rested a bit under the big pine tree.

On to the Flying Nun. a tonne of riders through while we were waiting at the top, then we let them get ahead and got to it. enjoyed the descent, blasted down the top section, into the two newly formed switchbacks, nice one, overtook some guy. New stem making the bike eminently flickable. sweeeet. bombed the lower section, jumping more jumps than ever before (short stem? perhaps). at the bottom, i ducked up onto the road and trundled across to have alook if the new gov's bay track was up to there yet, but nope, so re entered the singletrack and promptly caught up with Wayne.

At Kiwi Fi and her two friends peeled off, the rest of us carried on up to upper Thompsons and then round the traverse. good spin round there, lots of oncoming riders, including Graeme from Bicycle Biz's last ride of about 15-20 folks...

then off Piste down top of Huntsbury, into Old Skool, taking all the shortcuts drops down rocky stuff, good flow and control. English mark got dismounted by a rock hiding behind tussocks up top, then got rutted on the 4wd/zigs.

Lower Old Skool absolutely rocked. hauled ass down it, enjoying the crap out of it. then down Bowenvale ave, and i peeled off round Eastern Tce home into the headwind, feeling pretty good but slightly worn out.

Bottled at bottle lake

Nelson picked me up and we drove out to the carpark. Huge turn out, with two guys i recognised but dont know the names of. so, there was them, and the usual suspects Steve, Pete, Andrew, Tony, Wayne, Matt, English Mark, Maria, Helmutless Mark, and Maria's 11 yr old son. Helmutless was on a ONE WHEELER! so, anyway, i was on the singlespeed, nelson was on his new frame, as was Wayne, and Andrew was on the ss too. had an excellent fun ride, spin spin spin, turned right, out to the beach, back in up the middle to Spencer Park where we visited Pete's wife's sister who was camping there. had some beers, was fun, then riding back was even more fun. good times. had a wee go on the Nomad, and on Matt's new Force. both interesting, but strange off of a hardtail...

Peninsula Tops, View, Sinclair, Fitz, Herb

Spent Boxing day to the 4th at Little Akaloa. other than tootling about the bay, i did one big(ish) ride whilst there, then the biggie on the way home.

Cant even remember what day it was now, but back in the last days of 2008 i headed up to Chorlton, and on up View Hill Rd. it was hot, damned hot. schlepped on up to the end of the 'legal' bit, thru the gate and on up to the peak. the Hill really lives up to its name, with a view down into Little Ak, Raupo, Okains, Akaroa harbour, out over the plains to the mountains, across the whole peninsula, the porthills behind Lyttelton, right up the coast to the Kaikouras... with a weird sea fog banked up off Little Ak, Raupo and Okains. mint. had a little explore on the south side, then bombed back down, minutes top to bottom.

Yesterday, got dropped at Pettigrews Road. headed up over Sinclair, Fitzgerald, across the tops over Mt Herbert and into Diamond Harbour. Awesome ride, awesome views, awesome weather. Saw only 3 other bikers, and 5 walkers.

about 20 minutes in, after a bit of climbing, i was stepping off a stile into Whatarangi Totara Reserve when my foot went into a hole and wham the pain shot through my left ankle. "FUCK!" i thought, "not now". it hurt like hell, but i figured i just had to go on with it. it twinged a bit whilst pedalling but mostly was okay. definitely felt it but the pain seemed to keep at bay most of the time. anyway, i soldiered on, not letting it take away my enjoyment of the epic trip i was undertaking. little bit of walking up top of sinclair to where i met the first two bikers by almost being run into by the first. i'd just climbed over a stile and was testing my ankle when this guy came honking in. he took evasive action and avoided hitting me. i had a wicked descent from there to the saddle between the two peaks, flowy and beautiful, with cool singletrack (that we'd always avoided in the past) for a time. the grunt up the back of Fitzgerald was a grunt as always, some walking. on the fast descent off the top i said g'day to a walker.

little bit of walking through the tight techy bit, then nice descent down and grunty wee climb then nice fast descent again to waipuna saddle. walked a bit again then fast down to portlevy saddle. VERY disappointed to see on the DOC sign a biker with a red slash through it from here. ignored that and continued on. steep wee bit then all riding til the attack on the back of Herbert's sub peak (913m). walked up that, carrying bike mostly, sometimes walking it ahead or beside me. talked to a walker couple on way up that. rode across and peaked Herbert (919m). then for the descent. 17:44 and i was aiming for the 18:10 ferry... talked to a couple of walking girls, then right down in the sweet singletrack valley talked to a biker.

made the ferry wharf at 18:15, ferry already half way across back towards Lyttelton... damn. only one thing for it, Godley House, where a pint of Monteiths Golden hit the spot bloody well. as did some fries and another pint... after sitting there for the good part of an hour, when i stood up again, the ankle screamed. T picked me up from the ferry in Lyttelton.

Overall, i climbed the equivalent of Mt Herbert, all up 917 m of altitude gained, but i got to relish a grand total of 1380 m of descent...