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...

sunday planting

Earlier start than usual, meant to be 8, became 8.15, and still they werent at my place so i meandered round the road to petes, and we got going from there, Patten St, Retreat, Dallington round past Horseshoe lake, Lakewood Drve, Burwood Rd, to the plantation. hung a right out there, did the south track, stuck behind slow people a few times, trails had a few puddles, muddy sand if thats possible, or sandy mud. great for the brand spanking drive train. bah. headed along the beach, and back in but as we still had heeaps of time we did the next section of the circuit, north a bit, then across what's been know as Muddy Rd, then back to the carpark. people we encountered through there were a fair bit faster than the few we encountered on the first section. then we cruised it to Horseshoe lake and planted a whole bunch of native plants for Trees For Canterbury... yay!!!!! Last years planting at the same site is looking pretty good too.

Oh yeah, and i'm still loving me new forks...

Minute Ride, lost Adidass

they rock. the new forks ROCK. felt rather long and weird at first, but i've gotten used to it. its quite the effort riding UP hill with them up. wound them down and easy climbing. rockin' on up the hill, Pete, Andrew, Tony and me. Steve was resting his back for the Nelson travels in less than a fortnight. so, up rapaki we went, turned right, that first hairpin there is rutty, bit of a struggle to make it round without dabbing. Pete was filming with his camera on the front. after we crossed the road, i tightened up my headset, seating in as it was, and bloody well left my bag unzipped a little... as a result, somewhere between there and home lie my sunglasses in their wee hard black case. BAH! i loved those sunnies. so if you find them, can you let me know?

anyway, down Bowenvale we honked. took every steep line, Tony had a little trouble i think, lovely lovely trail that. one of my favourites, and a couple spots that let me know how well i'm riding. one of my Gauge trails... sooooon i shall venture up and see if i can find the glasses. its pissy weather today, so wouldnt wanna go there now. maybe tomorrow. i struggle to live without shades.

Minutes... and millenia

Little Ak was excellent. walked, looked at countryside, sea, did my back in either carrying Otis or breaking branches off fallen gum-limbs, threw sticks for dog.

K brought my bike over last night, now i have delicious 130mm forks, Manitou Minutes... kinda minute 3.00, but kinda minute 1.00's, custom fitted, they're a 3.00 lowers with the coil spring of a 1.00 instead of airspring... mostly 04 bits but the spv valves are new 05 bits... looking forward to riding them tonight. now the only thing left of my original KHS ProST is the front wheel and rear derailleur and the shifters. they seem to always be the last bits to be replaced as i slowly replace my entire bikes over the years... strange that.

oh, i'm reading the absolutely most fantastic book at the moment, called A Short History of Progress. its all about our human evolution and civilisation and progress and 'progress traps' as he calls them. its VERY well written and so incredibly interesting. if you ever get the chance you should find it and read it. (eg, put a hold on it at the library, you might have to wait a while, but you'll get it eventually, its not just gonna magically appear on the shelves sometime, cos people have it requested to the max, i waited almost6 months to get it) puts a lot of things in perspective. for example, agriculture and cities/civilisation have only really come about in the last 10,000 years, agriculture was slowly developing 20-10K years ago, and various domestications of plants and animals across the globe, independent of each other have only occurred within the last 10K years, eg, wheat, barley, sheep, cows in fertile crescent 10K years, potatos maize etc central/south america 6K years ago, and millet and rice in east asia about that or 8k years ago. prior to that the climate was more variable, up til 15K years ago was ice age, and that was in and out up til about 10, and since then the climate has been very stable, thereby enabling us to build the civilisations we've built culminating in what we have today. his point is that our staple foods, wheat, barley, millet, rice, corn, and all the other vegetables we eat were developed thousands of years ago, and all our cultures are grounded on a good climate that enables the production of these staples. along comes major climate change, and there's evidence that ice ages can hit in a matter of decades, not centuries, and we're screwed. he thinks our current "befouling of the nest" is seriously upsetting the balance of the world's climate... anyway, obviously there's a heck of a lot more to the book than a 316 word ramble by me in the short amount of time and space i've got here.

windy night hour spin

a beautiful wee ride last night... had to pick something up from my grandmother's so parked up on Takahe Drive, rode up into Vic Park, off the road, just on that trail kinda above the road up along past the dog exercise areas etc, then onto Harry Ell *ahem* walkway which goes from the carpark next to the dog exercise areas, then down the ziggers to dyers pass road track, up that to kiwi, up road to top of Worsleys, down marleys, up thomsons, down through the gums, and on down past rangerstation, then into the dog exercise area, across to the pine plantation, down the wee track on its edge, then down past the most eastern side of the top of cashmere housing, Latter's Spur track i believe its called and out onto Longhurst Tce, then back to Nainy's... lovely. lovely lovely lovely. very little tarmac, lots of dirt, full loop, 1 hour, only about 10 or 15 kms tho... fair bit of up. tricky technical up. niiiiiiiice to be out on the bike again, its what, over a week and a half.

and then dropped my bike off to me trusty mechanic and will pick it up sunday night with some Manitou Minute's on it, 130 mm travel, plush spv'ness. yeh!

off to Little Akalala this today, two nights of peninsula bliss.

no riding, well not much anyway...

its been a pretty sad couple of weeks... last ride posted was wharfdale and then capt thomas and evans with Monsieur Nelsonian, him trying out his PHAT ass 2.4 panaracers... seemed to do the trick. what with his innate fitness and his nice light ride he was no slower. since then, i cannot think of what ride i've done. yes, actually, the following saturday, so, two saturdays ago from now, i was allowed out for an hour, whilst O slept, so i ripped across town, shredded it up rapaki, huffed a bit cos i was tired and huffy and some schlep on a VT passed me, which peeved me, but, carried on up anyway, rode the slingletrack to the right, then just dropped straight onto the Farm Track, and there was the schlep, just starting out too on his downhill run. i bombed past him and never saw him again. he ate my dust. its all very well being fast up the hill on a plush ass full susser, but if ya aint got the balls to rip it on the down hill, whats the point in all that suspension?? huh?? tell me that?? eh? eh??? looked at my watch at the top, 13.41, then looked again once i was out on the road at the bottom, 13.45... hehe, less than 4 minutes top to bottom, we're talking pretty near 400 m altitude, and around 3 kms distance... average speed, huh, only 45 kph... still, theres a couple sections that are slower, so top speed generally is approaching 70, and its a rutty wee track... LOVE IT. that was a beautiful day too, over 20 degrees C, and the next day it froze, and started snowing.

i biked into town that monday morning of the snow, was fun. reminded me of Montana. havent ridden since, and i'm getting depressed for it.
had a job interview in wellington friday (for a job i didnt get), and now its wednesday... and i NEED a RIDE!!! i'm riding as fast as i can to and from work but its just not the same as hoofing it up the hill and blasting it down.
little akaloa this weekend, so still no riding. maybe tomorrow night.

one good thing tho, daylight savings on saturday, so nights will be oh so glorious, to ride withOUT the halogen babies. yay!!!