Wednesday Night Godley Wander

(Replaced the zip-tie holding my brake-pads in, with a short length of spoke, elbow at one end and bent at the other, excess length being ziptied to the hose)

Nelson arrived at mine after work and we had a bit of a feed with the family before we headed to Taylors, arriving there sometime after 6.30. Took Jet with us in the car too. Got set up and headed up snake's Tail, quite a tech wee climb, for a starter, then just at the end of the Anaconda we headed down onto the walkway and climbed and descended and rolled out to Boulder Bay, Jet having a lovely time running ahead, beside and behind depending on the upward or downwardness of the trail.  No tech to be found, and not really any wetspots either.

I delayered at the hairpin before the big climb and we headed up over round past the gun emplacements then up to the lighthouse Head.  Through the DOC zone and then down the other side, ziggy zaggy, followed by climbing back up past the barracks and up to the carpark.  Jet had a big drink at the tap.  Next up was up to the Breeze Bay track, over the stile and into it, best in this direction, around the back with the glow of Lyttelton scorching orange in the low clouds ahead.  A few spots of rain started here, but we figured it was just a shady-side of the hill effect.

Over the stile and onto the around-the-front-above-the-road-skinny-trail, which was tricky, as parts have gotten very deep and pedals strike good.  Rode to the end and across to the Breeze Bay track stile again, working out what to do.  A plan was made: to ride back around the skinny, then back up the Breeze Bay track, so off we toddled.  Skinny trail better in this direction, with more down, but still tricky in places, with slickish rocks spitting wheels sideways occasionally.  On the final downhill the rain got heavier so at Breeze Col we decided to bail down Anaconda, knowing it would be greasy as crap lower down and figuring we'd just deviate around it or walk or whatever.

Once off the gravel 'road' (that is now the start of the Anaconda), we were down through the first few corners and decided to just go straight down the steep walking track pretty much from cattlestop cattlestop to the Tail and the gate on the Boulder Bay track, and so we did.  Steeeeep down, total brake control the whole way, not so much grease that we'd skid, but the wheels were certainly not turning quite as fast as they should have been.  All the way down to the main walking track, and decided to just roll down through the rocky walkway we used to use and through the back of the houses, back to the car.

Grand totals of 11kms, 460m climbed and a very happy dog on one hour's riding time. Good to get out.

And another one, Bottled Family.

Family, fat bike and dog for a spin at the pond after dropping off a musical instrument in North Beach.  We followed a weird and convoluted route due to a certain grumpy child, but we got there in the end.

Sunday Posse Loop with mechanicals

Boys were meeting at Steve's at 9 and heading for St Andrew's Hill, so I figured I'd head down Linwood Ave and meet them at the bridge.  Pete ended up catching me up at the Eastgate lights, thinking he was running late and that they were heading up Huntsbury, a quick call straightened that out and we continued the length of Linwood and round Humphreys to the Ferrymead bridge.  We waited not so long til the boys to roll up. Was good. I hadn't ridden with these guys for ages so was good to catch up with each in turn.  Up St Andrews, climbing away nice and easy at Steve and Robin's heart-conditioned paces, then up to the old entrance to Britten, with it's new little extra entry.  Up here was into fog, getting cooler and damper the higher we got.  I blazed on ahead needing to keep the pace on myself to regain anything I'd lost over the last couple weeks.  Didn't have much of a wait and one by one the boys rolled up.

Down the road and into Greenwood entrance, deciding here to head down the new track having a nice roll down this, the odd off piste on the off cambers.  Then the next new bit towards the ruins, a bit sluggardly with the soft dirt.  Wetspots have had some good work, and climbing the switchies up and then up the 4wd to the climb up Mt Pleasant.  Sticky greasy on the rocks up here, but the rest was fine.  Lots of dabs and quick slips, but all made it eventually, then straight ahead to the gate, Robin vanishing from view before he got to us waiting...  Had caught one of the hidden rocks and toppled off the side, landing upside down and trapped by his bike...

Off over and down, lots of rear end slippage in the corners at the top, but the rest was sweet, slowly descending out of the fog. Round under gondola, with a bit of a stop to check out the view over Lyttelton before heading into Castle Rock.  Good wee climb this.  I dabbed on the first hairpin but cleaned up the rest, conserving energy til the last blast to the top, where I had one small dab, spinning out and wheelying to a halt, got going again tho and headed on to the top.  Regroup, and then off down the road, with Pete and me taking the single track above the road, which put us behind the other boys, but saved our tires a bunch. 

Into Witch Hill, and around and I popped one of the rocky sections as a jump, hearing what I thought was a rock hitting the spokes, but at the next rock I tried to grab some rear brake but there was none.  Stopped and looked and NO PADS!  Huh!  Quickly ran back to the jump and found the spring, then the two pads, phew!  Pete gave me a zip tie and continued on to let the others know.  I did my trailside repairs, replacing my lost bolt (and circlip) with the ziptie, and headed on down to meet at the top of Crapaki.  When I got there I was told Pete had clipped one of the rocks and busted his derailleur cage, but it seemed to still be going, so he led off down.  Bombed down the new singletrack, weaving nicely all the way down and then getting some real speed towards the bottom.  Pete popped a bunnyhop over a ditchy thing at the bottom and when he landed the derailleur spat itself into his spokes, snapped off, broke several spokes, pierced his tubeless set up, and locked up his back whee.  Hmmm...  a walk ensued.  Andy sped off to get his van, the rest of us rode the rest of the way down Craphappy and around to Fava, and Andy and Pete arrived not long after. 

I split and headed home across town after coffee... completing 32 kms, with 784m climbed.  Not a bad effort.

Sunday Beeby's Maitland Red Hills Thrashing.

On our way back from doing a bit of work at Nelson's bach we parked at the bottom of the Red Hills Track (573m trig nearby) and starting at 3pm rode off up the road towards St Arnaud a few kms, hanging a right onto Tophouse Rd into uncharted territory.  Around the road a little and found the entrance to the Beeby's Knob track.  A steep 4wd road, it proceeded to well and truly thrash us.  Managed to pedal for a while but eventually it was steep enough to walk, patches of perma-frost underfoot or tread as we went.  Higher and higher up the ridge we went as the sun got lower and lower in the sky, not that we could see it, other than across the spectacular valley behind and below us the whole time - and we could even see the North Island beyond Blenheim.  And cold - the wind made me don a jacket halfway up.  Just over 1 1/2 hours after leaving the car we got to the turn off to the Maitland Ridge track at over 1300m altitude.  Rest stop and a snack here.

This is a relatively new trail, built by MTB Trails Trust, (according to the sign-) an Expert level, grade 4+ single-track thru cornflake strewn beech forest. 4.40 we took off, into a sweet downhill, and taking off first I soon found myself ahead and stopped to wait for Nelson.  Fun, and at times insane, rooty descents ensued, some of which were fricking steep, and then some climbing, all in quite stunted beech forest.  The odd bit of the climbing was soul destroying (I walked a bunch and towards the end cramped some too). Then there'd be a wicked downhill and steep and rooty and technical, handlebars skimming trees, wheels drifting.  All the fun.  But then in the climbs I'd wonder why the hell I was there.  It was getting darker and darker as we rode, tho the first 300 odd metre descent was all light enough, low lights in the climbs, brighter for the next descents.  A couple of times we came out onto open sections with spectacular views over the Wairau below and across to peaks galore.

Finally a few zigs and zags seem to be making for a small ridge, and the vegetation changed to a more manuka based scrub (indicating the ultramafic Red Hills landform) and a descent began that was wide open and mental.  We bombed down this for what seemed ages and finally broke out onto a wide track with a sign pointing one way to Porters Creek Hut (4 hours?), and in the other direction there was Red Hills Hut.  Checked in here (nice and warm inside), then headed off again - 6.10pm.

Off down a super fun, rough as guts, steep, 4wd track descent, flat tack down 400 odd metres in about 4 kms.  Numerous small creek crossings and patches of permafrost and really cool looking rocks.  over 40kph in stretches, it went on for ages and ages, with no real idea of where we were or how much more to go, it just stretched on and on, the vegetation around us slowly getting taller and taller, until eventually it was actual beech forest again.  Finally at the bottom there was a gate and the trail skirted past that into the bush, singletrack again, and ugh, some climbing...  Up and down over old river terraces, never huge but killing me, and at one point both legs cramped so bad I couldn't even get on the bike.  Had to wait for a bit and ease myself back on but got rolling again and cruised on through.  A few smallish creek crossings along this section too, then finally we got back to the car, 7pm nearly on the dot, making it a 4 hour loop.

(Apparently only 2 hours of riding), 22 km loop, with over 1000 metres of climb.   Proper mountainbiking.

Queen's Birthday Old Codger

Took Jet into Codgers for a spin. Forgot to turn on the MMR til just up the road. Headed up the main trail towards Tantragee, overtaking a dad and his kid.  Hung a left into Pipeline, around and then up Jack's, which had a fair bit of grease under tread. Spotted a couple of riders ahead, catching them up in the bushy part of Jacks, and then finding a couple more waiting for them at the Middle Rd.  Hung a right here and headed up to Fireball Rd where I found some dude waiting - I asked him what Turners might be like after the rain overnight.  He didn't know cos he was from Chch too.  We exchanged stories a bit then he headed for Smasher, while I headed off up the access link to Turners.  Cool 'Reign' seat/sculpture thing here.  Dropped in to the trail and it was good.  Greasy in places so's not to be too careless, and carefulness was needed in one or two bits.  Bombed down swooping and popping, to the bottom and then headed up Take Me To Your Leader, nice steep wee zig zaggy climb. Big skidder site here with Fireball to the left, and heading up round to the right I rode up to top of Lollipop (also the top of Hot Buns and Top Dog) for a look. Walked down a ways to check it out but decided not to ride it - was looking scary greasy.  So, from the parkbench I headed down the top of Top Dog, fun, not tooo steep, interesting trail through fir and pines and gum, rolling out to the road again.  The trail continued downwards, but I didn't wanna climb all the way back up, so figured I'd go check out Smasher.  Headed back down to the skidder site and the up the start of Fireball and into the Smasher Climb.  Steep little bastard through trees (last time, with Ian and Leigh, this wasnt here), that got me walking near the top.  Into the start of Smasher and I remembered how cool this top section was.  Once through the open bit and back into the forest the trail sidles nicely for a while before starting into a few corners back and forth that just get steeper and steeperer and steepererer until I had to walk.  One, then another.  Then, 'oh bugger', another one, then 'uh oh, shiiiiit' another one, then uh huh...  but once into the gums near the bottom all good and rolled down through the rest of it back to the Sunday Hole swimming spot.  Jet was pretty grubby from mucky bits on the trails so I chucked a stick in for him and he washed off.  From here we cruised back down the Maitai, him meeting lots of new friends.  Passed by Nile St and headed further down to stop in at the Suter Gallery where the family were and found them just leaving, so I headed back to Flamedaisy and cleaned up before they got home.

1 hour 20 ridden, 15kms, with 500m climbed.  Not bad for a post-hungover morning spin.

Saturday Barnicoat Widdershinvolutionary

In Nelson, so took Jet for a spin round the Barnicoat Widdershins Involution loop. Surprised how short it is, clocking in at under 12 kms, but plenty of altitude (around 600m), all climbed in under 5kms, which means the descent is longer than than the climb...  and serious climbing it was.  Near the start a rider passed me coming down.  Mostly a gravel access road, about 45 minutes in granny or 2nd or 3rd at times, up through pine forest.  I was overtaken by a van load of parasailers heading up for launch, and there were a couple of them floating around in the spectacular views to be beheld west of me, over Richmond.  Up under their launch zone, enjoying the cool breeze they use for lift off as I passed by.  Not long after this I met a woman and her doggy.  A bit further up and around and maybe even a short descent and I got to the start of Widdershins.  Last time I rode up this way (with Stu) this wasn't here and we'd followed the road along the ridge to the top of Involute.

The view from start of Widdershins...

Open singletrack to start, then into the bush, and a few ups and downs and quite a few nicely rounded hairpins.  Good climb just below the ridge and finally out to the top of Involution where I had a nice rest on a log and put some water in a bowl for Jet.

 

Off down this, remembering it from the last time and finding it a lot of fun.  I'd blast ahead down the straights and then slow on the corners and wait for Jet to trot into view, big panty smile on his face, and then I'd blast off again.  This proceeded all the way down.  Heaps of fun.  Didn't meet another person til right near the bottom, and older guy walking his dog up.  Across the 4wd track and into the trail either side of the creek, splash splash, then out onto the final descent down to the car.  A couple getting ready for their ride.  Loads of cars, but I don't know where anybody was, cos I sure didn't see them.

Lots of up, and long winding down... and only 1 hour 12 minutes riding!?

Mucky Wednesday Jettison

Nelson picked me up from my place, and as Jet hasn't had a good run for a few days we dragged him out too. Parked on Parkridge Pl and headed up Britten. I got the wheeze, sounding like a flock of Canada geese. Jet had a lovely time roaming off after rabbit smells and then coming back to a whistle, then settled in nicely between us, Nelson out front and me slowly dragging further behind, wheezing, even after a blast of inhaler.  A couple of quite sloppy bits on the way up, but easily avoidable.  Realised at the top there that I'd forgotten to turn on the MapMyRide, so did that here.  Around the front of Britten and then along to the road and across, resting just over the fence up here, watching a bunch of lights rounding under the gondola and up the road towards us.  Turned out to be mtnbikers, on the road.  We took off up the hill and they watched as we ambled slowly upwards.  Up in the zig zaggy bits the trail got REALLY greasy, with no traction on the flatter bits, so we walked a bit, then it got okay and on over the top to the gate.

Over the fence here and across the sort of new bit to the usual trail and over the rocks to the A frame stile, then downwards.  Not so bad to start, but the back face above Lyttelton had some slop so I was taking it pretty easy.  Then lower down through the tussocks was better, but still taking it pretty easy in the greasy, and keeping an eye on Jet behind.  Nelson was awaiting us at the bottom of this section, and we saw a newly sprayed (and slightly ridden-in) new line from here, bypassing the 4wd section, so off down around it's curves across above the trees and then coming into the top of Greenwood right where the newby trail starts (above the ruins).  Decided here that Greenwood would be diabolical so we headed off down the newby, finding a bit of drift and not a lot of traction.  Fun, tho splecky, and rolled it through to the big pines and around onto the climb.  Here we stopped and cleaned up our drivetrains a bit for the climb.  Onwards up, good climbing, plenty of traction bar one or two spots, and through up to the top of Greenwood entrance. 

Up the road, bunnyhopping off a bit of muck, and then into Britten for to descend.  Slowish going for me, not trusting the slop or grease (and post-crash of last week).  Jetty had a nice sprint behind me, cutting the corners to catch up, then under the pylons and across the slope and into the fun descent back to the end.  Good doggy had fun and so did a couple of mucky boys.

My ride from part way up, vs Nelson's...  so, we did just under10kms and around 300m climbed.

Wednesday Night, Hunts, Verne crash, Witch and Castle.

Now regular Nelson pick up from Countdown carpark, and we headed across to and up Huntsbury - parking at the top.  Took a bit to get MMR going, when we finally got moving another vehicle had arrived and I'm sure there were a couple of lights approaching up the road.  Headed up the gravel, surprised at the running water in places.  Good pace up here, me managing to stay with Nelson for most of the first half, only easing off in the upper reaches, but even then not too far behind.

Straight up onto Vernon, up the rocks and along, trying to stay out of the odd puddle up here.  Just before it heads over the rocky section I was avoiding one of these puddles and my front wheel dropped off the left of the trail, dropping me onto the ground.  "oop, here goes the shoulder again" I thought as I plummetted to the ground and slid painfully on my elbow and knee..."Ow. Ow. Ow..." Picked myself up, and my handlebar light was hanging from it's cord, the mount snapped off from the impact.  Nelson was a wee ways ahead and had taken the high line and so I figured I'd coast down to where it meets back on the trail, but then he'd crashed too so I sat down and groaned for a bit, sorting my crap out.  He came back and we headed on down, me being much more carefuller than I'd been, getting some reasonable flow, down to Crapaki, although, I was overthinking and overreacting to stuff, which spoiled my flow a little.

Into Witch and the clambering and climbing was good.  Definitely didn't need the Track Closed sign on it - not a wetspot in sight. Up and around and over and on the down I was ultra cautious.  We regrouped at the road and another biker turned up from behind us.  Turned out it was Quetty (Kwiti? Kuiti?) who we'd met a couple of times before.  Chatted for a bit and then he tagged along and we all rode up the road and chatted.

Onto Castlerock, me taking the backseat on account of my injuriousness.  Cautious Colin heading down here.  There were a few wet bits, but it was not too bad.  The worst bit is where the worst bit always is, ie, around on a stretch before the first hairpin where you're below the road and it's really really rocky, and the water was all sheep poos and wees - yech!  No sloppy mud to be seen tho.  Around the hairpin and I was feeling okay.  Usual sketchy angle rock across here I managed alright, and around the next hairpin then climbing, climbing over and down to the road again.  Chatted here for a bit and 2 other riders headed through.

Across to the carpark and up the walking track Nelson and me have taken to riding.  Steeeep climb up to a bit of walking, little bit more riding, hopping up rock steps, and then walking again to the last ride to the top.  Nice views up here.  Then down towards the Tors, yumpy steppy then climbing, walking a bit but Nelson cleaned heaps, and then riding a bit around above Castlerock entrance and a rest.  My sore bits were a bit achey after this break, and I was ultra cautious on the descent here below the Tors.  This trail is different every time I ride it.  Dabbed through the worst bits near the bottom and rode heaps more than I'd expected to.

Across the road and onto the singletrack above the road.  This was great, nice and flowy, mildly techy.  Then across the road again and into Witch.  Another good blast through here and around to Rapaki, up Vernon, grind grind grind, I hate bits of this climb, especially at the end of a ride.  Met a whole huge heap of riders coming the other way on the climb before my crash location.

Across the top and across the road and into the Traverse, cruising around here then dropping down through the tussocks and rocks and down Huntsbury gravel into the landing strip and Quetty had never been in this entrance before.  Over the fence and along the singletrack, some horrifically greasy spots.  Not far above the first big jump (that Nelson had cleared), Quetty got rutted and slid to a rolling crash in the tussocks.  We got rolling again, out and down to the gate.  Over this and heading for the jumps.  The lower we got the greasier it got.  Disgusting mucky greasy sloppy crap.  Sprayed and splecked and coated, I bypassed as much as possible and skipped pretty much every jump.  The bottom ruts had been dug but were greasy as hell and gross.

Said our goodbyes to Quetty and hit the road home.

15 kms, over 600m altitude climbed.  Painful and cautious

Wednesday Hanmer School Camp Fatso Escape

In Hanmer for most of the week on school camp at the Forest Camp with H.  Had the fatty with me cos the Turner was with Josh receiving a fettle.  We finished our Code Breaker activity early, giving me some time to escape out for a quick ride.

Headed out of camp and into the Mach1 trail, climbing it, first time in this direction I think.  Quite good, got my lungs pumping pretty quick, Climbed and descended, repeat, then across the road below Detox and through to cross the main road and on up through to the Dog Stream bridge.  Up onto the road and into the Fir Trail, climbing this, very pleasant track, reminding me of all those years ago when I did the Day Nighter, riding it in the opposite direction.  Out the top of this and into Bigfoot for the steep clamber, tight trees, zigging and zagging up to the top.  Cleaned it all headed over into the descent.  Fun bomb down and around, stopping briefly to deflate some air for smoother riding.  Finally out the bottom, most of the trail flows nicely but the last few corners dont quite work.

Briefly down the road and into the Detox climb, always longer than you remember, grind grind grind, up and around and across to the big skidder, making a lap of that, then heading into the descent.  Taking the non-easy way, dropping over the rock and into the clay rut descent, fat tires gripping a treat as I fanged down the trail.  At the bottom, jumped back on Mach 1 back upwards, across the road and up to the bridge, crossing this and heading down the road-like section of Dog, lots of speed down here and then hung a right to head up to Joliffe Saddle.

Long cruisy climb up this to the top and into the Red Rocks track.  A little way into the climb I heard some piggies, obviously spooked them, and saw two little squealers, one black one grey, running off up into the trees.  I made a bit of noise in case their mama was nearby, then kept riding, climbing to the top and hooning down the first descents, weaving around the ruts and rocks, dropping down, and continuing left (instead of right as per the last couple times).  An interesting detour line off to the right, over some red rocks, then back onto the main blast, with lots of jumps all the way down.  Fun.

Finally, the last sweet singletrack through big trees before exiting on to Dog Stream, heading down around to Camp Trail, heading into the new Base Camp track, and bombing through and around this.  Quite good in this direction, cos the second half flows nicely mostly downhill back to Camp.  Out onto the road and down towards the Forest Camp, instead of heading straight into camp, I hung a left up a forestry road up around the back of the camp, and headed down a fun little final descent into camp. Rolled into camp happy and utterly splattered in muck.

Mucky 13kms. 350 m climbed just over an hour of riding pretty much non stop

Thursday night Greasy Scramble

Had to pick up H from school so Nelson came to mine after work.  We had a small dinner (that I'd cooked) with the family then headed out, parking up Mt Pleasant in scudding mist, on Parkridge Pl.  Wind was fair howling through, and quite cold to start with, fast moving clouds providing a spectacular view of the full moon, clouds speeding past it in the foreground.  Up into Britten we trundled, via the 'new' track under the singing-pylon and across, me getting a good dose of asthma and having to walk a bit on the steepest parts there at the start.  Up around, trail not quite greasy, but certainly not dry - but no soggy wet areas like last time.  Headwind near the top, but stopped to have a puff of the inhaler in the shelter of the rocky outcrop just shy of the top, then on we went in the fog.

Down around to the Greenwood entrance, and then onto the new trail below this.  Cool little blast down this, tho I had one close call.  Quite wet grass all around, and foggy, but not too bad.  Next into the trail from the big pines up to the ruins, back to Greenwood, sidling and climbing zig zags up, fog getting slowly thicker, then up the 4wd, barely 6ft visibility, commenting on how lost you'd get if you didn't know where you were going.  Up the trail to Mt Pleasant, just before the rocky sections started we rode out of the fog, leaving it behind.  Sketchy as greasy rocks climbing up here, dabbing and walking several sections through sheer lack of grip, and the wind didn't help along the exposed ridge either.  Finally at the stile, fog miles behind, tried out the new sidle across to the road gate, instead of climbing all the way to the top.

Across into the descent, I was feeling sketchy, so took it pretty easy down here.  Got some flow, but not fast.  Down and around to Cavendish Saddle, then climbing again, up the back of the Gondola, ziggy zaggy, struggling for grip and air.  Peaked here and I tightened up the new cleats on my new Shimano shoes (which are fantastically warm (and goretex water'proof')).  Then off down the slippery slope.  Wooden steps greasy, but fully rideable, and some interesting moments lower down on the less than predictable rocks.  Bit of dabbing through our 'rideable' detour around the worst stepped and rocked area, then on through to the Bridle Path top, and straight into the walking track climb,with lots of walking up through the tight broom and greasy track.  My right foot seemed to struggle to clip in up this stretch, making me think my cleat had come loose or was in the wrong position.  Over the top and fun descent, jumping off the rock steps, and then through the saddle and up towards the tors, bit more walking, then finally, Nelson miles ahead, I actually looked at the pedal I was struggling with, and found it had come loose.  Rode down to top of Castle Rock and proceeded to try to fix it - to no avail (the spring was pushing it out - ie, needed a clamp or vice or something to hold it).

Off down Castle Rock track, taking it pretty easy due to the greasy rocks, but I was surprised how dry it all was otherwise.  I was going slow and carefully the whole way - not feeling confident in my lighting view, but Nelson had a really good run.  I noticed on the climb how bony it's all become, and then it was off around the road.  Tail wind assist under the gondola, then around and up, headwind in Cavendish, tail wind up through the cutting and onto Britten, wind chasing us around here.  Around below Broadleaf, and Nelson bollocked himself in a small off, I arrived to find him painfully nursing his privates on the ground.

Off again, final descent, excellent speed and I finally felt like my light was set right, so I was smooth and fast, keeping tight on Nelson's tail.  Around and back and around and under the singing pylons across the slow, and down through the fun rocky steep descent under the last pylon and back to the car.

All up, 15.6 kms, and 575 metres climbed - 1 hour 20's riding...

Sunday Planting Styx in the Ground

Forgot entirely to post this...  We rode to the first planting of the year on Sunday.  Met at Petes: Pete, Wayne, Steve and myself.  Rode Avonside Drive, Kilmore St to the park and found the Salisbury footbridge closed, so continued up to Harper and along the pathways there.  Found Paul DeSp at the crossing by Girls High, then Andy and Tones at the railway tracks.  Headed north on the Railtrail, all the way to the bitter end, then up Cavendish Rd to the top end, and into the Reserve, on paths marked No Bikes.  Around, marvelling at the great job we've done in the past.  Planted a bunch of stuff in the difficult, jarring ground.  Sossie sizzle and then back the way we'd come.

All good.

An L shaped ride... 27.6 kms, a whole 71metres of altitude found along the way.

Tuesday night eastern loopage

Countdown Moorhouse carpark pick up around 5 in the big blue van and off out to Evans.

Feeling the cold, got changed and hit up the trail, gasping for air in the first 100 m of Godley, then slowly getting it under control and very shortly no longer worrying about the cold either.  Lights off for a start. Then Nelson crashed off, caught his pedal on a rock which propelled him off backwards down the steep hill.  I emerged around the corner to find him clambering back up to his bike... Trail is definitely a bit bonier than recent past, musta been all the rain washing the dirt out from between the rocks.  Decided it wasn't really light enough to not have lights on.  A few more muppetries and we were at the top, into the descent to Livingston, I struggled to find my groove, dimness of vision contributing to this.  Next up over to Breeze, a good climb and spin around and down over PFMTBC Rock, Nelson launching it as usual.

At Breeze Col, were considering straight down Anaconda, but I suggested a zig and a zag, out the skinny trail above the road, then headed across towards the stile for Breeze Bay track, hanging a left just before this and straight down a direct fast track to the carpark, through this and onto the original mtbike track below the road.  A couple of holes and tricky sightage with long grass glaring in lights blocking the view of the track ahead in places.

Back at Breeze Col, off down Anaconda, gravel boredom to start (but word is here at work a whole new mtbike trail to be build in this area), not trusting the dirt after the gravel into the fast corners, Nelson putting some insane burst of speed, while I was cautious Colin blazing around and nearly crashing in the first ruts I came across.  More careful after that with adrenaline pumping.

At the bottom we hung a right and headed out the Boulder Bay track, fun little blast, then up the climbs to the gun emplacements and over and around the head.  Met some riders descending to the head before we climbed up to the old buildings, taking some stairs down into a room with no exit, then on up to the carpark, and back up the way we'd descended earlier to the stile into Breeze Bay track.  This trail is completely non-technical now, even riding under that flax is easy.  There is however, a very loose off camber corner on the last stretch down to the stile.

At Breeze Col again, headed back up the Godley Track, long climb over to Livingston, and then a rest on the hill here, before the final plod back up the trail to the high point and a final bony blast down to Evans to finish.

Quite long for a week night... 21kms, and 800 odd metres climbed


And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Blog...  12 years old on the Cinqo de Mayo.

Thursday Huntsbury to Nun and back

Nelson picked me up from mine and we were at top of Huntsbury about 6. He was on the singlespeed, so tore up the hill while I struggled away at my usual pace getting quite a bad wheeze on the way up. Up on the gravel under the pylons and then hung a right below the knob and sidled around and up onto the singletrack, flowing this over to the landing strip.  Lots of sheep poo around, so we kept our mouths shut and rode on up to the gravel for the last climb to the road intersection.

A few other riders around, we waited until an enduro-dude got going, gave him a gap then got going before some descenders on the Vernon approached.  Into and around the Traverse, some dudes were having a break just after the first fence (before Lavaflow) and they got going as we approached, which was annoying.  The first one pulled over just after the Lavaflow and then I was on the other guy's tail the whole way to the usual stopping spot under Sugarloaf.  He must have thought I was his mate, but he just wasn't quite slow enough to barge past (not that there's much opportunity), but not quite fast enough to be fun.  Him and his mate stopped at the rest spot and we got past, having a trouble free blast the rest of the way round to the top of Vic.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the Thompsons open, so down through the scorched earth and trees of these, tho only able to see what was lit by our lights -  nice flow, then onto the road and across Dyers Pass and up the road, good pace up around, Nelson grinding away on the SS.  Scorched earth around Worsleys Rd was impressive - they should build a zig zag climbing trail up that face while it's all clear!  Final climb to the top of the Nun and a short rest up here.

I led the way into the Nun, popped and wove my way down, rather enjoying it but never getting too hairy-fast.  Lots of visibility now, with the scorched earth all around, and the trail is in as good a knick as it's ever been.  Nelson was not far off my tail most of the way, but I think the 80mm forks and hard-tail got the better of him in the rockier sections, so I paused briefly to wait for him at the midway carpark point.  From here he was well on my tail the rest of the way.  I had a good blast, flowing nicely, suspension doing it's thing beautifully.

Onto the road, and back up to top of Vic, back into the Traverse, I was in the lead for a bit, but once the climbing got going I struggled to stay ahead of Nelson, and eventually handed the baton over and he ploughed on ahead, me never gaining on him except on the few downs.  By the time we got to Huntsbury he was well ahead.  Fast descent down here, into the landing strip, sheepshit flying everywhere (mouths firmly shut), and over the fence and into the singletrack for a sweet roll down.  Tussock dodging and weaving, over the fence and down the last jumpy trail, popping most, and nearly going over the bars on the fastest jump (near the fence) cos my back end popped waaay too far.  Managed to wrestle it back under control and back on track and struggled with ruts then last jumps and back to the car.

So, my MMR screwed me around showing I'd been to nearly sea-level somewhere along the summit.  I've replaced it with Nelson's to be more accurate - giving us 15.6 kms, and 487 climbed (instead of 580 m).

Monday: Morning Blue Jet Spur then Family Rail Trail to Ross

Jet Spur
Jet and me went for a quick morning solo blat up the Blue Spur.  Up the gravel road past Seesaw and for the first time taking in Slow Girls, which was a fun wee trail, with a few whoops and doops through, then on up the, at times, grindy gravel road past first The Cutting (and Logarithm), then Bad Boys and up to the top of Stags Drop.  Headed out and checked out top of Rehab Ridge, but not so game on this black track on the fatty, so rolled back and headed into Stags Drop, finding it heaps shorter than the other day for some reason, then into Bad Boys, again, shorter than remembered, and then The Cutting, which had more climb in it that I'd recalled from just a couple of days, but was longer and fun.  Then it was the gravel climb up to beginning of Slow Girls again, past Tunnels and Seesaw, and, for the first time, out on Doolittle - which was cool, and way longer than I'd expected, and actually really fun.  Finally, down the gravel back to the car.

7 and a half kms, with just over 200 m climbed.  Sweet blast.

To Ross!
Then, family headed south in the car on the main highway, past Mahinapua, and at the corner at Ruatapu, turned off the main road onto the Wilderness Trail section, and parked near the end of the side road.  Headed onto the rail trail here, a clear 13 or so kms to Ross, along an old railway line, very very straight, and barely any gradient.  A few cool streams, the really cool Totara River bridge, and some cool swamp lands, with very stunted kahikatea forest.  Long and straight and flat... 13kms each way. Totally wore out the boys.  Last day of the holiday and even I was relieved not to have to ride my bike for a day or two...  26.9 kms, and surprisingly 115 m of alt (most of which is probably the climb up into Ross).

Sunday Tunnelled and Water Raced

Couple of not particularly long rides...
Tunnels
First off, T and H dropped O, Jet and me next to The Station Inn and we rode up Reg Cox into Blue Spur to ride Tunnels while they walked up from the bottom end. We had Jet in tow. Fun wee blat down, meeting the other two just above the tunnel and having a trailside picnic. Then down and back to the car, playing a game with Jet, getting them to call him back then calling him back to us.

A whole 60m climbed, and only 3.7 kms long

Family
Still earlyish so we dropped the dog back at base and headed out to park at Lake Kaniere.  Hit the Wilderness Trail again, a muchly upgraded version of what we'd ridden years ago on the (pre-blog) Annual Trip.  Nice pleasant easy ride, family spinning along, mostly downhill, following the water race til Wards Rd, then the original trail continues, but the new Wilderness Trail heads down Wards Rd, over the Kaniere River, and a new section of trail heads down hill from there.  Awesome scenery and setting, and nice easy cruising.  Nearing the end of the rimu forest I turned back and headed back up the way we'd come.  Turned a good speed and up Ward Rd hill and onto the waterrace and bombed back up this to the car.  Loaded the bike on the car and bombed it back down to where Hurunui Jack's is, and along a big waterrace for the power scheme here to the end, finding the family and surprising them for how little time it took me.

This one was nearly 10kms, and a little more altitude, just shy of 100m.

Saturday Mahinapua Family Wilderness

Headed south parked at the Mahinapua Walkway carpark to ride another part of the Wilderness Trail, one we'd done before, 5 years ago... Nice ride on boardwalks and really gentle gradients and straight lines of old log-tramways, through swamp and forest and forestry and nice dense bush.  Very pleasant, and at the end we rode up the road to the Treetop walk, ate some food and did the walk (pretty cool!), then rode back, nice rolling downhill back to the trail, and then the trail, gentle climbs and electric bike like rolling downhills.  Hugo and me diverted on the Picnic Point side track, and got some rooty tight techy singletrack under our tires.  Rode on and caught up to H and O, who were talking to Jenny, one of my workmates, who happened to be riding through.

20kms travelled, 157m climbed.  Good family fun.

Friday. The Family Wilderness, and Spurring in the Blue

Family Bit

Couple bits of riding today... First off, headed out to Lake Kaniere in the car, bikes on back, and out Milltown Rd, parking just over the Arahura River.  A car pulled up, a guy who does a bit of support on the Wilderness Trail, and said "you're not supposed to take dogs" but after chatting a while (him enjoying our bikes a lot!) he kinda said we'd probably be okay - keep him on a lead etc.  So, rode in and up 4wd bit to start then onto the plush groomed switchbacks that flowed up the paddocks in and out of scrub and eventually into some nice bush. Rode thru to Cowboy Camp where we stopped and had a drink and some fries (and were told that the dog would be attacked by cattle - "Just don't say I didn't warn ya" - he wasn't.)  and rode onwards a short while to the big gulch and swing bridge (MacPherson's) before turning back and rolling, mostly down, back through Camp and more down all the way back to the car. Happy Jet trotting along off the lead for the last while - slowly getting slower (and very worn out sleepy tonight). 

No MMR cos it failed due to lack of reception when we started, but I think it was probably only 4 or 5 kms each way, with a bit over 100m total climbed.

Me time

Then about 3.35 I headed out on my own, back towards town from where we're staying, then around the giant wheelbarrow and up Hau Hau Rd, climbing, climbing, around into Blue Spur Rd and hung a right on Reg Cox Drive. Gravel climbing here, let a little air out of my tires, and climbed up til I hung a left on Seesaw. Great wee blast down this, some fun steep chutes ending up down in the valley around 4pm. 

Last time I was in here I'd hung a right at the bottom here, and headed up the valley, but this time I figured I'd try left and check out the Blue Spur Range Rd as a climb.  Ugh...  Long. gravel. grind.  When I thought I was maybe nearly at the top I checked out Trailforks and found I was only half way up, so kept on grinding.  A couple of quite steep pinches that had the legs and traction trying it out a bit.  Finally reached the 'top' and rolled down a bit to where The Edge peeled off.

This was cool.  Steep and narrow, next to (on the 'Edge' of?) a rough as guts skidder/quad track dropping a fair bit of altitude all at once.  This led to Gravel Pit which had one option with "Caution Caution" above it.  I had a phone call here so while I was talking I clambered down to see...  Steep into a sheer vertical drop of a couple metres into a good roll out, but I wasn't game so took the bunny route to the left instead.  Fun drop down still, over a couple table tops then around a bit and into the next one, Stags Drop.  So named due to a gnarly couple of rocks drop near the start - scarred by chainrings.  The rest of the trail was fun a few cool drops, looping down and around to Bad Boys which was also pretty cool.  Then The Cutting which was variable, but good, the odd bit of climbing but lots of fun features and drops and stuff.  Map My Ride obviously lost it here, and has me all over the place.

End of Cutting led into Logarithm, which I didn't realise til too late was heading down into the valley again.  Ugh, more climbing??  Oh well, fun descent, some steep bits and was a bit more raw than the other trails, obviously newer, as it's not in the 2014/15 Kennett's book  Hung a right at the bottom and headed up Elevator, which gets you up pretty quick but had a short walking section, but the fat bike gives pretty good traction on these steep bits.  At the top I passed on doing the Cutting again (didn't feel like I had the legs anymore), and just cruised the 4wd road (Reg Cox) down(ish).

At the exit of Cutting (also the exit of Slow Girls - still didn't ride that), the 4wd has a bit of a climb that tired legs didn't like, and eventually I got back to where Seesaw heads off - opposite this is the steeperer entrance to Tunnels. Down this rather steep chute into a hellish looking rock filled gulch, which then turned into interesting slick(ish) clay ruts and more steep rounded slick rocks.  Great fun!  Blasting down and around and back and forth and then across (obviously following an old water race) for a while and then ups and downs and more downs finally to the tunnel.  Cruised through this kinda chest/belly on seat, and onwards down sweet trail eventually across a flat to a gravel road.  MMR completely lost me in there with a couple of big skips.

Hung a right on the gravel road, looked longer ahead of me than I'd remembered, up around a bend, a right on Hau Hau, a couple more bends and climbing bits (one of which I added air back into the tires)and back up to Blue Spur Rd.  Back onto tarmac for a high speed blast down hill back past the refuse station and finally to the giant's wheelbarrow and a short blast through Preston's Bush trails, across the road and back along to the house, just over 2 hours since I'd left.

A very wobbly gps track, only 510m climbed, and 23kms in 1 hour 47 (so, not a hell of a lot of stops).

Thursday Family Sidling

On our way to Hoki for a holiday we stopped at Broken River for a quick leg stretch.  Unloaded the bikes, me with the fatty, T on her new midi, and the boys, and headed into Sidle 73.  Everyone did good on the starter climb and then we sidled around the trail.  Jetty ran and panted and had a great time.  Rode through to the gravel Craigieburn Valley Ski Rd, and headed up to check out the start of Coal Pit Spur track.  Rode down this to where it heads over into the Craigieburn Cutting, and then turned back.  Nice roll back through and down, meeting more family peoples climbing, loads of kids on really small bikes, and then down across the creek and back to the car.

Started the MMR late, so, was probably closer to 5 kms... still, only 20 minutes actual riding.  Profile's got some weird dips there that arent real neither.

Tuesday Midday Fatso

At the bay for the extended Easter break. Finally managed to get out and ride after some splitting and chainsawing of firewood.  Headed up the road to Chorlton, steady pace, then up the View Hill Rd gravel, climbing and grinding up the steeper section and around the knob up there.  At about the 400m mark, I could see ahead, at the big pine and trail-split intersection, that the farmer was herding a mob of cattle down towards me.  So around I turned, flat out blasting back down the gravel, fatbike sticking to it like glue, getting to over 60 kph here.  At Chorlton again, I continued straight ahead and down, down the road heading for Raupo Bay, and zooming (over 60 again) all the way down to the end of the road to where you park when you go to Raupo.  Turned around here and grunted back up the road to Chorlton again, and hung the right, tires screaming as I sped down the tarmac again back into the bay.  Left onto Lukes Rd, and down - reaching maximum speed of 64 kph on this bit - then through the tennis quarts and back up to the house.

55 minutes ride time, 470 m climbed over 12kms...

Tuesday night Godley Grease

Countdown pick up with a bit of weather around so thought we'd give the east a look.  Drove through Sumner and parked up at Evans Pass.  Headed into the Godley to find mostly good conditions aside from a bit of slickness and grease applied to the rocks.  Made for some interesting times.  I was puffed as all hell after the first couple of efforts, as always struggling from a cold and intense start.  Eventually got into a kind of groove and we struggled onwards.  First ride for Nelson since our Packhorse meander, him having had some tropical Samoa times in between.  After it's leveled off a bit there's a couple of very rocky sections and these were trickling with water and muck, making them diabolical.  Beyond that tho was pretty good.  Around past the 'landing strip' and into the downhill, trail in good condition and no wetspots from here on down, but I was still Cautious Colin on the lower sections before Livingston Col - never quite trusting the slip - and finding the dim light quite tricky.

Climbing over to Breeze was a breeze, but again on the descent I took it pretty easy, and even rolled around PFMTBC rock.  Again, the low light was really making me struggle with speed.  Down the hill and into the col.  6.15 here.  Debated Anaconda down and up, but figured it'd be mucky, so decided to head around the recently gravelled Breeze Bay Track, finding it quite the nice all-weather surface.  This'll be a good one to combine with the Taylors to Boulder Bay (and beyond) track in the middle of winter when everything's closed.  No technical skills needed at all.  Still managing all this without lights, when we got to the end and parked up on one of the look-out roofs, it was pretty much dark enough.  Lights on and into the wee narrow track back towards Breeze Col above the road.  This was fun, but tricky with balance under lights still taking a bit to get used to.  Back to Breeze, 6.35, and we hit the road for the next stretch, re-entering the singletrack at Livingston Col for the climb.  First part is a grind,but the further up you get the better it is.  6.50odd at the landing strip so got cruising and proceeded to slip and slide the rest of the way back to Evans.  Man, how tech is greasy wet rock?  Quite.

All up another shorty, just under 12 kms, and 429m climbed.  Back in time to grab dinner and head to the TFC trust meeting dead on time.