Sunday night Back Tracking...

Sunday night ride, met at Swtchbckrs place and scavenged some very nice pasta and vege curry for sustainance and we headed off to Slumner. Decided to do something different to usual and rode the trail in reverse, meaning we started by riding to Scarborough hill and up the road to the top and then a cautious ride down to Taylors due the the damp patches on the road. Then onto the trail proper and up onto the Anaconda Tail out from Taylors. I blew one tricky rocky section that is no issue going the other way but had no trouble the rest of the way finding it pretty enjoyable. Rich cleaning the first section OK. Up the curvaceous Anaconda trail for the first time ever for me was interesting. Not as steep as I thought it would be, although there were a few grunty bermed corners but nothing to tough. Found the going pretty good and made quick time up to the road. Seemed odd to not really know where you are on the track due to going the other way, so a bit like a brand new trail. Over the road and we cruised on up the Godley Head track towards Evans Pass and got to the top of the first hill pretty fast. Then down the rocky tricky section and finding it difficult to find the best line seeing I hadn't ridden this track in reverse for years either. Bumped our way along until the track smoothed out and then flowed quickly to the saddle before beginning the grind up to the next hilltop. This section while not to steep is a fairly long grind and seemed to go for ever, but we still felt good at the top. There was a little bit of drizzle coming down by this time and the rocks were greasy although the dirt sections were still dry and very grippy, nice to have the dust damped down though. I let Rich go ahead as I was thinking I would take it easy due to the wet rocks, but we ended up going at about the same speed anyway. The rocks turned out to be not to bad but you could still feel a bit of sliding occasionally on the bigger rocks. We were flowing pretty well until I tried to take a faster line over a rock section I couldn't see over to start with, it lead to a slight drop to a flat rock that sloped quite steeply to the edge of the track. I hit the sloping rock and felt the front sliding so I had to correct it which meant I turned pretty well right off the track and ended up heading straight down the hill on a near 45 degree slope. I managed to bail off to the side about 5m down the hill and avoided getting completely out of control. I ended up pretty much on my feet and kept hold of the bike so no damage done. Bit of a climb out and off we went again. No trouble down the last rocky sections and to the top of Evans Pass. Due to the weather packing in we decided to bail down Captain Thomas instead of doing an up and back on Greenwood as planned. Down Thomas I found the first section really sweet and then took it easy in the gully due to moisture build up on the track. Had no issues on the way down and managed to ride all the rock drops although I rode the worst line down the steps on the first big one as the smoother line to the right was pretty wet looking and I didn't fancy another trip over the edge...Rich took the safe option and walked that one not fancying my juddery step line either. We both bailed on the short climb section half way along as the track has been dug in over time around the rocks making a very tight line which the rain wasn't helping either by now. Flowed sweetly from there down apart from a bush hanging over the track making for a blind entry to the littly rise after the walk track drops off the the right. I normally hop the rocks on it but only saw what was there when I hit them after brushing under this bush, luckily there was nothing on the track. Took it easy down the last section as the wood edges on the steps were greasy as. Got back to the Bongo at about 8 and dropped Rich home via Maccas for a burger and fries....

Hidden Old Skool Crouching Nun...

Finished work early at 2 and went to pick up Chris and get changed. Bit of rain about but looked OK and was pretty warm. Made our way over to the bottom of Rapaki and met up with James M on his Tomac. I hadn't been up Rapaki in months so it was a change although nothing much has changed...Found the going easy so that was good. We all cruised up chatting to the top. Was windy as at the top and the last 200m or so we were ably assisted up by said breeze. Headed on up Mt Vernon and I pulled away a little on the steep section as James tired a little due to not much riding. I took the old rough switchback route across the west face and even managed to clean the rocky corner for the second time in a row. We regrouped at the start of the Summit trail below the road and I had a OSM. I lead off across the now super groomed trail and kept up a good pace to make it fun. We quickly got over to Vic park and rolled down the narrow and smooth Thompsons trails. The bush hanging close to the edge making a very cool run through there. Filled up with water at the Kiwi where a chap came out and told us to look out for bad smells along the tracks (meaning we might investigate and follow that to the body of the missing girl up there somewhere maybe...) Up the road again and we had a look out over Worsleys and then up to the top of the Nun again. This time in the light the dust was less of a problem and I felt heaps faster as did Chris, but I was much closer to him this time. I only made 1 or 2 small errors and held pretty good speed along the way. We got to the bottom and waited a couple of minutes before James appeared and reported that he had Pogo sticked off the track and crashed, but luckily not a scratch on him. So we continued on up the summit road to Vic park and dropped into Brakefree for a few jumps before I pulled out and headed down the Rockgarden/Gums old track. I seemed to leave the others behind and they ended up taking a different track but I took the old school tracks right out to the gate to the memorial on the vic park road. Raced back to the skidder site to find the others. Then I followed Chris down Dazzas and onto Ponos I think. I got wrong lined on one of the rises and had to pull up as it was a drop onto rocks if you didn't jump it. The inside line was the chicken route and James and I took that then made our way along the rest of the way to the bottom. Chris had to take off for rehearsals so James and I continued up the Hidden Valley and onto Old Skool. By this time the sun was shining just before it set making for mint as light and it was still warm but no wind. Hoofed down the top section and ran into a guy coming up on a Santa Cruz who James knew so we had a chat for a minute. Someone else was coming so we took off a few seconds ahead of them and shot down the new section. I really enjoyed the flow of it and kept up a good pace seeing as it was my first ride on that part. We dropped out the bottom of the track and got to the gate and waited for the other rider who was about 30 seconds back by then so we did a good job of not holding them up. Headed back to the Bongo and home via shops at Eastgate. Great to ride in actual sunlight!!!!

Flight of the Bongo

Had a course to do on my day off (Tuesday 4th or so) and a few jobs to sort out then free about 4.30ish. Cruised with bike etc to the Swtchbckr residence and was met at the gate by a small chap inviting me in, although it was a little odd that we were locked out for a short while to begin with...Anyway after a bit longer Rich arrived and we had another great dinner (thanks again) although I felt a little guilty being uninvited... :)
We got ready and went to pick up Chris from the Holly temple before heading up to the meeting point above the Sign of the Kiwi. The Bongo making good time on the top section once it left the confines of the 50kmh zone...
We came across a nest of slightly inferior white vans containing no less than PFMTBC members Steve, Tony, Marie, Wayne and Warren in that order making a posse of 8 in total.

We exchanged some unnecessary pleasantries and headed up the road with a chilly cross wind. Chris and I seemed to get ahead as the others chatted in the cold air. Once we got to the top of Worsleys and the start of the Nun who flew we regrouped and some adjusted seat heights etc. This is against my religion unless it is on a day that doesn't end in y. Of we went with Chris newly decked out in his knee/shin guards in front and me next wheel in the dust. This was to be a constant problem. Rich was behind and the others spreading out to relieve the dust issue. I was feeling pretty ginger due to not having ridden for a while on that trail and knowing it had been changed/repaired recently so was a bit slow. Hit a few nice jumps and mucked up some other bits too. Got a bit disorientated part way down and took a wrong turn into a short cut and ended up in front of Chris, so tried to get down without holding him up to much and we pulled up to the car park to regroup. Up again for round 2 I decided to ride up in a silly gear (think it was 32/18 but managed that OK, so would be fine for single speeding) and we did the same thing although this time when I mucked up the same corner I stopped and let Rich go ahead as well seeing as I was riding badly still. This time we went down to the Kiwi and headed back up again.

Round 3 I think I went off in 3rd place and Rich did a good job of keeping close to the flying Chris. I was a little better but still making errors and jumped right off the track at one point just past the first 4by track crossing and had to run back up to the track. It was cool at the bottom by the Kiwi again looking back up at all the lights coming down the track from our guys and another big group coming down too. We regrouped and rode back up to the Vans where the others decamped and Rich, Chris and I did a drop down into the Governors Bay track which was super groomed and trimmed making it nice and flowing. We dropped right down to the hairpin at the bottom and turned back to grind our way up. I was in front and took it easy at first to save energy knowing how tough the switchback corners are. I stuffed up the first one along with the others and then when pretty well. I think I only missed 2 more after that. I found the climb out pretty good even though it is pretty steep. We voted on 1 more shot at the Nun so carried on up hill to the top. This time I felt in better form and managed to even make the corner I kept missing and had much better speed. Stuck much closer to the others and we all pulled out at the Van in good time feeling good to finish with a decent. Another quick decent was made in the Bongo and everyone dropped off.