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....