It has been 9 long months since my last proper ride apart from a couple of sneaky jaunts round Bottle Lake on the SingleSpeeder, not real mountain biking though, with actual mountains etc... So what better way to test the fitness and skills then to attempt probably the steepest and possibly least rideable legal trail in Canterbury. I certainly couldn't think of a better test than the good old Blow Hard track. Also it is pretty close to my place as well. I called in the boys SWTCHBCKR (Rich) and Chris who came out after work. We all loaded into Rich's soon to be new Subbie wagon and tootled off to the start. Not bad conditions considering the weather hadn't been flash for days and the clouds were about 3/4 of the way up the hill and no sign of rain. Hit the hill right away and warned the others that the apparent steepness was just an appetiser, and prepared for my lungs or legs to explode, or both. Surprisingly I managed to keep a respectable pace considering my complete lack of match fitness and with my rear Maxxis Crossmarks hooking into the moistened clay surface perfectly I actually managed to out climb my much fitter companions on a couple of occasions. Once we passed the end of the regular 4wd trail things got a bit tougher though and I found if I pushed as far up the steep as sections as I could like I normally would then I would really struggle to walk up for about 15 to 20 seconds as my lungs etc caught up with demand for O2. I surprised myself again with how I was able to keep pushing steadily to the top all the way, but was ready for a 1 square at the top of the steepest stuff. From there we pushed along to tops in the forested sections, up and up then down a little before up again. Light was fading and the boys were worried about the decent and not keen on it under lights. I was keen to get to the first open section at least and we pushed on, eventually making it before the light really faded (it is amazing how long it takes to get there and I always think 'ah yes I am pretty sure it is just around this corner....no...must be this one...no...' etc etc...) When we looked about the tops the Lees Valley side was almost clear of cloud/mist/fog and the light was amazing, while we were almost about to be immersed in fog, so the atmosphere was unreal. It really worth the effort just for that. Also for once there wasn't a breath of wind and you could even hear the sound of a stream from way down in the valley below. Very cool, a bit LOTR like...
Back down and I was tail end charlie, and got dropped right away as I caught a stick in my derailleur which took about 15 seconds to extract, giving me no chance of catching up. Also given my lack of riding I was a bit ginger on the downhills as well. The loose rocks and slickness on some rocks as well as some very dull lighting in the thicker forest sections made me pretty wary, plus being last I didn't want to come off and be left unconscious down a bank for hours either!!! After about 10 minutes I had to resort to my light as it was so hard to see the track but it seemed even worse as I was in foggy section and the reflection off the fog was worse than riding in the dark. This made me thing the others were right about the steep stuff in the dark, but it was too late by then anyway. After another couple of minutes the light was pretty much gone in the forest and I flicked the light back on. This time the fog was gone and I could see pretty good, apart from having a half inflated spare tube in the top pocket of my pack which was pushing against my helmet hard when I was trying to hold the light far enough ahead to see properly at speed or on steep descending sections. So just before the drop off I stopped where we had a snack earlier to remedy that problem. Re-mounted and rode about 40 metres and found the other 2 on the side of the track. Chris was faffing about with the front of his bike muttering and cursing as it seemed his light had lost its charge or some other fault and was refusing to illuminate the way ahead at all. He did have a small town light on his head and said he would walk down and we should go ahead. So Rich went ahead no problem, but I was having issues getting my feet in the pedals on the steepest section we were on at the time so took a bit of time, and Chris walked. Once we got past there we got Chris between Rich and I and went from there. Chris seemed to manage that pretty well and I was struggling to keep pace most of the time, being a bit tentative still. We all manage to get down OK at a decent pace and found ourselves back at the car in quick time as usual for the Blowhard...On to my place for a couple of reflective quiets and then on home for the boys and to bed for me....
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