Last of the evening sunlight rides

Picked up Rich and we made our way across town in the 'rona and up to the top of Worsleys spur road. Parked up with several other cars and got the bikes out. Mine having 2 slow leaks needing pumping up. A rider passed as we were getting organised and I thought we might catch them on the way up. My tyre pumping etc gave them about 4 or 5 minutes start though. We started out steadily and I was feeling OK due to not having ridden up the road first. Once we got to the corner looking up to the Bodybag I finally made out the rider and a couple of others they had caught going over the top, so no chance of us catching them. I set the goal of riding the 'bag in middle ring which I was in since the bottom of the track. I was feeling a bit average at the bottom though and had to alternate between standing and sitting several times before even getting to the really steep part. Grunted up there and as usual the last bit at the top feels just as steep due to oxygen debt etc. Got to the road at the top and found nobody there but a cool easterly breeze and headed back down the track a bit to see where Rich was. He was a few metres from the top of the steepest stuff pushing and got on to finish the rest. He looked a lot fresher than I was feeling. We jumped back onto the trail up to the top of the Nun and parked at the entrance. Took off the sunnies as the sun was getting to low for them to help much anyway, then dropped in, me behind Rich as usual. I kept up until a bumpy bit caused me to loose my rhythm and balance and I dropped back about 5 seconds or so which is about where the gap stayed. I was managing the jumps OK but never got a great flow on. Remembered the first of the jumps we had previously checked out but that was just after the point I lost speed and I had to pedal hard out to get enough speed to clear it properly. I was also having trouble with the front gears and never seemed to be in the right gear, so that was causing issues as well. Got to the Kiwi and pulled out to the roadside and we decided to cruise the road back up for another run. On the way up I played around with the shift adjuster and seemed to get it much better. Not sure how it got so far out of adjustment though. This time I lead the way and Rich sat in behind me. The run started out better, being able to pedal and find the right gear every time and I felt much smoother. Hit the jumps better and held more speed through the rocky sections before the track opens up near the saddle/junction with the summit road. Rich was keeping close enough behind me but was flat out and not being held up, so I was pretty happy with that as I hadn't been down there much lately and not mistake free for a long time, although I got pretty sideways on one of the last high speed jumps. We pulled up to the road and rested out hands and arms before dropping back in and hitting the top (best) section of the Dyers Pass track. I was a bit tentative due to the rapidly diminishing light and could have gone faster, but still enjoyed the trail. We turned around at the beginning of the 4 by track and cruised back up. It is actually a pretty good climb until the last 100 m or so kicks your butt. Up the road again to the top of Worsleys Spur and we sorted the lights out to drop down the 'bag and to B line. I lead and was surprised at how hard it was to make out anything on the track due to it's uniform light grey colouring. Rich couldn't see due to dust. Hit the bottom and turned to the B line entry. Much better visibility in the trees twisting and turning beautifully. Lots of large mossies doing something on the ground everywhere, there would have been millions of them, luckily they weren't interested in eating us! Had a fun cruise down and passed a climber (lost?) and zigzagged our way back to the car. Home via a large feed at Ronnie Macs....