Sunday Packhorse Jaunt...

Met up at Rich's at 9am Sunday morning. Rich was nearly ready and I got a few bits sorted and then Rich's friend Becs arrived. We loaded up the rack and headed to the top of Gebbies Pass. Becs' friends where meant to meet us there too, but were running late. We arrived at the Pass to find a newly formed parking area and a nicely groomed road to the start of the track proper. We bombed down into the old trees and climbed over the fence at the bottom all warmed up. Lost 2 layers and climbed up the paddock to the next section. This seemed to be a lot faster and shorter than last time. Maybe I am getting fitter....

Dropped down the road in the trees and this time remembered the turn off to the single track. I was feeling quite pleased that I had decided to take off the sunnies earlier as it was dark as in the first section. Enjoyed the first climb, going around several trees that had fallen over the trail, and felt like I was making more of the tricky climbs, or at least close to it, on a couple of occasions. Went off for the top half of the tree section and looked back after a couple of minutes to see nobody there. Waited for a couple more minutes before bombing the super smooth trail back down. Found Rich coming up a few hundred metres down who informed me the hold up was only a phone call from the others who were late and would be coming up behind us. Off up again and I noticed I still had 2 more gears to go down if required (last time I was in the lowest gear I had) and I was finding it OK. Pushed on and passed a couple of walkers and grunted up the last straight before the fence and the open track. A group of about 6 walkers watched and probably thought we were mad. We regrouped and had a good long rest enjoying the sun and the view before pushing on to the top. This time I was keen to see how much I could ride after struggling on the rocks a bit last time. I managed to clean it all at a good steady pace. Had a few near dabs but made a much better fist of it this time. Went back down to the others and rode back up again. Another rest, feed and admiring of views and then down again. Took it steady on the way down due to the narrow track, rocks and exposure but had a really nice flow. Clean again on the way down this time too, so was pretty happy with that. Entered the trees and felt fantastic on the magic carpet ride descent. Nice grip and sweet trail. Passed walkers at convenient times and then met up with Bec's mates coming up. We had a chat for 10 minutes then carried on down. It would have been worth going back up if we had time. Bombed down but nearly went over the bars trying to cross one of the downed trees near the bottom. The others had a good laugh at my expense, but no harm done luckily. I lead out and up the 4 by track to the paddock. Met a couple of bikers going up. Caned the next section avoiding the cow poo for the most part and really had a good flow. It felt like I was dancing all the way down it and Rich said the same. Passed the walkers again and rode up the fenceline nearly making the super steep zigzags up to the logged area. Down the road for a bit and then dropped into the new bike track below the road. This is a wide but rough track formed by a digger. There is no line and the surface is crusty and rough, but it is still pretty fun. I almost lost the front end at one point and had to put the foot out to stop myself going into the bank. Hopefully enough people ride it and a nice line will form. I managed to collect a large number of thistle spines in my left arm which I picked out at the gate. It looked like I had been shooting up after though. Rich and I shot down the road towards the Teddington Pub and got picked up at the bottom. Back at Rich's about 1.30pm.