Rumble on the Rameka

Day 2 of the top of the south trip...Finally catching up with holiday ride logs...

After a night of warm muggy rain the day was started slowly to allow time for the cloud to lift and the trail to dry.  So a coffee and feed in Motueka was followed by a fun drive up the Takaka Hill to the Canaan Downs turnoff and I parked in the cafe carpark and Rich disembarked from his car which was later driven down the other side to Takaka by Jo.  We checked it was OK to leave my car there the night and headed up the hill. 

We seemed to have a good pace going quickly which had me struggling to keep up but I eventally caught up to Rich.  Quick snack break at the saddle and down the road until we got to the start of the downs loop on the left.  I hadn't done this bit before but according to Steve it was sweet.  Even though it was a bit soft and wet in places we had a good run but the grit was not good for the drive train so when we got to the Rameka track carpark I pulled of the chain and cleaned and lubed it and the rest of the gears.  We opted out of the rest of the Canaan loop to avoid more of the same gritiness and headed up into the Rameka. 

The wetness was less of a problem in the forest as the track doesn't have the same surface.  I lead in and we had a nice comfortable pace going until I got a puncture which was fixed with a spare tube.  Further in the signs of a big storm were obvious with lots of large trees down, but the track has been cleared nicely.  Stopped for photos a few times and a robin with 1 leg hung around and even sat on my bike for a while. Once we got past the major storm damage we hit the first parts of the descent and more intense riding.  We stopped near the top to eat and an older female rider appeared from the track above us.  She was doing well riding alone at her own pace.  We took off in front and hit the Rameka Project trails. These were awesome as usual, fast and flowing, except for a few granite rock sections that were slippery as.  I lost the back end on one section and had a huge foot down slide to gather it back up again, knocking a big chunk off the side of the track in the process (sorry track builders).  Everyone was having a good time until we hit the 3 jumps near the end, hearing a muffled sound on the last one then waiting where the track hit the road, waited for Rich to turn up.  He came out 30 seconds or so later reporting the noise was him falling off on the second jump after landing wrong and somehow flying off the track.  He had a big graze on the inside of his leg and a sore chest (this was actually a broken rib).  At least he could still ride so we got through the sweet river/rock garden section to the end of the trail and burned off towards Pohara after giving directions to Takaka to the other female rider who had caught us when we were resting up.  The road trip of 8 to 10 kms at good pace (taking turns on the front) was good to take the last energy from the legs.  Not too long after we got there the rain started again.  Good ride once again on a top 10 trail.

Friday Night Escape from Jaws at Kaiteriteri

Left home after much repair work/maintenance and organisation at about 11am en route to Motueka.  At the Lake Daniels carpark Rich and his crew met up and we carried on through making Motueka at about 6pm or so.  We quickly organised ourselves (me putting tent up) then Rich and I shot through to Kaiteriteri via the Hop Federation brewery.  The wet weather was holding off and it was warm and muggy when we headed up into the bike park.  First up Easy Rider then Cruise Control, catching up to another rider here who followed behind us, Glade Runner, Revelation, Ziggy and into Corkscrew.  We had set a pretty fierce pace to the base of Corkscrew enjoying the swooping trails but the long drive and lack of good food started to show so we had a feed and rest near the bottow before heading up with our tail end charlie now well ahead.  No sign of him once we hit the skidder track at the top but the views were good.

We headed back down the top section of Corkscrew and turned right into the new Jaws track.  This was really sweet, lots of swoops and roller coasting along and some good jumps, nice berms and steep climbs into hairpin corners to reduce the braking required.  Hopefully this will keep the damage to the track to a minimum.  Jaws lead into Skulldugery where at the end of that we met up with the other rider again.  He gave us some good advise about which trails to take and followed in behind again as we took Scoot, Swish and via Easy Rider and Half Pipe back to the Jump track at the start/end.  Back out a few hundred metres to the car beside the beach.  We were still pretty hot so stripped to our short liners and jumped into the sea.  It was cool at first but nice and warm on top so I swam to the rocks and back (very slowly).  A great way to refresh after and hot sticky fun ride.  Also the beer at the end helped too.

Huntsbury Castle sprint

Left work last night a little early to beat the traffic and picked Rich up on the way to Huntsbury Ave.  Parked at the top and got changed and going at about 5.30pm.  Up the gravel road with a pretty strong easterly blowing accross the ridge.  We kept a good pace up as we had to be at Wazza's at 7pm for the PFMTBC trip DVD premier.  We got to the top in pretty good time and hit straight into Vernon for the decent to Rapaki.  I stopped for a quick drink and to check out what a guy was up to on the road below.  It turned out he was looking for a dog and yelling out it's name.  We couldn't see anything from our higher view point.  Rich took a good lead to start with and I tried to reel him in, making a little progress by the bottom.  Nice and fast but easy going here.  It seems that by making the trail so smooth the speed goes up and therefore the danger level has actually increased.

I took over the lead up Witch Hill and had a really good climb, which as I noticed at the top could have been to do with my fork being locked out.  It probably was also locked out on the way down Vernon, but as it is so smooth I didn't notice.  Out onto the road we battled up to Castle rock with some head winds on the lower section but a little more shelter on the top section of the road.  We breifly stopped to talk to  a young dude out running at the top of the trail.  I lead in again but found the flow difficult due to grass hiding the trail and rocks.  Still kept a reasonable speed on most of it until I punctured near the lowest part of the track.  When I took the wheel out I found that the tip of the valve was bent over about 45 degrees so took out my mini pliers to straighten it so I could get air into it. When I put the pump on it thought it broke off so couldn't be repaired.  It was only on its second ride.  I put in my spare tube and we turned around for the climb back up.  I quite like the challenge of this climb but still stuffed up the last pinch which Rich managed to clean.  At the top we met a roadie sitting on the rocks sipping a Woodstock.  Clearly not your average roadie.  We talked with him for about 10 minutes as he was pretty interesting.  Turned out he had been a pro in his earlier years and had also been a trail digger at Wairoa. 

Rich lead off down the road and I pulled up to check out a possible line up the bank giving him a 300+ metre lead.  The tail wind along the lower section of road gave us a super fast entry to the Witch Hill track again which I held all the way to the top and into the decent section.  Nice flow down here for a change.  Normally I seem to get hooked up on  a few of the rocks somewhere along the way.  We carried on straight up into Mt Vernon with a pretty good pace.  By the top of the steeper lower section we caught up to a couple of others and sat behind them until they turned off towards Farmtrack.  Made it up the next steep push and criused along the flatter section down to the road and into the Traverse.  At the bottom of the rocks it was tempting to keep going but we turned around and headed back towards Huntsbury and out to the runway.  We crossed the fence, noting that the wire has been tighted, and headed along the ridge where the strong easterly was making balancing difficult.  I went around the big jump on this section as it was too windy but lower down we hit the next lot with no dramas as the wind wasn't too bad there.  About 200m from the end I felt the rear tire go down and pulled up, Rich went on by and I walked back to the car. 

Back to the car at about 6.50pm and to the super market at St Martins for some food and a beer then off to Wazzas for the DVD showing.

Worsley Nun Hang'n Loose

Rich met me at work just before 5pm so we were loaded up and ready to go right away, managing to get a bit of a head start on the traffic we got changed at the park next to Worsleys Road and moving around 5.40pm.  Neither of us were feeling super fast to start with so a steady pace was held up the road, then below the 4wd track for a bit then back over the fence onto the now very washed out and rock 4wd track.  The track was a little damp in places but mostly pretty grippy.  I managed to get right up the Body Bag (first time up here for ages) and Rich most of it.  We didn't wait at the top due to cold wind and a few spits of rain about.  Up from here to the top of the Nun we pulled up for a snack at the top where we were sheltered from the wind a bit. 

The rain was threatening more so we didn't hang around too long.  I lead down the hill but didn't feel super quick, possibly due to the wind at the top and a few greasy patches on the track here and there.  Rich was feeling about the same so I wasn't holding him up. Then he dropped his chain again so dropped back a bit.  Half way down we passed the track builder digging up a section so slowed down and went around dirt heaps he had piled up.  I had a good run down, despite not feeling fully confident but still haven't figured out how to make the last section flow properly yet.

Back out onto the road we headed back up to the top of Worsleys and back down the Body Bag, Rich on the right side and me on the left, both finding the line not very good, the centre line probably being the best.  At the fence we turned right, back up into the forest and right again up to Tommys II and Hang Loose.  I lead again into Hang Loose, very slowly as the track up here was still pretty greasy.  As we got lower it was dryer though.  Stopped at the start of Yoda and walked a little way down to check it out.  Looks knarly but cool, might have a go at it in the dry soon. 

Back riding again and apparently onto Goat track which then joins the other trails out at the logging track back up to Worsleys.  I put some power on in the climb to see how I was compared to the Packhorse ride where I had no power at all.  I got to the top of the steep section through the gorse and had to back of a little but didn't feel too bad, better than Tuesday anyway.  We then headed back up the forestry track and got up to the clifftops before taking Waynes World down to Fight Club.  Fight Club being nice and dry and super fun.  Back to the log skidder track back up and I managed to power up the steep piece again feeling pretty good.

Back down to the road end via a grassy exit track to the left.  We cruised down the road taking the odd off road option and hit the top of Far Side.  I lead in and had a really quick roller coaster run, a few close calls and almost turned left on a right hander.  Big smiles at the bottom and we headed back up the steep section of road to the start of Far Side again for a repeat run.  Waited at the top for some others to get ahead as they didn't look like being super quick.  The second run was even faster in places although I managed to bollock myself with the seat on a big G out but didn't have to stop.  Back out to the car by 8pm.

Packhorse Blast

Picked up Craig from his place and headed up Hackthorne Road to Dyers Pass (lower section of Dyers is still closed) and over into Governors Bay then out to Teddington and up Gebbies.  On the way up Gebbies Pass we could see a logging truck coming out of the road were the track starts.  We figured this would probably mean the track was closed, but the signs all said track open at the top so we headed in.  My cold had now enveloped my lungs so I was struggling right from the start to keep up with Craig as he has just come back from 300+Kms last week up in the North Island so was attacking the climbs at high velocity in the big chainring.  I could only spin along and watch him dissapear.  He filled in the time waiting for me by turning around and riding back to me then hooning off again. 

The logging crews have been busy in here, but the track is still fine and the top section of forrest is still all standing.  This section was fun, but with only half the normal lung capacity I was struggling.  In the end on the steep switchback section half way up I got further than any other time due to the corners being wider, but blew up and had to walk for a while.  Made it eventually to the top of the trees and then out into the open, less steep section.  My legs had no strength left though, so I was spinning along slowly to the top.  At the hut it was pretty windy so we only checked out the few for a minute or so then headed back down.  I took the lead seeing as I had gravity helping and Craig was on a fully rigid bike.  I had a blast finding some new lines and popping off some of the rocks, but had to be careful as some of the corners ar pretty tight and close to the edge.  The drop off the side wouldn't be much fun if you went over it too.  Craig was a few seconds back at the fence where the forest starts due to the lack of suspension on the rocks, but from there down was pretty close behind on the decents.

The forest section is much smoother and flowy so we had a sweet ride down with some really fast sections and fun swichbacks thrown in too.  Had a few close calls with the long grass pulling on the bars on some narrow off camber sections and had to push off a tree that has now grown to big to get around on the track.  There are 2 like that on the lower section and lines above them have started to form.  We hit the logged area and I grovelled up the hill while Craig caned off again.  Over the open farmland section I found some awesome lines giving a real roller coaster ride down to the fence crossing into the treeline.  From here we cruised up and out to the logging road then found the trail just below the road which is now covered in grass but has a good line on it.  I was expencting it to be pretty bad but it was actually quite fun and definately better than the road.  Back at the car we loaded up and headed back the way we came.  About 1hr 20 but it was a good tough workout with some awesome fun trails to keep the spirits up.

Tuesday Tootle

This ride was from 1 week ago....

Picked up Swtchbckr from his place and headed up to Upper Major Hornbrook Road to meet up with the PFMTBC boys.  Only Warren, Robin and Andrew were in.  We headed up Britten and left at the top to the end, then flicked left along the Summit Road, up Broadleaf to the top of Mt Pleasant.  I was fighting a cold so wasn't able to push too hard but we made it up in decent time.  Over the top we headed and I lead down to the top of Greenwood.  A bit slow over the rocks at the top but getting a flow on along the lower section.  A quick regroup and we headed into Greenwood.  I wasn't feeling 100% energetic so cruised the easy bits and attacked more on the tecknical sections.  I seemed to have a better run than last time.  We all got down without any major dramas although Rich dropped his chain a couple of times.  At road we decided to split as Rich and I went back up the track and the others took the newly re-surfaced road. 

We stopped on the first big bend to check out the drop over the side and then yarned to a rider coming down.  Off again we climbed steadily enjoying the tecknical challenges but not pushing on to hard.  I big bunch of about 20 riders came by at the top, big range of abilities with the tail enders walking some of the rock gardens.  We passed the ruins and headed into the old Greenwood entrance, the first time in ages I had been on it.  A few rough patches have been improved and it was quite flowing for a change.  Along the road for a few hundred metres and into Britten again, we had a fast run down with little wind to slow us and push you off balance.

Not a big ride but a good blast to keep fresh.