Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Worsleys Wanderings

Tuesday evening after work I headed over to Cashmere, fighting the usual traffic woes.  Conditions had been wet earlier in the day but the warm breeze was drying things out quickly.  The PFMTBC  ride plan was to meet at the top of Worsleys Road at 6.20.  I was at the base of the hill by about 5.55pm so decided to park up, get changed and ride from there.  That way I could catch the Far Side Tracks on the way down.  Mark and Maree pulled up in the car beside me just as I was getting onto the flat after the steep first section of road and offered a lift.  I decided to carry on riding as there was still plenty of time before the others were due.  Lots of traffic was streaming past, almost all with bikes racked on the back.  The fumes were pretty bad on the steep section too.  Tony also went past but I didn't recognise the car until I saw his bike on the back. 

I met the others at the carpark and Maree and Mark carried on up at a nice leisurely pace and planned to meet at the bottom of the forestry.  I went back down to where Tony had parked (150m below the carpark as it was full) and waited for the others.  Andrew quickly arrived also by bike and then Warren and Wayne and Stevie with Robyn.  We got organised and rode up to meet the others at the forest and decided to ride up the forestry track to take the original line down from the cliffs.  Wayne having a good fast climb up at the front and Tony riding the whole thing non stop for the first time.  I followed Andrew down and we took a few wrong turns here and there as the trails criss cross everywhere now.  We all seemed to agree this is a real problem. Then we accidentally took the new retarded shortcut that avoids the first awesome section of fight club and regrouped at the bottom of that.  That piece of track would have to be the most pointless in all of the port hills.  We carried on with me in front but having problems on the fast corners as my tyres were too soft and were rolling on the rims a little.  Not a nice feeling at speed on off camber tracks.  I stopped at the bottom and put more air in both before catching the others on the climb out.  We headed back up the same way to the cliffs with everyone climbing pretty well.  Regrouped and decided to head further up as most of the crew hadn't gone up from there before. They found the going pretty good with a few of us having enough energy to have a few go's at getting up a steep rocky section (but nobody quite making it).  Also a few being surprised at how quickly we got to the intersection at the top.  From there we went further up towards Tommy's II etc but turned off into the link to Debbies.  We stopped at the first ruins to show the guys, as nobody else had seen them.  We deduced that it was build by the Chinese more the 2000 years ago.  We headed onwards with the intention of turning back up to the left to do Fight Club again but missed the turn off and went straight into Alices Restaurant.  This got pretty steep and technical in places before we regrouped on a flat after the first wood bridge.  Everyone seemed to love it though, so we carried on down.  From there it got really steep but Mark and I managed to ride it all and the others walking a few particularly steep bits below the rock outcrop.  Below these sections we got a really good flow on and shot out to the 4wd exit track in no time.  A big group of riders from several groups assembling at the same place.  We all took off up at the same time and I decided to see how far I could get up at near full noise.  I got in front and put the foot down on the steeper section and made it to the last corner before having to back off a little.  I waited for the others for a minute or 2 and we headed down to the cars.

I figured if anyone was keen we could all ride down via the Far Side to my car and I could ferry the drivers back up.  Had a few takers (Mark, Marree and Warren) with Andrew riding anyway and Robyn being picked up at the bottom by Steve.  We had a great run, getting in just in front of another large group.  Everyone came out with big grins.  The track is really flowy even though it is pretty confined and twisty.  Good work trail builders...

Took the drivers up  in the car then returned to pick up the bike and gear about 8.45pm.


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Macs Bay Mistakes

Thursday evening ride.  This time on my own.  After battling traffic I managed to get out to McCormacks Bay and park up next to the football field.  I cruised off up Glenstrae Road and onto the trail making sure I didn't push to hard early as the incline ramps up as you go meaning you need to keep the legs fresh for the really steep sections.  As seemed to be the order of the day I was riding nicely on most of the track but complete shagged up bits I normally clear easily.  So the switchback corners up the top were a real mixed bag.  On reflection I am thinking the rear tire needs to be swapped as it is rounding off on the edges making traction a problem on the hard pack.  I felt good still after the grunt up to the road and criused up the road and into the new subdivision where I got out of the seat to push up the steep section.  Then I took the 4wd trail now formed beyond the lower section of road to where it meets the next subdivision and then onto Britten.  Nice climb up here enjoying the warmer than expected temperature and lack of wind.  Near the top I took the right hand, struggling to see for grass though, and carried on along below the road right to the end of the original John Britten track.  At the road I flicked left and went back to Broadleaf lane.  I chased a bunch of roadies up Broadleaf who turned back and headed down again at the first gateway and begrudgingly said 'hi' as they passed by.  Typical angry roadies, I guess they are punishing their depressed selves by riding skinny tyred bone shakers all the time.  Past the first gate the road has been worked on, 100m of river run gravel and then graded flat from there.  Not to bad to ride. but a bit soft still.  Got to the top and climbed up to the very top of the hill for a look over to the harbour.  Great view on a perfect evening.

I headed down towards Greenwood, with the usual issues with not being able to see the trail due to grass growth but got better towards the bottom.  Grip was excellent so I was really railing the corners. I hooked onto Greenwood and immediately ran off the track on the first jump.  Had to go back and do it again properly, then a minute later as I ran past the ruins into the rocks I lost balance off the big rock in the track and crashed off into more rocks.  Not to much harm done but I was not well pleased with my riding.  Again I back-tracked and hit it again properly.  I seemed to ride better from there, great run through the rocky sections and cornering well until just before gloomy gulch I picked up a snakebite.  Stopped and decided to remove what I suspected was the offending rock from the track, which required the use of a large boulder to smash down onto it.  This took about 10 minutes, then another 10 mins to fix the flat.  A group of 7 or 8 riders passed going up as I moved off.  This was about the only people I saw from then on.  From here down the run went well apart from going too fast into the first rock climb and missing the easy line causing me to stall out on the rough ground.

Headed into Godley without stopping and felt much better on the first climb due to having a good heart rate to start with.  Cleaned the first section but just slipped up on the second tricky bit.  Went well from there and had good pace, not in granny gear for a change.  3/4 of the way up on one of the tricky rocky bits I managed to get up over a high spot going faster than normal, then dropped both wheels into holes which stopped my momentum instantly.  This threw me into the bars and picked up the back wheel.  It happened so fast I didn't even stop pedaling, doing 2 complete cranks with the wheel in the air, going nowhere.  Luckily I didn't go OTB and just dropped back down with no damage done.  Got moving again making the top and decent down to the water tank without any further drama.  Hit the next climb without stopping for a rest and had a clean run through the technical rock sections and headed down to the top of Anaconda.  Big group of cars with bike racks parked in the way at the top which made me wonder if there might be some traffic coming up but in the end didn't see anyone (must have been the group I saw heading up Greenwood).  I took off down the hill and about 30 seconds in decided I was feeling a bit buggered so stopped for a feed.  Was a nice spot sitting on the side of the hill with a great view and no wind.  Got moving again after 5 and had a pretty good run down the gully and out the tail, managing to hold good pace through the rock sections to Taylors Mistake. 

Not many surfers about today.  I headed straight up the road to Scarborough.  The 1 square I ate taking affect with plenty of energy being burned all the way up but no blowout, in fact each time I flicked up a gear going over the top it seem nice and easy to accelerate away to the next gear.  I dropped down into the park at the top of the hill and followed the route Rich and I found a month or 2 back which was quite cool with some hairy bits to negotiate in the middle.    From the bottom I cruised along the Sumner beach front and then gound my way below the cliffs to Redcliffs and through to the start of the causeway and back to the car.  About 2 1/2 hours ride time all up.

Old Skool Lappage II

Tuesday evening ride.  With Swtchbckr away with work for a week I contacted the boys from PFMTBC to see if they were riding and if so could I tag along.  They were and as it happens, had planned to do a carbon copy of my last ride.  I picked up Phatboy (who kindly gave me a yummo feed first) and we loaded up the 'Rona and met the others at the end of Bowenvale ave.  This time I had 3 clean climbs up to the top, bar stopping at the creek crossing to watch the others attempt to ride it.  There were a mix of successes and failures but everyone gave it a go.  I also had 1 dab when following Helmut up to the second hairpin where I was too close and got stalled in the rutty bit.  This time it was pretty windy up the hill so it was a bit tricky on the narrow trail at speed.  I felt pretty good though and had a good run on all 3 laps but did manage to go way off the trail half way down after a jump from one of the rocks on the trail. 

After so many laps in a row I was feeling pretty dialled in to the track and despite the wind the last lap would definately have been my fastest run. I seemed to be able to rail the corners and maintain my balance/line pretty well all the way down.  We caught a few riders on the way down giving 1 a bit of a fright and causing him to bail off the track in  a panic to get out of the way.  After the 3rd lap we cruised back to the car and headed home.  Helmut impressing us by cleaning the super dodgy exit trail to the right at the bottom of old skool. 

Old Skool Lappage I

Finished work and headed over to Swtchbckrs where nobody was home yet so did some overdue bike maintenance on the footpath.  Eventually everyone arrived home and Rich fixed a front puncture before we headed off for Bowenvale ave.  Parked up at the end of road carpark and rode up the gravel track into the valley at a steady pace.  Having not been on the bike at all last week or more I was feeling a little taxed by the time we topped out at the turnoff to the hidden valley link track but headed up without stopping.  For the first time in forever I cleaned the creek crossing and grunty climb to the first hairpin.  Someone has moved some of the rocks around so they don't roll around any more making the crossing pretty good.  I actually managed to make the climb to the fence crossing without dabbing, which was pretty good considering I was a bit tired already. 

I led off down old skool and had a reasonable run down, no major dramas, feeling pretty good, Rich sitting in the slipstream with no problems.  At the bottom we turned left back up the valley for lap 2.  This time I gimped up on the first dry creek crossing to the cattle stop on the 4 by track but cleaned everything else.  Rich lead down this time and I kept his wheel pretty well to the bottom but we were moving along a little faster this time.  It was good to see the different lines he was taking.  Again at the bottom we turned left.  Mucked up the first hairpin on the link track this time but cleaned the rest.  I led off again this time and we had the throttle well opened this time, having memorised most of the track and studied each others lines once each.  I had a bit of a moment trying to pop off a rock about 2/3rds of the way down when my foot came out of the pedal causing a major loss of balance on landing.  Managed to gather it up before going too far off course and carried on though.  This time we turned right at the bottom and headed out to the exit and carpark.  Had a yarn to some young guys before it started to pour down forcing us to quickly load up the car and take cover.  A good ride on a day the weather wasn't meant to cooperate but allowed us to fit in an hour and a half or so, was fun too.