Multi ride catch up...

Been a bit busy to keep up with the ride logs so this is a very brief round up since the Blowhard ride to get back up to date. From memory the next ride was with Keil, Mike and their mates doing shuttle runs.. First run down through Vic park, via seesaw and Sesame Street, then gazza's Shazza's or Dazza's or something then New Bridges.  Next run was Flying Nun and round 3 was the same again on my own. 

Next ride Rich and I did 3 or 4 laps out at Living Springs. 

Last night I rode laps of the Farside (lower Worsleys Spur) with the PFMTBC boys - Steve, Pete, Warren, Andrew, Wayne, Tony and Robyn.  I arrived earlier and had 4 laps done before they got there and did a further 8 laps with the others.  About 1km per lap with 55m of altitude per lap.

Good rides, nuff said.

Blowhard Blast

Craig turned up at my place at 9am and we loaded up into my car and headed to the top end of Maori Reserve Road.  Parked up under a nice shady tree and headed up the steep grunty 4wd start track.  This was Craigs first time up here so he was keeping an easy pace which actually made the ride faster by keeping progress steady and not blowing up and having to stop.  The 4wd track had very recently been graded making it loose but smooth.  I found it much easier than the old ruts due to not having to balance so carefully on the edge of the deep ruts.  The usual puddles where it flattens out for a bit were still there, with plenty of mud which I walked around.  The big puddle at the end of the 4wd section was dry for the first time I can remember though.  Craig tried the first steep climb until he ran out of traction then had to push.  I pushed from lower down, trying not to get too much into oxygen debt.  After that Craig started to do the same but was able to ride a couple of sections that I didn't try.  The air in the forest was still as and very muggy making the sweat pour off us.  I had to change my top at the summit as it was soaked.  We pushed and ground our way to the ridgeline before taking a break and having a snack.  The ridgeline trail was dry and fast making the climbs a little easier and we got up to the open section in pretty good time.  Craig was pretty impressed with the view.  Nice blast from here down the scree and further along the ridge, making good progress, passing a walker somewhere along the way.  We rode some good technical climbs and pushed up some too steep stuff and made the turn to the very top having made more than I have before.  The dryed out mud sections making it much easier.  The swamp at the top was also dry so made for a fun section without cloging up the drive train.  We hit the top and had a rest up in a nice balmy 23 degress or so with no wind at all.  15 minutes of admiring the view and resting up was enough and we headed back down.  Across the root fest, the old dry swamp, the scree slopes the forest sections etc, there is so much variety coming at you every few minutes.  We blasted down to the steep scree climb, pushed up that then manage to grind up the other longer climbs before the nice long decents.  At the top of the steep rock garden I warned Craig and headed in slowly.  Before long the speeds increased and control was lost at certain times before being reined in again, but I got down in 1 shot.  Craig also got down but managed to bounce off the track twice on the way.  Swooping fast sections and some tight corners before a couple more nearly out of control steep sections before we got to the bottom.  Sweet ride in 2 hours 45 mins.  Craig continuing another 3 hours back home on the road!!!

Vic Park old Loop.

Drove via a web of roadworks and traffic jams to the lower end of Bowenvale ave and parked under the trees on the south side of the river to get changed/ready.  Saw Craig head up the Ave time trialing it to our meeting point, he didn't hear my whistle due to the traffic noise.  I quickly got organised and took off in the same direction. 

We met up at the carpark where the usual types on big bikes were milling around.  We headed up the valley and into the start of Old Skool and the bright sun/heat.  I seemed to be struggling more than the last ride up here, mucking up a few corners that I had cleaned up no problems before.  We got to the top of the single track and had a quick breather, feeling pretty smashed already with the heat, then headed back down.  As usual a nice run down but not pushing too hard.  Craig had switched to some new ultra thick tubes due to punctures recently and decided the huge extra mass was really slowing him down, but he still managed to keep pretty close to me all the way down. 

We then headed up the lower valley track and up passed the 'hospital corner' further into the valley.  At the first bridge we headed right (left is the exit of Lava Flow) and over another bridge.  This is an old trail we used to do regularly years ago and is a sweet old style cross country loop.  We kept heading up the valley, further than I remembered until the track crosses to the opposite side and meets another trail heading back along towards the vic park trees.  Nice little traverse, slightly downhill to the top of Bridges where we took the usual switchback trail down into the valley before heading up the Hidden Link trail, Craig nailing the top steep section leaving me in the dust.  Then down Old Skool again to Bowenvale and back to the car.  About a 1 hour ride total.