It's not called Blowhard for no reason...

Having been given an early finish from work I did a few jobs and then headed out home. Got changed and cruised out to the Ashley gorge and round to the start of the Blowhard track for round 2 of Nelson v Blowhard track. I had more time this time around and the added bonus of my light so the setting sun was not going to be a problem. Got out of the van and headed up at 5.15pm. Held it in the middle chainring up the 4wd track and felt pretty good. Got to the end of that and noticed a Landcruiser parked at the mud puddle. Figured it would be some hunters so better not to my deer imitation to much. Hit the knarly trail up from there and had to slap it into granny and grovelled up as far as I could keeping traction and the front wheel on the ground, not very far... had to walk and crank hard out for some time with a few not so steep breaks in between, until I came upon 2 walkers (1 with rifle) and said gidday. One said he thought they were mad walking up there let alone biking it. Not long past them I hit the really steep stuff and wished I had brought my crampons to help get up there. Managed to haul my tired arse and bike up and carried on slowly through the bush. Eventually I made it out to the tops. Had a brief look about and went on past where I got to on the first attempt. The riding from there out was much better, with nice views and some good trail even though there is still the odd little push here and there. Got out to about as far as I could before hitting a bit of swamp and the track starting to disappear which was about 1000m altitude. I started at 300m so it was a good climb. I would guess I covered only about 6-7km to get there too. It was getting dark by this time as well so I headed back down while the natural light was still OK. The track was great going down with some nice flowing parts and some good technical parts as well. After about 10mins of enjoyable riding I met up with the hunters again and had a chat. Turned out they were from Christchurch and were planning to stay out under the stars the night, which was still very warm at that point although the wind up there seems to be a constant (hence the name Blowhard). After that I needed the light on in the bush as it was difficult to make out the track properly and the trail has a lot of loose rocks on it. I made my way down carefully to the top of the steepest section and rolled down, it is pretty loose with a mix of rocks strewn about up to about infant head size. These rocks proved very good at knocking the front wheel off line some distance making control on the steep stuff very difficult. I felt pretty much only half in control for some of it and it is a long decent with not many places to gather it up again either. Managed to get down Ok, although there were several hairy moments before I got the the 4wd track. I think if you had a 6" travel full susser this would be easy but a cross county hardtail with the seat up is not really ideal. But that challenge is half the fun. Headed out the 4wd track and made it back to the van OK. Calculated the ride time to be 2.5 hours. Above is a photo I took of the typical trail gradient and type on the first half of the ride. The steepness is a bit hard to see, but just imagine it is mostly unrideable!!!!

Worsleys powerwash.

Headed up to Worsleys on Wednesday evening (23-03-10) on my own and noticed a bit of dark cloud to the south but initially thought it was a bit of Northwest Arch kind of cloud as it was a nice balmy evening. As I got a bit further up the road I could see it was a bit nastier than that and it had a fair amount of water falling out of it. It looked like it was moving pretty slowly and was going to pass to the west of the port hills so I took a punt and carried on up. At the top of the first steep bit in the road I passed 4 guys on full sussers, said gidday and carried on ahead of them. Got to the gate at the top of the road and realised the cloud was drawing nearer and took of my sunnies as it was pretty dull by then. Took a photo and then held the gate open for the 4 other riders who were coming through by then. We all figured we had a chance to get up ahead of the rain if it was going to hit the hills anyway and carried on. I figured I had better go flat out if I was going to make it ahead of the storm and pushed on close to full speed. Got to the dip just before the track gets really rough and decided we weren't going to make it in time and decided to turn back as the wind had changed to cold southerly and was pretty strong. I told the guy who was just in front of me I was bailing and shot down, one of the other guys said he was going to do the same as he had no jacket either but was going on to tell the others in front. I got about half way down the track to the road and suddenly found I was being nailed by 10mm rounds of ice shot from a southerly slingshot and ducked into the trees. From there I watched as it fair hosed down with a mix of rain and ice, all about the same 10mm diameter, which are big enough to give a good sting. It didn't feel particularly safe however as the lightning bolts where being hurled and being in amongst tall trees in the wet on a ridge with that going on right overhead is probably not on OSH's to do list. I noticed a slight break in the hail intensity and decided to make another run for it, so took off as fast as I could on a now very wet, muddy and ice covered track. I got to the flat part before the gate and the hail and howling wind struck again giving me a good pelting about the legs and face (thank god for peaked helmets though) not to mention soaking me to the bone and dealing out a good dose of freezing bloody cold. Note to self, you need more than lycra in a frost... With nowhere to hide I carried on through the gate and down until I spotted a big flax bush at the top end of the road. I huddled behind this freezing cold for a few more minutes until it died down again and then made another break for it. Just as I was leaving the other guy who said he was bailing came down the hill and we rode down together. It turned out he had done the same as me hiding in the trees etc. The others with him were going to carry on but when we got to the bottom he meet someone in a van that was the partner of one of them who was going up to pick them up, so it seems they gave in as well. Had a very cold ride back the the flat and got changed into dry clothes before coming home. Above right is the pic I took from the gate.

Vic Park Up/Down...

Met up with Craig at the old house and cruised over to Bowenvale ave, went up old school at a nice gentle pace, both of us feeling slightly unfit. Was Craigs second ride this week, but he hadn't been on the bike for about 6 weeks before that so he will be flying in a week or 2. Felt like I was riding pretty well up the technical parts where the rocks stick out, had 1 dab somewhere but otherwise was good apart from having to stop behind a stalled Craig one time. Cruised ahead at the top section and headed down into hidden valley. This was the first time I have ridden down it since it has been reopened. Really enjoyed it and we both agreed it was like the old style unbermed trials from the early days. Was cool. Rode up again into vic park up the skidder track to the first track coming in from the left and took the low line up. Just about blew out on the first section as it was so steep. I am sure I have ridden all the way up this before but think I would struggle at the moment anyway. We decided to avoid most of the single track on the way up as there were still a few shuttlers coming down, although we still ran into a couple on the 4wd track up, one grommy dork made all sorts of noises like he was in pain at having to take the slightly bumpier line past us even though A. We had right of way as uphill traffic, and B. He was riding a DH rig with at least 8" travel that would have soaked it up with no worries anyway. Make you wonder why they were on the track anyway given the much better alternatives to get down. Also while I am having a moan, there were the usual Sunday ----wit riders still out who ignored a friendly hello on the way up too. Maybe they should stick to their roadies with that attitude. Normally I am riding to late to see any of them anyway.

Once we got to the skidder site we headed up into the gums and I almost made it up the rockgarden just at to top but lost a bit of speed as I went around Craig who had stopped. Think I would be able to ride it most times though. It will make a good future challenge for fun. We then took Thompsons 1 and 2 down to The Kiwi and refilled with water there. Cruised to road to top of Worsleys and headed straight into it. I was in front and had to wait for Craig a bit. He was having issues due to being out of energy, so we pulled out onto the road at the saddle and had a 1 square each. Craig inhaling his in about a quarter of the time it took me. Must have needed it for sure. We decided to have another loop and shot up again. This time Craig feeling much better stuck to my tail pretty well, I just slowed in a couple of places to let him get back on. Felt good both times going down myself and did a couple of the jumps much bigger than I have done before so had some confidence there, although on the first run I had to bail on the rock drop after the bridge drop as I was to far right and heading into the scrub when I landed. Did a couple of practices of it after that but found it difficult to get the line right going in due to a diagonal braking rut from people going around it. Anyway we came out at the Kiwi again and rode the bottom Thompsons but bailed on the next as I was starting to get cramp like sensations when I was standing cranking up steep stuff. Rolled down to Brakefree where I did the seesaw and a few jumps but had to stop as I was in to low a gear and couldn't get any speed going into the double further in. Went dowi into the old Gums again where Craig had a stop on the rock garden but to crashes luckily. Took the old line right out to the gateway to the war memorial and headed back to the skidder site and up to where Cool Runnings used to start. Took the wrong track and fired myself down some steep as DH track where I had both wheels sliding all over the place and no way to stop, just managed to pull up before I hit a pine tree, and then dropped down onto the 4wd track. Craig had a go to with pretty much the same result, so good nobody hit anything. Headed right to a dead end and then went back left along one of the tracks, no idea of the name though and just picked a line down to the top of Bridges, we seemed to pass another track every 2 seconds, it's like spaghetti in there now. Took the high line down bridges and dropped down onto the 4wd. Craig stopped to watch and then had a go but stopped on a couple of the bigger droppy bits on the way down. Was getting darker so missed going back of hidden and took the highway out. Did the drop track that goes past the second gate which is sweet to roll now and did the little kicker jump where Old Skool comes out too. Cruised home via the Urban single tracks and drove home for more home made Burgers from last night....Yum.

Worsley's grovel...

Rode again on my own this evening as everyone either busy or not able to make it till to late. Weather was cold so had a few layers and was fine, made for a nice temp climbing, which was about the only nice thing about it tonight. I headed over to the bottom of Worsleys spur via the usual urban single tracks, managed to startle the pants off some guy walking his muts on the last little section with the steps that comes out on Worsleys road. It is funny when they panic and think you are a manic out of control and in reality you are just cruising and absolutely under control. Anyway I hit the road climb up and felt my lack of riding recently again very quickly, not much power in the legs. The whole way up felt like I had it in the big ring, which I can assure you it wasn't (I checked several times!!!) and someone had removed the air from my tyres and replaced it with mercury. I did catch a guy on the last few hundred metres of road and held the gate for him and some walkers at the start of the 4 by track. I carried on up noticing a bit of damage to the trail from a vehicle and eventually came across the culprit not to far from the bottom of the bag. It was a pretty standard Isuzu Bighorn with mudgrip tyres bouncing up the track. They seemed to be having fun and I was surprised they made it that far. They turned round before the Bodybag, but would have made it up there no worries if they wanted. Up the bag I took it pretty easy up the first half as I wanted to ride it in the middle ring still, so needed to conserve some grunt for the top which I needed. Made it up and then headed up to the top of The Nun. Went straight into it and felt a bit unco as I hadn't ridden it for a while and I think being a bit tired made it tough to feel just right. Still had fun on all the jumps and berms and enjoyed it. Pulled up at the Kiwi and headed up the road to Vic park where I dropped in via the see-saw and did a couple of jumps on Brakefree. Headed over to Sesame Street which I hadn't ridden for a while either and was surprised at how cut up if was in a few places. Rode it really badly but did a good drop off the wall from high up but was always on the wrong line or not sure what was on the other side of several double jumps so chickened out on them. Came out on the skidder site and took Dazzas or some version of that, there are so many lines in there now, I think I might need GPS next time!!!! Took the wrong exit and headed to Pono's (I think) for the first time in about a year, had to take it easy as I had no idea what was on the track, it seemed smoother than I recalled but with a few new jumps. Made my way down to the bottom of bridges track and headed out to Bowenvale Ave with the light beginning to fade pretty early. Thought about heading up Hidden Valley but decided time was short and energy even lower.
Headed home via some more urban trails. Fish n' Chips for dinner....

First Blogged (lone) ride.....

This is great, about time I joined in the ww webby thingee and did some blogs of my own, only about my biking mind you... This entry must be read with caution as no verification of the following by can made independently as I was riding on my own, a rare occurrence but nevertheless true. Sunday 14 March, nobody keen to ride or able to make it so I figured it was about time, 14 days or so since my last ride, that I hit the hills. I decided to go up Captain Thomas and try and ride up some techie climbs, in particular one that owned me a few weeks prior resulting in a large painful bruise on my left hip. I gimped up the first climb at the at the normal place after the first steps hit the really steep piece. Tried to do it again but couldn't get going on the steep climb, so walked the rest, then cruised on. Had issues with the chain staying on the middle ring, the hit the tricky rock climb which got me last time, failed, tried about 7 times and gave up, not in a good mood due to bad riding and chain. Was close to going home, but pushed on. Rode OK to the top and decided I needed more single track climbing (or punishment) so went up Greenwood, figured not to many likely to be coming down so a good time to do this. As it was there were no people at all. I rode pretty well up here, managing all the rocky sections, only a dab or 2 on some easy sections where I lost concentration a little. This was the first time I had ridden up here in daylight, and only the second time ever and I really enjoyed it, slower but much better than the road. Got to the end and turned straight around and cruised back down, noticing a few better lines I had spotted on the way up here and there too. Had a pretty good run, no offs, no punctures and pretty good form, although this is hard to judge on your own. Back at Evans I went on up/out Godley thinking if I can get one of the first 2 tricky sections at the start I would be much happier, as it happened I cleared both first go non stop for the first time in ages, maybe ever. Normally one of them gets me every time. Although I failed at the next not so tough section due to being buggered (2 weeks off bike???). Carried on up OK from there and down the other side pretty well, enjoyed most of it apart from the section that they (trail pixies) destroyed with the Teddington by making insane off cambering everywhere (there are witnesses to a good crash of mine on this to prove how dodgy it is too). Had to push pretty hard out the last section as was getting low on daylight so had a quick bite to eat and headed out to Taylors via the Anaconda. Had a nice run in on the top section and was winding up to full noise just about to enter the Conda properly when a girl on bike appeared from nowhere (not on the track I was on at least) going at girl speed, so I pulled up and made as much brake noise and clattering as possible behind her, which worked and she pulled over to let my through. I thanked her and carried on at full steam. Was pretty good but had a few rusty issues on some of the berms and nearly shot out of the track a few times but made it safely down. Cruised out the tale and nearly collected a pixie on the track doing some rock removal. I hope they don't make it too easy. I could feel the effects of not riding enough up out of Taylors and had to grovel most of it and then rolled down the park to Slumner where the Bongo was waiting...Ate a Pizza on the way home.