Tuesday, 27th January

bit of a southerly blowing. punters met at Rubberjaw's to find him not riding (again!), this time cos of his wrist tweak (cause unknown) of sunday. Nelsy, Tinks, SlyFox, Wazza and me the Farmer of Mellons were the only starters. Fatboy out still due to Ribs of previous week. tootled round, into the hella head wind up Rapaki, helluva wind up on top, waited for Helmutless, Sandals, and Abba...

up round Vernon, blasting round Traverse to Vic, Thomsons, Kiwi, up road to top of Marleys. (Sanddals riding up Flying nun from road to meet us part way up). Bombed it down the 'Nun, and hauled ass down to Kiwi again... everybody seeming to have a pretty good run.

Up road to top of Vic, and down to brakefree, then down ?Sesame St? into new section with cool wooden wallride. then Silverfox, Sandals, Helmut and Abba bailed, and the rest of us went down Dazzas, into Brents, Flow, Bridges, then argie-bargied up the being-rebuilt-zigzags, up Hidden Valley, to the pylon, and caught the lower Old Skool singletrack for a blast down. all good.

streetlights were just on as i rode home across town, nice tail wind to push me, tho it'd died a bit (as per..).

Sunday 25th january 2009

I awoke to another scorcher and though f... it's going to be hot going up the hill. I was right. Silverfox picked me up and we headed to Dot com where we met Tinkerbell, Warren and Chris to pher and we set off. Abba text to say that he was heading up from Mc Cormack's Bay. We set off up Richmond Hill Rd which was hot a steep, but we all just stomped on the pedals and achieved the aim of getting to the end of the tarmac. We took a different line from the shingle road than normal and followed a great sheep trail that was well defined. Hot as hell up there and no wind. Everytime we found shade we stopped. No dabs at all on the climb. Got a text from the Lone Wolfie and he was waiting at the roadside under some shade for us. We eventually made it in good time and then napalm and the Dreaded one arrived up the road. Abba then let us know he was at Evans Pass so we did not meet up with him at all. The rest of us set off around to the start of Greenwood and then bombed the track. All doing well, no near misses or anything. It was bloody hot though and I did not really cool down at all. Managed to twist my wrest somehow which still smarts. In the shade at the bottom we discussed options. Due to the heat all except Napalm and the Lone wolf set off down Ct Thomas. The others went on to Taylor's. They had a car parked there. Excellent blast down Thomas with Silverfox and I finding a good jump that we had not discovered before and a hard fast run down the steps. Chris to pher banana'd his front wheel near the top and had a lovely wee walk. Dot com for coffee and home early. C u all Tuesday with luck

Choose-day, 20th January

good sized group assembled at Rubberjawn's (who'd returned from holiday), to find him was piking all due flat tire... in attendance were myself - Mellonfarmer, Fatboy, Randyandy(tinks), Tink's Bro, Weird-little-Silverfox, Geez, Nelson/Picton/Blenheim, Warren, and then we picked up English at bottom of Rapaki Rd.

tootled up Rapaki, some nice views to be had, with hoards of other bikers, runners and walkers. busy busy. made the top the first few having a good rest whilst awaiting the arrival of the stragglers, then on up Vernon.

took off from below road round traverse. good bomb round to vic, with one incident just before the pond where this guy could have easily pulled up and let Blenheim thru, but cos he was on the uphill decided he had right of way and nearly collided with Nelson, and me right behind. sure, uphill has right of way, but only where practical, and its courtesy to give people way if its easier... dumbass.

all assembled eventually at vic, and no sign of Geez. weird-little-Silverfox went back, Randypandy checked his txts and there was one from Geez, flat tire... right back at the start. he showed up eventually.

then it was over and down Thomsons, some taking both bits, others not., then up road to top of Marleys. Picton and Mellonfarmer just absolutely flew down this. really getting the flow on. bombing the rocky bits, jumping, nelson nearly losing it on the jump into the old below the road. made the kiwi and waited. and waited. English turned up. we waited. waited... then along come the others. Fatboy in a bit of a state. little blood leaking from knee, (what will be) a (very) bruised chest, scraped hip... he'd lost it on the same jump Blenheim nearly did.

Fatboy bailed down Dyers Pass Road, the rest went back up into Vic. all taking different lines to Brake Free, then into the new below that, to skidder site.

then into Dazza's, nice flow down, bottom bit a bit brake-cut. into Brents, flew thru there. before Flow, Weird-little- busted a whole bunch of spokes, so he bailed, walking back up to road and out home, the rest of us continued down. most taking the high line across Bridges, into K2, Mellonfarmer cleaning it all, and down 'washout', the others walking down. then wayne crashed at top of washout when trying remount his steed...

Then the rest continued down valley while Mellonfarmer and Picton took the newly nearly-restored zigs and zags up to pylon at beginning of lower OldSkool. bit of granny, bit of walking, but moderately effortless gain of altitude to an excellent flowy descent, Mellon-defamer taking every line Nelson didnt... including the old bit that has the overhanging gorse, extrawidth thistles and sketchy rocks, which surprising cuts a couple of minutes off the descent... waited, then bombed the last. out bowenvale.

A mishap ridden ride...

My Wee Trip rides

My wee trip rides were nothing much but I have been reading what all the team have been upto and thought I would put something down. I have been enjoying the Sun in Marahau and took the oppurtunity to keep slightly bike fit. Monday I rode up the Marahau-Riwaka Rd to the top. 30 minutes from camp. J9 dropped a mate Slimey at the top, he's never ridden before so we just carried up the looging road and cruised over some boring logging road for him, nothing much in it for me but he found that pretty challenging. Got back to the Sandy Bay road and down to camp. Wednesday saw me going up the hill again. This time took 1.1/2 minutes off the grind. Slimey dropped J9 off and we did the same as Monday although J9 was quicker. Friday I rode up and continued up the logging rode alone, followed this til I caught the Mama's Kitchen singletrack. This was a blast, way to short but very much fun. Quite steep, narrow and rutted. A worsleys single track really. A few jumps to keep the blood flowing. Got to the bottom and then bombed back to camp. 3 short rides and a lot of relaxing. Not bad for a family holiday.


note from swtchbckr...
interesting to note what i said year ago about Mama's Kitchen (see kaiteriteri-trails) "bombed down "Big Mama's Kitchen", lots of interesting jumps, rugged wash-out fire break style riding, fun descent but all too short. climbed the gravel road again and down "Mama's Kitchen" again..."

Sunday, 18th January

(what follows is not dissimilar to swtchbckr's blog entry for the same ride)
just the 4 of us met outside Chez Rubberjaws. Silverfox, Geez, TRex and me, the farmer of mellons. headed up rapaki, good haul up there, TRex pushing hard as he's training for the Vulcaniser this coming weekend. At the top we hung a left. the sky was looking ominous, with huge thunder-head type clouds, darkness below. had a good spin round witch hill then a bomb up the road to the Castlerock.

waited for some guys to come up towards us, then waited for a couple of other riders who'd caught up. then let them get ahead in case we got stuck behind them. i said "i bet i'll catch him on the 2nd hairpin"... wasnt far wrong either. hussed down the trail, wishing i didnt have quite so much pressure in my rear tire, and would have caught the guy by the second hairpin, except that a rider comin the other way slowed me up... anyway, caught him by the end, and his mate had a pinch flat.

Stopped at top of Bridle path to admire the roar of hail on Heathcote Valley. could see it slowly creeping up the Tunnel Rd motorway, and the roads in the valley were all saturated. Thunder rumbled overhead and around us. very spectacular... headed round summit road and under the gondola a bit of rain spat on us, but nothing major. by the cutting the road was drenched but rain had passed on. walkers were soaked to the skin and complained of hail. John Britten was soaked, i stopped and cut a couple of drains in places, mud flecking all over us.

down road to Greenwood, trails quite wet. musta been a downpour, the clouds heading towards Port Levy and along the coast. just prior to this time there was a waterspout off sumner (pixxors) . was a fun spin down greenwood, with the greasiness making it interesting. amazingly, the steepest bits were the driest, as the water would have run straight off, whereas the less steep stuff the water had soaked into. not too much carnage, tire to trailwise, a group had been through before us and their treads were barely visible. all cleaned it nicely, out to Evans.

Then, time for the Captain. once again, i led off. strangely i took the new(ish) low line (which we normally climb up). baulked on the big rock with the wee steps cut into it (its been getting me every time lately). then cleaned everything else. had a great flow. all the way down. then to Dot Com for coffees, disturbing some snobs who made comments about how 'there should be dress code', us giving mud splattered evils back. they can just fuck off back to their poxy McMansions and stick their middle aged middle classed heads back up their middle new zealand assholes.

13 January 2009

Well it was another beaut night for a ride up the hill.....FatBoy, SilverFox, Warren, Chris and myself(Tinks) met at RubberJaws(He's still on holiday). We set off up Rapaki at a good pace and once we reached the top there was very little distance between us all. Off to the right of Rapaki we went, over the hill and around the Traverse track to the top of Vic Park, all of us enjoying a quick smooth run around the Traverse. Down Thompsons track(I think it's called) to the Sign of the Kiwi and continued up the road to the top of Marley's. After a short breather we hit Marley's(Flying Nun) with full force, all loving the new parts of track and making the most of our favourite spots. Anthoer quick re-group at the Kiwi where we all couldn't stop talking about how much fun Marley's down hill is...smiles all round. We headed back up the road to the top of Vic Park, dropped down the jumpy play area, down the new track through the Gums and stopped to look at the BIG jump FatBoy's son has jumped - with ease! On down Dazzers and so on through the trees to come out at the end of K2, where Chris put on a wee show for us - his bike went out from under him in a tricky pot, leaving him covered in dust and a little red stuff out his elbow. He jumped straight back on, completed the steepest part of the track in style and had a grin from ear to ear! On down the last sectio of Bowenvale, SilverFox broke off from the group as we all headed for home. Another superb ride and plenty of fun had by all :o)

11 January 2009

Today we decided to met at SilverFox's house as RubberJaws was away on holiday. An impressive group including SilverFox, Geez, Warren, EnglishMark, MellonFarmer, Chris, MotherTed, TRex and myself(Tinks). We set off to Worsleys for grind up the hill on a warm summers morning (luckily a cool breeze saved us from cooking). Along the way we met up with Sandals and a couple of MotherTeds friends, Graeme and Karen. We all took off up the hill at a good pace and for a couple who hadn't riden up Worsleys before, everyone was riding well and negotiating the techy bits nicely. We came across an abandoned LandRover on bit of a lean and a front tyre that had decided it'd had enough and popped off the rim, quite amusing when riding up the hill. A few of us made the final climb up the 'Bodybag' with Sandals and SilverFox getting so close to the end only to lose momentum and have to bail - Next time! After a short breather we set off up to the top of Marleys and came barreling down as most of us are becoming quite familiar with this brilliant piece of track - which has now had a bit more added to the top section, fantastic! We farewelled MotherTed, Karen and Graeme at the sign of the Kiwi (they bombed down the lower track below Dyes Pass Rd). The rest of us rode up to the top of Vic Park and continued around the Traverse Track to the top of the old school Bowenvale Track - we met plenty of riders coming towards us including a group of at least 15 riders - perfect day to be out on the bike obviously! A quick re-group and we blasted down the Bowenvale track, some taking the off piste route down to start with which created bit of a problem when EnglishMark didn't see a rock behind the Tussock's and over the handle bars he went. No major injuries, so all good. We all made our own way down Bowenvale and finished the ride with smiles of satisfaction on our faces - another good ride had by all. Headed back to SilverFox's, ditching MellonFarmer, Chris, Sandles and EnglishMark on the way. The rest of us stopped for a coffee and chat on the lawn at SilverFox's...perfect!

6 January 2009

A great night for a ride. We had decided to do a visit to Spencer Park Camp to visit Jeannie. Its sort of an annual thing that Fatboy and I have done since we took up riding. Anyway here it goes...Silverfox picked me up and we headed out to the Bottlelake carpark where we met, Fatboy, Tinkerbell, Twopot, Geez, Mellonfarmer, Nelson, Helmut on his unicycle, Sandals and her son Ben, English, and the 2 extras, Warren and Malcolm. So after organising things we set off at 6.30. Helmut went the short route while the rest of us went out towards north beach, jostling for position, but blasting along quite nicely. A quick break at the shelter on the top of the hill then back into it. I had a brief stop before we got to the beach track. Had too much air in the top of the tyre and had to put some in the bottom which worked real well. Along the beach into the sand traps, cleaned most except for the real big one. Everyone dealt with these the best they could. Pumped along the hard track and a regroup before hitting the single track again. Twopot had a puncture so a wee wait. I took off with Sandals and Ben with the others chasing after Twopot got finished. Blasted into the track when everyone caught up and then onto Spencer. Passed Helmut in the open spaces before the last forest run into the park. English turned off at the junction while the rest went on. A stop at the shop and then into the camp. Jeanie was surprised to see so many of us but took it in her stride and brought out a tray of drinks. I must say 2 Leffe and a Macs Gold, in quick time really adjusts the riding. We laughed and took some photos (Hopefully put these on later today) and then onto the bikes. A quick pit stop outside of the camp for a doo dar and a piss and off we all went. Blasting through the tracks. I ended up missing a couple of trees so slowed my pace but still pumped. No injuries or crashes so we all did well. Back to the carpark by 9pm. All good.

4th January 2009

Happy New Year everyone. The first ride of the year. I decided to ride from my place. Geez and Silverfox arrived as I went out the gate. We set off and then Te Rex drove past, and he didn't even stop to give us all a lift, (not that we wanted one). We blasted around the river and behind the ferrymead industrial area. When we got onto the road we practised a bit of slip streaming for the future and arrived in Sumner in quick time. All feeling good. Hooked up with Sandals, Helmut, Te Rex, Tinkerbell, Fatboy and Twopot. Mother Ted was gonna meet us at the top of Evans with friends but that became a whole new story in itself due to delays, punctures and things like that. As we set off from Dot Com it was noticed that Twopots rear wheel was wobbling. After checking and finding 2 wrecked spokes and a large buckle he decided not to risk the ride and went home pretty bummed out. The rest carried on and hit Captain Thomas. Everyone riding it at good pace really. I cleaned it nearly to the ramp which was a first. Tinks had a chain reaction on the first hairpin but got it sorted eventually. Up we went gaining on Sandals and Helmut who had carried on when we stopped. passing them and continued climbing cleaning all the little bits. Stopped for a regroup at the easy gate. Then up to the track divide near the top for another regroup before the push to the top. We had now found out that Mother Ted was not going to be there and would meet us on our return from Godley.

A little rest in the shade at the pass and then the ascent of Godley Head begun. It was warm climbing but I was feeling great and we all climbed this without any real issues. The run down to Livingstone Col was a blast. Fatboy leading Helmut, then Tinks for a while, (he got a little out of control and left the main track at which point I passed him) myself, Silverfox etc etc. Great blast at really nice flowy speed. From there I led off over towards Breeze Col and stayed in front all the way down, Fatboy on my tail though. A quick stop for catchup and then singled the bottom track around to Godley carpark for a break and snack food. Helmut showed some skills on the new picnic tables. We had now heard that Mother Ted would meet us at Dot Com.

Back we went all the way to Evans. Great climbs, grunting in the heat before the blasts along the downhill runs. Go go go all the way, with no mishaps, great rock riding and smiles all the way. A regroup at the road, watching as Sandals showed up a couple of the guys. Down Captain Thomas, Fatboy charging with Helmut in pursuit. Tinks leading Silverfox, then I chased them. Gained in some spots then lost them cos a dog and its owner got in my way. Pumped it from here and caught them at the steps, I was loose down these suckers as I saw the Fox near the end. Fatboy and Helmut had not waited, Tut tut, so we waited for the rest. Sandals arrived in her sedate fashion with a big grin saying how well she had gone. She is getting better all the time, and although not fast her technical riding is fantastic. You go girl.

Around for coffee we went. A couple peeling off. Mother Ted waiting for us with her story of the ride they had from Rapaki around the single tracks, then down Greenwood. We razzed her about the road ride down from Evans. Coffee and food then we all split. Mother Ted, Geez and I riding back. Across the course way she took off, and we gave chase. her immediate lead was held but I gained for a little but could not real her in. A stop at Top Sport where Geez peeled and then a cruise home from there.

A bloody good first ride for the year.