Sunday 29th May

A cool morning but a lot planned. Phatboy picked me up and we headed up to Evans Pass. Waited there for Bugs, Dozer and Texas who were dropped off at the top of Greenwood. They arrived mud splattered and telling us about the horrid conditions. We then headed around the Godley head track. Conditions were awful. A bit of slip but the sun was singing eyeballs and we could not see much. Lots of dabs. Then we stopped for some repairs to Bugs brakes. On we went. Riding better now as the sun kept climbing. Above Breeze Col we told the workers we would be back to join them soon. We continued to godley and then straight back to breeze Col. We were tasked at building a rock ride. We were succesful but absolutely stuffed. We were joined by The Lone Wolf and then Sandals. Fun in the sun, rolling boulders, cutting track and testing. Took longer than we planned but great to finish. Sandals, Phatboy and I headed back along the trail while the Lonewolf stayed on to do more track work and the other 3 dropped down the snake and from there they went to Dot Com where we all had coffee. Sandals, phatboy and I had a good blast back. I took some old tricky lines for fun and just had a blast on the downhill run. Stopped at the 2nd team of workers. They were tidying the lines on the first nasty climb. This will be interesting next time. I then rode down the hill, very quick, and hooked up with everyone at Cot Dom

Tuesday 25th May

Drove and picked up the Silverfox and headed up to Sign of the Kiwi where we hooked up with Bugs, Phatboy and Mellonfarmer. We headed up the road to the top of marleys. As expected I was making a slog of the climb. Will work on the problem. 2 extra bricks on my stomach!! Mellonfarmer led off followed by Phatboy, me and then the other 2. Phatboy pulled off with light issues and I kep on going as I had some sort of off balance flow on. Enjoyed the work they have done is the rocky section. Will look forward to riding it in daylight to really learn the flow of it. Anyhow I pulled out at the halfway carpark followed by Silverfox, Bugs and then Phatboy. Mellonfarmer was like a good girl and went all the way down, before coming back up gasping. He caught us as we rode back up to the top again. 2nd run same order and I still finished in 2nd as Phatboy had light issues again. It was a battery pack falling loose. Grind back to the top and went into the track same order. We were rolling much better by now and were going all the way. Phatboy at least got into the bottom half of the track before moving over with the same issue. I went past and even scared myself a couple of times before pulling out at the Sign of the Kiwi. Not the first time I have pulled out here. We regrouped then chatted with Abba before loading up and heading home. Good ride in nice conditions.

Sunday 22nd May

Phatboy, Mellonfarmer, Silverfox, Dozer and I set off from home and headed round the river along the edge of Ferry Rd where it is really cracked up, behind the industrial area over lots of cracks. We hooked up with Tinkerbell and The Night Nurse as we went. Headed up Mt Pleasant at a quiet pace as the Night Nurse was a newby at this sort of thing! At the T intersection we headed down the McCormick's track. Nice fun run although slippery on the mown grass. At the bridge we regrouped while the Night Nurse dismounted into the flax for a close up view. Carried on down at a good clip and then back around the road. We took the option of the far side of the Heathcote by the Pa and Heritage park before arriving at TFC for gloves to wear while planting many many trees. All in all a good wee ride considering we were planting until 12.

Tuesday 17th May

Phatboy, Dozey and MuthahFarmah spun Bottle Lake. Twas a quicky.

Sunday 15th

Silverfox arrived at mine and we went to the gate where Dozer arrived. Even though it was raining we decided to give the plan a go. Threw the bikes in the back of the van and headed around to Sumner. Through all the detours and then about to start the drive upto Evans. The road is closed. I had checked all the bloody websites and it was not mentioned. Sent out the texts to meet at Dot Com. Phatboy, Tinkerbell, Sandals, Jandals and Helmut showed up. We had coffee and chatted about options. As we looked at the rain we decided to can the ride. headed home where Phatboy and I worked on lists for the partay!!!

Thursday 12th May

Some (Choirist, Helmut, Sandals and Jandals, and the Farmer of Mellons) rode up a lot of hill and then down one. it was good. details details details...

Saturday 7th May.

As Mothers day was gonna prevent me riding Sunday and I thought that tracks would be closed to boot I decided to ride Saturday. I loaded up and drove over to Dozers. Got his bike loaded and the 2 of us headed out to Bottlelake for a blast. With the no go zone in place we headed right to wards the Parklands side of the forest. Dozer leading at a good steady pace. Got to the rise and the lookout quite smartly. Looked at the work going down before I led off. Up and down, breathing hard all the way to the beach. We then headed back along the pace through a large area that stunk like nothing I know. Finally able to turn left and hook up with single track. Dozer led and we raced on through to the turn to Spencer Park. had a breather and then started the grind back. Stopped once to loan someone a pump before the final straight back to the carpark. Conditions were overcast with some light drizzle but we stayed dry. The track was in pretty good condition too. A few puddles but otherwise firm Enjoyed it very much. We then went and helped Phatboy shift.

Tuesday 3rd of May

Phatboy and Mellonfarmer drove to the top of Worsleys Rd and rode up through fog and sticky sticky mud that got stickier and stickier as they progressed. At the bottom of the bodybag they hung a left and headed up the fenceline and onto the sweeeeet singletrack that meanders down the ridge. they slipped and flowed over rocky features, roots and pineneedles. At the big cliff they turned back up and rode the trail, fun up too, to the high point where they turned back down and flowed and skidded again. on past the cliff and on over more cool features and cool corners and then down under the pylons and off to the right, which turned out to be the wrong, so they carried back up on the right and down over that cool drop and on over the whoopdedoos and nearly over a massive drop but then found the good way down, steep, full on braking controlled descent to the finish. back up the easy path to the rickety wallride, on down the singeltrack in the trees over the last drop and out onto the stickiness and back to the car. all up almost an hour and a half of riding. good to get up the hill even in the poor conditions.

Sunday 1st May

Silverfox and Bugs met at mine and we rode over to Phatboys old place to meet up with Dozer. The 4 of us then took off down around the river, down Swanns Rd, Draper St, Heywood Tce, Fitzgerald, Bealey, Barbodoes, Francis Ave, Philpotts Rd then onto the cycleway along the motorway before turning down the cyclway towards Styx Mill. Finally after 20 kms we got to the planting site on Husseys Rd. We were met by Phatboy and his darling debbie. Helped plant about 1500 plants before I got stung, not once but 3 times by wasps. We then had a bbq before setting off for a cruise through the reserve which was pleasant. At Styx Mill rd Phatboy and his Darling split for some shopping while the Big Four headed back along the cycleway all the way to Monavale. Silverfox split here while the solid Three went thru hagley park, down Armagh, thru Cramner, Montreal then Salisbury, Barbodoes, Kilmore, Avonside Dr with Bugs and I nheading down Stanmore onto Nursery. Finally I went up Wilsons onto Opawa while Bugs split down Ferry. About a 40 kn round trip with the planting in the middle. Good headache and pain from the stings.