Tuesday 30th August

Smallish posse assembled at Rubber's, being Phatboy and TheFarmer, Tinks and Buggs, and Foxy and Cookie. Rubber doing the familial again. The Riders headed Hanson to Huntsbury. Clambered up there then hit over Vernon, back up road and blazed down Farmtrack. Been a long while since Farmtrack had been indulged in. Short but good spin. PB and MF stopped by Pom's on the way home.

Tuesday 30th August

The boys met at mine (I was not riding due to family commitments) and the headed up gruntsbury. Phatboy, Bugs, Tinkerbell, Mellonfarmer and the Cook. They hung a left around Vernon. It seems they enjoyed it. Then back up and down the Farmtrack. The Cooks first time on both tracks. Then back to mine where they hopped in cars and went home

Saturday 27th August

A planting at southshore so Phatboy, Dozer, Silverfox, texas and i set off from mine and headed around richardson Tce, down Radley through the cemetry, across the fence, through the other cemetry onto keighleys Rd then down behind the poo ponds, right onto Breezes and across the bridge. We then took the track along the river heading towards southshore. Nice little spin and way ahead of schedule saw us stop for a bereak along this stretch. back on the bike and carried on to the end of Rockinghorse rd. We planted at the southshore reserve (between us about 250 plants). Tinkerbell arrived to help. Afterwards we all headed off in the reverse direction. At bridge st we headed across the road and follwed the stop banks. Tougher going as some of this was a bit soft. Tinkerbell pulled out at new brighton bridge while the rest of us ploughed on. The stop bank was real soft and rough. We went down onto the old track which had some major cracks and some shitty mud. Carried on over wainoni Rd and texas pulled out at Anzac dr bridge. once again oohed and aahed t the damage. Carried on over some broken pathways, dodging cracks and spinning through more shitty mud. This was all hard work. testing it was. At burwood bridge we crossed over and spun along Avonside dr. Some real shitty damage done around here. A dead zone among the red Zone. Dozer and I stayed on the stop bank as long as we could before joing Phatboy and the fox on the road. Continued around to wainoni Rd. Dozer pulled out at Cuffs rd. We carried on up Kerrs with phatboy pulling out at Woodham. The Fox and I spun hard down to Opawa where the Fox continued on his merry way. A hard ride in the end and i thought it was gonna be easy.

Tuesday 23rd August

Posse of boys assembled at Rubberjawn's - being Phatboy, Mellonfarmer, The Cook, Tinks, Buggs, Texas, BeefStew and Weirdlittle. Alas, Rubberjaw's couldnt make it. The posse trotted off round Hansen Park and on up Huntsbury. The Cook was dying and threatening to bail part way up Huntsbury Ave but was convinced to struggle a little further up and enjoy the downhill of Major Aitken. Once on the dirt, patches of snow still lingering, a few bits of slop but dry lines to choose most of the way. Once at the summit runners and other bikers came off Vernon. The Posse took off along the summit towards Vic Park finding the odd puddle, but overall the track was way dryer than it was wet with too much fun was being had. Then into the top of Vic, and down the quagmire paddock into the rockgarden into the gummies. Couple of dodgy slop-festy bits but high dry lines ridden, and the little squirelly left hander was fun greasy with Phatboy offing on the steep corner and Mellonfarmer offing on the next. All bailed out early to the skidder site, down through Vic Park into the dog park down through the gates and along the barbed wire and roots loving every second. Out under the houses mixing it with the vegetation in the top section and a new section of gravelled switchbacks leading further than ever before. Mellonfarmer then led them down someone's drive and through an empty section down to Holliss for a fast tarmac buzz into the cold of the flatlands and home.

Sunday 21st August

Most of the snow has gone but tracks are closed. Still we need to ride. Tinkerbell, Dozer, Texas, Bugs, Sandals and Mellonfarmer met at mine. We headed around the river behind Ferrymead, (track was slick with a few snow damaged branches overhanging) to the bridge. Nice little warm up really. Stopped to wait for Mellonfarmer and got rid of excess clothing. He showed up with the Lovely Better Half who was out to visit a friend. We then headed up St Andrews Hill for a change. Up and Up it went steeper than Mt Pleasant Rd but with a few flat spots to regain your breath. All went well. I was still a bit slower than the others but went much better than I thought I would. We ended up on the top half of Mt Pleasant Rd where we continued on to the top. Some youthful members did stop to throw snowballs at passing motorists. Down towards Evans we went stopping at the Pines. From here we went towards Mulgans Track. Interesting with some slip, some slide and some laughter. Sandals had a wee off, then as we went over to Richmond Hill I had the bike completely sideways. Lucky I was. From here we went down the road admiring the horrendous damage to some houses. Stopped for coffee at Cot Dom before riding back to Ferrymead Bridge. Back along the towpath we went where I managed a long slide before doing a chest dab in the mud. No injuries. A good ride considering no tracks open. Even got mud on our bikes.

Sunday 14th August

A posse of lads ande a lass met up at thye Foxes and headed up Worsley. Hit the muck and decided to go up the B line which was better. They then rode, slid, pushed and pulled their steeds up the Body Bag. The lass went left along the traverse into vic and home while the lads went right, down Kennedys, The Crocidle before heading home. They all managed to get home before the shittiest snow storm ever hit.

Sunday 7th August

Off to Orton Bradley for a planting. Silverfox and I drove over to Lyttleton where we hooked up with Tinkerbell, Dozer, Phatboy and Mellonfarmer. After a nice cruise across to Diamond Harbour we rode around to Orton Bradley arriving early. We then rode and viewed some earlier plantings. Discovered a few areas with plants laid out so 3 lads grabbed some spades and in pairs we planted. After sorting out about 100 we stumbled on another area and got stuck in. The weather then started closing in and jackets went on as the southerly came through. Another team of planters arriverd just in time to finish the planting. We then took advantage of a tale wind back to the Harbour. With 20 minutes up our sleeves we rode the cliff track. Ist part was a but dodgy but the 2nd part was a great blast. Caught the ferry back and then home for lunch

Tuesday 2nd August

Phatboy, Phatboy-Jr, Phatboy-Nephew, Weirdlittle, NiceOne(Stewey)(visiting from Nelson), Buggs, Texas, Dozer, Tinks and the Farmer of Mellons hit up Halswell-that-ends-well Quarry, the lower part of Kennedys, Siberia and back down the Crocodile. It was great for them all to get out. the wee up after the bridge on the Croc was a mucky greasy disgusting mess, but the rest of it was good. no one had any offs, tho Weirdlittle was complaining of lack of traction in places. Afterwards they went to Weirdlittle's house and met The Cook and RubberDrawers, then Sandals and OneMadMaori to discuss October event and to drink a little beer and eat some pies (THANKS Di and Tony!).