Tuesday 7th October

3 different rides.  I went out in the afternoon for a grind up Rapaki up over Vernon and then down Huntsbury trying to avoid sheep.  I took the singletrack above the track until I came upon a huge flock of sheep and lambs so got back onto the main trail and continued on down at a good clip.

 Those others that wanted to ride before the trip met at Rubberjaws place at 6.15pm. There was The Cook, Phatboy, Bug's, The Fox, Tinkerbell and Dozer. We all set off at a nice pace towards Rapaki. Up we headed with Phatboy, Tinkerbell and Bugs leading till the gate where we had a regroup and a couple removed some layers. Up we headed in 3 groups, Phatboy found a fast gear and disappeared ahead of us all, Most were in the middle group and The Cook followed up the rear. Lots of interesting thing's on the hill including an overweight roady in lycra who chatted to us at the top for a while. Interesting character. Wind was getting bit cold so up Mt Vernon we headed to warm back up. Nice tight group most of the way. At the start of the Traverse The Cook decided to back track and head down the farm track. The rest headed around the start of The Traverse then dropped down the rocky corner and then 4WD track heading towards Bowenvale old school. At the gate Bugs lead off on his own track though the tussock heading down and everyone else followed on there own lines. Phatboy found a hidden rock in the grass and had a small woopsy. Everyone else got down to the single track using there own lines. Into the fast single track mixing ourselves up with another group who had came up The Hidden Valley. Regroup at the fence when Phatboy lead with the rest in hot pursuit. 3/4 of the way down and Phatboy broke a spoke which caused his tubeless tyre to loose all it's air. While he repaired it with a tube from The Fox, Bug's and Tinkerbell removed a rock or two on a tricky corner. Down we all headed as we were loosing the light fast. All in one piece at the bottom. Across town we headed into the head wind at a solid pace to Rubberjaws place where we meet the rest of the PFMTBinc family for trip discussions.