fatwombat wrote:hey there FF: it's good to see you coming over from the dark side to the light! NEXT THING YOU'LL BE RIDING IN BAGGY CLOTHES!!

Did a fantastic ride with the Stickbug this morning: despite the dark, pendulous clouds and the blustery winds, we headed up Parkvale Rd to the Skyline, south to the Makara Rd saddle, up Varleys and the 4WD to North Face.

Down North Face, left on Allington connector, right into Smokin', left down the AMP connector, right onto Rimu (love those switchbacks, they have none of the engineering of NF & Smokin so you really have to ride through them! ), down Rimu and out on the Snakecharmer 4WD. Up Snakecharmer, left on Big Tom, down SWIGG - sharp right at the end of SWIGG - UP the 4WD track to where it comes out by Magic Carpet; around Magic Carpet and down the "Easy" path to the 4WD.

Back along the 4WD to Sally Alley, up Sally Alley, down Missing Link, up Aratihi to the LL turnoff. Along Upper leaping Lizard, sharp right at the end and up the 4WD to the summit. Wind blowing like a bastard, clothes all sweaty, chill factor soaring so we stopped to put our jackets on. Down the first part of Zacs and up the steep thing to come out by North Face.

That loop was quite a bit longer than we thought it would be so no time to do it again, just back down the 4WD, down Varleys and back along the Skyline track to Parkvale. A very pleasant 25km in a very leisurely 2:15.

Only saw 7 other riders out today, but it was perfect conditions for riding - the tracks were all moist enough that the dust has settled back into dirt, but they are dry enough that they are hard, no mud, no slipping wheels. North Face is getting a bit rutted already on the switchbacks, looks like people lock up their back wheels to slide around them (Lewis - you better get another brake for your front wheel!! )

Every time I ride in Makara I'm amazed at what a fantastic facility we have - so many tracks to ride, so many interesting ways to combine them. Upper Leaping Lizard has now been trimmed so the steep descending bit is really fun - you can see exactly where the track is, no more peering through the grass and barberry hoping your wheel finds solid ground. Also the switchbacks on Skyline (just north of the pines) have been cleaned up so they are fast riding as well. Good stuff.

BrokenKonaRider wrote: up tippies.

OliverBendix wrote:Did my first night ride tonight - my bike's been at the Bike Hutt, and Mike kindly offered to bring it back to me by way of meeting for a night ride. He lent me a light, like a pusher offering the first hit free, and we rode at Wainui with a regular Bike Hutt group. We rode down Labyrinth and Snails, a play on the super-steep firebreaks, then up Jungle Gym. Most of the group went off to ride Spoonhill, but I piked on that. I was running out of energy after not having enough to eat and starting to ride like a mong, and I find Spoonhill/491 tough enough in the light and dry, so at night, hungry and after some light rain I left it for another time.

There will be another time - I came home to find I'd sold my windtrainer on Trademe, so I can buy a light.

Night riding is cool. It took me a while to get used to the trees disappearing as they entered what would have been my peripheral vision, but after a while I adapted to the tunnel vision effect and managed to stop expecting to hit one. Next time I'll have some more afternoon tea!

UnimatrixZero wrote:

fatwombat wrote:... fantastic ride with the Stickbug this morning: Varleys North Face Smokin', AMP connector, Rimu Big Tom, SWIGG Magic Carpet; Sally Alley, Missing Link, up Aratihi Upper leaping Lizard, Zacs, down Varleys and back along the Skyline track to Parkvale. Good stuff.