Flats and Flat Whites - A Sunny Sunday Ride

Yesterday was an awesome riding day. Low winds, the sun was shining and not cold. Nine keeners met at Makara for a nice excursion over the hills. There was Slacky, Ashley, Josh Wrigley, Tim Wilding, Sharpie, Harry Potter, Pete Mora, Al Crossling and me.

We headed up Salvation which was plenty muddy and as usual seemed to be about 10km long. Poor Pete was having flattening issues with his tubeless not sealing well but got a tube in and caught us in no time. We skulked along the fence to Scout Hall and Goldmine. Slackattack forgot it was not 1995, and stopped to put his saddle down for Goldmine. Honestly, who drops their saddle for xc descents? I love the Goldmine descent - really tight switchbacks which are tricky to clean.

We climbed up to the Sanctuary fenceline carpark. Tradition demands that I lord it over the pack when we climb the fenceline and cut people off viciously when they try to take me. Yesterday was no different as I pummelled the mojo of Mono and T-Rex before Josh and Mono slipped by on either side as I faded away. We rode Car Parts extension, which ironically has a tv and some other bits dumped along it's length, so more Living Room Parts Extension. This was a great track. A little muddy in places at the moment, but riding and holding up very well. Pete.M and Wonderwoman had to head back at this point. Pete manned up for a muddy and solo descent of Deliverance which was pretty bold.

We ground up the road to the Tip Track entrance and headed down to Red Rocks. I flatted just as I was about to beast Tim and Josh, damn it. The boys waited for me further down which was good of them. We sped enthusiasticly down the rest of the descent and this time I did manage to pilot my rigid past a few of the chaps as it got gnarly, but then flatted again! I shouldered and ran along and held my position! Josh must have been giving it a bit too much brrrraap and he endo'd off the side and got caught by a flax bush. If you know the descent I mean, endoing off the side is a fail move.

We said hi to the seals at Red Rocks and filmed a comedy skit which will probably go down is history as the worst comedy skit ever filmed at Red Rocks. By now we were highly motivated to have a coffee so we cruised along to the Bach and sampled their range of slices, muffins, coffees and milkshakes. Tim headed for home without a coffee, no doubt absolutely smashed from his constant struggle to hold our wheels. After some lulz and trading of stories we rode up Mt Albert and along to Mt Vic. But not before I fixed another flat (I owe ewe a tube BGA ;-). I had never ridden on Mt Albert, it was a nice change. Slacky showed us some of the PNP Mt Vic course. Good stuff. Some cracking sections.
Jawboning on Mount Albert

Then Slackrazor headed for home and Potter, Mono and I headed through town. I snuck my very muddy bike past the guards and onto the train and the boys span back up to Karori, with Dave 'Armstrong' Sharpe knocking off a Makara Grand Loop before bed, and Hinge just knocking off.

Meanwhile Angry was down on the farm. I have added a pic of me down on the farm milking a herd a few weeks back, to prove that I too am a well rounded individual who is no stranger to the anatomy and workings of these huge beasts. Any pics of Hinge with any cows anywhere?

Arty shot of a rainbow while cleaning my bike.

I enjoyed watching BGA try and do up his seatpack zipper for about 5minutes