Wainui...Layback time

Sooo layed back I was nearly horizontal...

After a wet and windy Makara Peak race I was looking forward to some faaaast skids on the trails of the WTP of glory. Having been about a year since riding on these trails I was looking forward to a few surprises and I was not to be disappointed.

I started the day off by picking up a mate of mine Simon who was not only game enough to brave my bad driving style, but was silly enough to trust me in suggesting he raced the gentile rolling hills of Wainuiomata. Some people never learn, Sorry Si :D
Race start was here and I had my tractor tyres on ready for the "Storm the size of Australia..." where was it I ask you? maybe the Ozzies had turned tail after the Tri-Nations Cup walloping we game them. Either way I was stuck with the tractor tread on a day that could only be best described as picture perfect.

Elite pain fest called my name once again and regrettably I inched my way to the start, thinking it can't be as hard as I think... WRONG! we took off up the Crazyman climb and I thought I would try and hang with the cool kids Gav & Mono. At the top of the Crazyman climb my lungs were feeling the burn but I knew if I made it to Labyrinth before them I would have a smokin down hill, Mono entered before me and Gav just behind. we stayed like this until the "fantastic short cut" which Gav and I took and popped out just ahead of Mono. Woop!!! go the shortcut. Opened up the taps of gnar on my tractors and pulled at bit of time out of Gav and Mono only to have them tear me a new one on Jungle Scout climb, this went tit for tat as I romped over them down Beeline only to have them gingerly (similar to Slackie's goatie) cruise past me again on Jungle Scout, this time chatting about what moisturizer they both use and how it makes their skin glow (They were so relaxed when they past me I was surprised they were not comparing softness of skin). Lucky for me Spoon Hill & 419 were in my favour as I returned to my glory down hills chase, picking them both up gain. Not to bore you all the rest is easy... Crazyman Climb and they dropped me like Davo's backside after super special at Tulsi Indian Curry House. Did a bit of suffering by myself watching the odd Elite rider smoke me on the up hills Thomas Linup and a brief encounter from Lynsky who threatened to pass me going up the last pasts of the Crazyman climb, thanks for the pep talk sheep shaggger.

The rest of my ride was much the same riding by myself with brief visits from the likes of T-Rex who went the wrong way and then once back on track smoked me, Ed (Fastest Man) who thought it be funny to pass me like I was an old man with arthritis and a Zimmer frame.

Trucked on home loving the down hills and finished with a MASSIF smile from ear to ear. Wainui has once again stolen my heart and not my wallet with some of the best trails in Wellies.

Till Mt Vic when I look forward to another smashing but happy to just be out riding.

Tigs

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Wainui..payback time.

After riding extra sections at Makara and coming 2nd, which is actually usual for me, Wainui was about getting back on track.
The predictions by the bearded ones of a Weather Bomb never eventuated and we woke up to a bright and sunny day, so loaded up the kids and headed over to Wainui for round 2 of the PNP mountain bike series.
Course was going to involve quite a bit of climbing and some reasonably techy descents, starting out with a climb to the water tower along the recently renamed from the crazyman climb to Konini. My usual adversaries Jonny Bushlove and Rob Kilvington would be hot on my tail so a fast start was required.
1 fast start later I hit the top of the climb with about a 50m lead, so headed along the various pinches and 4wd track and into Labryinth when I promptly got a bit excited and stuck a wheel over the side DAMM.. I got back on and did exactly the same thing again, its a funny thing race pressure turns an easy track into a hard track, so yelled out to myself to calm down (literally) and continued to the bottom via Snail Trail.



(photo kindly stolen from Hickie. thanks!..)

Back up Jungles I kept on checking back and Jonny and Rob where wearing their cloaks of invisibility so I thought I was in the clear, (Ed steamed passed at about here!) back up the 4wd track I picked up Liam from M1 and passed him before hitting spoonhill which like everyone else said was great fun, slipppy muddy with lots of places to axe yourself, I wasn't carrying a huge amount of speed down spoonhill and Liam just smoked past me and by the time we hit the bottom pulled out about a 200m gap!, not bad considering it wasn't even over a huge distance. (note to self to be more brave)

The new link track was interesting in its slimyness not well suited to my crossmark tyres but I survived that and hit the road to put my "good roadie" skills to the test, I wound up the big ring and hit 50kph and re-passed Liam again just before the school. Then up Konini to do it all over again , at the top by the water tower I again checked back and Jonny and Robs cloaks where still fully functioning which lulled me into a false sense of security and foolishly I didn't feel I pushed as hard on the 2nd lap, into Labryinth and Snails I caught up with Wifey who was riding with Alex in the Bushlove under 8 classification, Alex was nowhere to be seen and was way ahead and Trudi was playing catchup down snails, (that's my boy :-) ) , I caught Alex at the bottom of snails and he looked happy as larry.

On and up Jungles again when mid way up Alex Revell caught me from Pro Elite I let him pass and then the batteries in Jonnys cloak went flat and he suddenly appeared about 20m behind me!.. Damm that wasn't in the plan, so hit the gas pedal and caught up with Alex Revell just before the exit and gassed it up the 4wd climb to put in a better gap between myself and Waggers. I had a little more urgency down Spoonhill this time as I know Waggers eats this stuff for breakfast, I knew if I could hold him off here there was no way he would catch me on the road.
Down link track I calculated Jonnys trajectory, speed and gnar using this formula.



And used this formular and my rear wheel to place a rock on the side of the track as a backup plan, I exitted at Waiu street and headed for the finish in 1st place so very happy, Jonny (un)fortunately found my strategically placed rock which sent his rear der through the back wheel for an expensive running finish to his race for 2nd.

Next is Mt Vic in 3 weeks time..Charge your invisibility cloak batteries Waggers..

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Grom Lines & Stump Pulling - Wainui Trail dig

Like everyone else who mountain bikes in the Wellington region, we benefit massively from the obscene amount of work that trail builders do at places like Makara Peak, Wainui, Belmont, Mt Vic and now Mirimar.



Despite spending plenty of time riding the trails, most of us (Slacky being the exception) either have never, or rarely turned a hand to help at the digs. We thought we'd start remedying the situation and so the available among us, joined the Wainui pixies last weekend, to hinder their efforts constructing the new Snail Trail. This will be about 1km long and goes from Labyrinth down to the bottom of the hill. It is looking like it will be a really good trail. The gang has made some great progress.

We (Ash, Tiger, Clive, Mono, Slackshanks and me) rocked up to the summit carpark for an 8.30 ride before we started digging. Mono and I rode there from our homes. He looked distinctly better that I did for his efforts.

We rode Labyrinth and headed down 491. Ash and I meandered around at the back chatting. I wasn't able to ride with the boys at sifty pace. I hadn't been since I pretty much got to the hill at the end of my road. 491 was pretty slippy. Ash only tri-podded a couple of times though and we didn't fall off. At the end the boys were down in the clearing and shouted up that they had all ridden the long clay shute. Bit keen of them I thought. While Ash headed down the regular route I manned up for the descent. I handed in my man card about 1/3rd of the way down when I lost the front end and found a tree. I abandoned the bike and the tree broke off in my manly grip and I used it for balance tight-rope walker style as I slid the rest of the way down. Turns out none of the boys rode the shute. They will pay.

Slackshanks showed us the new family loop which is under contsctruction. It was great. It has a very well done board walk section. We headed to the roller coaster and Tigs flatted his tubeless. Then Rammer came around the corner out running so after a jawbone with him and the Bushlove mechs fixing the tire, we headed back down the road as we were running short of time. We climbed out on Jungle Jim. Some boggy bits from the waste ground led to traction fails. I smashed my knee into my stem as the back wheel let go and that stuffed me for the rest of the day, and the next day, and the next.

Mono's wife Keryn met us at the top and we all moseyed down the trail and met the dig.

We found Geoff who was fixing up an area where the existing rock wall was a big fail. Tiger and I joined Geoff (aka Thorg) to assist and the other Bushlove groms (not counting guru Slacky) helped further down where Jim, Shane, Hickie, Jules and another nice chap were working. Rammer had beaten us to it and was down there too.

The experienced guys who have done plenty of this trail building, were really switched on and definitely knew their stuff. Tiger and I learned lots from Geoff in the time we were helping him out and ended up with a quite reasonable looking stretch of trail, supported by a fine rock wall constructed of vast slabs of stone carried in confidently by our manly selves. It was much like the scene from 300 where the Spartan warriors construct a huge wall from rock and the bodies of Persians. But with less Persians and a little less baby oil.



We broke for some food and a bit of banter which predictably broke down to toilet humour. After which Boner-T and I joined Geoff, Angry and Ash to redo a bank and move some soil up the hill to level the trail we'd worked on earlier. It was mostly council style labour, with one working whilst the others leant on their tools. We had some thrills and spills getting the barrow of soil up the slippery pinches. Ash was punching above her weight and thought to give it a try. While I waited to take a pic on the second rise, she never cleared the first and slipped, tipping the borrow out down the bank. You just can't get the staff nowadays.

Geoff got us linking arms and stamping along the filled in trail. This is apparently called a "Grom Line", especially when we do it. It does a fine job of consolidating the soil and Geoff said we were the best Grom Line he'd ever seen. He was obviously lying through his teeth, but a nice thing to say nonetheless.

That pretty much wrapped up our efforts for the day. So we headed back out, leaving the experienced trail builders with our "Bushlove Two Week Trail Quality Guarantee" and probably a lot of rework.

We learned a lot from the guys out there. They must have put a lot of days into those mint trails. The mind boggles. We resolved to do more digs for sure. The efforts these keen trail pixies put in really does shower shame upon us and the rest of you who never lend a hand. If you can't make a dig, consider attending a race like the PNP rounds which donate a portion of the entry fees to the local trail building effort, or make a donation. Apparently if you attend three digs at Wainui you get a special T-shirt! I'm going to try and get one.

Thanks very much to the aforementioned dudes for educating us on Sunday. I'm sure we hindered your splendid efforts, rather than adding much value, but we had a great time. Was a good learning experience and we felt good having banked some trail karma.

Keep an eye on Vorb for dig day info or check the Wainui and Makara sites.

Cheers
Dave

Here are some pics ftw:

Sharpie took a leading roll in checking the disturbed soil for worms and keeping his tool clean.











Ash practices her poses for a very different 'bush' love photoshoot she had later that afternoon.




Slackmeister's stump pulling prowess knew no bounds. Must be all the practice at home. Mono continues checking for worms in the background.





A look down the business end of the Snail Trail. Rammer poses while Jim sets a good example to us all.



Bushlove Grom Line





Ash going for gold with the barrow.



Fail





Fail imminent - But see the barrow is full ftw.



Fail.

Re-fuelling

My workrate vastly improved once Geoff corrected my tool handling

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