My neighboor.
“Get up ya lazy Aucklander” Mark shouted and then slammed the camper door shut at 8am.. I think I jumped out of bed ahaha. The night prior I met my neighbour.. a miniature horse that startled me when I woke up in the middle of the night for a piss ahahah. I didn’t expect to see a horse looking at me while taking a piss. Funny as! We had a big breakfast – steak and eggs and then headed into Dunedin to meet up with the other group to start the day’s ride. It was going to be a long day with heaps of riding; up Nichols track, then around Whare Flat , Snakes and Ladders, The Third Place, The Green Mile, Swampy Summit then return back down Nichols track. The trails were mostly single track and had lots of obstacles. Some grade 5 and not all had nana lines so you had to treat it with respect. There were big rock drops, seesaws, log rides and of course ladders. There was some pushing, as it got pretty steep in some sections. At one point there track was one big rut – pretty much a derailleur eater! These kind of tracks are fun to ride but can be pretty sketchy. You really have to just follow the rut, as it was impossible to get out of. It was really tight in some spots so you didn’t have anywhere to bail.. so just let it all hang out!
The top of Nichols Track
Nichols Track was the best trail of the day. Snakes and Ladders was a huge let down in my books. Took ages and heaps of work to get there and wasn’t worth it! It was pretty much a bunch of wooden structures to play around on.. I prefer it when the structures are integrated into the trail rather than a place to play.. but that is just me.
The group we were riding with really didn’t ride much of the technical stuff. When the going got tough… they got off their bike. It was a full day ride – 7 hours. Mark had 5 flats.. poor bugger. I ended up giving him my extra tube and then 10 minutes later I got a flat.. go figure. After the day we ended back at the campground where the group was staying. Had 2 beers (Emmersons – local Dunedin beer that has won awards around the world) and then Mark, Hubby and myself hit up the Red Wood Track which was small loop, about 15 minutes so we did it three times. Fun track that just got faster and faster each time. After a couple beers you ride pretty loose!
Mark, Hubby and Myself went back to Marks place had a feed and then started to watch the mountain bike film Follow Me. I lasted about 1/2hour and then I started to doze off so I put myself to bed. Great day of riding!
