Shopping and Biking

That pretty much sums up our weekend. Saturday, the wind was blowing a gale and the rain was pissing down. We decided it would be a good day to venture forth and find Bunnings (equivalent to Home Depot). We were after a few things to make the flat a bit homier. We even managed to find a beanbag chair at Kmart. By afternoon the rain had stopped and we went for a walk into town.

Sunday, the weather took a turn for the better and we decided to head out to Makara Peak for a ride. So did quite a few other people and we had a bit of traffic on the climb up Koru. We stopped off at the skills area on the way and had a bit of play on a few of the things there. Helen successfully attempted the horseshoe and the other North Shore style bit. I also got her to go off one of the wooden drop offs because we would be hitting it on the way back down (pics of the skills area can be found at http://www.vorb.org.nz/photos-view-14655-1311-normal-0.html). After the skills area we continued on up towards the top. The tracks roll a lot and even when you are climbing you get some good down hill bits to keep you on your toes. We passed a few more folks on Missing Link and then stopped for a rest before continuing up Aratihi. We turned off before the summit to check out a couple tracks we hadn’t been on before. Leaping Lizard was pretty cool, it basically had a bunch of water bars that were spaced far enough apart that you could launch off one, have a second to compose yourself, then launch off the next. We then turned onto Nikau Valley, which was pretty steep and tricky in places with a few rocks and switchbacks. One I chickened out on and had to walk. We hooked back onto Missing Link for a Dave Osmond “mostly down hill from here” run to the top of Ridgeline Extension. This a pretty nice bit of track, a little rocky but definitely fast in spots. The picture is of Helen lining up a little chute on the way down. Magic Carpet took us back through the skills area where we hit the drop off and then continued on down Livewires. This track has a nice little see saw on which Helen rode with no worries. She didn’t even stop to check it out; she just hit it like it was a normal part of the track. A few more nasty bits saw us return safely to the car park.

Here’s hoping that we have more days like Sunday and less like Saturday in the coming months.