Mountain biking?
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@nta said in Mountain biking?:
@jk you have some amazing rail trails over there. Our tourist guys aren't really up to speed on that, and we've no shortage of old railway no longer in use
The old rail line through the Clare Valley is a
bike track to wobble from winery to winery. Great day out. -
I recorded and caught upon some of the stuff from the UCI Worlds over the weekend. Horrendously poor coverage with shite commentators. Quite a painful watch (although same goes for whatever the feed is for the Vuelta that Sky are taking).
Downhill MTB is one of the most insane on the edge sports going with a mixture of high skill and meathead but the way it is shown on TV hasn't changed since the start. Usually a three fixed camera job with cameras placed where they can see a few corners to pan through rather than convey the speed/steepness/sheer scariness.
How they can make something like this so dull is a criminal.
I will also say though that if UCI want to do the sport a service they would choose venues better. -
@crucial said in Mountain biking?:
I recorded and caught upon some of the stuff from the UCI Worlds over the weekend. Horrendously poor coverage with shite commentators. Quite a painful watch (although same goes for whatever the feed is for the Vuelta that Sky are taking).
Downhill MTB is one of the most insane on the edge sports going with a mixture of high skill and meathead but the way it is shown on TV hasn't changed since the start. Usually a three fixed camera job with cameras placed where they can see a few corners to pan through rather than convey the speed/steepness/sheer scariness.
How they can make something like this so dull is a criminal.
I will also say though that if UCI want to do the sport a service they would choose venues better.It was very poor footage eh! Better than the olympics but only just. Very disappointing
Just the usual Red Bull rounds are done a whole lot better than that.
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Rode some of my local trails on sat arvo but lots of debri on the trails and took a decent size branch to the derailleur about 20mins in and bent the farken thing in to the spokes! Bike was unrideable. No one else around so just got the tools out and did some running repairs to get in moving again and managed to ride back to the car without too much trouble. Replaced the hanger and realigned and all good as new.
Tested it yesterday with a decent 25km ride with the lad around the local burbs. Spent a bit of time at a pump track at one of the local schools and then a few more bush trails as we worked our way home. Good little ride.
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@jk said in Mountain biking?:
Rode some of my local trails on sat arvo but lots of debri on the trails and took a decent size branch to the derailleur about 20mins in and bent the farken thing in to the spokes! Bike was unrideable. No one else around so just got the tools out and did some running repairs to get in moving again and managed to ride back to the car without too much trouble. Replaced the hanger and realigned and all good as new.
Tested it yesterday with a decent 25km ride with the lad around the local burbs. Spent a bit of time at a pump track at one of the local schools and then a few more bush trails as we worked our way home. Good little ride.
Lucky you had a spare hanger. They can be bastard things to get the right one. Every manufacturer seems to make them slightly different.
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@crucial said in Mountain biking?:
@jk said in Mountain biking?:
Rode some of my local trails on sat arvo but lots of debri on the trails and took a decent size branch to the derailleur about 20mins in and bent the farken thing in to the spokes! Bike was unrideable. No one else around so just got the tools out and did some running repairs to get in moving again and managed to ride back to the car without too much trouble. Replaced the hanger and realigned and all good as new.
Tested it yesterday with a decent 25km ride with the lad around the local burbs. Spent a bit of time at a pump track at one of the local schools and then a few more bush trails as we worked our way home. Good little ride.
Lucky you had a spare hanger. They can be bastard things to get the right one. Every manufacturer seems to make them slightly different.
Yeah mate. I'm lucky as my best mate works in the game so a while back I got him to grab me 4 as spares. Always carry one in the backpack with the tools so probably could have done it on trail if it had snapped (been told they often do when you try bend them back in to shape!)
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Anyone been out riding? Particularly those outside of level 3/4 areas?
A few more urbans from me last few weekends but nothing too exciting.
Got out for a night ride last week which was great fun. Only was for about an hour and on some shared walk/cycle tracks in near by native bush but awesome to ride at night as no walkers. Saw one other rider. Really different experience riding through dense bush at night
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@jk said in Mountain biking?:
Anyone been out riding? Particularly those outside of level 3/4 areas?
Nope. Not much nearby me that inspires. Need to get some riding in though. Still have ambitions to do the Queen Charlotte when it opens again. Not sure what the plans are but they have done repairs on the first section for walkers. Hopefully they will be able to get enough repairs done for summer.
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Fair bit of riding of late as under these relaxed level 3 rules I can travel a bit further to ride.
Friday arvo I went out to Muriwai. Great little trails. Some steep and technical, some flowy. Sand based so drains well. Rode two new ones I had before and both pretty gnarly with some sketchy little descents down rock faces etc. Rideable after you stop and work out the best approach.
Then yesterday out to my beloved Riverhead forest and still too wet. Thought was potentially a bit early but forest has been closed until friday so was just keen to get out there and check it out. Total opposite of riding at Muriwai and bike needed a decent clean after.
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Couple of good rides in the weekend but sundays was a bit much for the old brakes after some pretty steep downhills. Kinda forgot about the issue until popped out for a ride yesterday and doh....yeah pads were toast!
Not a lot left of them at all. Fronts are better but grabbed a set of each this morning and will replace later today or tomorrow before next ride
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Spent some time over the last week getting the bike all sorted for summer. I put the miles on it at times and ride it hard so needed some love.
Replaced those pads then also fixed and tuned my derailleur properly (yah got a clutch again) after that issue a couple of months back. Then on friday I serviced the front shocks and stuck a new chain on.
Did a 30km ride yesterday with a mate. Bike feels like new now.
Also, another mate was heading to Muriwai for sat morning and I was pretty keen but had some other commitments so had to pass. Anyway, he had a nasty nasty crash and and ended up exiting via the ambulance. Wasnt on a big jump either. Just a step up that we regularly ride. Still not 100% sure what happened but hes out of surgery and recovering now.
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@jk said in Mountain biking?:
Spent some time over the last week getting the bike all sorted for summer. I put the miles on it at times and ride it hard so needed some love.
Replaced those pads then also fixed and tuned my derailleur properly (yah got a clutch again) after that issue a couple of months back. Then on friday I serviced the front shocks and stuck a new chain on.
Did a 30km ride yesterday with a mate. Bike feels like new now.
Also, another mate was heading to Muriwai for sat morning and I was pretty keen but had some other commitments so had to pass. Anyway, he had a nasty nasty crash and and ended up exiting via the ambulance. Wasnt on a big jump either. Just a step up that we regularly ride. Still not 100% sure what happened but hes out of surgery and recovering now.
Bad news on your mate. I've watched some massive stacks on slo-Mo and still been puzzled what the cause was. Sometimes shit just happens.
It sounds like your new chain has meshed well with the chain ring and cassette. That's always a worry if you have been hammering an old chain. Gets bloody expensive.
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@crucial said in Mountain biking?:
@jk said in Mountain biking?:
Spent some time over the last week getting the bike all sorted for summer. I put the miles on it at times and ride it hard so needed some love.
Replaced those pads then also fixed and tuned my derailleur properly (yah got a clutch again) after that issue a couple of months back. Then on friday I serviced the front shocks and stuck a new chain on.
Did a 30km ride yesterday with a mate. Bike feels like new now.
Also, another mate was heading to Muriwai for sat morning and I was pretty keen but had some other commitments so had to pass. Anyway, he had a nasty nasty crash and and ended up exiting via the ambulance. Wasnt on a big jump either. Just a step up that we regularly ride. Still not 100% sure what happened but hes out of surgery and recovering now.
Bad news on your mate. I've watched some massive stacks on slo-Mo and still been puzzled what the cause was. Sometimes shit just happens.
It sounds like your new chain has meshed well with the chain ring and cassette. That's always a worry if you have been hammering an old chain. Gets bloody expensive.
Yeah chain ring and cassette are still ok and have prob 1500km left on them I'd say. They wear out quick if you dont replace the chain as often as it should. Parts dont cost me much as have access to wholesale less % so no reason not to maintain.
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Back in to regular riding with riverhead now a whole lot drier and running mint. Been out there every week or so but gotta pick the times as its dam hot if there isnt much breeze. Even those 6pm til dark rides are scorchers.
This week I rode the coromandel trails. Wicked spot. Lovely clay in perfect riding condition. A very pedally trail with lots of ups and downs. Two main MTB trails at 4.5km (about 22mins) and 1.5km (6mins)
They also have a beautiful pump track and a couple of short downhill jumps line which are great for skills. Pretty cool setup really. The guy who set it all up actually passed away on Sunday, 1 year to the day since its opening. Hoping they can keep it all going in his memory.
Yesterday I was back in to whangapoua forest which I haven't ridden for about 6 months. I forget how steep some of the hills are. The ups are on the heavy gravel roads and the downs are through loamy pine covered trails. Steep and fast. Rode two of the trails but sighted a couple more which I will ride next time. Could bring myself to do another climb up that hill.
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Mixed bag for me over the hols.
Spent a few hours with the son getting shuttled up Coronet Peak and doing Rude Rock (favourite trail but in need of a bit of work as some dicks have been riding it in the wet and now it has set hard it isn't as flowy) then crossing the road and heading to Hot Rod. Just great fun tracks that put a smile on the dial.
Went up Cardrona as well and did a 'peak to pub' swing out to the Captains basin then all the way down to the Cardrona Hotel for a pint. Was a bit too rocky on the hardtail to be a fast blast but still fun. Those trails are designed for big ![alt text](![image url](image url))cushy full sus 29ers IMO.
Then coming back from Glenorchy last weekend we drove up to Moke Lake and I saw on the map that there were trails that would take me much deeper down the valley so went back a few days later and got dropped at 12 Mile on Wakatipu for an explore. Some 4 hours plus of mainly 4WD track up past Lake Dispute, across farmland to Moke Lake, deeper in to the old ruins of Sefferton then a traverse around the mountain and a drop to the Shotover for a pint at Canyon Brewing. Some evil push up 50 degree slopes on the way and the last 4km or so was literally an overgrown goat track that had as much bush bashing on foot as riding. Pretty special views though and a chance to see some sights of the area I hadn't previously.
This is why I keep my Hardtail, to do tramping tracks in half the walking time. So much lighter to push when required.
Looking back toward Wakatipu over Lake Dispute
Toward Moke Lake
Looking down on ShotoverEdit: Can't be arsed editing phone shots to get right way around.
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@crucial said in Mountain biking?:
Probably one for the phone case thread but I got a quad lock case and bike fitting from Santa.
Incredible. Phone just clips on and doesn’t move even down rocky drops.Nice! Have heard those are good. I tend to ride with the phone just in my pocket (if want it handy for pics) or backpack.
Looks like a beaut place to ride.
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Havent actually done a ton of riding here as just too hot. Prob been out every 2 or 3 days for a decent ride.
Had a few sessions at Coro and spent a bit of time on the jumps trails with the lad getting him sorted. Good refresher for me to be able to ride and jump doubles again as wouldnt usually ride that sort of stuff.
There has also been a fair bit of gravel and forest riding too which hasn't been too bad as is generally quite shady. The pine downhills were steep and fast. Certainly wouldnt be easy to stop if you needed to. Best ride was probably my annual slug up to Castle Rock. Good ride of about an hour up and 15-20mins for the down and just under 1000m elevation gain.
Also rode whangamata trails late last week. A lot of work has gone in to these over the past year. Some really nice jump and flow trails now. Had one minor bail where tried to take the feature by pass rather than riding a drop blind and managed to make the decision too late and ended up over the bars. Sprained wrist and lots of bruising up my right hand side. Doh!